[Hualien Attractions]Relaxed Backcountry Exploration: Qixingtan and Bonito Museum

Albee, Mom of Three

We finally set foot on one of Taiwan’s most beautiful spots—Qixingtan. Before planning the trip, I kept wondering where to take the three kids in Hualien?

It happened to be Xinxin’s birthday, and a month ago I had promised Enxin we’d go to the ocean park together. But before the trip, we stumbled upon a video online of a baby dolphin being caught—the mother dolphin desperately trying to save her child, but no match for human cruelty...

Enen and Xinxin asked me: “Why do humans catch dolphins?”

I replied: “Because they want to make money from dolphins. They take them to ocean parks to train and perform for us to watch. But you know, dolphins belong in the sea, not ocean parks. The ocean is their home. We shouldn’t take a baby dolphin from its mother—just like I’d never let anyone take you away. You’re my treasures!”

After hearing this, Enen and Xinxin, with teary eyes, told me: “We don’t want to go to the ocean park anymore!”

I was deeply moved by their decision and hoped this moment would stay with them. I told Enxin that besides the ocean park, Hualien has so many other wonderful places to explore.

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We probably couldn’t even cover everything in a three-day, two-night trip. So let’s head out with excited hearts.

Our family of five took the train with just simple luggage. We didn’t rent a car (since we have licenses but don’t dare to drive!). Instead, we rented two motorcycles and toured Hualien with little Chenchen in a carrier and Enxin standing in front.

The kids found it all so fresh and new. We felt like we’d gone back to our own younger days of motorcycle travel...

As soon as we arrived at Qixingtan, the three kids’ eyes lit up—it was so beautiful. Thank you, lovely Qixingtan, for giving the kids such a wonderful surprise.

Enen and Xinxin used to think of the sea as just beaches and water. Seeing a pebble beach without sand for the first time, they carefully walked on the rocks... The weather was especially nice. After getting tired of the humidity in Taipei, we soaked up the winter sun on the beach.

Qixingtan is a great outdoor classroom. Acting like a tour guide, I explained to them how this is Taiwan’s only pebble beach—waves rolling in and crashing over time, rounding all the stones.

They curiously searched for treasure, hunting for all kinds of uniquely shaped rocks. We stood behind, watching our three treasures and just daydreaming... In this moment, we truly paused our busy pace, stopped worrying about daily life, and just quietly watched the waves rise and fall... We left our worries to the sea and let the sound of the waves heal our hearts.

Dad quietly stacked up some stones, as if he’d seen in a Korean drama that it makes a wish tower—you can make wishes for each other.

We accidentally found a smooth, bright white stone. It looked like a glowing stone—so pretty.

One benefit of traveling on our own is we don’t rush the itinerary. We have no strict time limits. Although Hualien has so many fun places, we’re not greedy—we actually want an excuse to come back. We stayed the whole morning, also hoping the kids would grow attached to the sea and create more childhood memories here.

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While picking up and throwing stones, Enen found a bamboo skewer. He said to me: “Mom—look. Someone littered. If this skewer flows into the ocean...”

“It could hurt dolphins and turtles!” (I was really touched—he remembered what I’d taught him!)

I said: “That’s right. We’ll take the skewer with us and throw it in the trash later.”

The sea here is truly stunning, though if you look around, there’s quite a bit of litter on the beach... We didn’t bring garbage bags and couldn’t pick up everything, but if each of us puts in a little effort, we can maintain this beauty for the next generation. And please teach them to care for nature, so its beauty lasts forever.

Since you’re in Qixingtan, check out the “Qixingtan Bonito Museum” too. It’s a great place to entertain kids.

Look at Dad’s back—that’s so handsome.

Let’s start by meeting the adorable Bonito Uncle.

The ticket is only 50 NTD, and you can even get 30 NTD off your purchases.

As soon as we entered the museum, the scent of dried bonito filled the air. Enen asked: “Mom, why does it smell like udon noodles?” Haha—of course, silly. The bonito in your usual bonito-flavored udon noodles comes from this famous local product. There are models demonstrating the traditional process of making dried bonito, and right under our feet is the old drying room for making bonito in the old days.

But those bamboo-plaited landscape floorboards were just too scary—Xinxin walked in crying, haha.

When you come here, remember to slow down and explore this story of the Qixing people and the fish.

At the Qixingtan Dried Bonito Museum, there are many interactive activities for kids. That day, Enen and Xinxin touched a starfish for the first time, and they thought it was amazing!

The first floor has many small aquariums where you can see various marine creatures and fish. Did you find Nemo and Dory from Disney?

Hi~ I’m a live starfish too!

Head up to the second floor of the museum, where we can pretend to be fishermen and cast our nets.

A fun word-recognition activity, with many characters made out of fish. We’ve probably never used these in our lives before! It’s so hard—we spent ages flipping through them together….

Did you guess these two characters correctly?

Now we know that Qixingtan is famous for dried bonito, but what about other places? Coming here, I learned that Taitung produces swordfish.

I know Changhua produces oysters! I hope we can also take the triplets there someday to experience oyster harvesting.

Here, a simple flip-card game helps kids learn about Taiwan’s fishing produce.

Enen, who’s just over five years old, started seriously looking at the pictures. I could also use the images to explain Taiwan’s fishing methods to him.

Walking up another floor, there are cute little figurines you can take photos with—the dried bonito uncle himself! Hahaha~

More and more people are leaving Hualien, and the employment of mainland Chinese fishermen has impacted both tourism and the fishing industry. Many traditional crafts and techniques are gradually being lost. Fortunately, the museum preserves these little details, letting us understand the origins of dried bonito and the history of Hualien’s fishing industry.

We played in the museum for almost an hour and a half. Actually, the museum isn’t big—if you don’t explore thoroughly, you could finish in about 10 minutes! But there are so many games to play with the kids that we ended up staying for ages….

Especially this fruit-and-vegetable version of tic-tac-toe.

Enen challenged me, the big boss, for the first time, hahaha~ And of course, he lost badly to me!

Besides the tic-tac-toe game, there’s also hopscotch, the game we played as kids. Remember how to play? You throw a stone onto a square, then hop through the grid without stepping on the one you threw it on. For single squares, hop on one foot; for double squares, hop on both feet.

Now it’s Daddy Triplets’ turn, haha~

Don’t forget to visit the souvenir shop before you leave, and bring back some memories of Qixingtan. It also helps support Hualien’s tourism!

We spent nearly a whole day exploring just two spots—that’s pretty wild! But traveling isn’t always about checking off spots or sightseeing. Sometimes, slowing down lets you really immerse yourself in the local life. After coming back, the triplets couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful Hualien is. We promised that next time, we’ll go to Taroko Gorge in Hualien to see the beauty God created!

Let’s end with this cute fish with pouty lips!

Cute Xinxin even tried it out—muah~ I love Hualien!

[Authorized repost from [Albee, Mom of Triplets. Parenting. Life] Original source: [[Family Trip]Hualien Qixingtan & Super Fun Qixingtan Dried Bonito Museum]]