On arrival, Hualien, Taiwan, does not seem like a city recently hit by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake. Instead, the train station is bustling and the town serene, almost exactly as I remember from four years before.
Our taxi driver points out local landmarks as he drives – on this side a popular xiaolongbao stall, on the other a church built during the period of Japanese occupation. It’s evident that natural disasters aren’t the only challenge the city has faced.
And yet it’s survived, and even thrived: over the years, Hualien has become a tourist destination thanks to a scenic gorge, gnarly waves and miles upon miles of Insta-worthy coastal highway.
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The town of just over 100,000 has adjusted to the attention. At the end of our taxi ride, for instance, the driver hands us his business card and tells us that he’s available tomorrow and the day after for private tours of nearby Taroko Gorge.
Although not an uncommon offer, we can’t help but wonder if his schedule has been freed up by the aftermath of the earthquake. Just a week ago, 17 were killed and well over 200 injured in the city. Photos of damaged buildings, one of them leaning so far it seemed stuck in the process of collapsing, featured prominently in media reports.
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While not as serious as some of Taiwan’s past disasters – exactly two years ago, a quake killed 117 in Tainan – it put a damper on tourism.
It’s in the absence of normal peak season crowds that we set out to explore the seaside Highway 101. The trip turns out absurdly idyllic; there’s plenty of beach to go around, and we relish having whole expanses of gray sand or pebbles to ourselves.
On our return to the city, we discover that it’s not as empty as we thought. Certain foodie spots – a tiny wonton soup shop, a roadside stall selling egg scallion pancakes – reliably attract lines.
While taking a detour for milk tea, we stumble across Hualien’s Cultural Park, an artsy enclave of restaurants and shops that doesn’t lack for visitors on a sunny day. And as always, Taroko Gorge is full of people eager to trek alongside finely sculpted cliffs and precariously-perched temples.
Hualien remains far from uncomfortably crowded, though, and we spend a quiet afternoon at the Pine Garden, a former Japanese military office converted into a museum and café. Once valued for its use in commanding air and naval forces, the building now supports small art exhibits and poetry readings.
We stop by the local 228 Peace Memorial on our way back. Here, a dove sculpture and bell overlook the sea, commemorating a violent quashing of local protest against the Nationalist government in 1947.
As we enjoy the views, an elderly lady on a nearby bench takes the opportunity to strike up a conversation, telling us to call her Mama Zhao.
In between breezily asking us when we’ll get married and discussing her sons’ careers, Mama Zhao informs us that she too came to Taiwan on a trip from the mainland. Except that in her case, it was shortly before Nationalist leadership fled to the island in 1949.
Zhao and her parents ended up stranded on one side of the strait, leaving behind a younger sister and grandmother in the People’s Republic. She hasn’t seen either of them since.
But Mama Zhao is determined not to dwell on the negative. She’s nonchalant about the earthquake too, choosing to focus her indignation instead on the spooked tourists who inconsiderately canceled their hotel bookings.
Her confidence gives us courage later that night when a tiny tremor ripples through the furniture of our rented room. It’s unsettling, but so slight that it might have gone unnoticed outdoors.
On the last night of our visit, we happen to come across the half-collapsed building that once made international headlines. We stand and watch for a while as a construction crew carefully takes it apart, sending plumes of dust and rubble spiraling into the cool night air.
Then we continue walking, our path taking us closer to the small shops, bustling food stalls and vibrant street scenes at the heart of Hualien.
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