Taiwan

Yehliu Geopark in Nothern Taiwan - hoodoo stones and Belorussian ladies in swimsuits

Yehliu (野柳) is a cape on the north coast of Taiwan in the town of Wanli between Taipei and Keelung.
View Larger Map It's another yet choice for a visit, while you are in northern Taiwan. Most interesting here of course is so called hoodoo stones - all of them are formed by nature, and as a brand, or if you want - front symbol of this park is a stone called The Queen's Head (女王頭). It's a central element of the park, and if you come at weekend, you will need stand in a row (!) just to take a picture of it.



But let's start with "A" (Sesame street comes in mind, with cookie monster and others). Here is how the area looms looks like when you arrive:



Left side then is an entrance to stone park, and the blue building is a place where some guys (I was told that they are from Belorussia), performs some water show elements, dolphin shows take place and downstairs there is a live sea world exposition. Well, and of course there is a lot of restaurant's for sea food. Eating is important in Taiwan, remember it.





As you can see mostly all are restaurants.



My suggestion is to visit this one.



Host will quickly come to accept your order, but will not like to take a pictures. As I already said in post about rules for choosing a places to eat in Taiwan, do not look at interior of restaurants in Taiwan - never. Quality of food does not relates to that at all. Instead, look at how many people are inside.



Start with a appetizers. (do you want beer already?)





Sashimi (how to spell it correct?) is especially fresh and tasty here. It's reall a one you can say - you can swallow your tongue while eating it.



Also fresh shrimps





Kind of fish soup, I can't name it, but also have tofu inside



Octopus



Lobster



shi ban yu fish (石斑魚)

Now, once you are full (tzi ba la - remember say it in chinese), you can move forward to sea underground sea world and Belorussian ladies in swimsuits.



Of course admission is paid. Here's a price list. Synchronized Swimming Show is a ladies about I told before.

Show will start with a guy's climbing up the pole to perform a jump in the water





Taiwan flag vs Russian jumper

Later on, the swimsuits show:





... and then dolphins finally









...after the show, you can go downstairs to see all the live sea world. There are English annotations for each fish, so it can be interesting experience.

Catfish, lives in Nile river in Africa.







Dragon King Scorpionfish. Body color can be changed according circumstances.











Now, you are really ready to go to see stones



If you come here at weekend, you will not have a chance to make stones photos only. Humans on them will come in set.



The cape, known by geologists as the Yehliu Promontory, forms part of the Taliao Miocene Formation. It stretches approximately 1,700 meters into the ocean and was formed as geological forces pushed Datun Mountain (大屯山) out of the sea



A distinctive feature of the cape is the hoodoo stones that dot its surface.



These shapes can be viewed at the Yeliu Geopark operated by the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration.



Shame on me, but I was so busy to try make this monument along with sunset, that I forgot to check who's monument it is :(.



A number of rock formations have been given imaginative names based on their shapes.



The most well-known is the "The Queen's Head" (女王頭), an iconic image in Taiwan and an unofficial emblem for the town of Wanli.



Other formations include "The Fairy Shoe", "The Bee Hive", "The Ginger Rocks" and "The Sea Candles."





Evening mood in Yehliu - soon it's going to be dark already.

Jioufen - mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, Taiwan.

For those, who live in Taipei, or Taoyuen, and not yet visited this place - try to get there once you have a time. Besides night market (of course, what else), there is pure charm of those Japanese era architectures and houses.

Jioufen was only an isolated village until 1893, when gold was discovered in the area. The resulting gold rush hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule.

Tell me fast, what's annoying there? Yes, 7ELEVEN sign. Just same annoying as in Fenchihu train station old town (also featured in my blog). Many present features of Jioufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization, with many Japanese inns surviving to this day.



Jioufen, also known as Jiufen or Chiufen (Chinese: 九份; pinyin: Jiǔfèn; Wade-Giles: Chiu3-fen4), is a mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, Taiwan.


View Larger Map

The street runs through most of the village with a multitude of food such as yam dishes, stinky tofu and other local specialties such as peitou meatballs and mixed vegetables topped with peanut powder and ice cream.





Street is cramped with shops, eateries, homestays and restaurants and widely decorated by red lanterns.



Meat balls



Juice stand here. Jioufen sometimes also is referred as "Little Shanghai".



There are also restaurants, street stalls and dessert shops that provide a plethora of gourmet indulgences.



