We had a not too unreasonable 9 AM checkout and pickup from our hotel in Taipei, where we met our guide for the next few days. We drove out of Taipei, still quite amazed at the extensive network of motorways. Our first stop was a traditional street of Chinese markets, which were mainly food markets. It was pretty quiet so it was a good opportunity to take our time, without the normal hustle of the markets.
From there we rejoined the motorway and passed through a number of tunnels, the longest being the Hsuehshan Tunnel which is 12.9 km long and goes under the Hseuhshan Range. work began on the tunnel in 1991 and it was opened in 2006, cutting the journey time to the east coast of Taiwan from 2 hours to around 40 minutes.
Once through the tunnel we stopped at Zhuangwei Township and had a walk through theTangweigou Hot Springs park. There are a number of pools that people soak their feet in at all different temperatures… from the very hot to not so hot. The Chinese believe that the hotter water soothes sore joints.
There were also a number of places you can get different fish to eat the dead skin off your feet. We chatted to a guy who was visiting from Hawaii, which incidentally is only 800 miles due east of Taiwan, (I was reliably informed) … but more importantly he also suggested I should ‘take some chances in life’. Surprisingly enough, having fish bite my feet stilldid not seem like an opportunity I wanted to pursue.
Back in the car we drove through a major rice growing district as we headed towards the east coast. We stopped at a bakery that primarily makes ‘Cow Tongue Cakes’ … so called because that’s what they look like. There are lots of different flavours, like cheese, fresh milk, maple syrup, seaweed and charcoal. We bought a cup of coffee and some chocolate Panna Cotta cake. It was very rich and served us well as a lunch replacement.
Interestingly, while we had our coffee, our guide (Steven) spent time with the staff teaching them English words. He told us later that these girls are Taiwanese Aborigines which like many other indigenous populations have suffered at the hands of their occupiers. The Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and then Chinese Nationalists have all had turns here. When Kiang Kai Chek lost the Chinese Civil war to the communists in 1949, he brought about 1.5 Million Han Chinese with him and set up a Chinese ‘goverment-in-exile’ in Taiwan. This resulted in many years of martial law as he sought to eliminate opposition.
We continued driving down the coast through lots more tunnels. I had hoped to do take a few drone photos along the way but the showery weather and the timing didn’t really permit. Our next stop was the Chinshui Cliff, a popular spot for photos. I do have to say the coast line with it’s mountains falling into the sea and the black sand did remind me of New Zealand, Kaikoura in particular. We also caught a glimpse of some of the local monkeys swinging in the rainforest trees.
From there we the arrived at Taroko Gorge. The gorge itself has been created by the Liwu river eroding the underlying marble over millions of years. The tectonic plates that meet here continue to push the marble up by half a centimetre every year. Again, the similarities to New Zealand are evident as we walked up the gorge. It is an absolutely stunning location that is hard to capture in photographs.
Near where we stopped to walk up the gorge looked across to the Eternal Spring Shrine which was established to commemorate the 450 lives lost building all the roads and tunnels that allow us to visit this amazing area so easily. These roads were initially built in the 1950’s and the workers were war veterans from the Chinese Civil war.
Our last stop on the way to the hotel was the “Swallow Grottos’. These are caves in the walls of the gorge where swallows come to beed by their thousands. The local indigenous population climb the cliff to retrieve the birds nests as swallow spit is deemed to have medicinal qualities. 
Finally, we’ve arrived at the hotel, which used to be Kiang Kai-shek’s summer retreat. It is very comfortable and we have finished the day with a Chinese meal at the restaurant here. In closing, I’ll leave you with some safety advice….
Until tomorrow!
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