Our Trip to Fulong

Fulong Beach, July 2012

Last week, Mike and I almost got discouraged about our planned trip to Fulong beach after we spent an evening with his Taiwanese language partner.

We met "Ferin" (that's his English name) outside a Pizza Hut nearby our apartment, and then walked with him to an unassuming fast-casual restaurant, where we each ordered a simple rice bowl. He told us the place wasn't "a luxury one," and he was right. It was more like a Taiwanese version of Chipotle-- but I'm not complaining because what we ate was pretty decent and very cheap. Plus, meeting Ferin at all was super beneficial to us, since after our quick meal, he showed us how to purchase a public transit "EZ card" and gave us some tips on how to navigate the bus system. He also took us on walking tour of his former university, wherein he provided a detailed history of every single thing we encountered. Hey, he got to practice his English and now we know that the Japanese are responsible for both the various types of architecture on campus and the plethora of palm trees in Taiwan. 

Yet, despite his apparent appreciation for NTU, we quickly got the feeling that  Ferin was more than a little unimpressed with the region where his alma mater is located. A native of the southern city of Tainan, he came to Taipei for school-- the competition for top university acceptance is pretty cut-throat, so it's safe to assume he'd worked his ass off since kindergarten in order to get one of the spaces reserved for those outside the capital-- and was forced to stay only because he was still completing his compulsory military service. If he'd had his way, by now he'd be in grad school in the States, not stuck in this overly congested northern city. 

So, even though he's lived here for five years, he hasn't once taken the time to visit any of the parks or beaches in the area. His explanation: "Why would I visit a northern beach when I have Kenting in the South?" He believed the scenery in the North couldn't possibly compare to the scenery near his home. When we told him we were planning a trip to Fulong-- a small, northeastern coastal town, --he provided zero encouraging words. 

At first, his reaction sort of worried us. But with Mike working it was much easier to plan a trip to a northern beach, so we nonetheless decided to head to Fulong for the Fourth of July holiday. And now that we've seen what The Pitiful North has to offer, it's hard to even imagine how beautiful The South must really be. We would have never known that this beach is sub-par if Farin hadn't told us... or maybe he was just biased. Either way, we had a fabulous time, and we took lots of pictures so you people stuck in that horribly humid continental climate can see what you're missing. 

Here it is: 

Our Trip to Fulong: A Photo Diary

We left Taipei Main Station early Thursday morning. Luckily we had purchased our tickets in advance so we didn't have to stand for the entire trip. Mike took the aisle seat and let me have the window. What a guy. 

We arrived in Fulong after about an hour and a half on the train. 

From the station, it looked like your average little railway town... 

with a delightful mountainous backdrop. 

We didn't know exactly where to go, so we followed the people carrying life-jackets to the beach. It turns out, we had to cross a longish pedestrian bridge over a river to get to the ocean. 

This was our first view of the beach once we crossed the pedestrian bridge.

There was a Buddhist temple in the distance, but no crowds. :) 

We walked around the beach for a bit before getting into full bathing suit mode.

 This was a smart idea because once we took our regular clothes off, we started baking like rotisserie chickens.

There was so much to take in.... 

The water was spectacularly inviting. So we walked in it with our cameras for a while. (The encroaching tide made this risky-- luckily there was no damage.)

As usual, Mike regretted not having sun glasses.  

I tried to get him to look at something... 

...he was too busy taking pictures. 

But he did look like a total stud with that camera, so fine.

We saw a crab, and thought of the delicious seafood hot pot we had recently eaten. 

We admired the water some more, and went swimming (without our cameras). 

Then I just had to get out of the sun, so we hung out under a tent for a while. 

It cost about $15 to rent, but was totally worth it. 

Away from the water, the wind was blowing like crazy. I had to use my hat to block my face. 

No, I didn't catch a skin disease in Taiwan. Those marks on my stomach are from my other swimsuit, which is lacy in the middle. 

As you can see, at this point, I was not yet burnt to a crisp, so I felt we could go out by the water again. 

I wanted to walk all the way to the buildings in the distance, but I was also afraid of the burning sun, so we didn't make it quite that far.  

Eventually, we left the beach and went into town. We hung out in the shade for a while before getting lunch. I could already feel the burn. 

By the time we picked a place to eat, I was looking like a lobster. And afraid it was only going to get worse.

We got sautéed spinach and a beef noodle bowl. (This is my only food pic-- I'm so proud of myself).

The beach was much kinder to Mike. He really rocked that messy-beach-hair look. 

We sat around the town for a bit before catching our train back to Taipei. 

The train was right on time, and it's a good thing, too. We were sandy and sweaty and satisfied with our day.  In other words, we were ready to get home.