4ever Discovering
Wai’ao Beach: The Perfect Weekend Getaway
Black Sand, Clear Water, and a Cloudless day
We all know November can be a long month; there aren’t any holidays to look forward to and we are always working away with no rest. Although the weather isn’t dreadfully cold over here, Emily and I still needed a little pick-me-up from the November blues and needed a weekend for some R&R. When we heard the weather was looking around 30 degrees and sunny, we decided what better way to relax than to spend the night out of the city and near the ocean? We booked our hostel, hopped on the train, and escaped to Wai’ao beach for a couple days of island life.
Wai’ao is a little area located Northeast of Taipei in Yilan county. Emily and I took the local train which took just under 2 hours to get there. Since we were staying the night, we didn’t have to worry about how long it took to arrive. To plan a day trip here, a two hour train ride there and back doesn’t sound ideal. Spending two days at Wai’ao meant we could maximize our beach time and not have to worry about when we need to catch the train back to Taipei.
When we got off at our train stop, Emily and I looked at each other like we were having major déjavu. This station looked very familiar, and was small enough to remember coming here before. It only took a few seconds for us to realize we’ve been here before when we went to Wushi Port! We had gotten lost trying to find the train station and somehow we ended up at Wai’ao. We didn’t have the chance to explore when we were here before, so now we knew where we were and what there was to see.
From our previous day trip in this area, we knew surfing was a very popular activity here. People come from all around Taiwan to catch some waves and spend their day in the water. Our hostel, Rising Sun Surf, is known to many surfers as the best place to stay around the area. It is located right on the beach and offers surfing lessons and rentals for beginners. Emily and I decided we will try surfing in another country when the price is a little cheaper. We knew we just wanted to get some beach time in and enjoy the views.
The hostel was awesome; it was so nice to be able to sleep by the ocean. The staff was super friendly and they had a very cozy common area. Rising Sun Surf also offered food and drinks; there isn’t a lot of places to go to get a bite to eat around here, so they make it convenient to order a quick meal there. One of the reasons we came to Wai’ao was because of an event we had seen on Facebook. There was a pub called Drifter’s around here that served PIZZA. We knew we would be going there for dinner no matter what, but it made it even better when we heard there was going to be live music performing! Not a bad Saturday night in my books.
Drifter’s had awesome homemade pizza that made me really wish we had an oven to cook our own. The restaurant itself was very cool; the bar was outside and they had a screen projecting videos of people surfing. The bands were playing inside, which reminded me of a shipwreck. It was cozy, and there was a lot of people there ready to dance and have a good time. It turns out, we knew one of the bands playing from a previous night out in Taipei. Their name is Balkazar and they are a French-Serbian band playing folk music. Their songs are very catchy, and by the end of the night, they had everyone in the room up dancing. The second band was a heavy metal group of guys who we also recognized from Taipei. It’s weird just how small the world can be sometimes. These guys probably think we’re groupies following them around the country now. We need to explain ourselves and tell them we aren’t stalkers; it was just sheer coincidence!
Our Saturday night was lively; good food, cold drinks, and we met a lot of new people from Taipei who are here studying. We spent the next day relaxing on the beach, trying not to think about going to work on Monday. The beach wasn’t very busy; it was probably because it was mid-November and Taiwanese people think that’s crazy, but we weren’t complaining. We found the temperature so hot we needed to go swimming every half hour or so to cool off. The water was the perfect temperature and very clean. I didn’t have to worry about touching any seaweed or unknown creatures in the ocean. This time; however, Emily said something touched her. The tables have turned and she had her little freak out running away from god knows what.
Along with its black sand, Wai’ao beach’s other selling point is its incredible views of the mountains. Surfing is probably the most popular activity here, but I think paragliding is a close second. From where we were laying on the beach, we could see all of the people paragliding from the top of the mountain, and landing on the beach. They were flying right over us and were landing about 100 meters away. My only complaint is that sometimes the parachute was blocking my sun! I thought a big cloud was rolling in, but then looked up and saw another happy customer flying through the sky.
Wai’ao beach was a much needed escape from the city and a great way to catch up on some reading and sleep. Emily and I loved waking up by the water and kept reminding ourselves this is what our summer is going to be like! Endless beaches, hearing the waves roll into shore, and lots of vitamin D. We will definitely be back to Wai’ao; maybe to surf, maybe to paraglide, but probably just to enjoy the views and the water. Next time we are bringing our floaties and our sunscreen! We didn’t know November weather could be so hot! Oops.
