Ring in the New Year in Yilan? Possibly Maybe

Still haven't made any plans for our upcoming 4 day weekend? I'm undecided myself. Should I stay or make the journey south to Tainan and see old friends. If you're undecided,  then take a chance on Yilan.


 In case a nightlife is your scene then save your trip to Yilan for another time. There is none of that. But you could catch the first morning light of the new year at Su-ao overlooking the Pacific at 6:37am. There are several coffee shops overlooking the beach.

You will find more accommodation options in Jiaoxi as its tailored to Taipei weekend goers who want some hot spring waters in their bathtubs.  However there are some hotels in Yilan City too.

Across from Yilan Train Station

Getting here:
Driving from Southern Taiwan, there are several options, either way you will come through some of of Taiwan's and Asia's longest tunnels.

From Taipei: The buses (Capitol Star and Kamalan) are faster than the train unless you get on the fastest train that goes to Hualien. Tickets are sold out by now, you can go still, but you'll be standing in the aisles. The bus from Taipei Main Station and City Hall, leave every 15 minutes and is around 120NT and the drive is around 70 minutes. The bus depot in Yilan is behind the train station, you'll need to take a taxi or rent a scooter to your hotel. Even with a valid car driver's license, foreigners can only rent the smallest scooter, you need a scooter license to rent bigger scooters.

Balagov's Ukrainian Cafe

Where to eat:
Of course Yilan City looks like any city in Taiwan, you can find noodles, dumplings, rice boxes anywhere. But if you want a real treat head to Mr. Balagov's Cafe (Guava Dog in Chinese) for homemade healthy Ukrainian food. The space itself is gorgeous with Ukrainian knickknacks, wall stencils, every corner has some folk art that Sergei the owner brought back with him. He is an interesting dude, having lived in Brooklyn for years, his English is excellent and his wife is aboriginal so she of course also speaks Mandarin. She has helped me out when I needed to find something in Yilan.  I go there once a week as a treat and often buy a bottle of Kvass to last me during the week, sometimes I splurge and buy a loaf of rye break or homemade Ukrainian sausage. My favorite meal is the set meal with meatballs and mashed potatoes that includes borscht soup, kvass and apple cake. He also serves Turkish coffee and sheesha, should that tickle your fancy. The homemade  blueberry and mint ice-cream with crepes are also good. Definately wash your meal down with a big bottle of thirst quenching Russian beer. You wont reget coming here. What never fails to astound me are the local tour buses and crowds that head to the mediocre place next door. Taiwanese tourists come to Balagov's to take photos of their gorgeous little garden and cottage and then eat at the bland run of the  mill Taiwanese place, passing over a local treasure. Don't make the same mistake.

If you want to eat Italian,Thai, Sushi Express or go to Tasty's head to Lunar Plaza, the local mall. There is also a Carrefore in the basment and parking, which is a royal pain if you are driving a car.

Beer at Piggy's

Other recommendations are Awesome Burger which is like a mom and pop TGIF set up. They have a peanut butter burger which I havent had the desire to try, tho I love peanut butter. My kid likes the bacon cheese burger and onion rings. I also like Piggy's Bar for their jalapeno poppers and Mexican lasgana. Their beer list is amazing, you can get a variety of Canadian ales, lagers and stouts some of them organic. If you are in Loudong (checking out the nearby waterfalls or Botanic Gardens), you can eat Indian at Spice Land , definitely for Taiwanese palate,so ask for hotter curry. The naan bread is too starchy for me, but the sweet, coconut naan is a great post hike pick me up. I recommend  the chai coffee, and pineapple chutney with scones are amazing. In Loudong you can have an organic brunch at Light Brunch and Cafe (03-954-3397). There is also a dynamic duo who drives around Yilan County and makes custom pizzas out of their truck which has a built in stone oven. Sunday they are in Touchung, Wednesday they're in Nanfang'ao, Thursday in Jiaoxi, Friday in Zuangwei, and Saturday in Su'ao (0963-623210). There is also Tavola's, and Brown Taffy, which I still need to check out.

Biking along Yilan Riverside Park

Where to workout:
Yilan Sports Park has a weight room, track, outdoor rings, parallel bars and huge rollerblading rink. You can also rent a bike hit a trail and bike on a bike path all the way to Loudong Sports Park. There is an indoor pool.. You can hit 3 hiking trails in Jiaoxi near the waterfalls or outside Su'ao. You can also run the stairs and so some yoga at Yilan County Government Building. The green field looks great for a run, but the ground is treacherously uneven under the thick grass. Better to run at the empty track at Yilan sports park or any of the bike trails. You can pick up a detailed map of all the bike trails at the Tourist info center at Yilan Train station.

What to do:
It will probably be cold, so warm up in the hot springs, Jiaoxi, Fanfan or in Taipingshan. If its not raining, bike along the coast or head to any of the lakes and rent bikes. Jiaoxi, Nanao and Loudong have some great waterfalls (see my post "Whats Not There To Do Here").

If its raining, you can still enjoy the hot springs, but there is also a local brewery, honey museum and farms galore.

What Taiwanese tourists do when they arrive at Yilan is take photos of the train station, and across the train station is a hanging train which I suppose is interesting in its own way. What is also standard is hitting the night market in Yilan (Dongmen Night Market) and Loudong. I'm over night markets, they seem to be all the same to me, but there is a guy in Yilan,"The Watermelon Prince" who has a stand near the bridge and he sells the freshest juices. Other than that, its just like any other night market, dumplings, stinky tofu, greasy and fried anything. The morning market in Yilan is far more interesting.

I might of convinced myself to stay here and relax.

Welcome to Yilan, What's not there to do here?

