We all arrived downstairs at 6:30 am this morning. All looking a little worse for wear. Except Chris I think he does not need as much sleep as the rest of us. The reason we had dragged ourselves out of bed so early was that we had a 7.20am train to take us to Hualien to meet our driver Tonny Tang who would take us to Tarako Gorge. I had booked our train tickets online and we had picked them up yesterday. So it was an easy trek to the station. We found the station and boarded the train. The trains are bigger then aeroplanes and really comfortable. Steve, Sarma and Rob slept for the entire journey which was a shame because the scenery from the train was amazing. Once we got out of Taipei all we could see was mountains, rice patties and farms, huge rivers and then the sea. it was so beautiful watching the sun rising over the scenery. I would even just recommend the train ride.
2 hours later we arriver at Hualien and wandered out of the station. As promised Tonny Teng our driver was waiting here with a sign that had his name. Seeing as we were the only white people around it was pretty easy for Tony to spot us. As we were all piling into his 7 seater Toyota wish the other taxis drivers had a laugh as there were so many of us. We began our journey into the gorge and even the views from the train station were amazing.
Our first stop was not in Tarako but to the Qingshui Cliffs. This was the sheet marble cliffs that overlook the ocean and the view was stunning. We took a few photos, enjoyed the sun and then jumped back in the car.
Tonny then drove us to the Shakadang Trail. This was a 3 km walk along the gorge taking in a variety of scenery. The walk started with about 8 floors of stairs to get to a lower level. The cliffs and the gorge were amazing, words cannot explain the sheer beauty and size of the mountains surrounded us. The mountain tops were in the clouds and the water was so crystal clear and so blue. As we were walking a guy stopped us and excitedly asked us if he could have a picture of us. I am not sure that he had seen white people before. We took a picture with him and he happily ran off. As we continued dowb the path he saw as again and pointed us out to his much older mum and dad. He then asked if we could all have a picture together. The whole thing was rather odd but he was so happy
At the end of the trail we had the opportunity to go into the gorge. We walked around and then Chris, rob and I climbed up this huge rock to be standing in the middle of the gorge. It was pretty cool and I felt pretty tall. We headed back down the trail and went to find Tonny in the car park. Tonny decided it was lunch time and drove us to the start of Tarako Gorge where there was a Tawainese resturant that had an authentic set course. We had chicken, a fish, pork broth, bamboo shoots with meat, shrimp with egg and some greens with little fish. The food was good and pretty cheap and after eating our fill we headed back into the taxi to continue our journey.
Our next stop was a 1 km walk along Swallow grotto. We had been amazed at the scenery from the first walk but this was even better. Each time we turned a corner a more amazing view came into view. We also walked on the road that had been literally cut out of the mountain. swallow grotto is where the swallows have made their nests and a few of them were flying around. The most beautiful part was the gorge as the water was much larger and amazing. At the end of the walk there was a path that led up to the viewing platform. This was made out of pure marble cut from the mountains. We sadly got into the taxi as we wished we could have stayed longer.
After a quick stop to buy ponchos we arrived at out final walk for today. The Baiyang waterfall trail was 4 km round walk which at the halfway point went under a waterfall inside a cave, hence the ponchos. The walk itself started walking through a pitch black tunnel. Throughout the walk we walked through numerous tunnels that took us through the mountains in the pitch blackness. Luckily Tonny had provided us with torches. We finally made it to the waterfall and Sarma and I quickly took our shoes off ponchoed up and went in the ccave. The others decided to leave shoes on so they couldn’t have as much fun. It was pretty cool under there and we did get wet so luckily for the ponchos. Anthony was unimpressed and went back through the cave swearing in Italian which was hilarious, then he hulked ripped his poncho off and looked smug. Right then it started to rain. The rest of us sensible people left our ponchos on and we walked back to the car.
Driving back through the rain was nice and we made a quick pit stop to see the Eternal Shrine. This shrine was built to honor the 220 people that died building the road around Tarako Gorge. The shrine is beautiful with a waterfall flowing out underneath it. As it was raining we only stopped briefly and then Tonny escorted us back to the station. He helped us buy our return tickets to Taipei and we thanked him for a wonderful day. Tarako Gorge is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen it actually defies imagination. It was well worth the adventure out there.
We took the train back to Taipei which ended up being a 3 hour train ride instead of 2 but at about 10pm we found ourselves back at Taipei Main Station. We decided to get burgers from the station and ended up going to Burger Talk. While we were lining up a man gave us suggestions for ordering and then helped us order so the lady serving understood. Turns out this guy owned the whole food chain, he had started the chain because his son had loved the burgers in LA. It was really cool to talk to the owner and the food was fantastic. Last day in Taipei tomorrow which is sad.