One of the places the Missus really wanted to visit was Taroko National Park. It was nearest big city was Hualien, so I hired a driver for our visit to Taroko Gorge and we had a rather easy three hour train ride from Taipei. We stayed fairly close to the train station at the Kindness Hotel, which actually lived up to their name. The folks working were really nice.
The city, at least for us, had a real small town feel, though it seemed to be rather sprawling. Once we checked in, we decided to head out in spite of the damp and drizzly weather to explore and get some dinner.
I had read that a must try in Hualien was goose. I had Mr Goose on my phone. Of course there were distractions along the way. On Jinfeng Street we passed this wonderful looking temple and decided to take a look.
From what I could gather, this is Dijun Temple.
It was something to see……
It was quite impressive, though there's not much in English on this temple. I'm in the process of trying to find a book or publication on these temples of Taiwan.
Along the way we passed a couple of food streets like this one, along Gongzheng Street.
Apparently, this baozi stand is quite well known.
We really wanted to try some roasted goose in Hualien, so we headed over to the very popular Mr Goose only to find it closed for the holiday. So, I had to find a plan B. We did enjoy shopping at this dried veggie/fruit shop.
While shopping, I found another possible goose restaurant so we headed on over.
Right next to the shop and the closed Mr Goose was this interesting looking church.
After "Googling around", I found that this is the Hualien Port Church.
From here, we pretty much headed back in the direction of the hotel.
Out on Jianguo Road was a place I saw as A Cheng Goose Meat on the map, though the English sign said "Happy Town Goose".
The place was empty when we arrived, but slowly filled during our meal.
The Missus placed our order and our "stuffs" started arriving.
The bamboo shoots were simple, but well seasoned, crunchy, and full of flavor.
The goose intestine with preserved vegetable was interesting. The goose intestine was very mild in flavor and quite crunchy.
The Missus had ordered the goose two ways; salted and smoked.
The dish came with two sauces which we didn't need. I expected the goose to be gamier than duck, but it wasn't. It did have some nice gaminess, was super tender and moist, and nice and rich. The "smoked", which was more like roasted to me had a stronger flavor profile, though the salted version seemed more moist. Both versions were tender and I'd have this again in a minute!
We loved the veggies in Taiwan and here was just another example; the wonderful, tender, mildly sweet – chlorophyllic baby fern shoots.
And the very "ong-choyish" stir fried yam leaves. So tender and grassy-nutty. Just simply seasoned and perfectly stir-fried.
When you have good ingredients, simple is probably the best.
We enjoyed our meal at A Cheng and like I wrote earlier, we'd return in a heartbeat!
A Cheng Goose Meat
No. 85 Jianguo Rd.
Hualien City, Taiwan
After dinner we strolled around a bit.
Before heading back. The Kindness Hotel, like other places we stayed at on this trip has a buffet breakfast. But they also serve snacks and drinks during the day, and what we were told was a evening "snack", which was more like a full on buffet dinner. As you can imagine; it was quite popular with hotel guests.
Of course we'd already eaten; but the Missus couldn't resist getting a snack; Taiwanese shaved ice.
After which we took a ice stroll. It was kind of interesting. We hadn't seen too many bars and such in Taiwan; but the area around the hotel seemed to have quite a few bars. I'm thinking it might be all the hotels, thus tourists in the area?
We headed back to our room excited about our upcoming visit to the Taroko Gorge the next day.
With dreams of goose dancing in our dreams……
was our opportunity. So, we walked to Xinyi, and got to the original DTF on Xinyi Road.
The rice was perfect, but the sauce was greasier and milder in poultry flavor than what we'd had earlier and the turkey meat was more chewy/tough as well. 
And even though it seemed pretty busy along the whole 500 meter route, there was a laid back vibe to things. And so, we actually enjoyed this night market more than the 
The woman working was quite a good salesperson. She saw the Missus and I walk up and immediately started conversing with the Missus. And apparently this tactic worked as we got a Hujiao Bing – a pepper bun. 
As you walk within the park, you'll come across amazing trees. An example would be the "three generation tree". Where one tree grew upon another, each serving as a base for the next generation, a symbol for all who some here.
There were very nice wooden paths and bridges making Alishan a very easy visit. Perhaps too easy for the Missus as She was getting kinda bored with the whole place. Whereas I enjoyed the view and the trees. Oh the stories they could tell!
The the outrageous price of NT$45….yes, I'm kidding, this equates to about $1.45/US we got a bowl with a large dumpling which was fried before entering the thick miasma of a sauce. The wrapper had a pleasant, somewhat glutinous chewiness. The sauce was thick, quite savory, with a hint of sweetness. The meatball was very tasty, though a bit on the tough and chewy side. The combination of flavors was excellent. And this was pretty filling.
We came across what looked like a hotel….it turned out to be the Splendor Hotel, with a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of plants and crafts. The Missus read one of the signs and noticed that the building is called "Park Lane" and on the third floor was something called "Taichung Sixth Market". Since it was still early and Dawncake didn't open until 10 we decided to check the place out.
The Missus really loved the yamaimo and the meat was buttery, beefy, and so tender.
