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Published: February 11th 2009
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Taroko Gorge
The waterfall trail Jiaoxi
From Fulong we jumped on the train and headed to the Hotsprings town of Jiaoxi. When we arrived hot spring pools were everywhere. There was even a free mini hot spring foot pool a couple was enjoying at the entrance of the train station. These mini hot springs were all over small parks or in front of public hot springs. We went to a clothing-less but seperate mens and womens public hot spring park. The pools were amazingly clean and the park had strict rules about showering before going into the pool and no clothing what so ever. We were reminded a few times at the entrance that we couldn’t wear a thing in the pool. Many locals seemed to have their routine down. Customers run in to the pools to get a special spot. Honestly I (Mazi) have never seen ladies wanting to strip down so fast to get a particular spot in the pool. Naked with a bunch of ladies seemed a little weird to me (mazi) but it didn’t seem to bother the locals, it was a daily routine for them. Not sure what the boys side was like but the women's side had lots of
talk about their husbands and other women talk. I (Mazi) didn’t really understand all of it but I’m sure they were talking about something very interesting.
Hualien
After the hotsprings we hopped on the train again and headed south to Hualien ahead of our trip to Toroko Gorge. The info centre was right by the train station so it was easy to get our bearings and instructions for Taroko Gorge. Hotels were really close. We stayed at a dank little hotel because it was cheaper than the youth hostel. When we headed out for dinner, we ran into a happening hotpot place full of college age people. It was all you can eat including seafood, veggies, noodles, and meat/fish balls. You had to pick and choose the freshest stuff but it was really good.
The next morning we got up early to catch the bus up to the gorge and National Park. We were told to catch the bus up to the midpoint of the park and hike downwards to park entrance, supposed to be about a 4 hour trip. As we found out, the park would have been a lot more enjoyable if we had either
rented bikes for the day to coast down the windy mountain highway or even better, motor-scooters. Sadly we didn't bring our driver's lisences nor did we think to rent the bikes. Hind-sight is 20/20.
Taroko Gorge
We caught the bus right at the train station. We began chatting with an interesting guy, ..., a navy mechanic for the USS George Washington (an aircraft carrier). He had been up to Taroko the day before and was heading up a little further to explore and take some photos. Interestingly enough two Taiwanese fighter jets flew right over our heads landing at a big military complex in Hualien.
Heading up to the Gorge was beautiful and sunny. The height of the gorge was really impressive and we passed through countless tunnels on about a twenty-five km stretch up to our starting point. We got off at a little tourist stop where two rivers met, with a few hotels, a pagoda on a hill deep in the gorge. From here it was a short walk up the highway to the first recommended hike to a waterfall. The hike begins in a tunnel that goes through the rock face up the highway.
The tunnel, about 100m long had a steady grade, was pretty dark, and water dripped all around. The hike followed this pattern of crossing creeks and a river hugging the side of a canyon while tunneling through the mountain about five times. Some of the windier tunnels were pitch black at spots and we had only a small flashlight to see the ground a few feet ahead of us. Near the end there were two sights one was a questionable tunnel that had a river of water running down it and water coming through the sealing. Luckily we had our ponchos. The other site took us across a small suspension bridge over a creek where two waterfalls came down the mountain to join the nearby river. A really pretty spot with a beautiful clear pool below it. On the way down near the end we saw a Taiwan Macaque monkey hanging around the trees. He was pretty shy and jumped back into the forest after a few minutes.
After the waterfall hike we began the long walk down the highway. We walked a few kilometers enjoying the view and studying the high rock walls made of limestone and marble.
Taroko Gorge
Long dark tunnels along the waterfall trail The river that we followed was a cool green colour and marble boulders and rock formations were white and grey and really stood out against the green river. Our map told us we had a ways to walk to the next little hike so we managed to hop in with some Hualien locals who were out bird watching. They told us they had plans to visit Canada to do some bird watching. The next spot took us off the highway through a part of what was the old highway that was dug out of the rock walls and hugged a windy part of the gorge. A really beautiful and impressive place where we passed some huge caves. From here we walked another five km through many dark highway tunnels with busses trudging by. Not what we had expected or hoped for. So finally we had enough of walking on the highway and we managed to catch a ride all the way back in to town with two Germans who had hired a driver for the day.
A cool place but really you need to come down on a bike or take a motor scooter for the day. That night
we jumped on the train again down to Taitung.
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