Niannian Restaurant 年年小館

Yilan isn't famous for its fine restaurants. Local people are mostly very traditional and rarely eat out, so the restaurant culture isn't very well developed. Most restaurants I've been to here aren't anything special. However, Niannian is an exception. I've eaten at the Jiaoxi branch a number of times, and the food is consistently good. What's more, they specialize in traditional Yilan dishes, so this is the place to come for a taste of the local cuisine.

There are three branches of the restaurant. The main branch is on the north side of Yilan City. I've never been there, but a friend tells me that the food there is better than at the branch locations. The Jiaoxi branch is conveniently located on the main road that cuts through town not far north of the train station area. There is also a branch in Luodong.

The menu is very extensive and is basically an encyclopedia of Yilan food. One page is even devoted to Yilan snack foods like you would find in a night market. Many of the dishes here are distinctive regional foods, such as shrimp cooked in hot stones, spicy lemon chicken, chicken soup with medicinal herbs, pork ribs with kumquats, and anything with scallions. Ask your waitress for recommendations of unique local foods.

The addresses are -

Main restaurant:
Huanshi East Road, Section 2, no. 777, Yilan City 宜蘭市環市東路二段777號
http://039373016.eyilan.tw/

Jiaoxi branch:
115 Jiaoxi Road, Section 5, Jiaoxi 宜蘭縣礁溪鄉礁溪路五段115號
http://039875252.eyilan.tw/

Luodong branch:
126 Yangming Road, Luodong 宜蘭縣羅東鎮陽明路126號
http://039567858.eyilan.tw/

Lanyang River Bicycle Path 蘭陽溪自行車道

This is an excellent urban cycling path - well built and maintained, and flat the entire way so it's an easy ride. The bike path runs along the top of the flood levy on the south bank of the Lanyang River. On one side you have a view of the Luoyang suburbs (mostly rice paddies and farm houses), and on the other side is the flood plain beside the river. Because the typhoons wash down rich topsoil from the mountains every year, the fertile flood plain is farmed after typhoon season ends. If you ride from fall to spring, you can watch the farmers tending their crops.

The bike path is pretty long, so you can start wherever you want. Riding the entire length and back takes about 2 1/2 hours. It runs from the mouth of the Lanyang River up to the foothills. Halfway along the route you pass by the Luodong Sports Park, which is a big popular park with many recreational facilities. You might want to make a detour and take a look. At the point where the bike path dead ends upstream, it's an easy ride along a local road to get to Meihua Lake (see my post), which is worth a visit. To get to Meihua Lake, ride upstream until the path comes to an end at a traffic roundabout. Cross the roundabout (be careful! - roundabouts are bad news for cyclists) and take the road going downhill. After a couple of minutes you will see a brown sign pointing the way to the lake. Turn right and follow this road to the lake. There are some shops along this road selling snacks in case you're hungry or thirsty.

One great thing about this bike path is its central location. It connects with several other bike paths, so from here you can get to quite a few places. If you cross over to the north bank of the river at the Qingzhou Bridge 清洲橋, you can get on the Annong River Bike Path 安農溪自行車道, which you can ride as far as Sanxing 三星,which is popular with Taiwanese tourists. Near the mouth of the Lanyang River, you can cross over to the north side and get on the Coastal Bike Path (see my post), which I highly recommend. Or, near the mouth of the Lanyang River you can turn right and follow the little local roads south to get on the short southern Coastal Bike Path, or else the Dongshan River Bike Path 冬山河自行車道 which runs through Dongshan River Park next to the Center for Traditional Performing Arts. You can also easily get to several smaller bike paths from here, or else explore the surrounding neighborhoods.

If you don't have a bike, you can rent one at Meihua Lake. To get to the river from the lake, just take the road away from the lake and turn left at the first corner. Follow this road uphill for a few minutes to the traffic roundabout. On the other side is the beginning of the Lanyang River Bike Path.

One problem with this bike path is that there's almost no shade - you're exposed to the sun almost the entire way. On a summer day, it will be a really hot ride. Be sure to put on sunscreen, wear a hat, and drink plenty of water.

