We woke up early to catch a bus to Taroko National Park, which was still an hour away. Chad, May and the kids were going to meet us at the park's visitor's centre for lunch so we would have the morning to do some solo hiking.
Buying a bus ticket in Hualien was harder than it had been in Kaohsiung. Perhaps it was because when the ticket guy quoted the price to us, and we stared at him blankly, he didn't immediately write the price down but rather repeated it to us several times, each time growing louder, to the point where we're pretty sure he was yelling at us. We felt pretty stupid. But, after we had made our purchase and were waiting for our bus to arrive, the gentleman came over to us and tried to communicate with us. It was very sweet. He kept repeating a statement, growing shorter each time, until he got it down to one word and a hand gesture: "Taiwan" while pointing downwards. Desi figured out he was asking where we were from. She replied, "USA" and the gentleman seemed happy with that information. When our bus arrived, the ticket guy made sure we were aware and helped us board. It was our first significant cultural exchange and it was quite satisfying.
Once we arrived at Taroko Gorge we went to the visitor's centre to inquire about getting back to Kaohsiung. The previous night we had let Chad & May know that we were going to make our own way back to Kaohsiung. Chad, May, and the kids would drive back the way we came and we would find another route. The visitor's centre informed us that the only way to get to Kaohsiung from Hualien would be to take a train up to Taipei and then grab the high speed rail down to Kaohsiung. Armed with this information we were able to head into the park confident we would be able to get back to Kaohsiung once Chad & May left us.
Our first hike was the Shakadang Trail, a lovely hike through a marble canyon with a glacial blue river running through it. Something that we found unique about this hike was that the indigenous people, whose land overlaps with the park, still live and work on the land, in a small, subsistent farmer-type way. There were even portions of this hike that passed right through the gardens of the indigenous people living there.
After hiking the Shakadang Trail we met up with Chad, May and the kids and headed further into the park for lunch. We found an area called Buluowan, an indigenous village within the park. It was beautiful. First of all, we were absolutely alone. Secondly, the food was really good. And, thirdly, it was gorgeous. We could've spent all day in just this one small area. It truly was amazing.
One of our observations about Taiwan was that, although it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, there were often times we found ourselves absolutely alone. We had wondered if this was going to be possible, if we were always going to be rubbing shoulders with complete strangers or not. But, it turned out that we found ourselves alone more times in Taiwan than we ever do in Seattle. Very peculiar.
After lunch we asked Chad & May to drop us off a bit deeper in the park and we would make our way through it in reverse, back to front. They kindly agreed and took us a few kilometres deeper into the park to one of the must do hikes: The Tunnel of Nine Turns. Here's where our plans changed.
We quickly realized that the trail was closed. We got out of the car to see why and that's when we saw the huge marble boulders sitting in the middle of the trail. Apparently, this was damage from the earthquake that we had experienced on our first night in Taiwan. Remembering that it had hit strongest off the coast of Hualien, it all made sense to us. Unfortunately, as we began to backtrack to other trailheads, we saw that the damage to the park was much more extensive than just one trail. Apparently, the only trail open was the first trail we encountered, the Shakadang Trail. The rest of the park was closed until the damage could be assessed. It was very disheartening. Stupid earthquake!
Chad & May dropped us off at the train station just outside the park and we grabbed our tickets for Taipei. A few minutes later the train came and we were off. Not having planned on visiting the northeastern section of the island, we were happy to have found the opportunity to fit it in, especially once we saw how lovely the country was.
We were able to witness the sunset on this train ride to Taipei and it was amazing. We got into Taipei, had dinner, and then grabbed the high speed rail back to Kaohsiung. We almost beat Chad & May home but we had a run-in with a rogue bus driver. We had jumped on the #301 bus from the high speed rail station to the Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum. But, unbeknownst to us, we had actually hopped aboard a bus immune to the forces of nature. This bus would speed up for turns, ignored stop lights, pedestrians, other vehicles, and all traffic laws, and would seemingly shrink in width whenever being approached by a vehicle while simultaneously passing another. It was terrifying yet thrilling. Unfortunately, we had either jumped on the wrong bus or this bus was not going where it was supposed to, so we got off at a random stop and made our way back to familiar surroundings.
We did eventually get back to Chad & May's. And, although Taroko Gorge had been closed due to natural disaster, we still wound up having a great time. Getting to see the northeastern part of the island was an added bonus. We had also ordered food from a restaurant while in Taipei (all by ourselves, actually receiving what we had expected), we saw our first food court at the Taipei Main Station, which was completely different than anything we've experienced in The States, and we rode on a city bus and survived to tell the tale. What a day!
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