Taroko Gorge

Some unexpected things happened the last couple days. First, I arrived and walked to my hostel, and on the way there I got stopped by 4 kids who pounded me with questions like where are you from? What does Canadian money look like? How much Taiwanese money do you have? What is the meaning of the word "f*** you"? Silly kids, they knew what it meant and they were just messing with me I expect. I also told them I'm going to the Philippines next, and they were not impressed (not sure how far the news has spread, but some Filipinos killed a Taiwanese fisherman last week and the countries are pretty tense about it)

The second unexpected thing was that I did something I told myself I'd never do. I rented a scooter! And it was a terrible idea, because it was so much fun I want to do it again. And sooner or later I'm going to hit that patch of gravel and fly back to Canada early with a broken hip or something. Or maybe not. Hopefully not.

There's little red. About CAD$13 to rent for the day. I put approximately CAD $3.41 of gas in and hit the road, only using about 1/4 of that gas.

Drove up to the qingshui cliffs. Lots of tunnels and windy roads accompanied by beautiful scenery.

Walked down to the rocky beach off the road.

Later I drove into the taroko gorge and saw the eternal spring shrine. It's build right into the mountainside with the water running through it.

One of the bridges next to the eternal spring shrine. It has been destroyed multiple times from landslides and typhoons. Speaking of landslides, here was a big one in the gorge shortly before I arrived and as a result about 2/3 of the gorge was closed. Also I encountered a few falling rocks at the cliffs when I was walking along. The rocks were a little smaller than a fist, but that would still do a lot of damage to a guy on a scooter even doing 30-40km/hr. but I emerged fine.

I also spent a half day in taitung. It's a very laid back city with a railway station converted into a park, lots of live music, and apparently one of the most beautiful scenic bike paths in Taiwan. Sadly I don't have time to ride it. I still walked down part of it. I'd like to return to taitung one day and see more.

Tomorrow is Kaohsiung. And I have a local that I met through couch surfing showing me around!