太魯閣 - Around the Island for Chinese New Year (Part 3 of 3)

---

The Final Installment!

The cool, rainy weather forced us to change our east coast surfing plans. We decided to go north from Taitung to the city of Hualian and the Taroko Gorge.

The Taroko Gorge is impressive. It's a 19-mile long canyon near the east coast coast of Taiwan. It features a dramatic elevation gain from the coast to around 3000 meters in about 60 horizontal kilometers. It's also crumbling. We rented scooters and toured the park for the day. The weather was decent with only a slight drizzle hitting us here and there. It was a pleasant alternative to spending a few days surfing.

From there, Marvis caught a train back to Chiayi, while the rest of us hopped a train north to Taipei. In Taipei we met up with one of Steve's friends who had recently moved back to Taiwan after spending several years in San Francisco going to University and working. After a day in Taipei, Claire and I had to head back to Chiayi to continue molding the young minds that will make Taiwan's future bright and glorious!!

As with the previous blogs in this series, the remainder of the story is in the titles and captions of the pictures. We just don't have time to do all the writing we used to. It's not always cohesive because I pulled the pics from two different sources. Sorry.

Well...the next installment will be a smattering of Taiwan pics that we never had time to dedicate a blog to. See ya there!

Brian

---

Photos

pagoda
view looking down from the top of the inside

Claire and Brian
we are adorable

Mah-Jhong
We brought the card version so we could play on the road. The Taiwanese were always impressed that we could play.

Home Hotel
We got hooked up with this house that was a hotel for our night in Hualian. It was cool to stay in a house.

?
Everyone else was taking picture here, so you know we had to as well.

A lil' bridge
the road going through the gorge can be very narrow in places, yet large tour buses are everywhere. Sometimes there's only room for one bus. When they meet...?

Steve and Marvis
After Steve found this mask, he wouldn't take it off. Seriously...for days.

Training
Poor form displayed here

these pictures...
don't do the place justice, but what are ya gonna do?

water
There's a big river that flows through the gorge and empties into the Pacific. I think this was just a tributary.

Sound advice
The place really is crumbling

Sound Advice Taken
I'm wearing full rain gear with all the clothes I have underneath. It was quite chilly on the bikes, and I've been living in extremely hot climates for 17 years now. I get cold like a hairless chihuahua on a snowy January morning.

Tunnels
There are so many tunnels in Taiwan. I suppose it's the most efficient and safest way to get around these steep crumbling mountains.

Claire and Marvis
This was a cool spot. The road has been rerouted from here, but you can still walk around and enjoy.

Nothing was falling, but
I wasn't wearing my helmet!

Comments

[Elise]

What a wonderful adventure!
Claire and Brian, Thanks so much for sharing all these wonderful photos and tales of your adventure - it has been a PLEASURE to travel vicariously with you. Realizing that this is your last installment of the blog, please stay in touch (whether by blog or otherwise) and keep us posted on the next chapter. I wish you continued happiness and safe travels. Sincerely, Elise Colson