Sweet Home

Went to bed early, but due to various reasons (cola, hot weather, excitement), I woke up after sleeping for only one or two hours, then tossed and turned until dawn. After getting up and packing, I decided to rent a car and go to Nangang Station with Nina.

Hualien Train Station

Arrived at Hualien Station at eleven o'clock on the Puyuma Express, first went to the parking lot to pick up the car, put the luggage in the car, then decided to have lunch in the city. Originally planned to eat at Yexiang Wonton, but the weather was too hot, so we turned back halfway and had lunch at MOS Burger. Nina kept wanting to buy Guiji, but kept forgetting. The sun was very strong, and Nina prepared a fisherman's hat for me, ❤️.

Qingxiu Temple

After lunch, we decided to go to Dashibi Mountain Trail, but on the way, we made a detour to Qingxiu Temple, a Japanese shrine with many Jizo statues.

Jici Beach

Continued towards Dashibi Mountain Trail, but when we reached the trailhead, we discovered the trail was under renovation, so we turned to the neighboring Jici Beach which was under construction. We didn't go into the beach, but sat in a pavilion on the outskirts to watch the sea, looking at the rainy north and the ocean, and started feeling the vacation mood. It started drizzling at the pavilion too, so we headed to Xiabian.

Xiabian

On the way to Xiabian, we passed through County Road 193, and I decided to ignore the GPS and drive along the county road to Danong Dafu, then take a small road to Xiabian. Only then did we truly feel how close the two places were. After checking in at the homestay, the owner introduced us to the surrounding environment, and both inside and outside were exactly what we liked. I also asked about the firefly viewing trip to Danong Dafu, and only then learned that there were no fireflies at Danong Dafu at this time, but there were still some at Liyu Lake, and the weather that day was suitable for firefly viewing. I originally planned to see them on the way back on the third day, but felt the schedule was too rushed, so I decided to have dinner near Dong Hwa University that evening and see the fireflies.

Dong Hwa University

Drove to Tianzui Miao outside Dong Hwa University, a highly-rated restaurant. Although the food was good, it might have been because of the reviews mentioning free rice refills. During our meal, we were the only customers in the entire restaurant, essentially having it to ourselves. We chatted while eating and researched the transportation and parking issues for Liyu Lake.

Liyu Lake

Following the GPS, we drove to Liyu Lake and parked at the parking lot near Yanshou Pavilion. There weren't many cars in the parking lot, and only a few tourists on the road. We walked along Liyu Lake; the west side of the lake had roads with a row of streetlights, while the east side was completely dark, though we didn't know at the time that the completely dark part was our destination. I mentioned that when I went to Sun Moon Lake, I only saw one firefly, and seeing ten today would be great. On the way, we encountered a quiet group of girls, and we whispered to each other, "Are they disappointed because they haven't seen any fireflies?" As we walked, we saw three fireflies in front of Yanshou Pavilion, and we joked, "Still need seven more." Continuing further, the road was completely unlit, and we saw several RVs and road barriers ahead. Going deeper inside, we suddenly saw fireflies everywhere, and in an instant, we felt the evening trip was worth it. I felt Nina went from very happy to extremely happy, and we started talking about deeper topics.

Xiabian

County Road 193

My planned itinerary for this day was to follow County Road 193 to Yuli, go through Yuchang Highway to the coast, take Provincial Highway 11 north, then take Provincial Highway 11A back to the Huadong Valley.

On the way to Yuli along County Road 193, forests and rice fields alternated, with white clouds dotting the Central Mountain Range. Nina kept exclaiming in admiration and told me about the internet phrase "beautiful to tears," then we used "tears value" to describe this journey, using the number of "tears" to rate the quality of the trip (mqqq). After parking in Yuli, we walked to Yuli Shrine, but because the weather was too hot, we only bought some snacks and then moved to Kecheng Iron Bridge.

Kecheng Iron Bridge

Although Kecheng Iron Bridge is a scenic spot, it looked quite ordinary up close, perhaps because there was no water reflection in the fields now, or maybe we didn't find the right angle. After walking around, we headed to Yuchang Highway.

Yuli Shrine

Changbin Viewing Platform

The scenery on Yuchang Highway was also beautiful. We stopped after leaving the tunnel and saw some people coming to collect water. However, this didn't seem to be the originally planned lookout point. After reaching the coast, we stopped at Changbin Viewing Platform and sat in whale-shaped bamboo pavilions, one on each side, to rest. I was a bit tired and lay down for a while. Because the weather at the coast was good, and we were worried about bad weather in the valley, and the weather towards Hualien also looked bad, we decided to stay in Changbin until dark, hoping to see a sky full of stars.

Since it was still early, we planned to have dinner at "Li Ai" first, rest until sunset, then return to the coast. When we reached the restaurant, we discovered they were also on break, so we lay in the car for a short nap, then went into Changbin to find food. Indeed, it was just a small town with limited choices.

After dinner, we returned to the coast, but the weather had already deteriorated. We stayed until it was completely dark but only saw a few faint stars, so we decided to take Yuchang Highway back to the valley. After driving in the valley for a while, Nina noticed the weather was good and we could already see many stars. Unfortunately, the weather changed again later, and we didn't see the starry sky after returning to Xiabian.

Xiabian

Before bed, we watched some of "The Legend of Yaxin" together.

Xiabian

Fuyuan National Forest Recreation Area

The morning was very hot, so we first went to Fuyuan National Forest Recreation Area to wander around, hoping it would be a cool place, but unfortunately it wasn't, and they charged 150 NTD per person for admission. We chose a trail that was rarely visited, with stone steps that were old and covered in moss. I was focused on watching the moss on the ground but hit my head on a tree trunk. After walking about one-third of the distance, the trail was full of spider webs, so we decided to turn back. I slipped and fell twice more. Afterwards, we looked at many butterfly and moth specimens in the park, as well as paintings made from butterfly wings.

Hualien Sugar Factory

After leaving Fuyuan Forest Recreation Area, since it was still early and I wanted to eat ice cream, we went to Hualien Tourist Sugar Factory, walked through all the small shops inside, I enjoyed two scoops of taro ice cream (Nina doesn't eat ice cream), then headed to Danong Dafu.

Danong Dafu Forest Park

After arriving at Danong Dafu Forest Park, we rented bicycles and rode around the park for a while. Nina said her favorite part was the large flat area in the middle, which was endless. Then we returned to the convenience store outside the sugar factory, where Nina ate a mapo tofu rice bowl, and I ate a sous vide chicken breast. Then we headed to Hualien to prepare for the return trip to Taipei.

Hualien Train Station

Nina said there's a great "A-Chuan Master Mochi" in Hualien, so we drove there, but unfortunately they were sold out. Then we had dinner, returned the car, bought Zengji Mochi, and took the Puyuma back to Taipei.

Nangang Train Station

After arriving in Taipei, I rented a car to take Nina home first. When going to pick up the car, Nina started swaying left and right at the street corner. When I asked her what was wrong, she said: "Let's dance~ just dance randomly~" (Cheer Chen)