Short trip to YULI in Hualien County (花蓮玉里短暫之旅)
After having fun at Ruisui (see previous video) we went further south to visit a farm where you can learn how to make scones and wheat beer, had lunch at the Yuli Noodles restaurant, and then went bicycling on the Yufu Bikeway. We saw a LOT of rapeseed flower fields. :)
Read more about our trip here:
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Dongfeng Leisure Agricultural Area (東豐拾穗農場)
Add: No. 71-3, Difen, Dongfeng Borough, Yuli Township, Hualien County
(花蓮縣玉里鎮東豐里棣芬71-3號)
Tel: (03) 888-0181
Yuli Noodles (玉里麵)
Add: No. 94, Sec. 2, Zhongshan Rd., Yuli Township, Hualien County
(花蓮縣玉里鎮中山路二段94號)
Tel: (03) 888-1613
Travel in Taiwan (2019-03-04)
Yuli
From Ruisui it’s a short drive south on Provincial Highway 9 or County Road 193 to Yuli Township. The latter is favored by seasoned cyclists doing round-the-island or just East Rift Valley rides who prefer to take a more scenic and quieter road. It also offers more shade, thanks to the many roadside trees. In addition, the road has numerous vantage points from which you can take in the marvelous scenery of bright green and yellow fields and the majestic views of the central mountains on the opposite side of the valley.
Shortly before reaching the Yuli Bridge, which traverses the Xiuguluan River and connects to Highway 9 and central Yuli, you come to the Dongfeng Leisure Agricultural Area, a multipurpose farm where visitors can try their hand at such fun as making scones and brewing wheat beer using ingredients grown on the farm’s fields. Creating the small-sized scones, made with eggs, butter, and flour from the area, takes about an hour under the staff’s expert tutelage, and making the beer, a crisp, pleasing wheat ale, takes around three.
The farm was started as a rice operation 20 years ago, with pomelos also grown, but today the focus is mostly on wheat, four varieties of rice, two different kinds of beans, and a small fertilizer factory catering to local farmers looking to further enrich the already fertile soil. The factory and the fields can be toured; the wheat fields are a rare sight in subtropical Taiwan.
The East Rift Valley is well known for its fantastic cycling paths, one of the most popular being the Yufu Bikeway. Close to Yuli Railway Station are a number of bike-rental operations which rent bicycles for NT$100/4hrs, and e-bikes for NT$300 for the same amount of time. The roughly 10-kilometer stretch of paved pathway runs from Yuli Railway Station to the old railway station at the village of Dongli, following an abandoned railway line, winding among rice paddies, fields, and irrigation ponds.
About two kilometers into the ride the bikeway crosses the Xiuguluan River and the fault line dividing the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates, traversing a railway bridge that had to be retired because of the slowly shifting land below, the work of primal tectonic forces churning many kilometers underground. Stop at the midpoint of the bridge and place your feet at a clearly marked spot that allows you to, approximately, stand with one foot on the first tectonic plate and the other on the second.
Riding along the bikeway is a great way to take in the land that is eastern Taiwan’s largest rice granary, much of the crop grown here bound for export to Japan. During the seasons of the year the views are markedly different, ranging from seas of golden rice ears to fields of bright-yellow rapeseed.
Along the pathway you will pass the platforms of two old railway stations, at Antong and Dongli, the latter marking the southern end of the bikeway. Adjacent to Dongli’s old platform, a very popular Instagram spot, is a small café where you can stop and relax, have a cup of coffee, and perhaps pick up a small locally-made souvenir before heading back to Yuli.
If you have worked up an appetite on your return to central Yuli, consider dining at the Yuli Noodles restaurant, a popular no-frills eatery serving generous portions of noodles, either dry or in soup, topped with slices of pork, celery, and bean sprouts.