Cruise Homestay is located near Hualien Railway Station. Miss Tao, hostess at the homestay, hails from Northern Vietnam. She has worked diligently during her time living in Taiwan, and is now not only able to assist the court with Vietnamese translations and labor disputes involving Vietnamese foreign workers, but also operates a small classroom at the homestay where she teaches Vietnamese children who have immigrated from Vietnam to Taiwan.
Owner, Zhizhong Liu, open this homestay in 2007. He went to Vietnam in 2009 for a blind date with Miss Shuigui Tao and got married a few months after. Miss Tao didn’t speak Chinese fluently when she first arrived in Hualien and the couple communicated mainly by body language. There were a lot of cultural differences that she and her husband overcame, including her habit of seasoning dishes with fish sauce.
Over the past 11 years, Miss Tao has studied diligently and graduated successively from Mingyi Elementary School, Yichang Junior High School, and the night school at National Hualien Commercial High School. The elementary school is not far from their home and every day Zhizhong Liu used to take her to evening classes on his bicycle. She will always fondly remember this sweet time. After graduating from high school, she went on to attend culture, law and life courses provided by the county government. Due to her language proficiency in both English and Chinese, she now works as a translator at the courthouse whenever there is a labor lawsuit involving Vietnamese foreign workers. Her next step is to attend social work courses at university.
She also teaches children Vietnamese. There is one story, in particular, that is particularly touching for young readers, one that describes a child who ran away from home after being punished by his mother. The mother could not find him and then died of an acute illness. The child later returned home and couldn't find his mother. When he was hungry, a piece of fruit fell from a tree. After eating it, he discovered that the fruit tasted like mother's milk, and he realized his mother was taking care of him from above. He then planted the tree everywhere and shared the fruit with his neighbors. After reading this story, the children told Miss Tao: "I will never talk back to my mother again."
After coming to Taiwan, she fell in love with Hualien’s beautiful scenery. In summer, she and her husband often take their children to Yunshanshui, Liyu Lake, and the river or beach. She also loves picnicking at Taroko, relishing in the mountain and gorge scenery, as well as observing the wood sculptures at Lintianshan Forestry Culture Park. She highly recommends these local attractions for travelers coming to Hualien.
Cruise Homestay
Address: No. 82-1, Guolian 2nd Road, Hualien City, Hualien County
Telephone number: (03)835–9623
Cell phone number: 0919–909–980