Hualien & Taroko Gorge

Next up was Hualien City on the east coast of Taiwan. The first thing that I noticed after getting off the train was that it was another place with incredibly loud military jets circling overhead quite frequently. I was the only person on the streets that stopped to watch them every time they flew over, obviously the locals are quite used to it!

The reason for visiting Hualien is mainly Taroko Gorge, a 19km long valley carved by the Liwu River. The local geology is hard stone like marble and granite, so the valley has almost vertical walls towering high above you. There is a very narrow road running along the gorge, often carved into tunnels along the cliff. A local bus runs up and down this road which I took to get to Swallows Grotto. Swallows Grotto is a particularly spectacular off-shoot of the main valley, which is so named because of the swallows that nest on the cliff face. Although apparently most of the swallows have left the area because of the noise from the multiple tour busses and tour groups with megaphones passing through constantly! You're recommended to wear a hard hat on this part of the gorge but they didn't have any so I just had to keep an eye out for falling rocks. Luckily much of the trail runs through tunnels carved into the rock which made me feel safer. On the way back down the valley I stopped to visit the Eternal Spring Shrine, which was built at the point that a spring emerges from the rock to commemorate the 212 people that died while constructing the highway through the gorge.

Aside from visiting Taroko Gorge I had plenty of time to explore Hualien. There is quite a dramatic coastline with black pebble beaches and bright turquoise water, which along with the stormy weather creating huge waves made me happy to just walk along it and watch the waves for hours. And of course back in the city you had to go to the night market for the best food. Stand outs that I had were dumplings and incredibly fresh sushi. There was a long queue for corn on the cob so of course I joined it. We had to pick the cob that you wanted, tell the server how cooked you wanted it (soft, medium or hard) and then how spicy you wanted the marinade. They then gave you a number and you waited for 20 minutes until your corn was ready. It was very nice but it seemed a bit much for corn! It was probably the most popular stall in the market though. I preferred the sushi!Read more