We get picked up at 9am in our little hostel by a coach bus full of Chinese tourists - decidedly there are not many westerners at all in Hualien! The main purpose of our visit here is to see the famous Taroko Gorge natural park - stunning marble canyons carved through the thousand-meter-high Central Range mountains by the Liwu river. The park is quite a way from the town - and without our own transportation, the easiest way to explore is via one of the many day tours. Unfortunately, those are catering to the predominant visitors here - and they are all in Mandarin! We’ve read online that the sights are well worth struggling through the language barrier for, and therefore, with the help of our hostel, enlisted in one.
Our bus is only half-full and equipped with a very clear mike system for our driver/guide, so we’re hopeful that we might be able to get by with the helpful “transcribe” function from Google Translate. Unfortunately, what the app spits out is pure gibberish - and although throughout the day I manage to glean a few place names and a couple of very general themes from the fanciful translation, Wikipedia proves much more helpful in providing some context. Luckily, we just need to point at our watch to know which time to come back to the bus - and all the other passengers are quite sweet and help steer us in the general direction of the sights when we look at risk of going astray. It’s a shame we’re missing the commentary though, because based on the regular laughs and the few words we did understand, our guide is very good!
Our first stop, before even entering the gorge, is checking out the Qingshui cliffs: sheer walls of grey marble dropping straight into the Pacific from a height of up to 800m. Our driver drops us off at a scenic spot where we can admire the cliffs framed by the curve of a pebble beach and the turquoise waves of the ocean. Towering above our heads, lush green mountains top the rock faces, apparently almost 2,500m tall! We would be hard-pressed to tell though as the peaks rapidly disappear into the mist.
After this appetiser, we’re headed for the main event: the gorge itself. We stop for a quick photo of the decorative entrance archway and tunnel and the start climbing in the bus. It’s a small, windy road that gets narrower as the cliffs rise around us, and the views are already promising to be spectacular: patches of green forest clinging to sheer marble walls, pretty red pavilions precariously perched on neighbouring peaks, and many carefully engineered bridges and tunnels to fit the road through. After collecting hard hats for all of us (the risk of rock falls is all too real here, with a long history of grisly accidents after earthquakes and heavy rains) we head over to the Swallows Grotto.
Our guide drops us off at the start of the short walking trail and we get our first proper look around. We’re halfway up vertical cliffs rising straight from the riverbed, in a winding tunnel blasted through the marble, with regular openings offering views out to the gorge proper. That’s already quite an impressive setting - but as soon as we get to one of those “windows” the spectacle truly starts. Barely a dozen meter wide, the smooth walls of the canyon drop down to a crystal-clear river. The turquoise water and white marble are an incredibly beautiful combination, with harmonious curves and light grey veins creating highlights and points of interest. The sky is just a slit above us, at least fifty meters up. The cliff opposite us is pockmarked with large round openings - mouths from previous tributaries to the river which now serve as the titular swallow’s nests.
We walk through oooh-ing and aaaah-ing at the incredible sights - Ollie stays carefully away from the edge but I can’t help gazing in wonder at the gorgeous water below. Midway through, we exit the tunnel for a short stretch, strolling through a woodland and between a series of hanging bridges - some so high up we wonder what the hike is like to get there! As we re-enter another scenic path within the cliffs themselves, we spot the famous birds flitting in and out of the rocks, almost too fast to identify.
Now we understand what a treat we’re in for, we’re keen to see more - but first, time for an early lunch. Our bus drops us off at the highest point we will go in the gorge, a small service area with a few restaurants and shops. It’s also right next to one of the very scenic little temples we’ve seen scattered through Taroko, complete with picturesque red bridge, and before we eat, I make sure to get a few snaps of it. Xiangde is on a small forested outcrop at the confluence of the two main Liwu tributaries, and its seven-tiered pagoda and majestic white Guanyin statue seem to watch over the merging of the waters. A quick egg-fried rice later (from a very helpful restaurant where the owners kindly whipped out an English menu for us) and we’re ready to hop back on the bus - just in time as macaques start coming in from the forest and stealing people’s lunch!
