Day 6 in Taiwan

Finally I saw clear sky with dried roads from the window of the room I stayed. This was a good sign to start the day.

We left the hotel at 6.45am without any breakfast since the breakfast time started at 7am. Our train would depart at 7.18am and the walking to Taiwan Main Station would take about 15 min. Along our way, we bought 2 bowls of Yong Dou Fu at Family Mart at 4 pieces at NT39. Upon reaching the Station, I rushed to its 7 Eleven to buy another 2 sets of bento at NT50 each. The train arrived and departed punctually.

Hualien is not that far from Taipei but the journey takes about 2.5hr. It certainly does not travel as fast as High Speed Rail as we boarded yesterday.

After a heavy breakfast on the train, we continued to take a short nap. Just before we arrived Hualien, we saw the sea - Pacific Ocean!


(The blue beautiful Pacific Ocean)

D booked the service of a taxi driver called Mr Li De Ming (each pax @ NT500). He was already at the station when we arrived. The temperature was quite low and we felt very cold. We gladly hopped into his taxi.

He brought us to Taroko Gorge National Park. Along the way, he gave us introduction of some tribes and the chinese living in Hualien.

Our first stop was Qi Xin Tan which is really a beautiful beach facing the Pacific Ocean. We saw the fierce waves splashing onto the coast and really felt the beauty of nature. The beautiful coast of Hualien left a great impression on me.

Then we went to Qing Shui Duan Ya which is a steep cliff overseeing the deep blue ocean water. The water is such blue due to the presence of some minerals in the water. It is quite an experience to see ocean water directly below us on the cliff.

(The Swallow Grotto; look at these gigantic rocks)



(Tunnel of Nine Turns)

We continued to Swallow Grotto, Shakadang Trail, Tunnel of Nine Turns, Ci Mu Bridge etc. His service was excellent as we had a good taste of a simple trail in Taroko Gorge. Our lunch was settled at a store which sold cup noodles.

Our dinner was done at Hualien city. We ate rice and steam buns. After that, we bought the famous tit-bits from Tzen Chi.

Mr Li promptly sent us back to Hualien Railway Station at 7pm to catch our 7.30pm train. I was so tired that I slept most of the time despite there were passengers standing behind me for about 2.5hours! We reached Taipei Main Station at 10pm.

I can't imagine standing throughout the train journey and these passengers have a valid tickets as there was a ticket master checking on our train tickets.

I was such relieved that the weather was such nice but cooling so that some walking could be done. We walked quite a lot today and the breeze was really cooling. We were such glad not to see any rain.

One of the places of interest He Huan Shan has snow reported and the roads were closed due to snowy and slippery conditions.n