May 4th we stayed Yilan 宜蘭 and received the hearty welcomes from local friends.

9:00 AM
Amy and her family drove us to Yuanshan 圓山, her hometown, a suburb of Yilan.
We visited a local shrine, walked in her mother’s farm and hiked on Neicheng Frontier Historic Trail 內城隘勇古道.

On Neicheng Frontier Historic Trail 內城隘勇古道, kids and some adults were playing in the clear pond.
Others, including me, went to the trail and enjoyed the panoramic view on the hill.

We ate lunch at Amy’s mother’s house. She prepared many dishes for 22 guests!
Everything tasted delicious and mild. We celebrate the early Mother’s Day!

In the afternoon, we went back to the inn and took a break.
Then we went cycling to the seaside because we had too many dishes at lunch and had to make room for dinner.

On the beach, kid’s enjoyed the wave, and I also became relaxed and enjoyed watching the view of the Pacific Ocean.

18:00 my friend and her family invited us to have dinner at 壮園穀倉, the barn restaurant. It was a kind of a farmer restaurant.

My family met them two and a half years ago in Yilan, and they welcomed us. After that, I have been studying Chinese for 20 months. At this time I was so glad to talk with them in broken Chinese.

All dishes were delicious and served in a beautiful presentation. Especially my son liked boiled rice.

It is not a large restaurant, but it has two attractions for kids. One is old fashioned pinball games.

Another attraction was making DIY dessert.
They dipped cracker sticks in malt syrup. Mini tomatoes dipped in sugar were delicious! It looked like a candy apple but was more refreshing.

Thank to friends, we were able to go to places where tourists could not go.
We enjoyed Yilan and I understood why Yilan county attracts so many visitors.