The story of my beachy weekend began on a NON-rainy Saturday with brunch at Grandma Nitti's with M., my editing Bobbsey Twin. I was sipping from my bottomless cup of coffee and pondering my day's adventures. Taipei offers a bounty of adventure options, and when you figure in a short train trip (you can get to the south of the island in about an hour and a half by high-speed rail) the sky's the limit. Rather, the ocean is anyway. And when I mentioned the possibility of beaches, M. started to look a little green with sea envy. She started suggesting options and began to get a bit TOO tickled by the notion of sea air and sand between her toes. In the end she offered to accompany me to the beach.
Our journey began at Taipei Main Station where my trusty translator managed to sort out the many train options available. High-speed rail tickets and regular train tickets are sold at different kiosks. The automated HSR system was actually pretty simple and user-friendly. But the peanut-gallery train was a little less simple. Aside from picking what direction you want to go in, you have to figure out whether you'll need a local, local express, or express train to get you where you're going. The local slow train is of course the cheapest. And slowest. And you'll be SURE to arrive at your destination as it stops at every two-pig town on it's way as it weaves across the island. The express train, on the contrary, will only stop at the bigger cities. While the local express would have been "just right", spontaneity isn't always rewarded by the practicalities of life, and we passed on waiting a couple of hours for an express and just took the slow train.
After about three dozen stops on a nonetheless picturesque route, we arrived at Fulong. From the station it was a short walk past restaurants and convenience stores to the beach access gate. NT$40 (about US$1.30) gave us access to an almost private beach. I suspect that the uncertain weather kept people away. Largely we had the mountains, hermit crabs, dead puffer fish, and surf to ourselves. Oh. And the construction equipment erecting sand castles. You might say that's cheating, but M. suspected it was in anticipation of a sand castle building contest happening in a week or two.
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| Shots like this make me marvel that I'm really here |
After a few hours of the sweet surf air and soft sand between our toes, we began to head back home. The weather was turning again and rain clouds were snagged all around the mountains in the distance. But this only complemented the mysterious beauty of Fulong.
