Hualien and Taroko Gorge

*Written August 20, 2012*

The best way to start any morning

Yesterday we took a train to Hualien, with the ultimate goal of visiting Taroko Gorge. When we arrived, we went directly to our hostel, the 'Colorful Taiwan Hostel.' It was pretty colorful, actually. We became friendly with a volunteer at the hostel named Betty. She's awesome.

Since check in was several hours later than our arrival time, we rented bikes and rode around the city for a bit. We went to the beach, where I spent the majority of my time in a desperate search for the bathroom (I was still sick).

We left, locked up our bikes, and walked around the main area of the city.

The line for these dumplings was at least 30 people long and moved incredibly slowly. We did not wait for them. They look good though!

The bikes were due back at a certain time, and we had planned just enough time to stop at a suggested restaurant before brining them back. The food was incredible. Lots of dumplings and noodles.

When we went back to the hostel we dropped off the bikes, checked in, and then headed out to the night market. On the way we got Chinese meds for stomach problems, hopefully they'll work!

The night market was pretty awesome.

Delicious sushi for under one U.S. dollar a piece 

Milk pineapple 

The key to any successful product in Asia is cuteness 

Lamb with cabbage over rice

Before heading back to the hostel with full bellies, we stopped for a 10 minute massage. Chinese massages aren't meant to be relaxing, but are rather the intensely painful. You walk away feeling great though. Probably because a woman is no longer beating the shit out of your back.

Today we woke up early, ran to the bus station, and went to Taiwan's main tourist destination: Taroko Gorge. Our bus tickets allowed us to hop on and off the bus throughout the day at set schedules and at different locations.

We first got off at the visitors' centre, and then walked to Shakadang Trail, as per our map's suggestion. The only walking route there was through a really long tunnel along a road. Not cute. Shakadang Trail looked pretty, but it was closed. The next bus was a 40 minute wait, so we decided to walk to Bulouwan, the next stop. Little did we know, we would be walking about 6 miles uphill, along a highway. At least it the views along the way were utterly beautiful. We stopped in the Eternal Spring Shrine and bathed in the water, where we were assured longevity.

At Bulouwan, we had some lunch - a glorious refuge from walking. We then took the bus to Swallows  Grotto, and walked around. Again, beautiful views. The bus took us to Tunnel of Nine Turns, offering more incredible views. All of the walking trails were closed! =( Lastly, we took the bus to the final line - Tiansiang, where there were cute puppies that we stared at (too dirty to touch). We then hopped back on the bus and rode it all the way back to Hualien.

Back in Hualien, we went to the hostel, took photos with some of the staff, and then went to dinner with Betty. Hot pot! Yay!

When dinner was finished, we got on a train to Taipei.