First Time Visits To Yilan

Biking Trails, Yilan City

Dragon Boat weekend is around the corner and several sets of friends from Tainan, Taichung and Taipei are asking me the same questions. If you have never been to Yilan before than there are some "must sees" but you'll have to deal with crowds from Taipei. Holiday traffic really can take the joy out of a commute, as many of the roads into the beautiful mountains for fun in rivers, lakes or on the trail are one lane nightmares. Best to know where you're going, how your'e going and go early. Scooters rent out fast.

If you have absolutely never been to Yilan before than consider what activities you want to do. I wrote a post about visiting Yilan before and this has specific info on how to get to Yilan and some of the same restaurants I mentioned here (although Piggy's is since gone).

1. Wai'ao for Surfing or Hanging at the Beach (Easy Day trip from Taipei)

If you want to rent a surfboard than stay in Wai'ao. Rent a board at Super George Surf who is active with the local community elementary school kids in Toucheng. There is cheap accommodation and boards at Rising Sun Surf Inn, where you can camp and use their showers (because they are always booked), or try the Hi Surf. Either way check out the pizza and live music at Drifter's run by two California surfers. Many of these expat/surfers have regular beach cleanups (followed by a party) so check their Facebook events. You can also hang-glide from the mountain backdrop onto the beach. If accommodation is booked, stay in Jiaoxi or Toucheng.

Yilan County Government Building

2. Fulong (Easy Day Trip from Taipei)

Fulong is closer to Taipei so expect the crowds.  It's one of the only places in Taiwan, besides Kenting where you don't have the slate grey beaches, but golden sands. You can also rent a surf board (better waves in Wao'ao) or a SUP. For a more budget friendly option, rent a bike and circle the 27 km cape (beware the sun! Read my post on me biking the cape with my daughter). There is also the famous Caoling Historic trail you can start this hike at the next train station north of Fulong. If you are a diver there are some wicked sites my coworker frequents. Contact Canadian owned diving shop ScuBar. Nigel is a friend of a couple of my friends, I don't know him personally but he answered my questions quickly when I was considering getting my daughter certified.

3. Jiaoxi 

I would recommend to stay in Jiaoxi your first time in Yilan as there are loads of accommodation options, and all the hotels have natural mineral water pumped into their bathrooms. The best way to get here from Taipei is by bus (90NT.) Its an easy train ride from Jiaoxi to the beach in Wai'ao (3 stops north) and a nice scooter ride into the mountains in Yuanshan if you have time. Check the availability at Atayal Xiang BnB. I stayed here before when my parents visited, and Paul the owner (also a surfer) will go out of his way to make his guests feel welcomed, providing taxis and car rentals and tips for sightseeing.

The Wofongci waterfalls are a must-see. Tour buses come here so beware. If you are driving there is a nice big parking lot next to a beautiful grassy river. Its a great place to cool off after a sweaty 20 minute walk to the last platform of waterfalls. If you have time and are fit enough try the other trail to the more remote waterfalls. Its not recommended for small children. I actually did this with my daughter and my friend and his family, and at the last pool we had to leave our kids with his wife as the last 100 meters were too Indiana Jones for even the 12 year old.

Other fun things to do in Jiaoxi are to hit the fish foot spas and hot springs. Hot springs don't sound so fun in summer, but many of the spas have cooler water pools as well as hot ones. In summer, if you have kids do not miss the Art Spa Hotel. They are a 5 minute walk around the corner from Jiaoxi train station and have a 4 story winding water slide that is super fun for adults too. They also have a  playground submerged in a kiddy pool that is in viewing of the adults cool water bubble spas. A win-win for everyone in the family. If you need saunas or piping hot herbal baths they have this too.

For ladies in the winter, I recommend the Japanese style hot springs up the path from the public baths. Its almost exclusively outdoors ad hidden behind bamboos and trees and blissfully relaxing. They have a freezing cold pool, tepid and piping hot pools. Accommodation in Jiaoxi range from big hotels near the station, to smaller boutique like inns, to chain hotels like the Evergreen. But the top place to stay, if you have the money and want something romantic, with the top swimming pools and spas with sublime views of the mountains is the Royal Chiaohsi Hotel. They are just down the road from the waterfalls.

Ok let's say you've done Wai'ao and Jiaoxi before and want to see a different side to Yilan. Where do you go?

