In Taiwan – Day 10

Since there were lots of things to see, we stayed for another day in Hualien. One of our agendas was to visit the ever famous Taroko Gorge. It is one of the must-go to spot if you are in Hualien.

Taroko Gorge (太魯閣: Tàilǔgé) [1]) is an impressive 19-km-long canyon, situated near Taiwan‘s east coast. The area of the gorge is also identified as Taroko Gorge National Park (太魯閣國家公園; Tàilǔgé gúojiā ) – Wikitravel (link)

It would take long time to reach to the said site if we were to opt for public transport. So, it is wise to hire a car as transportation of the day. Besides, I think it would be cheaper to rent a car/driver if you have more than 2 travelmates alongside with you. The guesthouse that we stayed in provided us with transportation throughout our stay in Hualien and so, the driver picked us up in the morning.

But before that, we went to for a quick breakfast as we were told that our lunch will be quite late in the afternoon because of the hiking and sightseeing which will take us more to 4 hours to complete. I guess I don’t need to show you what we ate as I said before, the breakfast is the same like previous days.

It rained throughout the night and hence, the day was rather cloudy and the road was slightly damped. We stopped at the entrance to take some photos before we proceed with our journey into the ‘forest’.

We did stop quite alot and we did walk alot too. The driver left us at several spots for us to walk up the hill. Though it was tiring for most of us, the walking part was worthwhile as we get to see the nature and the rivers and the rocks. Hehe.

Our final stop was here. IIRC, it is called Cave of Water Curtain. To get to this spot, we hiked (or walked) for more than 30 minutes. Deep inside the cave/tunnel, there is natural (and cold but not as cold as the one in UK during winter) water flowing from above.

It was really refreshing and if you are crazy enough (like my travelmates), you can walk thru the gushing cold water and shower. Haha. Oh yes, you will get wet even if you have your raincoat on. The water was crystal clear and can be treated as drinking water.

We left the national park slightly after 2pm to grab our lunch. Instead of having our lunch inside the park, we opted to have it outside as recommended by the driver. Nothing to shout about except for the odd looking dessert whereby you can customise whatever you want to put on top of the ice shavings. We went back after the meal to take a rest before we headed back out for night market to search for dinner, which was like any other night market as they offer almost the same type of food. Hehe.