Hualien, Taiwan

The first stop of my trip this January was Hualien, Taiwan. We arrived to the Taipei airport and took the bus into the city. Then we bought the next available train tickets to the countryside town. While still at the train station, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Taiwan was a little bit different: people spoke great English and seemed genuinely happy to help us. The coffee at the 7-11 was delicious, and then man who sold it to me understood my little mumbled joke about not knowing what each piece of money it was. The lady I sat next to on the train was friendly and chatty, asking me about her life and telling me about her own. It was amazing.

The train ride, on the slow train, was also great. We were heading south along the eastern coast of the island, so to our right were these green cliffs, while to our left was the sea. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get a decent photo. It was very beautiful, though.

We arrived in the late afternoon and got a snack before checking into our hostel and resting a bit before heading out for dinner. We went to bed very early the first night because we were tired, our bed was almost too comfortable (it was actually hard to get out of!), and we were waking up early the next day to go hiking.

The next day we woke up early and walked back to the bus/train station, where we bought our day tickets for the Taroko Gorge National Park. We took the bus into the depths of the mountains, gaping at the sharp elevation differences and fearing slightly for our lives as we flew around corners on narrow mountain roads. The last stop was a sort of visitor center, and then we headed off for the waterfall path hike. It was beautiful, and relatively empty of crowds. At one point, we came out from a tunnel into the sparkling sunlight, and the waterfall was perfectly framed by the rock, and we all sort of gasped.

A stray mountain dog rests in the sun.

The best bathroom selfie: the sinks were outside in the open air, and about two meters behind us was a cliff.

The hiking trail was along this deep gorge made by this impossibly blue river through the mountains.

The waterfall, as framed by the entrance to the rock tunnel, with a terrifying suspension bridge below.

me and the waterfall

After completing that hike, we returned to the visitor center area for lunch, then checked out the Buddhist temple complex nearby. Finally, we headed back to the park entrance to see the botanical garden paths there, along with the entrance gate and the river delta, dried up in the winter but still determinedly reaching out toward the sea.

The Temple Complex, as seen from atop the seven-story pagoda, gleams in the sunlight.

my feet at the top of the double-helix staircase inside the pagoda

delta and, in the background, the sea

After heading back to town and resting some more, we went to the little night market on the other end of town for dinner. The next day we slept in and had a bit of a wander before catching the train back to Taipei.