And that's the "nose problem" for a novice foreigner in Taiwan - stinky or tzo tofu. Later you will adapt to this smell, and finally also you will eat it. By the way trust me - it's taste is far better than it's smell. Well, one thing I am not sure - how about living in a flat, with a windows just above tzo tofu vendor?



Northern Taiwan snack - fried fish powder.



And that's tou gan - similar to tofu food. From soybeans.



Dry sweet fruits.



Not everyone thinks that need keep nostalgic japanese era and gold rush mood here. How about those neon "restaurant" signs? But the restaurant (and homestay at second floor) is not bad, however, expensive. We had a dinner there - for this price you get good food.



Shoes, Chinese brushes and scrolls, jewelries, toys and souvenir of all sorts will be offered you in a hectic way, because you look like a tourist. Hint - do you know how to DO NOT look like a foreigner in Taiwan? my suggestions: - Do speak louder as you usually did; - Do wear a striped T-shirt (not Hawai style); - Do not wear those shorts a-la travel style with big pockets - wear jeans instead; - Keep a tea in hand; - Ask your girlfriend take Louis Vouitton bag; - Use mobile phone when making pictures; - Overreact on fireworks, and try to make video of them using mobile phone; - Wear bluetooth even if you do not drive; - When someone is talking with on phone, instead of "I see" say - 'aa-- haa haaa --- aaaa - aaa -- aaa --- long string of those sounds and end it by "dzangzi la (that's all). - In winter dress more as you would usually do at this temperatures before.



Anyway, those shops still are waiting you buy something



Chinese fast food - noodles, dumplings, soup and the like



Heavy "discounts" today for nuts. I suppose, like for any other retailer, discounts here are 365 days a year. And for you only.



Tea shops in Taiwan always will be happy to sit down with and offer tea. You will drink, and finally buy. A lot. It's a marketing & sales trick called return the favor. Can you after a drinking tea with host go away without buying anything?



If you come too late, like after 9:30 - you see most of shops will be already closed



Gold museum down there

Luodong night market in Yilan county, North-East Taiwan

It was much bigger as I was expecting to see. It was much more impressive, vibrant atmosphere surrounded and there was much bigger selection on food than you would expect from regular nightmarket allover Taiwan.
It's just same impressive, and maybe even bigger than Fengchia nightmarket in Taichung, located nearby my flat. Definitely, Luodongers can be same proud and self-acclaim it as biggest and most popular tourist attraction as sometimes Taichungers do with Fengchia nightmarket.

Luodong (traditional Chinese: 羅東; pinyin: Luódōng; Wade-Giles: Lo-tung) is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan. Its name derives from the Taiwanese aboriginal word Rutung/Lutung, meaning "monkey".





Same as in Fengchia nightmarket, and in most big nightmarkets in Taiwan - it has several parts. As you might know, night market is "night" because it appears on a particular street only in evening, so it will be always a situation that one side will have a shops - inside the buildings, usually selling clothes, glasses and jewelry, and in front of them - food sellers and all the usual shelters selling everything starting from fake Gucci bags made in China and ending children toys, also presumable from mainland. This part of market for you as a foreigner might be less interesting, however, take a walk to breath the atmosphere of friday evening in Luodong - food smell rises in the air mixed with loud voices of clothes sellers - a cacophony of sounds you will find only in Taiwan. Take a walk with me - watch the below video and especially listen the noise - NOISE of nightmarket.





In old fashioned brick-and-mortar business the location is the most important factor for any retail shop. So for this shop promotional banner with weak call to action is OK, to write by hand - as you can see still it's full of people there.



Shoes & apparel shops compete with each other not only using bright red signs but also sometimes switch on very loud "lai lai lai (come come come) recorded voice "spam" - very annoying in fact.



It's the woman's world out here.



Target customer for those apparel shops are teens and students - as you can see they are also most popular demographic group seen here.





it's a food selling area already in above video. In 0:19 and further notice the row - waiting in a line for dumplings stand.



Juice stand



Call to action for kids - entertainment here for everyone, and you will go out from market with very thin wallet. However, with full stomach.



Lu wei - same as in Fengchia night market and everywhere else. Taiwan people like it a lot, and with various flavors.



different fried food selection





Dumplings. Cheaper than in Fengchia nightmarket. And even more cheaper than in Kenting nightmarket - I had wrote about it here.





Kiss of Love cherry juice. No, it's not pathetic. It's Taiwan.





I can't stop wonder why Taiwanese man so like those striped shirts? My all are with palms and flowers, like those in Kenting...



