At the Taroko Gorge

Although we really enjoyed the nice and hot weather of the southern part of Taiwan, we were really looking forward to what our guide called the best part of the trip: The Taroko Gorge!

To get there in time we got up really early at 5:30 and took the train northwards to Hualien.

still a bit tired but very curious

At the park's entrance we took a lot of pictures of us with the entrance sign, but none of them was as charming as the one of the lady trying to sell us pictures of the gorge ;)

Look at the lovely cap!

The gorge is truly amazing. We only expected a small part of the gorge to be that narrow and scenic but in fact it seems to be several dozens of kilometers long and completely covered with rainforest. Even on the vertical cliffs trees can survive and create a stunning combination with the river below of bright blue and vivid green.

In front of the Gorge

What a scenery!!!

Nested on a step between the cliffs and the riverbed lies this monastery where we took a small rest. If we ever decide to become monk and nun, this would definitely be our place of choice ;)

In the middle of the mountains

What a calming and relaxing place for a rest between the exhausting mountain tracks...

Kathi relaxing at the monastery

Not too many tourists found their way up here but with good reason all of them took pictures of this huge buddha statue

Impressive Buddha in front of the monastery

Our guided tour was already nearly finished after two hours at the gorge. Whe had a very good lunch at a hotel close to the gorge and monastery and actually should head back to Taipei. But since it is such a great and scenic place we decided to stay! All of our tourgroup where clearly envious as we said that we are going to end the tour here and stay at this great place for the next two days!

So fantastic to take a bath at the hotel pool in the middle of this green wonderland.

Kathi in the rooftop pool

Franz at the rooftop pool

At night we took part in an aboriginal dance performance.

Great dancers

Quite hidden and hence not well known are the hotsprings inside the gorge. A tourgide in Taipei told us this is a must when being in Taroko and so we asked at the hotel's reception for the way.

To get there was not easy since we opted to go by bike in order to be able to really soak in the scenery. It turned out the road was a bit steeper than we thought...

Perfect for biking .... if you are a real pro only!

But eventually we made it, and it was definitely worth all the effort!!!

We in the gorge's hot spring pools

Finally made it! :)

And one last shot of the stunning mountains:

Great mountains

Coming from one of the most mountainous countries in the world, mountains elsewhere usually do not impress us much, but here the forests that completely cover even the steepest bit really make the difference.