铁路绕岛七日游 - Taiwan (Part 2)

Kaohsiung - Hualien
THSR is not available on the East side of Taiwan. To travel from Kaohsiung to Hualien, TRA is the only option and the shortest travelling time is 4 hours. We managed to catch the 8am Express train (NT$707). Journey that long is unbearable without food. We planned well ahead and doggie bagged some tepanyaki from SOGO last night.

The long waited SLOW train finally pulled into the platform. It sounds like KTMB looks like KTMB and feels like KTMB. This is probably the most crazy ride in the whole trip. Half way through it started to drizzle and the scenery started to transform from bustling city view to ulu kampung scene. The train travelled very slowly because the track is not electrified yet. The train is still powered by diesel. No wonder it feels like KTMB.

Hualien gave us a whole new feeling about Taiwan. It is much laid back and less accessible by public transport. To take a cab, we must call. The flag down rate is NT$100 instead of NT$85 in the other part of Taiwan. After checking into our second Chateau de Chine, we took a stroll towards the sea and it turned out to be a huge mistake. Moving away from city is unwise because Hualien is less touristy with less cab around. We were lucky to get one when the driver needed some KFC, just like us.

Quite empty

From KFC, we walked a long way to train station / tourist info centre to find out about Taroko day tour. Set our plan but the day is still early.

From the bus station, we learned that there are only a few bus routes. Unless you live in Hualien, there is no way to decipher the bus schedule or the bus route. Not a friendly place for ang moh. The locals chop carrot on them. Later that night, we wandered around the town centre and called it a night around 8pm. The good thing about Taiwan hotel is the great variety of free-to-air tv channels. Nothing to do just watch tv. Even you missed a funny episode, it repeats many times a day.

Taroko day tour
Early in the morning, we rushed to the pick up point to buy a day-pass (NT$250). It gives us unlimited ride on Taroko Bus but with a fixed schedule. The Taomikeng lesson taught us not to be greedy. Unable to cover ALL sites won't kill. So we carefully chose the drop off point for photos taking, trekking, sightseeing and rest.

First stop, Taroko National Park main entrance

Shakadang tunnel. Just a tunnel. Should have spent more time around the main entrance
 

The trail is closed

Trail is was constructed by cutting the side of the rock mountain 

We waited long for the next bus

Signature STAR jump

Buluowan

Due to typhoon early in the month, some trekking routes have been closed and caused some time wasted at the Shakadang. Even so, Taroko is still a fantastic place to be. Among others, Shakadang trekking trails were constructed by manual chiselling on the side of giant rock. From Shakadang, we hopped on the next bus to Buluowan. There is a jungle trail by the hill side and lead to the main road downhill.

  

Walking along the main road, we soon arrived at Yanzikou. Yanzikou is a vehicular road turned walking path for great photos taking. I was mesmerised by the magnificent work of God. According to our bus driver, Taroko gorge is "growing" by 0.5cm/year due to the tectonic plate movement and the continuous river flow. I'm not sure how it happened but the result is really awesome.

Suspension footbridge was closed for public

It is very high. I get jelly legs just by looking downward

But the view is perfect for photo taking

Don't look down...

Keep a distance... It is not so scary from here...

The weather was just nice for a romantic alfresco KFC lunch in the park at Tianxiang. We later recuperated at Silk Place Hotel and surf some net. In Taiwan, there is wifi almost everywhere. I really wonder how the invisible wave affect the Taiwanese brain.

A long bus ride finally brought us back to Hualien train station but much earlier than our plan. We had some Starbucks. Since our Shanghai trip early this year, we started to hang out at Starbucks. More so when we found Rochester Starbucks. We go there every other week, chilled out chilled out.

Pizza Hut for dinner coz our fund is running low. Back in hotel, lots of variety shows to fill up free time again.

Hualien to Taipei
The last leg of our trip will be ending in Taipei. We took a 2-hour Taroko Express to Taipei (NT$440). This time round the scenery transformation is even more breathtaking. The train moved northward along the east coast. While huge rock mountain laying on the west, beautiful coast line continues on the east.

All good things come to an end in Taipei. We thought we had a good Ximending hotel deal. To our horror we were told to check in only after 10pm!! 10pm??!! This is the worst promotional condition I ever experienced. We had no choice but lepak around. Strangely, Cashbox karaoke doesn't have wifi.
We had some shopping, some Ding Tai Fung, some MOS burger and long walk.

We didn't know how much we missed out until the very morning. There are many cinemas, many nice restaurant and many shopping around where we stayed. We could have easily killed our time in Ximending. Nothing could be more distressing than knowing the truth.

This trip is like riding roller coaster. We started low in Taichung. Slowly climb through Sun Moon Lake, reach the apex at Taroko and crash to the bottom in Xinmending. In the late morning, we took THSR back to Taoyuan. This concluded our 1-week trip in Taiwan. If I ever come back to Taiwan, Taoyuan airport will be very different.