Taroko Gorge is a marble gorge in the aptly named Taroko national
park. It is located in the city of Hualien. This master piece of nature
consists of towering mountains and peaks that will blow you away. Photos
really don’t do this place justice. Many people said that to me before
we came here but I didn’t believe them since their photos were
spectacular but they were right.
We were staying in Taipei so to get to Hualien we needed to take a
train. There are two types of train. This site explains the train system
better than I ever could:http://taiwan-itinerary.blogspot.kr/2013/04/HualienTaipeiTransportation.html
The important thing to note is it’s cheap and fast. The main piece
of advice I would give is buy your tickets in advance if possible. We
bought them just under 12 hours before our train and didn’t get seats
which meant two and a half hours sat in a corridor, we entertained
ourselves but a air-conned cabin would have been nice.When you go you will have three main options of seeing the gorge;
1. Scooter
2. Bus Tour
3. Private Taxi
All of these have their ups and downs.
I have never rode a scooter but I have many friends that decided on
this option. Some loved it, some were terrified and some had to turn
back because of bad weather. If you have experience with scooters or are
confident that you won’t get lost then this is a great and cheap
option. Especially if you are staying overnight in Hualien. There are
many scooter rental places near Hualien station.
Roadslide
The option I would tell you to avoid like the plague is the bus
tour .Not only is it extremely expensive but every bus seems to have the
exact same schedule. This means that you will be stuck in traffic all
day. Our taxi guide knew the bus route exactly so tailored our trip
around avoiding the crowds. This meant we had most of the gorge to
ourselves the whole day and didn’t sit in a bit of traffic. It was
disconcerting on the way home to ride past this traffic and see over 60
huge coaches sat at a standstill. As well as traffic the small roads in
the gorge mean that a lot of the sights aren’t assessable by bus so you
will miss out. If there has been a storm recently (As there had been
when we arrived) you will be forced to see even less. Don’t do it!
Lee just loves heights
Even Coke thinks Taroko is beautiful
As mentioned above we took a taxi guide. For a 7 hour tour it cost
us £30 for two people. Our guide met us at the station and despite
telling us she didn’t speak much English, her language skills were
fantastic. She took us to all the prime locations, we had the best views
and she loved taking photos for us. They were some of the only photos
Lee and I had together all trip. She took us to a quiet , cheap and
delicious restaurant for lunch and left us to our own devices. She knew
exactly how much to interact and when to step back. It was the perfect
way to see the gorge. We learnt lots of great facts about the gorge and
Taiwan itself. I have heard that many taxi tours are similar and I’d
recommend it. Especially since we had a lovely air conditioned car to
zip around in and avoided the 40 degree heat. (if you would like the
tour guides info please send me a message and I’ll send it on to you). I
would advice contacting her in advance since the taxi’s do book up
quickly.
Rock Nose
Kissing the nose
Our guide getting Lee to pose
Unfortunately, as I mentioned, when we arrived at the gorge there
had just been a typoon so many roads were closed for repairs and some
trails weren’t open. You’ll notice in most photos that the river is grey
from the marble clay. The lovely Kaleena
(a fantastic travel blogger) went there recently and had the chance to
do some amazing activities in the gorge so stay tuned for her posts
about this place.
Our necks hurt from craning up to look at the amazing views, our
eyes hurt from squinting at the sun and my cheeks hurt from smiling. It
was breathtaking. Each temple was more beautiful than the next and our
taxi guide made sure we were the only people around.
There was some risky aspects such as having to wear a helmet to
walk through the trails since so many stones fall on the paths but we
loved it. In fact we loved it so much that we are planning to make a
return visit one day and take one of the many exclusive walking trails.
To keep its natural beauty the Taiwanese government have decided that
only 16 people a day can walk certain trails. You need a special permit
and a guide. They were all closed due to the storm when we were there
but it’s now on our bucket list. I swear that I add more to my bucket
list than I take off when I go on vacations.
Monkey
One thing we did get to knock off our bucket list this trip
however was seeing a wild monkey. We had asked our guide if there were
monkeys in the hills. We haven’t been to a country yet such as Indonesia
or Malaysia where monkeys roam freely so we crossed our fingers and
hoped this would be our chance but our guide informed us that it is
extremely rare to glimpse one. This sadden Lee since not only does his
love for animals rival even David Attenbourgh’s interest in all things
furry but monkeys are one of his favourites. Therefore you can only
imagine Lee’s happy face when we spotted a Wild Formosan macaque (aka, rock monkey)
eating fruit in the temple garden. We stalked it like we thought we
were safari ninja’s and tried our best to get a good shot. It was
obviously use to people and didn’t seem bothered by us at all but all
the same we kept a little bit of distance. To say we were happy is an
understatement.
There are two tours you can take around Hualien, one is just the
gorge and the other is the gorge and the beaches. We added on the extra
hour and I’m glad we did. We saw some of the most spectacular views of
the beaches. It looks more like French Polynesia than what I expected of
Taiwan. We ended the day watching dusk fall over the local beach before
getting our train. The aboriginal tribes that still live in the
Philippines have put their stamp on this tiny island and the culture
feels almost Hawaiian like. We danced to some traditional music on the
beach and both agreed this was the best place we’d ever been.
Our guide summed up our feelings when she told us that every person
she meets on these tours ends the day by saying ‘ No one should come to
Asia without seeing Taiwan and no one should go to Taiwan without
seeing Taroko. ‘ We couldn’t agree more.Have you been to Taroko? Would you go again? Have you walked the trails? Tell us your thoughts on Hualien or Taiwan itself. We are on the look out for other places to visit in this spectacular country.
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