Sorry about the abrupt post but information wasn’t made as available to me as I thought. I thought we were staying in Hualien one more night where I could use the hotel’s internet connection. Turns out that we took a train south to our next destination, but that’s a story for tomorrow. Turns out there’s a connection here at the new hotel. Sorry for the confusion.
I’m either staring to lose the effects of jetlag or the scooter alarm clock is more effective than I thought. I got to sleep in today until seven and even then, needed an alarm to wake up. We were to grab a quick breakfast provided by the Classic City Resort, then take a tour of the Toroko Gorge. Breakfast was served buffet style and this morning the place was hopping. After a quick scan, I assembled as close to a western breakfast as I could. The sausage looked suspect, but the bacon seemed normal. The eggs were scrambled, but mixed with bits of carrot and peas. Rice noodles replaced my carb and frosted-like flakes and fruit rounded out the meal. The orange juice was a close facsimile, but I think it might have been mandarin orange juice. Pretty filling all in all.
The tour van was full today with two extra people. I was surprised when these Asian people started speaking English! Turns out they are from California and are heading back there after a five day vacation. Sean was fluent in Chinese and spoke English with a noticeable accent. Julie possessed my level of Chinese language proficiency but oddly still had a hint of an accent. Maybe it was a California thing. Anyways, it was nice to break my cultural silence and compare notes about the eccentricities of Taiwanese living.
After a short descent from the bridge, we were faced with a semi slick trail carved into the side of the mountain. It was far from precarious, but it was high enough where you could hurt yourself it you were so inclined. Some parts of the trail were under the rock overhangs, which was nice, as it provided some respite from the rain. Good thing my camera is weatherproof. Picture taking opportunities were plentiful and the scenery was beautiful. The substrate beneath the water must have been as white as some of the marble in the cliffs because at times, it flowed a brilliant sapphire blue. It was amazing how many contrasting colors could be accumulated in one frame. It’s too bad we didn’t have enough time to hike more of the trail, but there was more gorge to see. Oh, apparently, this snail is important.
It will be difficult to describe all the different parts of the Toroko that we stopped at, but if you’re interested in seeing them, take a look at the album for today for some more pictures. There was one section that we stopped at called the “Swallow Grotto”. It had a thin suspension bridge as a trailhead that was unfortunately closed because I was feeling adventurous enough to attempt to destroy my fear of heights. As we were admiring the view and pondering plummeting to our deaths, Julie’s eagle eyes spotted a monkey across the gorge. I’m not sure how she saw it, but I swapped out to my zoom lens and caught a quick, but slightly blurry picture of it before it climbed up into its hole. Far above the monkey was a very rickety looking wooden bridge. I’m not sure if it’s still in use, but scenes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom flashed through my mind. No, there weren’t any crocodiles in Taroko.
There were sections of the road on the Taroko that were very similar to those of yesterdays gorge. The roads were carved into the side of the cliffs, then in rock-fall prone areas, support structures were build over to protect travelers. Given enough time, the vegetation makes the passageways look very dramatic. Time came for our next trail excursion. The guide said he would meet us at the end of the trail since it intersected the road at about 1.5 km. He handed Shawn a keychain, single LED flashlight and said that there’s a section of the trail that goes through a cave. Good thing we have that keychain. The trail provided plenty of picture opportunities and a chance to look at the wildlife of Taiwan. Apparently we were traveling along the trail at an opportune time since a rare flower was in bloom. This flower only blooms during a few days out of the year, and each blossom for one day only. It blooms white in the morning and progressive gets redder and redder until it falls off at night.
Just before our last stop, we visited a small pagoda on an outcropping of rock that’s supposed to look like a toad. I can’t imagine how some of these places were built considering their location. Oh, if you were ever in doubt, there was a sign to reassure you. Our last stop on the Taroko was the Eternal Springs Shrine. This shrine has an aquifer that supplies so much water it creates a beautiful waterfall that spills into the Taroko Gorge. Gotta love the slow shutter speed waterfall shots. The temple was created in 1958 to commemorate the 212 veterans who died creating the cross-island highway. Apparently, the water never stops flowing. After the shrine, the tour guide spirited us out of the gorge an back to the hotel. But before the hotel, we took a quick trip to the beach. It wasn’t a sandy beach, but it was picturesque nonetheless. Just off the shore, a fisherman had set up some bouy lines. I’m not sure if they were floating gill nets or just nets to corral the fish so they could gather them with trolling nets. The wind coming off the water was warm and the waves were pretty fierce, but I did get to touch the water. It wasn’t that salty.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed by the a Taiwanese Airforce base where I snapped a quick picture of an F-16 in a bunker hanger. It’s odd that it has a sidewinder missile on its left wing, but not its right. Also, the paint is all jacked up near the canopy. Maybe it’s just there to give tourists something to look at.
So back to the hotel and a surprise. It’s probably more of just a miscommunication, or a lack of communication, but we weren’t going to get to stay another night in relative luxury. Instead, we were packing up an hopping back on the train for the second leg of our journey. Dinner was a tasty box lunch of rice, veggies, a tea egg, and some chicken. There were a good number of teenagers traveling the rail, perhaps spending some time out of the city for the weekend. I’d love to talk to more people about things, but I don’t want to be a creep. We are to spend two days in Taitung or Tai Dong; I’ve seen it spelled both ways. As my dad describes it, it’s further away from the mountains and it’s more rural. From what I can see, it looks more sprawling and lower lying.
Since we arrived at the Taitung station at night and in the rain, my first impressions of the city are probably tainted, but all I’ve seen are tough wiry looking boys (read: smoking) who look more southeast Asian than Taiwanese. A friend of laoshi Shen picked us up and promptly took us out to eat a ginger flavored soup with large pieces of soft tofu. It sure is different here. Apparently the farther south you go, the hotter it gets, and more native islander Taiwanese you see. We’re actually staying at the Taitung Aboriginal Culture Hotel, which I think is a fancy way of saying “Insert gimmicky name to increase desirability”. It’s the kind of place where the bathroom is the shower, i.e. there’s no delineation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom. The room appears clean and the bed looks nice enough. “But Eric”, you must be saying “I think you’re grammatically incorrect to use the singular form of the word bed instead of the plural.” I would then have to correct you good sir or madam. There’s only one bed for my dad and I. These next two days, to quote the great Bender, are gonna be fun on a bun.
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