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Hualien

I've been visiting my grandmother in hualien this week. I always enjoy my time here in Hualien... There's something about my grandparents' house (we live in a 3 story concrete house) that makes it very inviting. The first floor is marble and concrete floor, and we all walk around in sandals... since we live in the middle of downtown, you would wear your sandal around in the house, and then walk right out to the main street to go shopping for books, cloths or stationaries. During the day we don't lock the front door (so i never carry a key... not that the crime rate is very low, just that there's nothing to steal in our house's first floor =) ), and neighbors and relatives would hear that we're back and drop by randomly to say hi and play go with my dad... It's all just a very laid back city during the day, and a very lively one at night. Though the economic recession is Taiwan is most noticeable in smaller cities like Hualien. Mom and I went to a slightly older department store in hualien, and found that we were the two of the maybe 5 customer in the 6 story store (with maybe 30 staff members on the floors). I couldn't bear the quietness and the, um, extra attention received from the sales people, and left in a hurry =)

On wednesday we went to 太魯閣... It was extremely pretty. I don't remember much of the last time i went there, probably more than 15 years ago. My parents hadn't been there for a long time as well... The white and gray marble/limestone cliffs, the trickling waterfalls that pour out of the cracks between the stones, the river that runs through the gorge... We stop at various locations to walk around and take pictures, and most places were devoid of tourists. We didn't see the tour buses until the afternoon when we were on our way out of the gorge.

Labels: travel

posted by wooden @ 6:51 PM