On Sunday, with rain clouds looming over all of Taiwan for the foreseeable future, I decided to move down to Hualien City for the rest of my holiday. I spent yesterday looking around a the small city including an enjoyable walk along the river and coastline, despite the rain. I particularly liked the A-zone which had a variety of local artisan shops in a similar layout to that of the Red House in Taipei.
Today I had something a little more thrilling booked. Initially I had hoped to try tandem paragliding but with the weather as it is, this had to be put on the back burner for some other time. So, I asked myself, what can I do outside while not being bothered by the rain? Being at that awkward stage between an intermediate and beginner level, I didn’t want to take a surf lesson. This left river tracing or white water rafting. Initially I planned to both, however river tracing doesn’t run during the winter months so I was left with just white water rafting.
The driver collected me from the hostel at 07:30 and we headed to the Xiuguluan River, picking up one other person along the way. Once there, we learnt that we would be joining a large group of high school students for the rafting. After a lot of Chinese and no English we headed to the shore. With ten to a boat we set off into the great unknown. I briefly noted that the mountains, shrouded in cloud were quite picturesque. This was the first and last time I admired the scenery. Ere we made it to the the centre of the river, toy water cannons were produced and bailers were weaponised.
What followed was a hilarious four hours of occasional paddling, falling overboard and splashing all who came within firing range. When it comes to splashing a teacher in the face, language is apparently universal and victory achieved. I admit to feeling a tad sorry for the safety boats as they sped up and down the river, continuously retrieving oars and returning people to their boats.
Sarnian Albatross 
Wot! no pictures! Ha! Ha!
Sounds amazing, wish I could have been there. Wasn’t the water cold?
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I’ve added a couple of pictures, took a while to receive them. As for the temperature, it was a lot warmer than the sea in Guernsey so I had no complaints.
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