Stinky Tofu at Hualien

The Wongs' have gone back to Singapore and will be traveling back to the US the following day.  Only Doris and I, and Shawn and Ella and the kids are left in Taiwan.  Ella decided to go see her grandmother in Hsinchu, about an hour from Taipei.  Doris and I were invited by our guide Yong, to visit them in Hualien, a small town on the east coast.  It was a perfect opportunity for Doris to visit some place outside of Taipei and also get to visit the popular Taroko National Park.  I was there about 5 years ago.

The day before we went to the Banqiao train station to buy tickets to Hualian.  These are regular trains run by the TRA or Taiwan Railway Administration.  The round-trip costs about US$30 each and each journey takes about 2 hours.

Train tickets to Hualien

Yong and his wife, Emily, picked us up at the Hualien train station.  They took us straight to Taroko National Park.  Both of them are registered tour guides and are very familiar with the area.  Emily was born and grew up in Hualien.  Her ancestry includes one of the indigenous groups who lives in the area.  We were very lucky for them to show us around.  It takes more than one day to experience the park.  Here are some of the pictures we took.

Yong and Emily on the left

We also visited several popular tourist spots in Hualien.  Our last stop was the night market.  We were a little early when we got there but soon the crowd started rolling in.  This is an established night market in a designated location.  The stalls are permanent stalls compared to some in Taipei.  There is an area reserved for the indigenous folks to sell their stuff. 

The food is similar to those sold in other night markets.  We settled for something that I have never tried but often smell:  stinky tofu.  This is a common dish that is eaten in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.  You can smell the tofu from a distance.  It has a very strong pungent smell.  However, the taste is not as bad.

Stall selling stinky tofu

Stinky Tofu

We were a little early for our train back to Taipei.  Nevertheless, we tried to get on an earlier train but everything was fully booked.  We waited at the very hot train station about an hour before we finally boarded our train.  It took about two hours.  It was a long day but well worth the trip.