As I mentioned yesterday, today we hired a taxi driver to take us on a tour of the Taroko National Park. As planned, he picked us up promptly just before 9:30am. The trip was expected to to last about 6 hours, so our driver suggested we that we pickup some lunch boxes before we head off because the food at the park is expensive. He asked if we would like a traditional Taiwanese Lunch and we agreed. Off we went and he stopped at a shop to purchase 3 meals.
As we drove the 50kms (about 30 miles), we were able to get a real sense of the area. One of the things that struck me as very different from home was that as we approached the airport, we saw large gun embankments. Our driver told us they were to protect the airport from attack. Hmmm.
After a short while we reached the Park.
Our first stop was a trail.
Our driver told us we could go swimming there.
We did not wear bathing suits so we said we would check it out and be back in 90 minutes. The trail was about 4km long, we didn't even do half of it. It is difficult to explain the magnificence and majesty of what we saw. Imagine a river snaking through a gorge with mountains rising up on both sides. Sounds like our Grand Canyon. However, rather than desert bluffs this was lush green vegetation. Each bend along the trail brought another jaw-dropping view. I only hope the photos I took do it
justice.
After following the trail for a bit, we were able to go down to the river side and wade into the river.
When we got there there were only a few other people. By the time we left – maybe 10 minutes later – there were about 30 people there.
We knew that the day would entail multiple stops along the way, so we made our way back to the car to move on. What struck me was that in many tourist places at home, the trails takes you back to your starting point. Not here. We turned around and went back the exact way we came. Out driver told us that what we had just seen was the most beautiful section of the park.
As we progressed throughout the day, our driver, Tonny, would point out different rock formations that look like different things.
After a few stops along the way, we stopped to have our lunch. Tonny joined us for what turned out to be a delicious meal that cost only $55 (about $US 1.75) each.
The meal consisted of a bowl of corn soup and a box that contained rice on the bottom, half a hard-boiled egg, some dried fish flakes, some seaweed salad, cabbage, 2 slices of sausage, 2 slices of seasoned port roast and 2 slices of bacon.
It was quite good and the price was great. A cup of coffee at the park cost $150, so you could just imagine what food would have cost us! Sorry about the smudge on the lens, I realized it and cleaned it up....
Here are some of the other sights we saw:
We had seen all of the highlights of the park by 3pm so we headed back to our hotel. It was a great trip and well worth the $2,000 ($US66) that it cost. Try hiring a driver/tour guide for a day back home for anywhere near that price....
We relaxed in the room for a bit, taking the time to figure out how to get to Kenting, our next destination, and reserving a hotel room to use while there.
We got out early tonight – around 6pm – went to the train station and bought our tickets for tomorrow's travel and then took a taxi to the Night Market at the seashore where we planned to eat. We arrived there just before darkness, so we immediately made our way to the beach to see it before it got too dark. The beach was not at all like we have back home. Large rocks/boulders, lined the shoreline. Large ships were just off the coast.
A hundred yards inland was the Night Market, which can best be descried as something like Seaside Heights without the boardwalk. Arcade type games, pachinko machines, games of chances, throwing games, etc.
They had the typical stands you see at night markets, including stinky tofu. I'm actually getting used to the stinky smell, but it really is quite vile to my western nostrils. We came across an area where people were sitting at tables eating what appeared to be steak dinners.
The way it worked there was that you mark your order on a piece of paper, write down the table number, pay and then go wait for them to bring your meal. Brad ordered a pork steak and I ordered boneless beef ribs. Total cost for our meal was $260 ($US 8) which included soup and cold tea. The meal was served with a mushroom gravy over the meat along with spaghetti that had corn, peas and carrots in it. The spaghetti was served over a fried egg and it all came on a sizzling platter. It was all surprisingly good.
Afterward we walked off our meal, checking out the different stands. The strangest one was where a little boy was sitting in front of a low tank filled with turtles withe paperclips taped to their backs. He held a magnet on a string and was lifting up the turtles and placing them into a bowl.
Not sure of what the purpose was, but we had fun watching the bizarreness of the whole situation.
We walked a bit more and ordered a few juice drinks from a stand. Made our way to the beach area to sit down and watch the goings on of the people. I should mention that I saw about 5 different vendors selling fireworks. You can buy display quality stuff right there, go to the beach and shoot them off. It was pretty cool to watch, especially 2 young boys who must not have had much money to spend, as just about everything they shot off was a dud!!
There was a Karaoke Bar at the shore that had a sign with a picture of some Asian guy who looked quite familiar to me. Then it struck me, he was the Chinese guy on Anthony Bourdain's Show that was a segment on NE China - the guy was singing and dressing up as Elvis!
We left the night market area via taxi and went back to our hotel. Tomorrow we take a 4 hour train ride to Fang Liao and then a bus to Kenting where we will be staying at the Hotel California, near the beach...
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