We took a bus from the station, and getting on the bus, it appeared to be just an ordinary bus. We drove through the town picking people up and dropping people off; what you would expect from a public bus. And before long we were out on the highway and heading for the Park.
The entrance to the Park is a road running by the river. Very quickly the road elevated in height and danger. We driving on the edge of a cliff, through tunnels roughly drilled (or blasted!) through solid rock. The road twisted and winded, most corners were completely blind. And it was at this point that the bus driver dropped a gear and put the pedal to the metal! How this driver managed to attain a licence I will never know, driving at speeds that no bus should travel on roads of such condition, passing out trucks and lorries that were choosing to drive as reasonable speeds. And by no means was the driver choosing a point in the road where it was safe, or where we could see ahead that there were no cars coming. Any point was fine with this driver; blind corners, in tunnels, up steep hills. I believe every time he passed something out, we could have been killed, and I'm not exaggerating! After a while we were laughing at his decisions, but it was a nervous laugh!
Some of the tunnels were quite dark, so the driver put on the lights in the bus. It looked like the inside of a 70's disco, after a few too many Jägerbombs!
After we finally arrived at Tiansiang, and finished kissing the sweet earth beneath our feet, we got breakfast at a very local restaurant. It was a buffet style, like so many restaurants, with a smell that most westerners would find offensive. There was only the one restaurant though, and we had not eaten, so we ignored the smell, the dirt and the huge glass jars behind our seats that contained many, of what may have been, animal tongues.
We walked from there a little and went through a pedestrian tunnel, 380 metres long, and emerged on the Baiyang Waterfall Trail. There were many signs encouraging people not to linger due to falling rocks. The sights there were very beautiful. We were walking half way up a cliff in a gorge. We passed through 7 leaking tunnels, one of which was completely dark; we were taking photos while walking, using the flash to illuminate the way! We ended up at a place called Water Curtain.
When we returned we visited the Hsiang-te Temple, where there was a pagoda and golden Ksitigarbha (Dizang) statue. We climbed the pagoda, though we didn't stay at the top for very long as there were huge wasp-like things flying around. And recalling the signs we saw warning of killer bees, we decided to leave!
We started to hitch a lift. We joked about the fact that the first car would probably pick us up... Then the first car came and passed. Five minutes later the same car returned to collect us! They had just noticed us as they were passing, and as we were hitching a ride just before a tunnel, they had to find an area to turn around to come back for us! Taiwanese people are incredibly friendly and helpful.
Our next stop was at the Tunnel of Nine Turns. This is huge! I think is impossible to get across to you how big this place actually is. We came up with a new word, hugeosity, but even that doesn't do it!
This is a gorge that has a height of about 1000 metres. So to actually see the bottom you must bend over the rail, and to see the top you must bend your neck completely back, almost looking directly upwards! We tried to take pictures, but gave up as we realised that the beauty and hugeosity of this place will be staying there, and not be transported away inside of any camera!
While travelling back down the gorge we hitched another life and got off at Swallow's Mouth. We walked around for a few hours before hitching another lift, and returning to Hualien.
This gorge is definitly one of the most amazing placed I have ever visited. I highly recommend anyone who visits Taiwan to go there!
Great write-up. Would be so nice if you could share more photos.
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