Yilan Camping - 宜兰露营

I am going to begin this blog with a very large caveat: I would not recommend going about camping in Taiwan as we did. This is mostly due to the fact that originally, we were going to be hiking, camping and kayaking with a tour group in Nantou and everything was prepared for us. However, despite a month and a half of planning, the trip was cancelled the week of because a dam was set to be released. The money was refunded, but the gear that had been bought in preparation and the excited anticipation of a weekend out of the city were left behind. Due to the late cancellation, our trip was planned in the span of four days, and because of that, was a little all over the place. Everything ended up working out, and we had a great time, but if you are going to go camping all by yourself, allow more time to plan. All that being said, let me tell you about a pretty great weekend I had adventuring in Eastern Taiwan.

We left bright and early on Saturday morning, our packs nearly bursting with clothes, sleeping bags, food.... okay I'll just say it, I'm an over-packer. It's a problem. I'm working on it. But we were well prepared and on our way. It was a four hour train ride to Yilan, where we stopped, grabbed breakfast and then caught a local train to Nan'ao, the actual location of the campsite.

First, let me back up a little. We stopped for brunch at an American restaurant named Slobber. While I usually try to avoid American food while I'm in Taiwan because 1. It's expensive and 2. I can have it when I get back to America, sometimes it's nice to splurge. And let me tell you, when I saw the menu full of my breakfast favorites, I wanted everything. French toast, pancakes, omelettes, eggs Benedict all of my favorite breakfast foods, all in one place. I went with the french toast, and was so happy with the result I could have turned around right then, gone home to Changhua and been perfectly happy with the trip. Instead, things got even better.

We spent another 45min on a local train, hailed a taxi, and were driven up a valley walled in by cascading mountains covered in a green shag carpet of flora. The view was stunning as the vibrant mountains leapt out against the blue sky and fluffy clouds. The sunshine filled the valley with heat, but the breeze through the taxi window was cool. It was bliss.

When we arrived at 那山那谷 (NaShanNaGu) Campsite, we set down our things and got all checked in. Confession time: we were basically glamping. The campgrounds provided us with a tent, sleeping mats, a fold out table, two camp chairs and a little stove (The total cost was 3,500NT, or $57USD each). We had a little patch to ourselves but across the road, there were families car camping and a children's camp. We didn't even have to set up our own tent. But we were in a lovely little valley surrounded by mountains and blue sky, so I wasn't complaining. We wandered down to a river while our campsite was set up and waded in up to our knees, skipping rocks and enjoying the pristine water rushing by us. It was heaven to get a breath of fresh air after so long in the city.

We had originally planned on doing a river walking hike further up the valley, which would have been similar to the tour we were initially signed up for. But after asking our hosts, we discovered that you have to apply for an entrance permit to hike there, and he pointed us toward a little road that he said would take us up the mountain on our right. "You can even see the ocean" he promised. So we set off. Then quickly discovered that hiking in Taiwan is much less enjoyable than in America for one very large reason.

The spiders.

Those of you who know me, know that I am prone to over exaggeration on the size of spiders. But I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that the path to the top of the mountain was strewn with spiders the size of my face. Okay, strewn might be an exaggeration; we saw four. But the size....let's just say that standing four feet away I could get this thing on video. The worst part is that they are pros at camouflage. Which means you don't see it until it's nearly to late. Or they build webs up high in the trees and if you happen to look up, it's staring right down at you, waiting to pounce.

I spent the fifty minutes up the mountain making progress by waving a stick in front of my face to clear the path and alternating between sheer panic upon a spider sighting and oogling the beautiful mountain views. While the top didn't afford the classic lookout that you'd picture from a hike, we did get glimpses of the ocean through the brush. We sat at a clear patch at the top, snacked on granola bars and soaked up the sounds of nature.

After making our way back down the mountain (still fearful because the four aforementioned spiders were lurking in wait for their next meal) we settled in for a night at the campsite. Dinner was a classy version of cup of noodles, granola bars, oranges, and a couple other snacks. The temperature dropped as the sun slipped behind the peaks and I found myself donning sweats, a hat and a jacket for the first time since being in Taiwan. We chatted and played cards before turning in early for the night.

The next morning we packed up, visited the river one last time, the called a cab and headed for the train station. Because of it's relatively small size we had a while to wait for the next train, so we grabbed some spicy ice cream and then crashed on a bench in the station to wait.

Our plan for the rest of the day was to head to the beach by Toucheng which Chaprece had been to before and said was incredibly beautiful. It took some finagling to get there, but the beach was in fact gorgeous. It was a beautiful beach day, sunny, 80 degrees and a broad swathe of beach relatively empty of people. With only and hour and a half to frolic before we needed to catch a train back to Changhua, we quickly changed into swimsuits and dove into the surf. We spent a while just getting pummeled by the waves, splashing around and trying to body surf. It was bliss.

When it was time to go, we dried off, threw on our clothes and headed back to the train station where we had four hours of standing on a train before we got home (we bought tickets too late, a recurrent theme when I'm traveling). It was a wonderful weekend. While the original tour probably would have been a blast as well, I'm glad that we managed to make everything work to get out of the city despite the setback. The east coast of Taiwan is gorgeous, and I would recommend anyone visiting to check it out.