Hualian Off The Beaten Path

Cisingtan translates to "Seven Stars Pools". It is a vast, wide beach and scenic viewpoint for the cliffs and mountainous coast line around Hualien and Sincheng.

The beach has posted signs for no-swimming, but that should not detract from the visit. Many of the locals will come here for relaxing, having a picnic or simply escaping the busy city.

On the south end of this scenic area is a promenade with several WWII-era armory blockades and historical signs.

Cisingtan is north of Hualien on HW-9, just past the airport. After the airport, take a right and head down any of the small streets toward the coast line. It is not far from the Hualien Distillery or the Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum.

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This shirne is here to memorize those who pass away when they built the East-West Cross-Island highway. The shrine itself has been re-built three times due to mudflows and landslides. Even until now, the Admin of National Park still strongly recommend tourists not walking outward of the road, small pieces of rock can still harn people.

There was an incident when I walked through the shrine. A Chinese grandma wanted me to help her with her picture. But she call our Liwu river "Jiang"(river) in Chinese, but it indeed is just a Xi(runlet). Although I tried to correct her, it was in vain. Ha ha

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Shihtiping is famous for its coral costal views. The stones and rocks are strenching into the sea in rows. The sencery is quite impressive with the beautiful sea and mountain views.

Direction: 70km south from Hualien City along Highway route no. 11

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Lin Tien Shan was a town for the lumbers. As of today, you can still see the rails which led to the deep mountains and the historical buildings of the lumbers. You can smell of the old and peaceful atmosphere here. It is also a nice experience to go hiking in the trails in the forest.

Direction: Go from Hualien City toward south by route no. 9 and take the right turn into route 16 at Wanrung.

Found in 1920, Hualien Sugarworks is a historical mills. The sugar production has ceased since 2002. It is now an attraction for the tourist. Besides visiting the historical building, it is very popular to taste the ice cream or other ice stuffs in the local sugarworks.

Hualien Sugarworks is located in Kuang Fu. You can take route no. 9 from Hualien city toward south to reach the Sugar Plant.

Heping Industrial Zone !
looks like the castle in Strange Tales from the Arabian nights .

Heping is a middle railway station ,
after I finish LOOKING AT PACIFIC OCEAN & CHINGSHUI CLIFF ON A BIG BUS,
I like to tranfer trains to Taipei at Heping railway station.

In my opinion the most scenic drive in Taiwan is the Suhua highway which connects Suau in Ilan county to Hualien along the East coast of Taiwan.

Spectacular cliff scenery that is topped only by the spectacularly scary driving as marble ladened truck try to pass each other around scary hairpinned turns. An experienced that is not to be missed when visiting Taiwan....

This beautiful waterfall is in the Huatong Valley. Access to it is more difficult than other waterfalls in this area. This is because at present, there are no signs to direct you here, and the access road is narrow and earthquake damaged. Also, to get a good view of the waterfall, you will need to climb out on some fairly steep rocks which look less than safe.

They are now building a new park near the base of the waterfall, which is not yet complete. I would expect the situation with the access roads, road signs, and access to the waterfall to improve once this park opens...

Directions: Take Route 9 South from Hualien to Juisui. Turn south on Route 195 towards Yuli. After about 20 KM's, make a left turn towards the mountains at Teifen just before the Teifen Bridge. Follow this road through the small town. Make first left after leaving town, and follow this road for a few kilometers along the river side until you reach the new park for this waterfall.