Yehliu Fishing Village-A Charming Spot In Northern Taiwan

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5364235/height/450/width/450/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/” height=”450″ width=”450″]Yehliu Geo Park is one of Northern Taiwan’s top tourist sites attracting on average over 3 million visitors yearly. It’s a fun place and interesting spot with numerous natural rock formations including their most famous, “Queen’s head”, named so for it’s resemblance to the profile of Queen Elizabeth I, some even comparing it to Nefertiti. It’s a Disneyland for rock lovers and as you can imagine it’s usually crowded almost anytime during the day.

Sitting right next to the park is the fishing village of Yehliu, which is usually quiet except for meal times when some of the tourists stray away from the geo park and food stalls and souvenir stands that surround it and head to one of the many seafood restaurants that serve the amazing bounty of the North China sea.

Other than the density of seafood restaurants, that perhaps could not sustain themselves without the massive tourist attraction next door it’s a pretty typical Northern Taiwanese fishing village, with lots of men fishing off of the docks, boats in the harbour equipped with watermelon sized lanterns, numerous temples and shrines, and beautiful views towards the park and sea.

I know that many will miss the charm of places like this especially if they are ferried in by tourist buses with guides that are in a hurry to meet the promises of a day spent seeing all of the sites of Northern Taiwan.

Most are simply looking to rack up tourist spots visited with selfies to share back home, the traveller that judges a good trip based on the volume of places they’ve seen. There’s nothing wrong with that if in the end you’re satisfied with your vacation.

However if you want to experience the real Taiwan perhaps even engaging a little with locals, like the man who showed me the squid eggs in one of his tanks, then spend more time exploring and worry less about the number of things you see. I’ve found lots of interesting places literally on the fringes of tourist spots.

Always my biggest take aways are those moments of interaction with locals that are far more endearing than a checked off list of sites. But do see Yehliu Geo Park next door, it’s worth the visit!

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