This is a daily chronicle of my trip to Taiwan from 9th to 24th May 2006 with Ronghua and partially Boon Liang. I am trying to blog about all 15 days, so it takes time..sorry.. Not to mention the fact that I conveniently forgot about this once I started working. If you wanna read all that have been posted, pls click on Taiwan Adventure category here, or on the left sidebar.

So the prev night saw us staying in yet another budget hotel, though this time more welfare. Separate beds, major major plus point. Sleeping on the same queen-sized bed for the past 4 nights wasn’t good, considering that I’m a big roller on bed.

The day started at 6.30am with a short walk to the bus station directly across the road from the hotel to catch the 7am bus to Taroko Gorge 太鲁阁. Taroko Gorge is rated as the die-die-oso-must-see-if-not-come-taiwan-for-fuck? destination in Taiwan. The past 12 days have made us abit more wise in the sense that we would recce what bus to take, from where and where to get off the night before or @ least a few hours beforehand. Saves us a lot of trouble and from being marked as robertos. Sadly there wasn’t a friendly uncle like back @ Chiahyi. I was all prepared for this bus ride after the Alishan puking debacle and took like 2 motion sickness tablets..heh..

I was prepared for the bus ride but not for the sights as the bus went up the mountainous road.

One thing that i discovered about the bus drivers is that they all know one another. All the buses have CB radio sets that allow them to communicate with one another when they go up or down the mountain. The roads at some points are pretty narrow, so they will warn via radio that they are heading to so-and-so tunnel. This will help other drivers to anticipate their arrival and not be caught around blind corners. Some of the roads are so narrow that they only allow one vehicle to pass at any one time, and some of the tunnels are carved out of solid marble.

The enduring feature of Taroko is the sheer cliffs that were eroded over time by the 2 rivers in the area. The end result is cliff walls that often reach as high as 1.6km from the riverbed. Another interesting thing is that the river waters are stained gray. Not sure if this is the norm but i would attribute it to the increased erosion due to the heavier rainfall brought by Typhoon Chanchu.

We found yet another NT$800 per night room at the Youth Hostel. It’s a room for 6, with 3 dbl decker beds arranged in a U-shape. However there was only the 2 of us, yet owing to the position of the TV, we ended up sleeping only at one of the bed. Yes, the one that faces the TV obviously. Special mention has to be given to the fucking slope that we had to walk up to get to the hostel, 100 over metres at a 30deg gradient. Madness w/o baggage, with baggage is really nothing to say.

The typhoon in the previous week rendered the park largely close and it was only in that current week when most of it reopened, though there were some damages to a few areas. I applaud the Taiwanese balls, the sg govt would have closed the park for 3 mths for “upgrading”. We took a 400m walk along the same bendy road (1st way to die at Taroko - kena long3 by bus) to the start of a trail, marked by a 400m long and straight tunnel called Paiyang Tunnel 白杨步道.

Entrance to Paiyang Tunnel, the generally-rundown entrance n warning signs are all thanks to Chanchu

come towards the light….

Walking in the tunnel gives real meaning to “coming towards the light”. The 400m long tunnel shoots straight thru, under a mountain to get you to the other side. No lighting, very very gentle upslope, just railings at the side for you to hold to while walking towards the opening at the other end. We cocksters never brought torches We 2 garang young men decided that it was unnecessary to use torches and we just er..walked in dark towards the light. Water was seeping in from the roof of the cave, all thanks to Chanchu (ATCC). btw the warning sign stated that there could be falling rocks, the 2nd way that we may die by at Taroko.

We emerged at the other end of the tunnel into a gorge where the river was just running next to us. The trail from this point onwards supposedly has 2 tunnels where water flows incessantly from the roof. So we were all prepared to get drenched, or @ least, somewhat close to it. In the end, the 2 tunnels were positively DRIPPING water, and the only danger is that the tunnels weren’t straight now and u can’t see the other end. We got drenched eventually, by a sudden downpour.


Taken near the entrance of 1 tunnel and the exit of the other..

2 videos of the gorge


You can see that the cliff looks extremely bare of vegetation and crumbling. Coupled with the mangled barricade, this was the effect of the landslide that took place a few days ago which rendered the park closed for 2-3 days.

At that point of time, landslides were still a possibility. But i guess that’s not the most dangerous thing on this trip thus far. We walked back, to the village where the bus dropped us off, to explore the other side.


2 tributaries of the river meet here, and an arc bridge crosses over one, while a suspension foot bridge leads over the other tributary to a buddhist temple located on top of a hill.

The moment we got to the temple, it started to pour, marking the 2nd time that we are trapped at a temple in the rain, after Alishan. Though time wasn’t wasted, carried on taking photos lor…

Dunno what possessed me to take the last picture at Taroko..

There was nothing to do at nite at Taroko, absolutely nothing in the youth hostel except the small cafe and the gift shop. Nothing else but our TV. ’nuff said.