Hey there!
Sunday we woke up at 7 am or so packed our stuff and went for breakfast at the 7/11 next door. The taxi driver was actually a little early but he waited for us to finish our meal and then we started our trip.
First he brought us to Chishingtan Beach. Which isn’t a beack for swimming or sunbathing exactly but it’s very beautiful. There is no sand but pebble and the water is very blue.
Afterwards we went to see the cliffs a little north to the Taroko Gorge entry. (Qingshui Cliff)
We went to different sightseeing spots along the cost. I noticed that it really is almost impossible to go there by foot or bike, since the streets are very narrow and there is no space for other than cars, buses and scooters… We also stopped once where buses could never stop (and I don’t think you really are allowed to stop there). There supposedly used to be a walking path to see the cliffs, but since every year there are rocks falling down into the see, the path is closed now.
Next was Taroko National Park. After a short stop at the Information center at the entry of the park to get a map, we went to the Shakadang Trail where we went around for 30 min or so. There were many tourists so this trail wasn’t my favourite just for that reason.
At the Eternal Spring Shrine there were also many tourist buses, but we went up the Trail that leads to Changguan Temple and there was nobody except us at first (and later only a few other tourists). The trail is mainly stairs up the mountain on one side and then down the mountain at the other side. At the top you can visit Taroko Tower. In order to get to Changguan Temple however you have to cross, what I call the bridge of death…. It’s a small wood suspension bridge and quite long for a suspension bridge I think. Since I’m not very comfortable with hights this was a challenge…
The temple on the other side is also very beautiful, and as I said there were not many other tourists :) All in all it took us 1 h to get there, but we didn’t walk very fast and stopped often to take pictures.
the bridge of death….
the bridge of death as seen from the street under it
Next we went to Swallow Grotto. Our driver fetched us some trendy helmets for safety ;) Although I think it’s more of a touristy thing to have them, not that they are really for safety. As expected: many tourists were there. The trail is not really a trail, more the side of the road. But the stone formations (where the swallows live) are beautiful, and as I said also with the beach, the river water was VERY blue at times. So very beautiful.
At the end of the trail there is the “Indian Head” rock, which really looks like a head, if you know where to look ;)
“safety” helmets…
on the right you see the “indian head” rock
We afterwards briefly stopped to see the “Frog rock” to take some pictures.
turtle? rock
the frog rock (underneath the pavilion)
And then we went hiking again. This time at Lüshui Trail. There are to trails, a long one and a shorter version, we took the shorter one and it took us about 45 min maybe? (stopping often to take pictures) There weren’t too many tourists and the trail itself was very nice (in the woods) There is a 35 m tunnel that has no artificial lightning so our driver gave us a flashlight, but to be honest 35 m isn’t too long… And a cellphone as flashlight would work too ;)
Our last stop was Buluowan. There is a indigenous “museum” of sorts and they had a short movie about the indigenous people there so we watched it. Although neither of us could understand it. They spoke their indigenous dialect and only had mandarin subtitles which where too fast for Alex to read… But oh well. We saw how they got their face tattoos (at quite a young age) to symbolize their adulthood (the women have bigger tattoos than the men actually), we saw a traditional wedding, etc.
Since it was already getting late, and also the weather started to get worse (it started to rain lightly) we decided to go back to Hualien and go to a café until our train departed (at 21:10).
Since the driver kept asking where to drop us off exactly (since it was raining heavily in Hualien) we decided to go back to the café where we stayed the day before (Alice café). :)
There we drank Matcha Latte/Coffee again and also ate dinner, which was a Japanese style menu.
Later we only bought some snacks for the journey and went to Taipei again. :)
If your coming to Taiwan please visit Taroko National Park! There is plenty to see! Maybe you could rent your own car to go there, or go by tourist bus/taxi.
Thank you for reading!
Until then,
Pia
Kawaii Traveling 