Last month, we took a 9 day long trip around Taiwan and while we did the bulk of the trip by ourselves, getting around in public transport and stuff, we realised the places of attractions in Hualien were too far from the city center and we needed a driver to bring us around!

So together with Kkday, we did 2 activities in Hualien and I think it was a pretty good decision because by then (it was day 6/7 out of 9), I already felt quite burnt out by the constant traveling and having someone to bring me/us to places while we let our minds and bodies have a break. Here are the 2 activities that we did:

1. Night Shrimp Catching by the River

We wanted to do something different aside from visiting night markets after night markets everyday... and H is a very outdoor person so I let him pick the activity he wanted to do. So I wasn't too surprised he picked this and honestly, it is definitely something new to us!

Initially, I was freaking out a little.. like what do we catch the shrimps with? Bare hands? LOL

We were picked up promptly by our guides at the front of our guest house, proceeded to carpool a few others joining the night tour along the way before driving down to the place! It was quite a big group of around 20+ people and there were about 5 guides there so all is pretty safe. The river where we were at is called Bai Bao Creek, and in the day you can also head here for other activities like jade picking!

We were handed our the shrimp catching equipments + headlights + boots for safety and the guides were also really friendly!



The experience itself?

Ok tbh it was slightly underwhelming because IT WAS SO TOUGH TO CATCH THE SHRIMPS hahaha I only caught one baby one but we did see others catching really huge ones! It definitely is a true test of your patience HAHA but I'd have to say, it was really fun to be able to spend a night doing something different! (no photos because it was too dark...)


After the activity, BBQ dinner was provided and it was a very sumptuous spread, albeit simple :) I enjoyed myself pretty much and would recommend this to you guys to try out if you're ever in Hualien and wanna experience something different!

Book the activity through Kkday here: https://www.kkday.com/en/product/1850

2. Private Guide for Taroko Gorge


I think it's safe to say most people who visit Hualien will definitely make a trip to Taroko Gorge! Afterall, it is one of Taiwan's national parks and a really beautiful place. I visited Taroko Gorge when I was still a student  on a school trip and thought it was nice to revisit this place with my bf this time.

Now, there are tourist shuttle buses running through Taroko Gorge but we didn't want to be tied down by bus schedules (like the past few days) and thought with a private tour guide, we can definitely see more places! It was a good choice made because the weather was really hot and the car was just a great place to hide ourselves in LOL

The private chartered guide is reasonably priced (similar to market rate there) and we also got an experienced guide bringing us around. You can customize the places you wanna go for the 8 hours you have with the driver but we just left it up to him because the places we wanted to see were more or less the same!



I'd say this is a very convenient way of getting a driver if you're lazy to research on the net for a very specific one and if you only need a driver for a day trip!

Book the tour here: https://www.kkday.com/en/product/2127

I can't wait to show you guys the rest of my Taiwan trip in my upcoming blog post(s) and vlog! See ya guys then :)

Love,
Xin Lin

Note: This post is in collaboration with Kkday Singapore