Rafting on Siouguluan River 秀姑巒溪泛舟

More pictures in a cool little gallery here.

Rafting itineraries are usually like this:
- get into Ruisui 瑞穗 afternoon or evening
- go rafting first thing in the morning
- lunch midway
- finish around 14h00
- shower up, go for a nice bike ride in the beautiful countryside, perhaps visit some farms
- go home

I suggest you go after heavy rains or a typhoon - that's when there's more water and makes the ride more exciting. When it hasn't rained for a while, all the sediments sink to the bottom of the river, and the water is blue and green and just beautiful, except you get stuck on the rocks. So if you can pick a time to go, go after it rains. If you go and the water is really shallow and slow, take the motor boat course instead. It's a totally different experience hearing the stories of how the mountains were formed and getting to go on shore to walk around, look at stones, sit on top of boulders and take your time to snap pictures. Just on the boat ride alone, I fell asleep because it was just so comfortable, feeling both the sun and wind on my (now very tanned) face. And if you get stuck on the rocks, your guide will get the boat off them - don't worry.

Right now, I believe one of the current packages they have now is a group of four can get a package that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, board, rafting/motor boat touring and bicycle rental. The price is a little under TWD1.500.

How to get there: you can drive to Ruisui in Hualien, or take the train to Ruisui or fly to Hualien. Rafting operators have shuttles - you just need to let them know when you arrive and how many there are in your party.

Two operators that I know:
向上: ask for 阿樂 - he's the owner and a friend of our Hualien correspondent. He worked with us on our rafting story last year.
+886 932 581 495
東海: the operator that we worked with this year for our story. +886 3 8876338

Try to make reservations.

And the scripts:

Siouguluan River Rafting and Touring

To most people, Hualien's Siouguluan River is best known for its rafting adventure, but fewer people know that you can also take a guided tour on a motor boat down 24 kilometers of the river. While most people speed through while rafting and never get to see how beautifully the river cuts and bends through the mountains others have found a more relaxing way to view the mountain scenery.##

[[ns]]
Rafting on the Siouguluan River is always full of excitement. And asides from maneuvering the rapids, there's also boat flipping,
[[ns]]
and of course, water fights!
[[ns 音樂+畫面]]

Rafter
I'm having a lot of fun. What a rush it is. There are rapids and you can throw water at each other.

Rafter
I'm really here for the water fight.

Midway, you get to have a nice lunch break, and the standard fare is a boxed lunch, but there's also something better - local Hakka cuisine.

[[ns]]
A third of the population in these parts is Hakka, and the cuisine includes dishes like bitter melon with salted duck egg and pig stomach with pineapple. The price is NT$150 to NT$200 per person, and you get at least five dishes and a soup, which isn't bad at all.

Michella Jade Weng
What a meal! Now let's get back to the river.

Asides from rafting and zooming through 24 kilometers of the river, barely catching a glimpse of the beauty that's here, you can take a guided tour in a motor boat, like we did today.

Ciou Hong-guang
Guide
During the rainy season or when a typhoon hits, large amounts of sand and dirt are brought down along with the water. So some of the bends become straight and some of the straight parts of the river become new bends. It keeps changing.

You can even stop and go on shore. With a little bit of digging around, you can find some pretty nice-looking rocks too. Or if you're not so interested in learning about how the mountains and the rivers were formed here, it's also nice to just sit back, relax and enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze on your skin as you drift slowly down the Siougulan River.

Michella Jade Weng, Formosa TV, Hualien


暑假快到了，最近秀姑巒溪泛舟的遊客也變多了。不過秀姑巒溪除了可以泛舟，其實還可以深度旅遊。解說員會開著快艇帶您認識那些不斷的在改變的山水景色，也非常適合全家大小。而且現在透過觀光局的補助，泛舟或搭快艇，包三餐和住宿，1人1千5有找。##

[[ns]]
秀姑巒溪泛舟，衝激流，
[[ns]]
鬧翻船，
[[ns]]
打水仗，讓人覺得"24公里，23個激流，怎麼那麼快就玩完了呢?"
[[快節奏音樂配畫面 抽格也OK]]
[[sb 很開心 很high 有激流 然後可以玩水 可以打水仗]]
[[sb 妳是來划船還是來打水仗的? 打水仗 哈哈哈]]
划到一段落，上岸休息吃飯囉！
[[ns 大家都來這邊領便當喔]]
划了一早上，大家便當簡直用吞的，是餓壞了還是真的那麼好吃？來看看便當裡有什麼料！

[[豆乾 香腸 滷蛋 這是叉燒肉吧 梅干菜]]
嗯，看起來不錯，不過...
[[stand-up 我們今天不要吃便當好了 帶大家去吃豐富一點的午餐]]
[[ns 炒菜]]

哇~好豐富!這是當地的客家快炒，鹹蛋炒苦瓜、鳳梨肚片、梅乾扣肉等等看起來真美味。其實瑞穗1/3的人口是客家人，因此客家菜特別多，也不貴。這六人以上的套餐就有七菜一湯，一個人平均150元到200元，很划算，老闆說甚至四人套餐也賣，五菜一湯，同樣150元到200元。

[[stand-up 喔 吃得好飽 回到溪邊去吧]]

其實來到秀姑巒溪，不一定要泛舟，搭快艇來個知性的深度之旅也不錯呢。
尤其沒下雨，水不多的時候，泛舟容易卡住，不太刺激。但坐快艇，不只可以看到清澈的溪
水，還可以慢慢享受秀姑巒溪不斷的在蛻變的美景。

[[sb 每當雨季或颱風來的時候 都會夾帶著大量的沙土和水量 所以每次會把這些彎道 有的
會截彎取直 有的又會有新的彎道 所以不斷在改變]]

您可以上岸撿撿漂亮的石頭，像這些年糕玉、總統石、還有紫玉都是在溪畔撿到的。

[[(慢慢玩)不但可以沿途看風景 還可以做自己想做的事情 聽聽原住民的故事 最重要的 還可以撿到這些石頭 石頭看起來不怎麼樣 可是把表皮打開 裡面是非常漂亮 非常有價值的玉石類 這個叫做雪花玉]]

不下船，光坐在快艇上，晒晒太陽，吹吹風，也好享受，說不定您還會坐到睡著呢。
放慢腳步來體驗秀姑巒溪，也有另一種特殊的感受。

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