16 December 2011
Tiffany is an experienced guide and driver who has been driving tourists to and from Taroko Gorge for more than 10 years. As we descended past the cloud into the gorge, the sky cleared. More tunnels and overhanging cliffs along these scenic cross mountain highway. Imagine driving across these mountains in the darkness of night. Tiffany told us her husband, Mr Li Te Ming, frequently drives to Cingjing from Hua Lien before dawn in order to pick up customers from Cingjing in the morning. That is why he always do the cross-mountain driving while she focused on Taroko and Hua Lien coastal tours.
We saw a family of Formosan Macaques (rock monkeys) dashing across the road at one point.
We made a brief stop by a road side to view our next destination TianXiang from a lookout point on the highway. The traffic on this mountain road was very light. Very few other cars.
On the way to Tianxiang, we passed by construction work near a tunnel that was the entrance to the Baiyang trail. The trail is now closed due to rock fall, a reminder of the risk and hazard when visiting Taroko Gorge.
At TianXiang, we stopped to visit the temple and pagoda.
To get to the temple, we crossed this bridge where we had a close look at the HUGE marble boulders on the Liwu river below.
To get to the pagoda and temple, we had to climb up a steep flight of stairs. It seems that all temples in Taiwan are located on a steep hill.
Going up the stairs and terrace, we came to the 7-storey high Tian Feng Pagoda, Giant Statute of the Bodhisattva, Xiangde Temple, and Daxiong Baodian temple.
The above photo shows an overview of the TianXiang village where we had our lunch before proceeding on. This area has large parking space, Plum Garden and the 5-star Silks Place Taroko hotel. Behind the Silks Place Taroko Hotel is the TianXiang Presbyterian Church.
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