Taiwan Day 4 (Part 4) – Taroko’s Suspension Bridge and Cimu Bridge

16 December 2011

After lunch, we continued our journey through Taroko Gorge. We made a stop at a suspension bridge.

I saw this tree with interesting exposed roots next to our parked taxi on the way to the bridge.

Scenes of Indiana Jones movie came to mind as we went onto the bridge.

The railings are a bit low for a tall person. Once on the bridge, one can get a nice view of a small waterfall and the Liwu river flowing below with its characteristic hugh marble borders.

From there, we visited a more famous bridge, the Cimu Bridge (translated as Motherly Devotion Bridge) which was built by late President Chiang Kai-shek, in memory of his mother. This is one of the several bridges along this highway built by the same team.

Picture of us with the stone lions of Cimu bridge and the “frog prince”. 

The rock supporting the bridge looks like a frog. The frog-like rock is composed of black layer of rock at the top and white marble (now stained with brown leaching soil) below. A pavilion was built on this frog rock, becoming the “crown” on the frog. Hence the “frog prince”.

The towering cliffs about the narrow gorge and swift running river below was quite a sight. Unfortunately, the water of the river was grey cement-colour, due to the debris and dirt from recent rockfalls and rain.

We continued on our journey through the narrow mountain road towards the Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto) which was one of the highlights of Taroko Gorge.

Taroko Gorge highway cut through rocks with dramatic overhanging cliffs.