Restaurant area in Luodong night market - yes, crowdy. But, it's a nightmarket!



Friday night - it's hard to find a place to sit.

















Time to relax. Luodong style massage.





Those games are not just for kids - for big kids also. In love. After Kiss of Love cherry juice.

Aodi fishing village in Gongliao Township, Northern Taiwan

Fulong Beach visit will not be complete, if you do not visit Yuan-Wuang-Keng River side park, and - a great sea food restaurant in Aodi fishing village.
As I already mentioned in one of my previous posts about rules for choosing a good restaurant in Taiwan - a really famous and good restaurants in Taiwan rarely has modern outlook or neonlight signs towering on 100m heights like LG brand for eyeball purposes only and brand promotion. Best restaurants serving most tasty food have no english signs, no new buildings and are not featured in Lonely Planet guide - this is why i try to post most of them in my blog - under Food and Drink Category mostly. 
Hei Bai Mau Shau Chi restaurant in Aodi - is a perfect example of what I always try to say - just this sign & and ordinary building:





As you can see no place to sit, no chance to get free table - it's a sign that great food here.







Rice cooker - slightly bigger than a one in your kitchen.



Chao Mien - fried noodles with Mu-Er (brown one).



Fish here is very tasty and fresh - owner of restaurant says, that they have their own boat - they catch the fish themselves and so they always can keep it fresh.



Shrimp



It's safe to eat this sashimi - as I told above, fish really is very fresh here.



Tubule - taste a bit sweet, but delicious.



Octopus



Caviar



Water Spinach - a must try one - extremely delicious here.



Bamboo salad - for me too sweet, but, it's a question of taste.

It appears that Aodi is really most famous for their sea food restaurants - here is what Wikipedia says about this place:
Aodi (sometimes Audi, Aoti, Auti) is a small fishing village in Gongliao Township, Taipei County, in the Northeast corner of the island of Taiwan. It is a popular tourist destination owing to its scenic setting and many seafood restaurants. It is also close to the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP), under construction since 1996. A nearby beach, Yenliao, was the site of the first landing for the occupation of Taiwan (Formosa) by Japanese forces (1895).

Yuan-Wuang-Keng Riverside park - Northern Taiwan, near Gongliao Township

Fulong beach and all Northern Taiwan areas are not for everyone - well, at least for me - a big lover of western and southern parts of Taiwan. However Fulong beach is a place you will sooner or later visit, and then what I want to suggest you - it's a brief rest in Yuan-Wuang-Keng park, also known as Butterfly Ginger Park.
What's really interesting here, and as you will see below in photos - designers tried to use a natural materials to build the park, and also did not touched anything - even the rice fields and houses are left untouched.
The riverbank, the trails, even the park benches were all built with stones of different sizes and shapes. The water pond was brought in directly from the Yuankeng River with a specially designed pavilion and an arched bridge that elegantly arcs above the pond. The wild ginger flowers along the riverbank and the parking lot's greenery blossom from summer to October.
The Yuanwangkeng Water Park is also an ideal place for those who enjoy hiking, as it is located near the grass track. In November, the park is awash in white due to the blooming wild sugarcane.



It's really not big at all, and if you come at weekdays, I suppose it will be silence there as well.

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Old living house are here and park stretches just in front of it. It's interesting, what those people think - you live and live, and then one day you wake up and find your self in a park.







Small river here





Kids having fun at water pumps





Evening mood in Yuan-Wuang-Keng Riverside park

Fulong beach in Gongliao Township, Taipei County, North East Taiwan - where is the promised golden sands?

I am risking to appear spoiled and impolite - but where is the "promised" golden sands and impressive views?
Maybe it's a long long traffic jam, we were stacked at this Dragon boat festival holidays, or maybe my fanatical devotion to Kenting, but I was disappointed for what I saw. Maybe first time I say about something in Taiwan like that, and I hope last time also.
Impersonal Wikipedia says, that there is golden sands... click on a link to see their picture.
Well, what we saw, is just posted below.





Sand was in fact close to dark brown and quite dirty - far from one you can see in Kenting. OK, it's Nothern Taiwan, and one of rear beaches there but still...

and then this temple just near parking:



Well, IMHO, when you want to see temples, you go to temples, and when you want to enjoy sea views, palms, bikinis and surfers - a large temple is a last what you expect to see... at least for me so. By the way I did not went in - maybe it's not a temple at all? Someone was there?

OK, waves - those who are surfers for sure will enjoy them. Waves are really great there.