I updated this section as of June 2016 to add links to other trails, waterfalls, we since have explored.

Nanao Township, Yilan

I've been living in Yilan now for two months and am loving it here. My friend from Tainan came up to visit his wife's family in Yilan and of course we met up. Our biggest obstacle was figuring out which beach, mountain, hot springs, river, lake to spend the day with our kids.

I have a nice map from the very reliable, efficient, English speaking Tourist info center outside the Yilan train station and I've been studying it, ticking off places as I go, asking my new workers their recommendations  and enjoying the pristine outdoors.

Beaches:
I already went to Wulai Beach (see previous post Little Gems) and have been so busy exploring Yilan county, I haven't time to return except last Sunday to see how the coming typhoon was affecting the waves. (The beach patrol wouldn't let us on the beach, so we just admired from afar.)

Yongzhen Park and Trail

Having come from Anping and living literally a two minute scooter ride from the beach, I had to go to the closest beach to me. Its called Yongzhen Seaside Park and its just a 5 minute drive from my work here in  Zhuangwei. There is a nice bike path that goes along the beach. The sand was nice, grey and surprisingly clean. There were breakers that ruined the views down the beach that stretched out into forever in both directions, but this area gets hit pretty hard by typhoons.The beach was empty as it was ghost month when I went. There was a beach patrol station that was probably on freak out mode because we seemed to go far into the waves, but the water was quite shallow. I need to go back and see if people use it since ghost month, bring our bikes and explore that path.

Neipei Beach from the Suhua Highway

I was not expecting Neipei Beach outside Suao to be so stunning. There is no sand, just small pebbles and stones, but the surrounding rocks are gorgeous and the beach is  long enough for us to find some quiet alone time far from the crowds. There are cafes and simple restaurants are on one end for a quick pick me up. The other end has rocks and places to picnic in the shade of a cliff. On a holiday weekend, we had the entire Pacific, at least this bit to ourselves.

My beach list includes is returning to Wulai for surfing and sunrise yoga and to explore Beigan Tidal Park and the Wushibi coast.

Trails
There is a trail outside Nanfang'ao. Just park your car across from the massive pool. At the top are amazing views of the Yilan coast, picnic tables, hammocks. I am thinking it would make a great camping spot.

Yilan Coast view from a hike

The Linmei Shihpan Trail (林美石磐薄荷烤雞餐廳) is simple, about an hour loop with a pretty little waterfall. There is one set of verticle trails, but other than that is a perfect trail for young children.

There is also the Caoling Historic Trail,  various trails in Taipingshan National Park (behind Taroko), and in Yuanshan Township.

Gardens:

View from Renshan Gardens

Between Loudong and Suao is the Renshan Botanic Garden (宜蘭仁山植物園). It was nothing what I expected. I expected something like the Botanic Gardens in Taipei or Denver, but this place was huge. I think we entered it wrong and before we knew it, we were doing some hardcore hiking with little water or preparation, The grounds are massive.

We didnt see a single soul for hours until the end. The French and English style gardens were in the bare minimalist style, nothing was in bloom, but we saw macaques,and  alien looking spiders. The view from Renshan to Turtle island with the verdant, fertile valley of the Yilan plain is the quintessential picture of Yilan.

On my garden list to do is explore the Fushan Botanical Gardens west of Yilan City in Yuanshan, which requires a special permit.

Waterfalls:
I went twice to the famous Wufongqi waterfalls and returned to that area and hiked another trail to the more impressive, hard to get to Yuemeikeng Waterfalls.

Outside Loudong there are two waterfalls the upkept Xinliao Waterfalls down the road from the Renshan Botanic Gardens.

Xinliao Waterfalls

Down the road is the less impressive Jiulio Waterfalls, but because they were empty and we were the only ones there, I liked having it all to myself. The trail hasnt been taken care of, but its a nice path, overgrown and neglected. The pool is shallow but enjoyable enough for kids. Standing under the falls for a neck massage is a nice treat.

Jiulio Falls

Aohua Falls

There are so many waterfalls in the area, I'm learning about more all the time. The most impressive were south of Nan-ao called the Aohua Waterfalls outside the little aboriginal village of the same name. The pool is massive, the falls are massive. The brave can climb the slippery wall and jump into the cold, mineral abyss.

Linmei Shipah Waterfall

Lakes:
The first lake I went to here was Longtan Lake. It was recommended by my coworker Steve who helped me get a job and my first apartment in Yilan. This lake is conveniently close to Yilan, we went by scooter. We rented bikes, it was casual. Unfortunately cars can drive around the one lane which is dangerous and noisy, especially with so many bikers, joggers and walkers. I've been meaning to return with a yoga mat and a picnic basket.

Longtan Lake

The second lake I went to also conveniently close to Yilan City is Plum Blossom (Mei Hua) Lake. Its more crowded with numerous bike outfitters to rent the most outrageous bikes. There were side by side 2 and 4 seaters, of course electric bikes. I saw a bike with  4-5 seats in the shape of a Cinderella carriage.

Meihua Lake

There are many lakes I hope to check out, some include difficult hikes. I'm still working on a list. Yuanshan has several lakes with hikes and fishing.

Meihua Lake

Parks:
Conveniently right by my home is the massive Yilan Sport's Park. There is a track, Olympic size outdoor pool, weight room, rollerblading track and outside gymnasium. Not to mention fireflies at night. Loudong's Sports Park is supposedly better, but I'm satisfied with the one outside my front door.

Yilan Sport Park

We thoroughly are enjoying Yilan on our weekends. There is plenty to do. Did I mention the mineral springs? Yilan has both cold and hot springs. That will have to be another post.