Yehliu 野柳 Geopark; Dried Seafood (Taiwan)

Queen's Head Rock (image from Yehliu Geopark informational materials)

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Since we are not frolicking about the streets of Mexico City, but instead are back to our old routine (almost) in rainy Vancouver, I thought it was high time I get to posting about our visit to Yeliu Geopark in Taiwan eight months ago.

(In case any of you are wondering, the scratch on my cornea is now "very tiny". I have another appointment at the end of this week so the doctor could check if it has healed completely by then.)

Since we were kind of "lost" during our first few days in Taipei with regards to our daily itinerary, we did not get to go to Yeliu Geopark until our final day there. I'm just glad we didn't leave it out altogether! You'll see why.



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Getting there was a little exercise in faith.

The night before, JS and I had dinner with our cousin and having told him our plans of going to Yehliu, he pointed us to the bus station from where we would ride a bus.

By "pointed", though, I mean that we were standing about one to three blocks away from the bus station, and he literally pointed to the bus station building. It was hard to see, though, as it was far away enough and it was at night. However, it still helped as we at least had some information to go on. We probably received a bit more information as well, but I can't recall now.

So, on the day of, we rode the metro, got out of the designated stop, and walked towards that pointed-to bus station. After a few misses, we finally found it. Once at the bus station, the agents we asked for information kept telling us to go to the "other" bus station nearby. I must say, they were very vague and simply gestured with their hand. Exiting the main structure, we circled it a few times before figuring out where to go.

Once there, we had to figure out which bus to take. There was not a bus labelled "Yehliu", but after a few more times gesticulating, we found the correct bus to take.

So, we rode the bus. We told the driver we wanted to go to Yehliu and it seemed that he understood. After a while (perhaps an hour or so), it was time to get off the bus.


nondescript street corner

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We were dropped off in the middle of nowhere!

There was no apparent or discernable signage pointing to Yehliu. Hmm, are we at the right place? As you can see, there was nothing remotely "geo" about this street corner.

I decided to walk towards the more "sea"-like of the 3 directions.

After blocks and blocks, it really did become decidedly more seaside-ly, with more of a breeze in the air. Finally, we saw a sign aimed at tourists! Woohoo!

Then, finally, some actual water.


fish nets/baskets


I'm not sure if they're visible from this picture, but the boat had really cool lanterns/lights.

Yehliu 野柳 Geopark


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We were there! I was very happy as it was very windy. Nice counterpoint to the sun. We got ourselves a map and basically just followed the path.

Here's the write-up on their material:

Yehliu is a long cape formed by the Datum Mountain reaching into the sea. Rocks in this area were formed 10 to 25 million years ago. With the help of sea erosion and weathering, many fantastic geological works of nature had come into being, including intriguing stones in the shapes of candles, gingers, and mushrooms that become landmarks of Yehliu.

Their trademark rock formation, of course, is the Queen's Head (see first image of post).

Mushroom Rocks, Candle Rocks, Honeycomb Rocks, Ginger Rocks, Pot Holes, etc.


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The water is so nice. Look at the top right portion of the image: mushroom rocks!

(At least, I think that's what they were. I'm not exactly sure which formations are which.)


This looks like it had been machine-cut. Very straight edge. I don't know what that white thing is: litter?


Pot holes! I love the guy's pose up there. =)




They are like reverse doughnuts. See which things I'm referring to?

Why People Hate Tourists

The nerve of these people!

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Walking around the park, I decided that I should at least have one photo with the Queen's Head Rock. It's actually not that big, and it's not as interesting as the other formations, I thought. But, I wanted to do the touristy thing.

Obviously, there were other visitors who were even more "touristy". That's them right there, hogging the Queen's Head Rock. All of them wanted to take his/her pictuire with the Queen's Head Rock INDIVIDUALLY, taking several shots per person.

I waited alongside them and, of course, they expected me to wait until their ENTIRE group finished. Whatever. I lost patience and decided to just walk away and explore surrounding areas.

That was when a bunch of them started yelling at me. I didn't know I was the object of this cacophony of sounds at first. Finally, I looked back and they, as a united group, were SHOOING me away! I wasn't really near them at this time, as they had to gesture wildly to let their intentions be known.

Apparently, they wanted me out of there as I was visible in the background of their photos.

Wha--?! You people are insane.

Back to the rocks and such



Close-up of rock surface.


The green is so nice.


A closer look at the bi-colored rocks.



[ts]
Looking back at my Yehliu pictures, I realized that I didn't really capture a lot! So, these are some random links I found of Yehliu Geopark photos. I've included keyword searches on Flickr as well.

Click on them: Geological weird stuff are very pretty.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=582440
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=yeliu&w=all
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=yehliu&m=text


We didn't even really cover a lot of the park. There were so much more that I didn't get to see! But, JS decided it was time to go. [sigh]

On our way out of the park, we saw this.



C'mon, people! These rocks weren't waiting here for millions of years to be your personal ashtray!

I've scanned some informational material about the different geological formations at Yehliu Geopark. Click image to enlarge:


Outside the park

I guess these are to prevent flooding?

Dried Seafood


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Beside Yehliu Geopark, there was a covered structure filled with booths/stalls selling dried seafood. I guess these are the specialties of the area. It looks like a sanitized version of what was there before, I assume.

The above would be dried fish or squid snacks, differently prepared and flavored.


Here's a closer look. They're formed into these "flakes" or strips for easy snacking.


There are also dried little shrimp and dried little fish.


Dried little fish.


Fish floss!

They even had these machines making fish floss! Fish floss is like pork floss, but made from fish. (Yes, I know, very helpful.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_floss
Chowtimes.com: Pork Floss


Our loot.

We bought a whopping 8 bags of dried fish snacks to take back to Vancouver. You better believe I made sure to double or triple bag them. I didn't want to take any chances! Fish-smelling clothes in the the luggage would not have been fun at all.

Links
Yehliu Geopark sites
http://yeliou.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/
http://ylgeopark.org.tw/flash_intro/YAW.html
Wikipedia: Yehliu

Taiwan trip 2009
Taiwanese Bakery Goods (including ChiaTe Bakery)
Dan Shui 淡水, Taiwan (including food)
Taipei Quick Eats: Mos Burger, Hong Ya Breakfast, Ay Chung Flour-Rice Noodle
Taipei Convenience Store Foods
Shilin Night Market 士林夜市 (Taipei, Taiwan)
Breakfast Buffet at the Shangri-La (Taipei, Taiwan)
Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup, 4 versions (Taipei, Taiwan)
Yehliu 野柳 Geopark; Dried Seafood (Taiwan)

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