Name: Fu Yuan B&B
Address: No.48, Haibin Rd., Ji'an, Ji'an, Ji'an, 97356, Taiwan
Rating: 9

Smoke-free property

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Hualien Airport

Fu Yuan B&B

Ji'an

child-bed

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limited-time

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no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

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garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

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lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

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oceanside

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with-view

annex

basement

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1-bedroom

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not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

I was at the Rose Stone Inn with some friends, in our way back to Taipei, after a few days around the Taiwanese eastern coast. The authentically antique decoration left us speechless. We had the chance to enjoy not only all modern facilities, but also every piece of art which make the old mansion a delight. Run by a very hospitable woman, who btw turned out to be a terrific cook, our night at the Rose Stone was the icing on the cake of our trip.

A dip into traditional Taiwan

The four of us in our group stayed two nights at the place, and it was a truly memorable homestay experience!

Firstly I must state that anyone who is considering putting up at this place should not be expecting something that is very luxurious, pampering or well-organised. However it is these little "flaws" that add to the charm and authenticity of the experience in this homestay, which looked like it was originally built by some rather wealthy folks and then passed down over a few generations.

On the two nights when we were there, an elderly lady whom we addressed as Cai Mama was running the place. We realised that she was the wife of the owner of the place (who was away), and they were living in this huge home with her children and grandchildren. While she was sometimes rather absent-minded and she is not the most well-organised (at least according to the standards of the corporate world which many of us are accustomed to), she was a very accommodating and sincere woman.

When we were checking in, Cai Mama realised that the two twin-sharing rooms that were available on that day were at opposite ends of the compound (which was very large for a home). She then very generously offered us a "free upgrade" into a quad-sharing room  beside one of the twin-sharing rooms that we were originally assigned. This way both our rooms (one twin-sharing and the other a quad-sharing) would be right beside each other, she went on to explain. She also declined to charge more for the upgrade, saying that she would feel bad if she split our group up.

She was also very helpful in arranging for her neighbour, Mrs Huang (who is a taxi driver), to take us around for an entire day at a reasonable price (we had done some comparisons beforehand). Mrs Huang's level of service and professionalism was also rather commendable and we enjoyed our one-day outing with her. On top of that Cai Mama also assisted us in buying our train tickets out of Hualien and even very kindly offered us a lift to the train station about 20 minutes' drive away after our check out! On top of that she did not take any cut off the train tickets as some min su owners do, as she told us to pay directly to the train station staff based on the published prices instead of passing the money through her hands.

As for the place, the building bears a very traditional, almost ancient, kind of architecture that we found to be very charming and captivating. The decor is also mainly done in a very old-school style. Also, there are many antique and art pieces which may be found in almost every corner of the place, and we took at least a two hours just exploring the compound and admiring the pieces. The house itself could almost be considered one of the attractions that we had visited in Hualien!

However, a minor drawback is that there were some areas which could have been better-maintained. One would be the bathroom in the rooms, as there was some leaking and also stains on the walls and bathtub. The refrigerator in the room was also not working. However, the charm of the place in general quickly made us forget about these minor discomforts.

On the whole, we were very relieved, and even delighted that we had made the right choice of refusing to default on our booking and going to Stone House instead. On our way to Rosestone Inn, the taxi driver, a particular Mr Chen, had very aggressively tried to get us to default on our reservation with Rosestone and check into Stone House instead, which was only about 5 minutes' drive away. He reasoned that since Rosestone had not collected any deposits from us, we had nothing to lose even if we failed to turn up. He was slandering Rosestone (many of the things he said we found to be untrue later), telling us that it was a very bad place to stay in, and that Stone House would be a much better choice. He even went to the extent of insisting on driving us to Stone House to "take a look" before we decided where to stay in.

In the end we were well repaid for keeping our promise to Cai Mama that we would turn up even though she made an exception of not insisting on a deposit from us.

Great, Homely Experience

We stayed at the Rosestone while we toured the area (the spectacular Taroko Gorge).  The Rosestone is built in an authentic ancient Chinese homestead style (except with mod cons like air con).  It looks just like a famous Taiwanese homestead that is preserved in Taipei as a heritage site  except you can stay in this one.  The beds were like futons on the ground but very comfortable and the place was very clean.  The food is traditional Chinese (e.g. congee for breakfast) and the owner has a very extensive collction of Chinese wooden carvings, sculptures, panels, furniture, paintings that all add to the authentic charm of the place.  The TV reception in the room was hopeless but if you've gone there to watch TV you've probably made an error in your calculations.   The service was very friendly and they do speak some English.  The location was not too far from town and the airport (we flew in from Taipei to Hua Lien - US$80 for 25 mins return flight) and we hired a local guide with a car to take us around every day for 3 days (about US$80 a day - a real bargain as she knew everyone and everywhere to go).
If you want to feel like you're living how the reasonably well-to-do Taiwanese would have lived a few hundred years ago, but in comfort, you should be very happy here.
I thought the place was great and had no problems at all with it.


Unique experience

Homestay designed as a traditional chinese house with multiple courtyards and rooms. Prices are reasonable but require a 15 minutes taxi ride from hualian town (about 200 NTD). Cleaniness is decent but could be improved.

Quiet homestay beside hualian town

A group of four of us stayed here during a visit to Taroko Gorge. The house, gardens and courtyards are very beautiful. The staff are all very friendly and happy to help. I only had 2 small problems with this place is that it is far from the city and if you don't have transport it means taxi ride to restaurants. There is a hotpot/bbq/all you can eat nearby but its not very good. The other issue is that our rooms were not in the "traditional" part of the house but in a newer tower structure. These rooms were not very attractive or well furnished. Breakfast was plain but overall a good experience.

Fu Yuan B&B

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