Taiwan: Taroko National Park & The Coast

    

Our last Asia trip was to Taiwan as a stop over on the way back to the US. We didn't know anyone that had been there, but we had heard good things, so decided to take a week to explore. It far exceeded our expectations, and it was a truly beautiful country!

After landing in Taipei and spending a morning in central Taipei, we boarded the two hour train to Hualien on the east coast. Although, not a bullet train like in Japan, the train was quite nice and fast, and super cheap at $14 for an adult! After checking into our Airbnb (also super cheap at $50/night for a 2-3 bedroom place), we decided to go check out the night market in town. It was our first night market experience, and a good introduction as there was more room to walk here than there were at the ones in Taipei. The girls enjoyed roasted corn, Taiwanese "burgers", roasted mochi (my favorite!), coffin bread (stuffed sandwich), and those were just a few of the things for sale!

 

 

The next two days we spend enjoying the beautiful of Taroko National Park and Taroko Gorge. Pictures don't really do this area justice, and it was pretty amazing how you could drive and walk/hike right next to and in the canyon walls. Again, everything was super cheap, from the hop-on hop-off bus (about $3 total for the entire day, including the 45 min. drive to entrance of the park from Hualien) to entrance fee for the park itself.

 

 

 


The first day we enjoyed an easy flat walk along one of the rivers and went to the famous "Swallow Grotto" where the canyon is quite narrow and windy. Although we saw quite a few tour groups in Swallow Grotto, for the most part we felt like it was fairly quiet on the trails.

  

 

 

The second day we took the bus all the way to the end of the canyon where we got off for a cave hike. Not a lot of elevation change, but we walked through 8 caves, the last of which was a waterfall cave! The views again were stunning, and walking in the waterfall cave was a highlight for everyone. We were prepared with rain ponchos and umbrellas, and some lovely Chinese ladies helped make sure Emmeline was bundled up enough to not get one drop of water on her. It was a fairly short cave, but pretty cool to be able to walk right alongside the waterfall.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a wonderful place to visit. Apparently this area is a highly active area for earthquakes, but luckily none happened while we were there! :) The beach was also beautiful. It reminded us a bit of Kauai, how the cliffs just end at the ocean. The girls enjoyed a few hours throwing stones and watching the huge waves crash into shore.

 


We ate one of our favorite meals of the trip in Hualien, as well, at a local restaurant. Beef noodles and a fried noodle with almost a bolognese type sauce. I'm on a mission to find a recipe that might recreate this dish! After a great few days in Hualien it was time to head back to Taipei on the train!