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Formosa Adventurers
Theme of tour:Adventure Sports and Aboriginal Culture
Group leader:Phil Dawson(United Kingdom)
Group members:Stu Dawson (United Kingdom) Neil Wade (United States) Ross Tweedie (United Kingdom)
中文版
Travel Guides - Check out our guides for the activities below
River Tracing
Nanbin Night Market
Hi everyone! We're the Formosa Adventurers. Thanks for joining us over the next four days for our once in a lifetime adventure down Taiwan's East coast.
Day 1
Our adventure began early Friday morning at Taipei main station. We met at 6.30am, to shoot some film and more importantly to get some coffee into us! Our train left at 7.30am and we headed straight towards Taiwan's beautiful east coast. The weather couldn't have been better and the views down the coast were stunning. We arrived in Hualien around lunchtime and checked into the Amigo Hostel.
We quickly headed downtown for lunch. Hualian's two most famous foods are without doubt maji (a sweet sticky rice snack) and dumplings. We decided to try the dumplings first and after asking a few locals we were pointed in the direction of YiPinXiang dumpling restaurant. As often in Taiwan, and everywhere really, some of the best places to eat don't look like they are the best places to eat. YiPinXiang is no different, a very modest looking restaurant, however the food is delicious.
After lunch we met up with our river tracing guide near the train station. It was a quick thirty minute drive to the Shapodang River. When we got there, we kitted up and got straight in. The Shapodang River is situated in a spectacular valley and is surrounding by huge marble cliffs. As the water runs over the marble, it becomes carbonated and this gives the river it's unique turquoise colour.
Tracing up the river we climbed over cascading waterfalls and swam across emerald pools of water; a perfect way to cool down in the summer heat! We continued upstream navigating rapids and scrambling over rock faces. After about an hour of hard work, we arrived at a large, deep pool that had a cliff we could jump from. While our guide prepared some coffee we took diving lessons from some of the locals and had a lot of fun just playing in the water.
After a short rest, we headed out for the annual Ami Harvest Festival. This is a major celebration for the aboriginal people of Hualian as they traditionally prepare to collect crops. The festival involved a lot of singing, dancing, food and xiaomijiu (millet wine). We danced and celebrated with people from the Ami tribe and had a great time!
Finally as the night was drawing to a close, we went down to the coast to check out the Nanbin night market. Nanbin is similar to night markets all over Taiwan with one exception and that is that it is right next to the beach. We sampled a lot local snacks and set off a sky lantern (whilst making a special wish!) Finally, we wearily headed back to the hostel for some well deserved sleep.
Travel Guides - Check out our guides for the activities below
River Tracing
Nanbin Night Market
Hi everyone! We're the Formosa Adventurers. Thanks for joining us over the next four days for our once in a lifetime adventure down Taiwan's East coast.
Day 1
Our adventure began early Friday morning at Taipei main station. We met at 6.30am, to shoot some film and more importantly to get some coffee into us! Our train left at 7.30am and we headed straight towards Taiwan's beautiful east coast. The weather couldn't have been better and the views down the coast were stunning. We arrived in Hualien around lunchtime and checked into the Amigo Hostel.
We quickly headed downtown for lunch. Hualian's two most famous foods are without doubt maji (a sweet sticky rice snack) and dumplings. We decided to try the dumplings first and after asking a few locals we were pointed in the direction of YiPinXiang dumpling restaurant. As often in Taiwan, and everywhere really, some of the best places to eat don't look like they are the best places to eat. YiPinXiang is no different, a very modest looking restaurant, however the food is delicious.
After lunch we met up with our river tracing guide near the train station. It was a quick thirty minute drive to the Shapodang River. When we got there, we kitted up and got straight in. The Shapodang River is situated in a spectacular valley and is surrounding by huge marble cliffs. As the water runs over the marble, it becomes carbonated and this gives the river it's unique turquoise colour.
Tracing up the river we climbed over cascading waterfalls and swam across emerald pools of water; a perfect way to cool down in the summer heat! We continued upstream navigating rapids and scrambling over rock faces. After about an hour of hard work, we arrived at a large, deep pool that had a cliff we could jump from. While our guide prepared some coffee we took diving lessons from some of the locals and had a lot of fun just playing in the water.
After a short rest, we headed out for the annual Ami Harvest Festival. This is a major celebration for the aboriginal people of Hualian as they traditionally prepare to collect crops. The festival involved a lot of singing, dancing, food and xiaomijiu (millet wine). We danced and celebrated with people from the Ami tribe and had a great time!
Finally as the night was drawing to a close, we went down to the coast to check out the Nanbin night market. Nanbin is similar to night markets all over Taiwan with one exception and that is that it is right next to the beach. We sampled a lot local snacks and set off a sky lantern (whilst making a special wish!) Finally, we wearily headed back to the hostel for some well deserved sleep.
