Gold Fulong Route, Taiwan

Where do I start?

I am back from Taiwan so I guess it's due for a post.

I have half my mind of doing my posts orderly and another half to start from my favourite bits. Today, the latter precedes so I'd just start somewhere.

By the way, Taiwan is the most tourist friendly country I have been to so far. Maps are clear and aplenty, plus you can always count on friendly Taiwanese to find your destination. They have public buses going around tour-worthy places so free and easys come cheap. (You don't even have to book beforehand, just use easycard.)

http://www.taiwantrip.com.tw/Main/Lang/?redirect=/About/&lang=en-us

We did the Gold Fulong Route from Chiufen, where our minsu is based.

View from the balcony when we arrived:

In the daytime:

A glimpse of our ancient looking minsu:

And it's surrounding architecture:

Our breakfast in Chiufen before we were set to go:

... and we always make space for ice cream:

We hopped on to the yellow Taiwan tourist shuttle bus from the nearing bus stop. (Do note that the bus has a different timetable for weekdays and weekends.)

Watch for this bus!

The bus interior:

We went straight up to Fulong Beach (the last station) to have a quick look from the bus journey before shortlisting the rest of attractions.

Fulong Beach

There was a sandcastle exhibit on the beach which requires an entrance fee but we decided to skip and find a shortcut to the beach. (It turns out as detour.) You cannot just walk right in from the entrance if you do not want to see the exhibition.

My bf says I take horrible pictures... I guess the juxtapositon of these two images speaks a lot.

Mostly me because photos taken by me are mostly outtakes. :x

So this is how Fulong beach looks like. We finally made it to the beach without paying entrance fee, but were away from the sand sculpture exhibit.

We hopped onto the bus and decided on Bitou Cape as our next destination.

A school on top on a hill... How do you study when your classrooms offer a seaview?

Sorry, I know that it's mostly me in the pictures because bf was behind the camera.

From the first sightseeing deck:

Are you ready for an influx of, hilltop pictures??



Here we go in,



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... Couldn't keep a straight face from the 6km (?) trek.

On our way down, we were dead thirsty. We chanced upon many family-owned stalls selling a seaweed/coral jelly drink named shihuadong.

We took the chance to ask the stall owner about her drinks and apparently, her husband dives in the nearby seas to retrieve these shihua to make into jelly drinks. It is originally reddish but after drying and processing, it turns translucent.

Bad pictures but fine. Just to prove that shihuadong is yummy! (It tasted like passionfruit jelly.)

Another cool fact: To officially graduate from school, students here have to dive into the water to collect their graduation certificates.

It did not take long to reach our next stop. Do note that it can be difficult to assess when you are reaching your stop as there isn't any signage/announcement on the bus that tells you so.

Bu anyway, if hills are not your thing, I hope you like rocks better.

Nanya Nanxin

I didn't requested for these photos... I was way too lazy and tired.

Chiufen's Gold Waterfall

There are many strays in Taiwan.

Gold waterfall is a small attraction which barely takes 15 mins to cover. However. the bus comes at an hour's interval and what's more it is impractical to walk back to Chiufen although it is just a stop away.

We spent a good 45 minutes killing mosquitos and counting the number of visitors come and go (they have drivers) while we waited for the bus.

We wanted another pitstop at Shuinandong but unfortunately, time is not on our side.

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This concludes our day tour for Gold Fulong Route. Although the scenery is nothing to shout about, I am gratefully for the chance to trek and enjoy sights out of the city. And of course, shihuadong!

Till then, while I go on and immerse myself in tub of taiwanese facial masks.