I just completed my eighteenth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Hualien County, the largest subnational administrative region by area, bordering Ilan County to the north, Taichung City and Nantou County to the west, Kaohsiung City and Taitung County to the south, and facing the Pacific Ocean to the east, with the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountain Range occupying the bulk of its area. Hualien County administers 13 townships, including its county seat, Hualien City. During this trip, I visited four townships: Xiulin Township, Xincheng Township, Hualien City, and Ji'an Township, which collectively constitute the northern part of the county. Sadly, a deadly disaster caused by Super Typhoon Ragasa occurred on Tuesday in Hualien's Guangfu Township, about 45 kilometers south of Hualien City. My heart goes out to those who were affected.
I set off on Monday as usual, taking the first train bound for eastern Taiwan. Though my destination was Hualien County, considering its vast area and less-developed public transportation network, I got off at Ilan Station, which is in Ilan County. From there, I continued traveling south by taking a local train to Heping Station, the northernmost train station in Hualien County. Exiting the train station, I explored Heping, a village in Xiulin Township, which is one of the three mountain townships in Hualien. Then I continued traveling southward on the local train, stopping by Xincheng Station and Beipu Station─both situated within Xincheng Township, my target destination for the day─before arriving in Hualien City where my hostel was located.
Xincheng is the smallest by area among all townships in Hualien. Its name literally means "new town", representing the first town that the Han Chinese settlers built in Hualien in the late 19th century. It is home to the nationally renowned tourist attraction Qixingtan Beach, and is also known as the "hometown of ocean sunfish" because its catch of the fish accounts for 60% of the country's overall catch. On this day (and the third day), I visited six of the nine villages administered by Xincheng Township.
On the second day, all train and bus services were suspended due to Super Typhoon Ragasa, so I adjusted my plan and stayed at the hostel in the morning. In the afternoon, the land warning for Ragasa was lifted and the weather was better, so I walked around Hualien City. With a population of nearly 100,000, or a third of the entire population of Hualien County, the city of Hualien is a county-administered city and the county seat. It was previously known as Kilai, a name that refers to the Sakiraya indigenous people and their settlement. About an hour into my walk, I passed by Meilun Mountain Park, an iconic and highly accessible attraction for both recreation and tourism.
As I walked along the foot of Meilun Mountain, I came across a descriptive sign that told an interesting story about the place: before the construction of Hualien Port was completed in 1939, ocean-going ships had to berth out at sea, with cargo and passengers ferried by smaller boats through the shallow water to and from the beach. I could hardly imagine it because Hualien City is now known as one of the four major ports in Taiwan, alongside Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Keelung. I continued walking for about three hours before returning to my hostel. Along the way, I passed by about half of the 45 villages administered by Hualien City.
On the third day, the weather was nearly back to normal, so I decided to visit Xiulin, which is not only a mountain township, but also the largest township by area nationwide. I began by taking a bus to Tongmen, a village where Taroko people reside and known for making specialized knives used by Taroko warriors. Then, I walked southward to reach Wenlan, the southernmost village of Xiulin Township bordering Shoufeng Township, and was also mainly inhabited by Taroko people.
About three hours later, I arrived at Zhixue Station, which is in Shoufeng Township, and boarded a train to Jinmei Station, the only train station within Xiulin Township. From there, I visited the villages of Jinmei and Jiamin in Xiulin, before taking a train from Beipu Station back to Hualien City. On this day (and the first day), I visited five of the nine villages administered by Xiulin Township, which has an area larger than half of Taiwan's counties and cities.
On the fourth day, the weather was back to normal, so I set out to visit the last destination on my list: Ji'an, the second most populous township after Hualien City. Ji'an was previously known as Chhit-kha-chhuan, the name the contemporary Amis inhabitants called themselves. I began by taking a train to Ji'an, which was unusually crowded, full of good-hearted volunteers heading for Guangfu Township to join a relief effort of unprecedented scale. Getting off at Ji'an Station, I started exploring on foot. I first visited Douxian, a Hakka village tracing their ancestry from Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli in western Taiwan 150 years back. I continued wandering for about three hours, visiting ten of the 18 villages administered by Ji'an Township.
Approaching Ji'an Park, opposite the township administration building, I stumbled upon an eye-catching display: an LVTP-5 (landing vehicle, tracked, personnel 5)—an amphibious armored fighting vehicle that was retired from our Marine Corps. Then I visited a museum dedicated to the Amis people in Nanchang Village, before boarding a train at Ji'an Station for Hualien, ending my backpacking trip this time.
My hostel was only an eight-minute walk from Hualien Station. From there, I set out each day for my destinations. While this trip was inevitably affected by the tragedy occurring in Guangfu Township, I felt blessed to have completed it safely as planned, not least because it marks the end of the first round of my "A Day in Town" backpacking project. In the span of ten months, I made 18 trips, visiting 71 townships in 19 counties and cities across my country. I didn’t expect my plan to proceed so smoothly when I started in November last year. Now, my project is one-fifth done (71 out of 350 townships visited); the seemingly unreachable finish line is now imaginable, though still far from sight. It's time for a break now. Two months from now, I shall start my next round of "A Day in Town"—in Ilan County.
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