The Unforgettable Travel Accounts: The most scenic road trip in Taiwan: The Suhua Highway overlooking the Pacific Ocean

Day 3

On Day 3, we would be leaving Taipei and embark on a long coach journey to Hualien City (花蓮市). We left behind some of the larger and heavier luggage at East Dragon Hotel (東龍大飯店), while we packed smaller baggage along the trip to Hualien City for a 2 night stay. We will come back to the same hotel after the Hualien trip. Our coach hit the highway soon after navigating through the busy streets of Taipei and speed towards the township of Su'ao (蘇澳) in Yilan County (宜蘭縣). Most of us still had the hangover after the late KTV session the earlier night, thus the long trip provided a good opportunity for us to catch more sleep.

Jinan Temple

Su'ao is a coastal town, famous for its seafood restaurants and cold springs. We will stop by this place for our lunch break. But before we proceed for our lunch, we stopped by a temple called Jinan Temple (南方澳進安宮) for a short visit.

taiwan su'ao red coral goddess of mazu jin an gong

Goddess of Mazu Temple, Su'Ao (Source: Photo from jses1335.pixnet.net)

This temple does not have a very long history as compared to the Keelung Peace Island Tianhou Temple nor other Tianhou temples in Yilan County. What's unique about this temple is there's a Goddess of Mazu statue completely carved from a piece of red coral. It is the biggest red coral sculpture in the world, weighing 600 kg.

Interior view of the temple

Red coral sculpture statue of Goddess of Mazu

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Nan Fang Ao Fishing Harbour (南方澳漁港)

After the temple visit, it was a very short drive to the Nan Fang Ao Fishing Harbour (南方澳漁港). Our lunch venue was one of the seafood restaurants, Fumei Seafood (富美活海鮮餐廳). It has live seafood offering located near its entrance, which customer could choose their selection. Unfortunately, we had quite a number of members who do not take seafood, thus we did not order too many seafood dishes. The restaurant seems popular among locals and tourists, as it was packed not long after we had our dishes served.

Fumei Seafood Restaurant (Source: Photo from suaofood.yilane.com.tw)

Pork knuckle

Qingshui Cliff (清水斷崖)

After lunch, we continued our journey southwards via the Suhua Highway (蘇花公路), which winds alongside the steep cliffs, with the other side facing the Pacific Ocean. This highway is a major link between northern and eastern Taiwan, and also considered dangerous in the past when the roads were narrow and under constant threats of landslides. Today, the roads are widened and safer after many years of improvements, which commuters can enjoy the scenic ocean view along the journey.

Ocean view along Suhua Highway

We made a rest stop at the Qingshui Cliff (清水斷崖), which is a very popular among locals and tourists. From here, we got to see the towering cliffs at 90 degree against the crystal blue ocean. We lingered around the rest stop to take photos against the breathtaking backdrop.

Qingshui Cliff

Qixintan Beach (七星潭)

After the rest, we got onto the coach to continue the journey. After further up and down along the cliffside, we had finally reached the plain near to the entrance of Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園). Soon after that, we entered Hualien City. Hualien City is the county seat for the Hualien County, home to a number of Taiwanese aboriginal people like Amis (阿美族), Atayal (泰雅族) and Bunun (布農族). Today, Hualien City is famous for its tourism (mainly because of the Taroko National Park) and a major exporter of stones. It was late in the afternoon but still early for dinner. We dropped by to visit the Qixintan Beach (七星潭) near the airport. Qixintan (七星潭) is wide and long crescent shaped beach made of small pebbles. The wind here was really strong, as we could also see from the continuous rolling waves crashing against the beach. Everyone put on their jackets to brave against the cold wind and strolled along the beach, taking photos and stacking up the stones.

Hualien Qixintan

Hang Rou (夯肉)

After the fun at the beach, it was getting dark and we departed for a restaurant in the city called Hang Rou (夯肉) for our dinner. Hang Rou (夯肉) refers to BBQ pork, which is their specialty dish. Of course we had ordered the recommended Hang Rou, along with other meat skewers, squid, vegetables, soup and plum wine.

Interior of Hang Rou restaurant (Source: Photo from jumpman.tw)

Hang Rou (BBQ Pork) (Source: Photo from meylaihualien.wix.com)

At the back of the restaurant, there's a place where patrons could play darts. After the meal, the youngsters started to gather there to pit their skills.

Mochi (麻糬)

Before we depart for our hotel, we made a stop at a Zeng Ji Mochi (曾記麻糬) shop near the railway station. Zeng Ji Mochi (曾記麻糬) is renowned in Hualien and the entire Taiwan for its mochi (glutinous rice ball). After walking through the shop, I did not found any product that specially enticed me. I stepped out of the shop for a while and saw another mochi shop across the road operated by Ah Mei Mochi (阿美麻糬).

Ah Mei Mochi shop

I was informed by the tour guide that the difference between their mochi is Ah Mei Mochi (阿美麻糬) uses the traditional glutinous rice grown by the Amis aborigines to make their mochi. For your information, mochi is a desert snack that originates from the Amis aborigines. Eventually I visited Ah Mei Mochi (阿美麻糬) and bought some mochi of variety of flavours from them, which I intended to treat my family and colleagues back home.

Fanlin House (汎水凌山花园民宿)

After a long day, it's finally time to move into our lodging. We would be staying at Fanlin House (汎水凌山花园民宿) for 2 nights. It is located quite far away from the city centre, near to the farmland and airport area, which requires around 10 min drive from the Hualien Railway Station. It was the first time for everyone to stay in a home stay or "min su 民宿", thus everyone was excited about the stay. As we arrived at night time, so we could not really see the surrounding scenery clearly (you can see more photos of Fanlin House on Day 4 of the blog post). The whole place looks like a cozy cottage, with a big garden in front.

Reception Area

Dinning Area

After we got our room allocation and started to drag our luggage to the respective rooms. Every room here is unique, each with its own decoration. We were so curious and excited, which we started to explore one another's room. After the exploration, it's time to wash and go to bed.