We were up early in Yuli to see the sunrise from our balcony, then we drove down through the rice paddies to take some photos while the light was good. Breakfast at our B n B followed, and then it was back in the car to head to Dulan, a beach town. We had two routes to choose from; Highway 23 which goes over the mountains, and Highway 30 which has a tunnel through the mountains. We chose the curvier but more scenic Highway 23.
We were not disappointed by Highway 23. The road itself was excellent, and the scenery nice. We passed through a couple of small villages, saw some more monkeys (Formosan Macaques), and just enjoyed the ride. There was plenty of evidence of the amount of work that has gone into keeping this road usable, despite the typhoons and earthquakes. A very narrow tunnel heralded the end of Highway 23, we passed through and popped out onto Highway 11 on the coast. A great end to a great drive. At the other end of the tunnel the ocean looked great, and we were looking forward to a swim.
I had imagined Dulan as a quiet little town, surrounded by trees. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. It is pretty much a collection of buildings spread along the highway, a strip mall if you like. We found our hostel, parked the car right outside, checked in, then changed and walked to the beach. Again I imagined this would take a minute or two, it took 10 minutes. It was a very hot day, but the water temperature was just right. We had the beach almost to ourselves (no surfers in sight) and enjoyed our swim in the breakers. Swim over, we walked back to the hostel stopping to buy ice-cream on the way.
Then it was time to relax in the air conditioning and figure out what to do after dropping the car in Hualien. There wasn’t much else to do to be honest. Despite that, Dulan is a popular destination for travellers. Go figure. Maybe the beer is cheap. Mind you, we did forget to visit the old sugar factory, where they have music events every weekend. Not that we were there on the weekend, but we should have had a look. Oh well, we won’t lose sleep over it.
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The Kiwi & The Kraut 