Saturday, September 3, 2011

Fulong Beach

After watching a TV program, I decided I needed to explore Taiwan's beaches. The closest one that I found with good recommendations, was Fulong beach. Also since I still don't have a job, I have to keep this under a budget. So day trips only, nothing too fancy like "green island" or Kenting. Fulong beach as just popular enough and local enough to fit. It costs about $198 NT round trip from Taipei main station on the express train (reserved seating). You take the Eastern Yilan line to Fulong station. To make it cheaper, you can change it to first-come-first-serve seating, which means there's a chance you'll have to stand for the 1 hour 15 minute train ride. Or you can take the local train instead of the express and that'll take even longer (+30 minutes i think). Either way it's a difference of $30 NT, not much. Upon arrival, they have bike rentals at the Giant bike shop right next to the station exit. $100 per day. But I was here for the beach, not bike riding. However I did see many people riding bikes, but I'm not sure what there is to see except the scenery. I arrived right before lunch, so under the recommendation of wikitravel, we bought a box lunch (bian dang, 便當). They range from $50-80 NT depending on which restaurant and what you want. I opted for the Kong Rou (空肉) which cost $70 NT. There are numerous box lunch places around, hard to miss. Heading to the beach, there seems to be two areas. The one on the left costs $100 NT entrance. You'll have to cross a bridge to get to the beach, but you won't cross the bridge until after you paid. Then there's the one further to the right. I didn't know where I was going, so I ended up at the beach to the right. This turned out to be fine. It wasn't crowded and it is free. There's surfboard rentals, although I didn't rent a surf board, so I don't know the cost or even where to rent it. Wikitravel said you should be able to rent one there. I'll have to find out next visit. I also saw kayak and jet-ski rentals too. Also, if you don't have a large beach umbrella to bring along, you can rent those too. It costs $200 per day for a small one that fits three people. The beach is a soft white sand and the shore isn't rocky. It has sand bars every 40 feet or so, so it's shallow. My only gripe was the debris. The beach has a lot of small garbage debris washed up. It's not that annoying to just avoid stepping into it. The wave that day were pretty good. Good for beginner surfing. About 4-5 foot swells and a it continued until about 3pm. By 4 pm the waves were breaking late and the swell period longer and longer. I had a great time! This is my first experience exploring the eastern side of Taiwan as well as Taiwan's many beaches. It was very relaxing to just eat lunch on the beach, play in the water, drink beer and listen to the waves wash ashore with the sounds of children giggling in the background. I'll definitely have to revisit with some friends and continue exploring the eastern side. Taiwan, I'm loving it!

10 comments:

  1. can U recommend some job search websites in Taiwan that lists english-speaking jobs available in English for foreigners? can't seem to find much on the Web...not interested in teaching English...thanks

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  2. Hi anonymous, if your going to continue asking me job related questions, I don't mind helping, but can you at least post it in a related topic entry like Interview Attire. To answer your question, 104.com.tw, 1111.com.tw, yes123.com.tw. However they are all in chinese. There are no english websites here that I know of. When you register, you can list English as a fluent language and jobs that require fluent english will show up. However still in chinese. Try American (or your country's) job websites like adecco, monster and dice. This way you can find an american company looking for employees to work in taiwan. The website will be in english and obviously the language requirement would be english with Chinese as a plus (not the other way around).

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  3. can U also recommend some housing website for foreigner? thanks

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  4. which apt do u currently live? Thanks

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  5. Not sure if your asking for my address, but I'm not going to give that out. I live in Beitou district.

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  6. I don't know of any housing websites for foreigners. Taiwan isn't very internet enabled as in having the convenience of an organized website for housing classifieds. However try forumosa.com (forum for foreigners) or tealit (same) or check your language school's bulletin board for room share ads.

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  7. Thanks!

    Naw, I am not asking your address since you are not a cute girl. Not interested. Is that how u find your current housing? Is that how u find your housing?

    In US I find my housing through craiglist, so this is not common in TW?

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  8. haha I know. I just didn't understand the question. I'm used to "where in taipei do you live?" not "which apartment do you live in?". I didn't have to search for my housing. However my suggestions is how most foreigners find housing in Taipei. There is a Craigslist Taiwan, but very few people use it (probably because it's not in chinese).

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  9. I am from Maldives currently looking for a beach resort or hotel job from taiwan, any help???

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  10. I'm not connected with anyone in the hotel management/service industry in Taiwan. However there's no shortage of hotels in Taipei as well as outside of Taipei. Droves of visitors from China, HK, Japan, UK, Australia, and Americas.

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