We weave back down the road among some more incredible scenery. A short stop in front of a giant but otherwise fairly boring grey cliff has us puzzled - until one of our fellow travellers takes pity on us and attempts to give us a summary of the guide’s explanation. Her English is very rudimentary, but unexpectedly, she’s fluent in Spanish, and we therefore have, as Ollie puts it, a “true” game of Chinese whispers as the guide’s comments finally make it to him after 3 different languages. It turns out this cliff houses a very narrow walking trail - just a 90cm ledge with no handrail. Only for adrenaline lovers! Also, the shape the cliffs outline against the sky in this particular spot happens to match the geography of Taiwan - quite a fun titbit.
A few kilometres further down, we stop for another scenic stroll, at the famous Tunnel of Nine Turns (nine being used as a synonym for “many” in Chinese). This follows the old highway path, which was abandoned when the road needed to be widened, and has now been transformed into a safe walking trail. Again, we’re right within the cliffs, and here at the narrowest point in the gorge, the sights are amazing. We’re also closer to the Liwu which is now going over some rapids, and the noise of the torrent follows our steps. Halfway through, a tributary jumps down into the main channel via a twenty-meters waterfall, complete with a boulder shaped like a giant fish seeming to try to leap up to it. At the end of the scenic concrete tunnel, an older section of the road showcases the natural rock walls complete with several inscriptions - poems inspired by the landscape, and the arduous history of building roads through this inaccessible gorge.
We’re properly amazed by what we are seeing - although Ollie is starting to be uncomfortable with the mix of sheer drops and oppressive rock overhangs. Luckily, the next trail should be more river-focused, and closer to the entrance of the gorge, so further from the cliffs? But as we get there, a sudden downpour starts. Our guide tries to shoo us out of the bus but we’re soaked within minutes, and not willing to tempt fate by navigating slippery paths on this terrain, we scarper back in quickly, desperately trying to dry our socks while waiting for some of the braver members of the tour. Still, the announced 90 minutes stop which was meant to leave us time to walk the 5km Shakadang trail turns into less that 30 as everyone comes back earlier - and much wetter - than planned. Never mind - we wouldn’t have seen much through the sheets of water anyway!
Still under heavy rain, our last stop within the gorge is at the Eternal Spring Shrine, just two minutes down the road. This is a lovely, scenic spot but the continuing downpour deters half the group (including Ollie) who just admire the view from inside the bus. Thanks to some more explanations en espanol from our friend, I venture out all the way to the shrine - after crossing another picturesque red metal bridge, the path is within a tunnel and well sheltered, leaving me time to shed some water.
As I climb along the passageway, it’s another impressive approach through solid marble - only interrupted by crossing an underground river, which has carved its own tunnel perpendicular to my pedestrian one. The shrine is beautiful as always, a series of square pavilions with ornate pagoda roofs and round windows - but the amount of rain falling down only lets me take a couple of pictures before I run back into the tunnel! Still, I’m glad I went out as this was one of the sights I was particularly looking forward to.
As we exit Taroko, the mists are so low now they’re coming to the foot of the mountains - and we can barely glimpse the astonishing landscapes from earlier in the day. We’re still very happy with our visit though - this was absolutely spectacular, and we’re decidedly falling in love with Taiwan! Before dropping us back at the hotel, our driver makes one more stop at Qixingtan beach - a large crescent of pebbles facing the Pacific. It’s a pretty place but doesn’t quite live up to our previous experiences of Vietnamese beaches - although the dry, warm wind helps a lot to finish drying us up.
It’s been a long but lovely day, and as we get back to the hostel, we’re not ready to risk more drizzle by going out again to explore Hualien. We end up settling down for an evening of small chores: laundry (we have to do it ourselves now we’re out of South-East Asia!), planning the next steps, and some work for Ollie. Always helpful, 7-eleven provides a nice, cheap dinner (proper bentos now, even better than the toasties!) that we can eat right there on a couple of tables while waiting for our clothes to dry. That’s all also part of travelling!
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