My next destination after Hong Kong was Taiwan. I had only about 9 days to explore the small island, and started my visit by flying into Hualien – a rather unusual start with most backpackers flying into Taipei first of course. Hualien welcomed me as a nice little town with not much going on, but a good feel to it. I met a couple of other backpackers in my hostel and together we set off to explore Taroko Gorge the next day. We had wanted to rent scooters, but our rental place was suddenly closed and no one else wanted to rent scooters to foreigners. So bus it was! The ride was beautiful, going all the way through the gorge to the final stop – Tianxiang.
The plan was to get a permit for the Lushui-Wenshan trail at the police station there, as the Lonely Planet suggested. However, at the police station no one knew about issuing permits and after some internal discussions, they said the trail was closed anyways (not true as we found out later). Oh well, we were already there, so went on the trek to the Baiyang waterfall – a very easy and short hike, not that spectacular but a start.
We then took the bus to Swallow Grotto which is another super easy walk, but this time also super impressive!! Definitely a must for any Taroko NP visitor. From the end of the trail, we hitchhiked to the Eternal Spring Shrine. We hitchhiked because there’s only about one bus per hour, which is not ideal at all if you want to see a lot of Taroko Gorge. Scooter or car rental would be my first choice if possible!
The shrine itself was pretty but it was more a quick photo stop. This time we did manage to catch a bus after – onward to the visitor center where we got some more information on trails closures and permits. Should have come here first thing in the morning, then we wouldn’t have wasted so much time in Tianxiang! Anyways, I got my permit for the Lushui-Wenshan trail for the next day.
But before hiking again, we deserved a good dinner! Ally who I had been trekking with, had met a Taiwanese guy who was gonna take us to the night market and be our food guide as well as translator. That was very fortunate as not everything is written in English and you can’t always guess what it is that is being sold. Especially for picky eaters like myself, a local to explain was really good! So I tried my way through various things: cherry tomatoes in sugar glace, stinky tofu (not as stinky as some Dutch or French cheese imho), some sort of egg/basil pancake and of course bubble tea! It all was delicious and and awesome first night market experience!
Next day, I was off to Lushui, Taroko Gorge, to embark on my 4-5 h trek, supposedly the 2nd best, since I wasn’t able to get a permit for the Zhuilu Old Trail unfortunately. Well. Luckily it ended up taking only 2.5 h, but unfortunately it was also super exhausting and very much not worth it! The trail climbed up and down steeply most of the time, mostly with steep steps! When you’re doing such a workout in the tropical heat, you feel like you deserve some good views in return… but the trail was almost entirely in the jungle, with the vegetation covering most of all views that could have been there. To make matters worse, at one point Jessie (who I had met at the trail start) and I both got lost and ended up on some pretty steep, slippery and dangerous route. Luckily we found the real trail again, but we were both relieved when we were back on the road, walking back towards Tianxiang and DONE with Lushui-Wenshan.
I didn’t want to finish Taroko with such a rather disappointing trek though, so got off the bus at the visitor center to hike as much of the Shakadang trail as still possible. I had to make it back to the visitor center in time for the last bus, so had to rush quite a bit and turn around after about 3/4 of the trail. However – what I saw until then was really really cool!! Probably my most favourite part of Taroko, next to Swallow Grotto. I was happy I had still managed to see this part of the park and with that, ok to move on to Kaohsiung – even though there would have been more to see and do in Hualien region, if I had planned more time for Taiwan…
Just Booked A Trip 