Taroko Gorge

Taroko Gorge is the feature in the national park that most people come to see and is listed as one of the top sights of Taiwan, which is why I was in Hualien. The name is of native origin. This is a commemorative statue at the national park centre representing the mother spirit.

The 0630 bus was too early for my taste but the 0750 suited me fine. I came down to find a simple breakfast of a triangular sandwich and DIY tea. The bus was actually also a service for the towns between Hualien and the park so there were many diversions from the main highway.

Another statue representing a warrior of the tribe. You begin to see the possibilities in the gorge in the distance.

The flood plain of the river that empties into the Pacific Ocean.

The bus was a hop-on hop-off affair. There were enough runs throughout the day that if you timed your stops correctly you could visit the attractions you wanted. The first stop was Shakadang, also naming the tunnel. The road and tunnels were built by demobbed soldiers of the nationalist army in the years after the war.

From here one could take a walk of a couple of km beside the the river bed. Notice the incredibly tortured rocks created by the geologic uplift. It is still active, rising about 0.5 cm per year.

Dig those strata!

The trail ended in this rest stop. Native tribal families still live in the area and use the trail for transport, usually in the off-peak hours, as a sign advised.

There is a service area at Bulowan. I had lunch here. There are several trails from this terraced area, one of which led back to the main road, not too far from the next attraction. I debated with myself whether to walk the trail and rejoin the bus at the next attraction. Before I could ask a park employee about this idea (they were at lunch), the next bus arrived so I hopped on.

Yanzikou (Swallow Grotto) was the peak attraction of my itinerary. You can see the milky turquoise of the rock flour suspended in the water.

A permit is required to walk across the suspension bridge.

The grotto starts here.

The grotto accommodates both a road and a walkway. Work is underway to create a separate tunnel for the vehicles so that the pedestrians don't have to watch out for them.

From openings in the grotto, one can see the stream and rock strata.

Nobody offered me a hard hat and I don't know where they were issued. Maybe they thought I was hard headed enough. But seriously it does indicate that rockfalls do occur though not with such frequency that anybody thought to bar me from entering.

A covered section.

They say that if you squint, you can make out the profile of a tribal warrior's head in the rock on the right side of the stream.

Can't see him? Here, have another go.

The grotto ended in a rest area serving food and drink. The road continues in this fashion. The upper tunnel is the newer one. The tunnels are sometimes destroyed by seismic activity and have to be rebuilt. Taiwan is both an earthquake and a typhoon zone so with beauty comes danger.

Looking back at where I had been.

Although the bus could have picked us up at the far end of the grotto, it didn't look like it was an official stop so I had to retrace my steps to the start of the grotto to catch the next run.

The next stop was one called Lushui. There is another rest area there. It's also the trailhead for some walks but it was mid-afternoon by now so I didn't have time for that. I did have a coffee here and enjoyed the cool air at a table for a while.

The last stop of the bus service is Tianxiang where there is a Buddhist temple. The road continues across the mountains. To really do Taroko NP justice one should cross the mountains at a leisurely pace. Many travel pages suggested hiring a driver so that you can view scenic spots at your own pace. If you can afford to, that's great.

There is another small night market in Hualien said to be incredibly crowded and where some stalls have queues waiting up to an hour. Madness. I was too tired after the day out. I even opted for a fast food dinner to avoid looking around (blush). And that was my peak day in Taiwan.