Taroko Gorge

Is it better to drive steep, narrow mountain roads during the day or at night?  Daylight does give a sense of assurance but it's often tempting to peer off the edge or to think of the absurdity in constructing such a narrow road on the edge of mountains.  Nighttime gives focus.  Follow the lights up and everything will be alright.

We left Taichung after school and headed east.  The plains of the west coast quickly give rise to steep terrain and our poor Freeca strained to move up the inclines.  Our goal was to get into the mountains, sleep and then make our way into Taiwan's Taroko Gorge the next morning.  Coming around a curve, we were almost blinded by the many lights on the hills ahead of us.  As we got closer our minds had trouble processing the scenery.  The lights showed a quaint Tudor style village.  What?  Are we in Taiwan? Tourist areas are sometimes build up with crazy themes and this one had struck upon a European model.

From Taroko Gorge

Setting up in an area that appeared to be a campground, we got a few hours of sleep before an early start to beat the traffic on the small roads.  The early morning was beautiful with few cars as we continued climbing up and up. Near the mountain pass, remnants of snow were piled along the sides of the road and the air had a crisp quality to it.

From Taroko Gorge

Cresting the pass near Mt Hehuan, we began heading into the Taroko Gorge National Park. This gorge was formed by the collision of the Philippine Oceanic Plate and Euroasian Continental Plate and rises steeply from sea level to almost 3500 meters. With the collision of these plates, marble was uplifted and creates the walls of the gorge.

From Taroko Gorge

About halfway down into the park, we found a nice area above the river to set up camp and enjoy the afternoon along the banks of the Liwu.  The water is moving quite fast at the moment so Audrey had to content herself with swimming in small eddies.  The clear and cold mountain stream was not one that I wanted to jump into if she got pulled into the current. While she swam, we enjoyed finding amazing rock samples - marble, granite, pyrite, serpentine, black schist, gneiss and more were scattered everywhere on the banks of the river.

From Taroko Gorge

The road itself is quite the engineering feat.  Constant rock falls and landslides have the potential to shut down portions at any time and the road passes through tunnel after tunnel. This is also earthquake country so we decidedly did not focus our conversation on the prospect of having the ground shake as we drove or walked underneath an overhang.

From Taroko Gorge

The Changchun Shrine Trail, or Eternal Spring Shrine, was built to honor the workers who died while building the highway.  The trail is carved into the rock and climbs, climbs, climbs.  We reached a high point at the Bell Tower and on the descent came across our first Taiwanese snake.  It was a decent sized one - at least three feet - but quickly slithered under a rock and out of our way.

From Taroko Gorge

Bell Tower

After our hike, we decided to head towards the mouth of the gorge and the Pacific Ocean. It was great to spend some time in both mountains and in the gorge.  Early morning mist and lots of ferns brought back memories of our days in the Pacific Northwest.

From Taroko Gorge

National Museum of Natural Science

Taichung is home to an amazing museum that we finally visited.  Nestled in the downtown area, the museum occupies several blocks with spacious buildings and botanical gardens.  After several hours, we had explored several exhibit halls and the science center (an extensive hands-on science play area that appeared to be the draw for families with small children).   From hologram imaging to light waves and the solar system, this area had many opportunities to connect with science.

From Random Taichung

A main exhibit hall is the Life Science section, which provides many displays.  Unfortunately, the majority of the signs and information were displayed in Chinese so we provided our own interpretations.  What do you think this guy represents?

From Random Taichung

A large section was also devoted to dinosaurs and included moving replicas that both intrigued and frightened some children.  The minerals section was spectacular - there was likely a fortune on display and lots of sparkles!

From Random Taichung

Outside of the exhibit halls lies the beautiful grounds and tropical rain forest green house:

From Random Taichung

Inside the green house

From Random Taichung

Odd-shaped leaves

From Random Taichung

Watch-out!

From Random Taichung

Bottle Tree

A Taste of the West

Even hours later, Krista drools over the thought of crispy bacon and bottomless cups of coffee.

From Random Taichung

We are finishing up a week of holiday in celebration of the Chinese New Year (as a close friend would say, "Hoppy New Year!").  As a change of pace, we stayed local during our time off instead of racing around on a trip.  The week was quite relaxing as we explored Taichung on our newly purchased scooter.  It is amazing how much more mobility we now have!

Tucked into the heart of Taichung is an area known as Little Europe.  We've been here six months and have barely journeyed into this western oasis in the middle of our city but this changed with our two-wheeled machine.  Parking, which is typically a downtown nightmare, is no problem with the scooter.  Sidewalks seem to exist more for scooter parking than walking so each spot is front door access.

From Random Taichung

A few breakfast stops were made to this diner.  Breakfast is the meal we miss the most and it was nice to get over caffeinated while indulging in a touch of the greasy spoon.

Around the corner from the diner is Finga's Base Camp.  This outpost does not prepare you for an expedition into the wild but provides western staples hard to find in Taiwan.  With an onsite bakery sending out delicious aromas this place offers some of the comfort foods missing from the local diet.

From Random Taichung

Enter the Parking Garage

There are a lot of people in Taichung and apparently many of them enjoy shopping.  Taichung has monster malls, which rise up off the ground and soar into the air.  Floors are themed - the sporting floor, 8th floor for books, 3rd floor for kitchen ware, etc.  On a few occasions we have had to venture into these buildings where Krista feels much more at home than I do.  Recently, we drove our car to a shopping building and, finding no street parking, descended underneath into the parking garage.  How do all of these shoppers fit with their cars (there are also lots of cars in Taichung)?

First, many attendants are needed to direct traffic.  Plugged into their walkie-talkies, the attendants know where the available spot is located.  Second, engineering creates more space than in the typical US garage.

Cars are placed onto tracks that can move side to side and up and down.  Once the driver gets to an empty area, the attendant uses a controller to navigate the spot so that the car can enter the structure.  When the driver returns, who knows which position the car may be in and directions must be given to lower the car so that it can be released.

Here, the Freeca was driven into a newly opened section of the garage.  Cars can be placed above or to the sides of our vehicle.

Happy Year of the Bunny!

With the monster, Nian lurking just around the corner, Chinese New Year was welcomed in with a blast, a bang and splashes of red.  In Chinese folklore, it is said that Nian would come down from the mountains to eat the villagers.  In a stroke of genius, one old man came up with the plan to scare the monster away by lighting off fire works, decorating with red, and beating drums.  When the monster came down from the mountain, the people were ready.  The doors were brightly decorated with red couplets, the fireworks went off, and the drums were so loud, the monster was driven away until the next year.

Last night went off like all other Chinese New Years, in the traditional way. Families gathered together and fireworks were blasting clear into the early morning.  The Year of the Rabbit was ushered in with a bang.  The rabbit is known having gracious manners and being sensitive.  This year should be fabulous as long as decisions are made with careful consideration.  Rushing into anything during the year of the rabbit could spell trouble.

We wish you all the best as we enter into the year of the rabbit! Xin Nian Kuai Le!

From Random Taichung

Firecrackers and couplets adorn this entrance.