Jimmy Park, Yilan City

4. Loudong

Ten minutes out of this city, the suburbs of Loudong are over run with BnBs and minsus. Many of these places provide bikes and there are paths amid green rice paddies with the blue mountains in the bakground. Take your pick of places. My Australian friend has a place right outside Loudong city. There is Plum Blossom Lake, Renshan Botanic Gardens, several short hikes to waterfalls, tea picking and if you like crowds, the Loudong Night Market. Visiting Suo'ao and the cold springs and the beach at Nanfang'au is an easy 20 minute drive from here. If you are sick of Taiwanese food try Spice Land.

5. Yuanshan

Its ten minutes into the mountains from Yilan city and has several lakes, rivers, hiking and fishing to get off the beaten track. More tour buses are starting to discover here and roads are one laners so come early. Better yet, rent a scooter from Yilan station and check it out. Follow the river, park off the road, hike into the emptiness and pitch a tent, but beware of snakes.

If you have more time for more waterfalls and hikes, check out "Yilan Whats Not to Do"

6. Yilan City

There's not so much to do in the city per say, but it does have some great restaurants and is a central location to use as a base to explore Wai'ao and Jiaoxi to the north and Loudong and Su'ao to the south, as well as Yuanshan inland and the lonlier beach and beach bike paths of Zhuangwei.

Some great places to eat for Western Food is Slobber, just a ten minute walk from the train station, and the French restaurant Le Temps, across from the station and adjacent to Jimmy Park. Next to them is the very slow Cafe Slow Train with their delicious sandwiches and beers. If you have your own transportation, than drive or take a taxi to Balagov's Ukrainian Cafe, Tavola's for Italian, Little Mexico and the Japanese colonial Le Grand Bleu in front of Luna Plaza. Luna Plaza itself has budget dining on B1 (like Sushi Express,KFCs and lots of Taiwanese shops) and higher end dining on the 4th floor (Tasty's, Cafe Grazzi, etc.)

There are cheap hotels across from the train station as well as the Hero Hotel between Yilan Train station and the University. I've seen Taipei families "camp" on the grass of Yilan Sports Park and if that's possible, I don't see why you couldn't pitch a tent at the more sublime grounds of the Yilan County Government Building.

If camping is your thing there are "official" sites outside Loudong as well as unofficial, North American style spots (for a future post.)

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day was categorically a weekend and not just a Sunday, at least I started getting the stipulated greetings and carnations starting Friday eve. My first gift came last Sunday, my Uni student hand made me this incredible shoulder bag. The fabric fits my personal tastes in color and design to a tee. I still can't believe she made it. I'm happily surprised she judged my preferences so well.

My lovely one of a kind bag, leather and printed canvas

 My weekend started Friday night after my tutoring, when I am at my energy's lowest ebb. I dragged my kid and I to the Sports Park for an hour Hiit followed by 30 minutes boxing, sparring with partners. My TRX teacher provides this on the side of working at various gyms. Its exactly what I need because I resist it so much at that end of the week/evening time.

Saturday morning I woke at the crack of dawn and took my kid and I to Wai'ao beach to catch a yoga class. It was part of a bigger weekend retreat that was organized by the radiant  Mind Body Yoga at the Rising Sun Surf Inn. I obviously couldn't live in a dorm for the weekend, but the instructor was open and kind  and invited me to drop in for any of the asana classes. We missed the 6:20 train to Wai'ao and drove, making the 7:30 class right on time. Z played near the rocks and we vinyasa-ed with the waves.

Dancer's Pose with a partner

It was uncharacteristically hot for 8 am in Yilan,we were all sweating profusely and I stripped down into a swim suit at first opportunity. We had to end our pranayama (breathing) exercises on the boardwalk under the shade. Z and I frolicked a bit on the beach and headed back to Tainan, it was too hot. Fortunately in typical Yilan fashion, it cooled off with a rain.  The rest of my day was spent in my hammock.

I received a postcard from Z in the mail. She illustrated a triune picture of this Rose with massive thorns (our relationship) what was me in the center with chili peppers/horns in my hair and a mysterious flower. How strange she said that was me, I told her, "Its you, not me with the yellow hair and bangs." She still hasn't completely differentiated herself from me. This dance of her dependence and self's need for independence. She wrote about surviving our "2 hell trains," the 15 hour train in Burma that stopped in the middle of the tracks for hours and the more recent day trip to Taitung and back (see previous post.) She wrote, "I made it because you were with me." My heart is still gushing.

