Taoyuan Valley + Honeymoon Bay Seafood +
Firefly
by YiRu Li 2013.5.4
by YiRu Li 2013.5.4
Taoyuan Valley is a beautiful meadow on a ridge
by the northeast coast. Local farmers raise buffalos in Taoyuan Valley and buffalos
eat young trees. Therefore, the meadow can be maintained and not infiltrated by
trees or shrubs, which are dominant plant species in this area.
There are many trails to reach Taoyuan Valley. The
most popular way is from Fulong, through Chai-lin historical trail, turning
right on the saddle, and continuing along the ridge to Daxi. This is an 8-hour hike.
For most of this trail, hikers will walk along a ridge without any trees for
cover. If hiking here in summer, it is very hot and extra water is required. Around
November, the whole trail will be covered with silver grass flowers. The golden
sunshine is reflected by the white flowers, against by the endless green meadows.
Beyond this is the deep blue ocean; it’s a very picturesque.
This time we chose to visit Taoyuan Valley from
Daxi, through the Stone-Buddha (Shi Guanyin)
temple, and then back to Daxi for eating the most delicious seafood in Taiwan
in the Daxi fish market. Cold and warm ocean currents meet around the northeast
coast. The great nature conditions make the ocean area a suitable place for
fish and the ocean around Daxi becomes the biggest fishing area in Taiwan. Most of the east coast’s fish are auctioned at Honeymoon
Bay's fish market and the seafood here is super fresh. Honeymoon Bay at
Daxi is also famous for surfing. The beach of the Bay is 4 kilometers long and
it’s a great joy to stroll along the beach.
In addition to abundant ocean resources in
Daxi, many kinds of animals and plants live happily in this non-polluted natural
environment. According to local people, if you hike alone on trails around Daxi
in the morning, you will see mountain pigs on the trails! The clean water in
Daxi also encourages the growth of fireflies. In April and early May, it is the
firefly season. We’ll go to the “Home of Firefly” to see the amazing bright firefly
by NeiDa stream!
The amazing mountains and oceans, romantic Honeymoon
Bay with exciting surfing, super delicious seafood, and abundant ecological systems
combine to make Daxi a wonderful paradise that people will always want to visit
again and again.
Traffic: Take train or Drive to Daxi, Ilan. Turn
left out of the train station and walk 800m to the trailhead.
★ Itinerary:
09:05 Meet everyone at Taipei Railway Station
Lobby South 1 Entrance and take train 4162. (AM. 9:35 NTD 101) → 11:13 Arrive
Daxi and hike up steeply. → 14:00 Arrive Taoyuan Valley and down the trail
steeply.→ 16:30 Arrive Daxi Fish market, buy fish and
then cook fish in a restaurant. → 18:30 Walk to see firefly. → 19:30 Arrive
firefly valley and see firefly. → 20:30 Back to Dasi Train Station and take
train 4233 PM. 20:43 to Taipei (NTD 101). → 22:36 Arrive Taipei.
Turtle Island view from Honeymoon bay
Trailhead
Raspberry on the trail
Cattle Fences
Chinese Hydrangea
Ocean View from Taoyuan Valley ridge
Taoyuan Valley ridge
Trail on Taoyuan Valley ridge
Cows in Taoyuan Valley
Cows on Taoyuan Valley ridge
Sign to Stone Buddha (Shi
Guanyin) Temple
Go downhill
Waterfall
Trail after Stone Buddha Temple
Yellow Rotang Palm
The Cliff
Wild Mushroom
End of the trail
Fish Market & Port
Daxi Port
Dinner
Dinner
No comments:
Post a Comment