August 23, 2013 --- On the second day of our summer break, Nathan and I rented a bike from the Giant Bike Shop located right around the corner from Hualien Bus Station. It cost NT$ 250 per bike per day. There are also buses going to Liyu Lake, but it didn't run often, so if you miss one you have to wait almost two hours for the next one. The bus would take about 45 minutes to get to the lake, but if you bike, it would take about 1.5 -2 hours to get there. Nathan and I weren't fast bikers, so it took us a good two hours biking on an open highway to get there. It was pretty safe to bike on the highway here because there was a bike/scooter lane all the way to the lake, and there weren't many trucks or cars passing by.
We got to the lake close to noon, so we went straight to a restaurant located by the lake. It was a cute, little place selling mainly fruit smoothies and coffee or tea, but they also had some Indian curry and rice on the day we were there. The owner was very nice and could speak English a little bit. It's generally a good place to sit quietly and enjoy the lake.
After lunch, we decided to bike around the lake. The bike path was very well kept and you can see many vista points along the way. There are also many hiking trails starting from the bike path. Nathan and I did a short hike on Liyu Mountain Trail, but we went up just for 5-10 minutes and decided to walk back down because we were afraid we wouldn't have enough time and energy to bike back home since it took two hours to get back to town.
As we finished the route around the lake and came back on the highway, we saw many buses passing by. We were curious if we could take the bus back to the city instead, so we asked the tour bus drivers siting at a tea shop. They were so helpful and made a call to the city bus company for the specific time and the ticket price for our bicycles. Apparently we could pay half a ticket price for each bike and just put the bikes in the aisle between seats. Luckily not too many passengers!
While waiting for the bus, we just paddled the boat on Liyu Lake. It was cool and rainy, but we had our peaceful moment floating in the middle of the lake surrounded by mountains with puffy clouds hanging over the peaks. My favorite moment ever!