Renshan Nature Trail 仁山自然步道

This is the highest and most isolated portion of a network of hiking trails which go along one side of a little valley southwest of Luodong. The first part of the climb isn't all that impressive - there were dump trucks mining the nearby river for gravel, which can be heard from the trail. And there are also some huge pylons supporting electrical transmission lines. But after half an hour, you're beyond the pylons and gravel mining, and inside a tranquil forest. The forest is quite pretty, and I heard some animals stirring around in the bushes in several places, and saw some feces on the trail. If you're lucky you can probably see large mammals here. There are a lot of tung trees 油桐樹 on the mountain, and these bloom in April and May, which is the best time to visit.

The climb up and back takes about 2 hours. The distance is 3.6 kilometers. You're going up pretty much the whole time, to a height of 440 meters, so it's not the easiest trek in Yilan. The path is so so. It varies from just plain dirt to crushed rock held in place with logs. Parts are fine, but other places are a bit rough and some patches need maintenance. The mediocre parts of the trail make the descent a bit slow. If you like, after you reach the peak you can keep going down the mountain on the other side, where the trail eventually connects to the Renshan Botanical Gardens on the other side. (The Botanical Gardens aren't that great.)

This isn't the easiest place to find. To get there, you start from downtown Luodong. Take highway 9 south. After you leave town you will see a brown sign pointing the way to Zhongshan Leisure Farm 中山休閒農場. Turn right at the sign. This road is called Yi 30 (宜 30). You have to turn several times - just follow the brown signs to the Zhongshan Leisure Farm. When you get to the farm, start following the brown signs to the Renshan Botanical Gardens 仁山植物園 or the Renshan Nature Trail. Eventually you will turn onto road Yi 34 (宜 34). This will take you to a large parking lot for buses. This is parking for the Renshan Botanical Gardens 仁山植物園, a tourist trap which sometimes attracts a lot of visitors even though it's not that great. On the road leading to the botanical gardens, there are places to eat if you're hungry.

To get to the hiking trailhead, stay on the road next to the river and drive upstream. The sign marking the turnoff to the trailhead is no longer there - it looks like it blew away in a typhoon. So you have to keep looking to your left whenever you see a little road leading toward the mountain. A large wooden cone, which can be seen from the riverside road, marks the start of the trail.

There are three ways to get on to the Renshan trail. I took the shortest route, which goes straight up the mountain. There are two other entrances to the trail - you can get there by walking all the way through the botanical gardens, which connects to the trail leading up Renshan, or you can find another trailhead downstream from the botanical gardens. If you start at one of the other entrances, you will be able to walk for a couple of kilometers in the lowlands before starting up the mountain.

Luodong Night Market 羅東夜市

There isn't much to do in Yilan in the evenings - it certainly can't rival Taipei for nightlife. However, one of the biggest and most famous night markets in Taiwan is in Luodong. While the rest of Yilan county closes down after dark, this place starts to come to life. The Luodong night market is always very crowded, and there's a big selection of food as well as the usual night market stuff to buy.

It is easy to reach the market. It is right in the center of town on the streets surrounding Zhongshan park 中央公園). After sunset there can be a traffic jam of cars inching toward the parking areas around the market. There is a lot of parking above B&Q, as well as some private lots in the area.

To visit the entire market you just walk down all the streets facing the park. Since Taiwanese expect night markets be crowded, some of these little streets have been designed to maximize congestion. The crowd can be dense and sometimes it's impossible to move. If this is too much to take, you can step into the park to recuperate for a few minutes.

Of all the night markets I've visited, this one has the longest lines. Even on weeknights, there are long lines at many of the stalls. I don't have to tell you which foods are famous - just see which stands have the longest lines. Those are the famous ones. Local specialties include anything made with scallion, especially different varieties of scallion pancakes (congyoubing 蔥油餅) - thick, thin, stuffed, and fried. They even sell scallion ice cream. There is also an odd local specialty called gaozha 糕渣 - it's made from potato starch, broth, and minced meat, which is mixed together into a dough, cut into pieces, and deep fried. Another local specialty is burou 卜肉 - pieces of deep fried pork. Although Taiwanese usually don't care for mutton, the lamb here is particularly famous. Several stands cook it in different ways - stir fried and in soup. People are willing to stand in shockingly long lines to get a bowl of mutton soup.