Day 5 is the day that we move to Hualian. We checked out the hotel at Fengjia and took the Gao Tie from Taichung to Taipei. At the Taipei Main Station, we took a train (自强号火车) to Hualian. We had pre-booked these tickets online to avoid the tickets being sold out in advanced. The ticket was NT$418 per person. We took the 1.10pm train and reached Hualian at 3.29pm.
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| 自强号火车 Tickets |
The cabin of
自强号火车 is very clean and comfortable. It is better to get the tickets with the seat number so that you don't have to get up when someone with the seat number comes along. I can't remember whether this is still the case now. Well, in the cabin, you can buy some meals and drinks from the people pushing a cart. You can also enjoy the meals and drinks that you have purchased outside.
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| 自强号火车 |
At around 3.30pm, we arrived at the Hualian (Hualien) station. We were supposed to meet the driver of the Minsu at the entrance. However, we did not see the driver and had waited there for about 30 minutes. In the end, the Minsu's owner called us that they had been waiting for us for about 30 minutes. We realised that there are two exits in this station. We had waited at the wrong exit. We took our luggages and told the station master that we had exited the wrong gate and he kindly let us through the gate again so that we could cross under the track to the other exit.
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| Welcome to Hualien |
We had been searching for this Volkswagen bus Type 1 at the wrong exit. Finally, we saw it when we exited the correct gate.
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| Volkswagen Bus Type 1 |
The owner, Ah Cheng, had pimped the interior of the Volkswagen Type 1 bus and it was very comfortable to sit in. The ride can be jerky at times, however, the Minsu is just only less than 10 minutes ride from the train station.
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| Volkswagon Bus |
You will arrive at the
Echo Villa 回音谷民宿 after 10 minutes. It is located in a private residential area. The owner actually lives here or nearby. He is actually expanding the Minsu. There is a trail into the forest where there is a very small waterfall. We didn't get to see the waterfall as it was quite late when we arrived. We had intended to explore the area in the next Monday but it was too comfortable to get out of the room that we missed the trail again. Never mind, we might return another day.
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| 回音谷民宿 |
The exterior of the Minsu is quite nice and the owner had spent quite a lot of effort to make it tranquil and picturesque. You will enjoy taking photographs with the backdrops. You will definitely use up many megabytes of memory in your smartphone or SDCards.
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| Exterior of 回音谷民宿 |
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| Exterior of 回音谷民宿 |
The owner, Ah Cheng, likes vintage Volkswagen that he has another Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle). It is a yellow Beetle and it is parked outside the Minsu. I think you can ask Ah Cheng to give you a ride or maybe borrow the Beetle for a spin. I didn't ask so don't quote me...
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| The Yellow Volkswagen Beetle |
Managed to get a panoramic view of the exterior of Echo Villa with the yellow Beetle. Isn't it nice?
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| Panoramic view of Echo Villa |
The exterior is already picturesque, just imagine the interior will be. It is even better than the exterior. The furnishing gives you a warm, heartening feeling that makes you feel that you are at home. The full height glass window let you get close to the nature. Ah Cheng mentioned that you might see monkeys coming towards the glass windows during the day.
Check out
Day 6.
