Taiwan Trek, Day 2: Gorging ourselves silly

The view at 7 o'clock this morning from our balcony in Cingjing

The local news is dominated by reports of an approaching typhoon, but the weather this morning was nothing short of gorgeous in the central mountains of Taiwan. Fog had robbed us of much of the view from our room at the CingJing Mone Garden Resort 莫內花園山莊 the previous afternoon, but there was hardly a cloud in sight on this Monday morning:

It was just after 9 a.m. when we left Cingjing 清境 and headed east on Highway 14, starting out at 2000 meters (6560 feet) and making a slow but steady ascent. The views along the way were stupendous, and my daughter couldn't stop taking photos with my iPhone and sending the images to her mother via Line. I stopped the car a couple of times to get some shots of my own:

At Kunyang 昆陽, elevation 3070 meters (10,072 feet):

A short drive from Kunyang is Hehuanshan 合歡山, at 3275 meters (10,745 feet) the highest one can go by car in Taiwan (in all of East Asia, actually). The parking lot was full, so I pulled over to the side of the road and waited in the car while Amber scrambled up to the lookout to take a couple of photos:

From Hehuanshan we began the long, winding descent. At times the clouds threatened to roll in, but they never reached the road:

The end of Highway 14 at 2565 meters (8415 feet) - we took a right onto Highway 8 (the famed Central Cross-Island Highway 中部橫貫公路) for the drive down to Taroko Gorge 太魯閣. Note the cyclists - there were a lot of bike riders on the route this morning, and I couldn't help but be impressed with the ones slowly (and painfully?) making the arduous climb up to Hehuanshan and beyond:

The Sacred Tree of Bilu 碧綠神木, at an elevation of 2050 meters (6726 feet):

For the most part, we had Highway 8 to ourselves as we made our down, a good thing as many parts of the road narrow to a single lane. Here being Taiwan, of course there were a couple of impatient idiots who couldn't wait for me to reach a turnout in order to let them pass, but they were few in number today, and in any event the views on the descent were just as impressive as those on the way up:

Finally, at around 1300 hours we rolled into Tienhsiang 天祥, elevation 480 meters (1575 feet), where we stopped for lunch (fried rice with ham):

It was my first trip to Taroko Gorge, arguably Taiwan's finest sightseeing attraction, since October 2002, and of course the first time for my daughter. The food stalls and 7-Eleven in Tienhsiang were also the first time for me on this visit to Taiwan to see lots of people who look like me (only with more hair) - the backpackers were out in force today. The view looking toward Hsiangte Temple 祥德寺:

The temple only dates back to 1968 and was named after a Buddhist monk who prayed for the well-being of the workers who were building the Central Cross-Island Highway. There were fine views of the surrounding mountains as well as of Tienhsiang down below:

From Tienhsiang we made our way through the gorge, stopping at one point because Amber wanted to see the river running beside the road. A decision she regretted as the bridge swayed precariously from side to side:

I know I'm getting old and cranky, but Taroko Gorge is definitely a lot more crowded than when I visited nearly sixteen years ago. There are lots more cars and people (including 外國人), and while the slow pace of traffic this afternoon could be partly blamed on construction projects, there was definitely a lot more vehicle traffic on this Monday in early July than on a late autumn weekend back in 2002:

Before leaving the gorge I turned off the main road to show my daughter the Eternal Spring Shrine 長春祠, built to commemorate the 212 workers who lost their lives constructing the highway. Much to Amber's relief and her father's disappointment, the trail leading uphill from the shrine was closed:

It was around 3:30 in the afternoon when we finally rolled into Hualien 花蓮 and checked into our hotel, the Chateau de Chine Hotel Hualien 花蓮翰品酒店. My daughter was impressed with the beauty of her homeland, but the long drive also left her feeling more than a little tired and who could blame her? After all, we had started out at 2000 meters, made our way up to 3275 meters and then drove almost down to sea level. And so we relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day, gorging ourselves (rimshot) at the pricey buffet and taking a dip in the outdoor pool afterward. The approaching typhoon has put a halt to planned whale-watching activities, so tomorrow we'll see what the city of Hualien has to offer (or, in my case, what has changed since I was last here all those years ago).

To be continued...

The view from our room in Hualien