Hualian and my first encounter with my AIESEC hosts

My, my... A recovery of my laptop is not in sight. Luckily, however, before it crashed I had already uploaded some of my pictures from Hualian to facebook, which again provides a download function. Somewhat complicated, but this way I can now post about my trip.



The trip is already one and a half weeks ago... Time really flies. On the one hand, I am of course looking forward to feel the security of being in my home country again. Independence, no need to rely on other people, freedom, cosiness. A cosiness that will make me lazy. So on the other hand, I do not want to return to a life of no challenges except for examinations and presentations, that represent nothing but obstacles from the outside which to surpass does not yield much personal satisfaction for me. Three weeks left and I am already feeling like leaving something behind. Not to forget, also someone. Anticipation is an unmerciful beast.

Okay, enough of my self-pity. Back to topic.

So I had three vigorous guides from the AIESEC LC at Fu Jen University in Taibei take me on a weekend trip to Hualian, about a 90 minutes train ride southward at the heart of Taiwan's east coast, hidden and encircled by the high mountain ridge that had protected these lands from the advance of our arguably enriching modern civilisation for so long.
Today, Hualian County is said to be the last spot in Taiwan where one can relish an almost untouched, intact natural environment. And it seems like residents are actually fighting off government projects to improve traffic access into the county.
Meanwhile, both Taiwanese and foreign tourists continue their mass excursions to Hualian. The main station of Hualian city was nearly as crowded as Taipei central station during the morning rush hour.

On saturday our schedule took us to Taroko Gorge National Park. I am not going to elaborate much on this park, as an earlier entry on this blog already gives comprehensive information on this sight. (See http://tlf-interns.blogspot.tw/2011/09/taroko-gorge-national-park.html)
Due to excessive rainfalls previous to our visit, the river's waters were stained in deep brown colours of sediments being carried downstream. Perhaps, we did not choose the best time for our visit, but it was still impressive. The picture below hints on the usual beauty of the scene, as you can imagine how this would look, if all of the water was as clear as the waters streaming from the mountain.

I definitely had not expected that we would walk as much as we did. From what I have learned about Taiwanese people and their fondness of walking prior, it still seems incredible now. 10 kilometres! Kudos to my three companions, you really disabused me of my preoccupation!

Sadly, other prejudices were confirmed, though, as a sheer endless armada of buses, each carrying 50 or more Japanese, Chinese, Koreans or Taiwanese, rolled in to unload their relentless, camera-armed forces, ready to make pictures - mostly of themselves.
Much to my personal regret, I also had to note that by building enormous earthquake-proof streets and tunnels alongside the river to provide infrastructure to take all these vehicles as close to the attractions as possible, the natural grace of the places has successfully been ruined.

However, the location we went to the following Sunday was very different in this respect. Actually, the road to this place, Mugumuyu it is called, has only been reopened in recent years with just a few visitors being admitted to the beauty of this valley each day after applying for permission in good advance to the visit.
Mugumuyu is by far the most gorgeous spot I have been to so far in Taiwan. See for yourself!

Swimming in these crystal-clear and cool waters, with the sunlight reflected by the radiant rocks and a perfect silence surrounding us was just perfect! It really made me regret having to leave the place.


But we continued our trip that was to take us to a very special beach: the Seven Stars Pool.

Owing to an abrupt drop of the seabed only a few metres off the shore, the light blue waters of the Pacific Ocean lie calm, just like a lake. Only at the immediate shoreline waves are breaking, producing a unique sound of clattering stones echoing in the open space of the gravel beach as the water approaches and retreats again, twisting and turning even heavy rocks like petals of dark grey.

These are my three beautiful guides. I owe them my special appreciation for taking me on this awesome and extremely fun trip. We saw many more places than I could describe here and they tried their very best to make it an enjoyable experience for all of us. Thank you!