Taroko National Park

We hired a driver for the whole day today to bring us to Taroko Gorge and back. Turns out he is also an awesome tour guide. We did a few trails today. First up was the Shakadang trail. It is a 1.6km trail but we only did 1km of it as it pretty much was the same thing the whole stretch. The view was that of a river in between the mountains. Clear blue water streaming down. Then we made a short stop to see the Changchun shrine and the Enternal Spring with flows from beneath it. Next up, we went to the Swallow Grotto and this is where I got some of the most magnificent shots of the gorge. After which we headed to the Cimu Bridge and Pavillion. The bridge is made of marble and its pillars are red in colour, overwelming the surrounding gorge. We also crossed a suspension bridge near the Yu Fei Pavillion but after that had to walk back across it as going beyond requires a permit and we didn't possess one. It was almost 2pm by the time we were done so we headed off to lunch at a place nearby. One interesting dish I had was the Golden Needle Flower (or daylily) soup. Apparently these grow nearby at a town south of Hualien. After that we hiked the Baiyang trail. Now this trail requires you to walk through a dark tunnel with a flashlight followed by a 2.1km trail. We only did 1km as the trail was closed off due to reconstruction because of damages from a previous typhoon. Just when we thought we were done, our driver/guide brought us to Qingshui cliffs. This is a 21km stretch of coastal cliffs with beautiful ocean view of various color tones. After that we went to an isolated beach nearby and just enjoyed watching the violent waves. Our train to Taipei was departing at 7.30pm so we headed off to the Hualien train station about an hour before. There was an impending typhoon coming towards Hualien and so the alert was on. Coastal shops and houses were to be evacuated for 3 days. We were lucky to be able to spend a wonderful day in Hualien today. Taipei is now upon us.Read more