Then Sunday at church more carnations and a gift. Z was moved to give me an exceptionally long and tear filled hug, her head hidden in my chest under my arms. She's always on the move and unless one of us asks for a hug, we don't usually cuddle until bed time. So that voluptuous hug was gratifying.

 

A luxuriously long and late lunch at the French Bistro Le Temps, which had a special course for Mother's Day was in order. Z shared my plates with me, except for her own dessert, black sesame tarts. We were perfectly satisfied from the fresh, organic produce and contented with each other's company.

Mother's Day, Le Temps

 I have this past year or half year feel like she and I in our relationship are in a golden period, the eye of a storm. Its as if a light bulb went on in her head recently that she actually understands what I am talking about. I think even when she was in 1st grade or 2nd grade I was still speaking gibberish, like a Peanuts cartoon, she even didn't really understand the concept of lying. It wasn't easy for me because when I was 4 or 5 I had a clear moral understanding of what was wrong or right, especially with things like just for example, lying. Because of this sort of jump in her EQ (thank God) communication has been so much easier and gratifying than years past. Big sigh. Not only that but her lifelong prayer for a Dad has lost its teeth in intensity. I think after dating AJ and then breaking that off, she can see for herself that its better for her and me to be alone than with the wrong person. Thankfully this lesson was learned with a real nice friend.

 

I just pray she continues to grow in wisdom and grace especially as the teen years are right around the corner. I've begun to "batten down the hatches" on an inner level, mainly by trying to utterly enjoy this stage she is right now.

Z playing with pigeons draws the customary crowd outside Le Temps

Dreams in the Sky

Finally the Yilan rains stopped, and just in time. What a relief to see a blue sky. Z had been looking forward to this day as it was a holiday devoted entirely to kids.

We spent Saturday by the beach  for Rising Sun Surf Inn's hosting the "Kids' Dreams In The Sky Charity 鯉想啟程 2015 神戸スイミープロジェク", celebrating the Japanese holiday of Koinobori.



We (the kids and some of us adults) wrote our hopes and dreams on 3 enormous koinobori kites that were later hoisted into the sky. There was theater, aboriginal dancing, a magician. It was a mellow way to celebrate a long awaited blue sky.

I saw new friends we made at last month's beach clean up. I also ran into Paul whose Bed and Breakfast we stayed at when my folks were in Taiwan (see Waterfalls and Dolphins). He like a few of the surfers I met, kindly offered to teach us surfing anytime, just send him a text, so I intend to do just that. I might of written on my carp streamer, "to really nail surfing down this summer" but I didn't.

I wrote something about the restoration of a dream, some dream of mine left on the back burner for so long I don't even know what it is anymore. It's faded into fantasy, wishful thinking- a trivial pursuit. I think I had lots of those once-dreams. But lately I've realized dreams aren't so inconsequential and I am dead serious about finding them again. As far as I am concerned having a dream bigger than myself is a matter of life or death.

 As for my daughter, I asked her what she wrote, assuming it would be trivial (obviously because I was at that moment trite) and quickly regretted asking when she gave me her blunt answer. The same old wound, knife in my belly, bruise in her heart. "I wrote I wish I had a Dad." Oh! My airy fairy balloon burst for a moment. And then we were both united in this instant of intense significant, silent Truth. Kids certainly 'keep it real'. But unlike previous times when that old grief, her archetypal distress of fatherlessness needed to be held and rocked and soothed, this time she was clear eyed, matter of fact, resolute with her hope and poised with this enigmatic smile.  I wish I could have some of her unwavering hope. The one thing she desperately wants is something I could not of my own control, begin to secure for her, let alone seek out.

 She also told me of what she saw written by another child whose tender message of hope and fear tugged at her heart. Some sweet child had written, "Please don't let my Mom and Dad get a divorce." Seems common place or sadly ordinary right? Not to me, the moment was by now, charged with meaning.These kids are a million times more articulate and emotionally exposed and just in touch with themselves than I am. It was an unexpected schooling to be thrust in front of this kind of mirror and see my lost and hazy reflection. I'm so out of touch with my own inner kid who essentially is a dreamer. How did I get so all around utterly inaccessible? How could I stop dreaming?

Z was thoroughly enjoying herself at today's "kids dreams in the sky" Koinobori activities.

Posted by Kathy Benavides on Saturday, March 28, 2015