Travelling Taiwan by train: from Taipei to Taichung
Travellers in Taiwan combined trains with buses, taxis and a scooter, visiting Taipei, Hualien, Taitung, Kenting, Kaohsiung and Taichung. The National reports on the route, which included natural sites, temples and art spaces.
From Taipei, an express train took the authors to Hualien, the gateway to Taroko Gorge National Park, in about two hours. The publication notes that many trails there remained closed following the deadly magnitude 7.4 earthquake that occurred last year. During a car tour, travellers were shown roadside viewing platforms and slopes bearing signs of landslides.
In Hualien, they also visited Qixingtan Beach with its dark shoreline, parks, the historic Jiang Jun Fu 1936 settlement and Dongdamen Night Market. Food stalls, rice wine and street musicians are mentioned in connection with the area.
Taitung and the southern coast
The next stop was Taitung, which can be reached from Hualien by train in about two hours. There, the authors encountered the Makapahay Indigenous culture festival: participants in traditional clothing sang and danced in the streets near the Central Forest Park.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Due to the aftermath of Typhoon Danas, a walk in the seaside park was cancelled because of strong waves, so the travellers visited Tianhou Temple. After the weather improved, they went to the Xiaoyeliu coastal trail with its sandstone cliffs, the Water Running Upward site, Fugang Geopark and the eight-arch Sanxiantai Bridge.
From Taitung, it is possible to travel by train to Fangliao, from where express buses head to Kenting, Taiwan's southernmost town. There, the authors visited Cape Eluanbi, with its lighthouse built in 1883 after several shipwrecks, as well as Kenting National Park with tropical forests and mountains.
Kaohsiung and Taichung
In Kaohsiung, the route included Lotus Lake with the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, the Pier-2 art centre and Weiwu MiMi Village, a neighbourhood of residential buildings painted by local and foreign street artists. The final stop was Taichung, where the publication mentions Rainbow Village, an art project by a former serviceman intended to protect former military houses from development. From there, the travellers returned to Taipei on a high-speed train that, according to their observations, reached speeds of up to 295 km/h.
