Hualien 吉利潭 Gili Pond,Since ancient times, this place was used by the Amis people to pray for rain during droughts. Later, the forestry industry developed, and it was turned into a wood storage pond during the Japanese rule, and then the woodworking industry declined, and the pond was deserted. Nowadays, the Gili Lake in Hualien has been planned, and there are many beautiful arched bridges, which makes it a suitable scenic area for a relaxing walk.

Table of Contents

Prayer Plaza(祈雨廣場)

Jili Tan here is a free scenic area, as soon as you get out of the car to see the Rain Prayer Plaza, the grass is simply composed of natural elements such as rocks and short trees, in this kind of landscape scenery, I do not like too many artificial installations of artwork, natural is the best ~!

Praying for rain square can see the whole Jili pool, which reflect the moon arch bridge can just in the center of the vision, highlighting a major feature of this place, I also saw the photos of this perspective on the Internet before I decided to come to walk around and have a look.

Arch Bridge(映月拱橋)

There are four arch bridges in total, the Moon Arch Bridge is the most curved and has the highest view, probably in the center of the park. It’s not a big place, so you can see the whole of Kellett Pool while standing on the bridge.

I remember after taking these two photos, an old couple came up to me and asked me to take a photo of them, and they thanked me happily. This is the magic of nature, it’s easy to bring people closer to each other, even if they are strangers.

A view from the Moon Bridge. The stone in the center of the photo is the location of the Rain Prayer Square.

The grassy area with two rows of stone chairs is a stargazing hill, which is far away from the city center, so I’m sure the starry sky will be beautiful at night without clouds.

Three-arch bridge, pivot arch bridge(三拱橋、支坑拱橋)

There are two arch bridges at the back of the park, the picture below is a three-arch bridge, the bridge built of red bricks and the back of the mountain wall to form a good-looking picture, the following two pictures are also taken standing on the reflecting moon bridge, if you are too lazy to walk into the bridge can be stood on the reflecting moon bridge to turn around a circle, so that you can see the end of the …. If you’re too lazy to walk in, you can stand on the bridge and turn around.

Below is the Zhikeng arch bridge, a small one, with the side of the Siyuan Pavilion very match, a green forest in front of the red pavilion is easy to notice from afar, there is only one pavilion, put down your feet and take a rest for a moment here ～.

Walking past the branch arch bridge and the Siyuan Pavilion, the three-arch bridge is right in front of us.

Looking back from the three-arch bridge is the direction of the water source, and the end of the park is also here. At this time, the three directions in front of the left, right, and right are all hills, and there is a feeling of being covered by the mountains and forests, and from time to time, there is the pleasant sound of birds chirping~!

On the other side is the entrance to the park, where you can clearly see the Moon Bridge, and the long strip of green space in the lake is an ecological floating island, I don’t know if it is man-made or not, but on that day, you could occasionally see egrets standing on it to catch fish, and I personally like this kind of picture.

Walking through the other side of the three-arch bridge, the park has gone through most of the way. If you don’t stop and walk slowly here, you can finish the circle in about 20 minutes, which is not too big, so I suggest you to slow down your steps and stay longer to enjoy the scenery, or else you’ll finish the tour very soon.

There is a small ditch beside the trail, I stopped to look inside the water, the guide board mentioned that there are many crabs and fish in the upper reaches of this place, I wanted to see if there are any interesting aquatic plants and animals, but in the end, I didn’t see anything.

The weather was not good that afternoon, with occasional drizzle, but this was just right, no sunshine and no rain, so I was in the mood to walk slowly through the whole circle of Gili Tam.

flat arch bridge(平拱橋)

The flat arch bridge is next to the Rain Prayer Plaza, and below it is the half-moon spillway, with a small waterfall in the shape of a stone staircase, which makes the water flow down slowly, and a green aquatic plant, some small birds are shuttling between the stone staircase and the plant, waiting to feed on the aquatic organisms, and the water is very rich in small fishes, which shows that this place is full of vitality～.