igoiseeishoot: Taiwan 2011

Taiwan Day 4 (Part 3) – Taroko Gorge Tian Xiang

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.

Tunnel on Highway 8 to Taroko Gorge.

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.

Walking as if the road belonged to us only.

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.

Taroko -TianXiang At Tian-Xiang. There is a Plum Garden behind us, but no flowers in December.

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.

At the end of the bridge, there was a tall White Robed Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) statue.

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.

7-storey Tian Feng Pagoda.

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.

10-face buddha at Tian-Xiang.

Temple at Tian Xiang.

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.

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.

Taiwan Day 4 (Part 5) – Taroko Gorge, Swallow Grotto (Yanzihkou)

16 December 2011

Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto) is one of the most impressive and interesting place within Taroko Gorge National Park. This is the place where the rock cliffs of the Liwu River gorge seem to reach to heaven while the river runs its swiftest and the distance between the gorge walls are so narrow that they almost seem to touch each other.

We reached Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto) shortly after 2 PM. Tiffany told us the road ahead was being controlled due to construction work. Vehicles were allowed to pass only at 2.30 PM and 3.30 PM. So we would have about an hour to explore this place and make the crossing at 3.30 PM.

There are two tunnels. The newer tunnel is the one which we came by, from west to east and used solely by vehicles. The old highway is now a pedestrian path and is also open to vehicular traffic going west only and the vehicles must proceed slowly.

Entrance to Swallow Grotto (Yanzihkou).

There is another suspension bridge here but it was closed. This bridge is part of the Swallow Grotto (Yanzihkou) walking trail that leads to Cimu Bridge.

Tiffany told us to walk through the pedestrian tunnel while she drove the taxi back to meet us at the other end. There were signs warning visitors of the dangers of rock falls and landslides. Helmets are recommended but we had none.

That’s me at the entrance to the Swallow Grotto trail.

As there was no traffic coming through from east to west before 2.30 PM, we had the whole tunnel to ourselves. Through openings in the dark tunnels, we could see and enjoy the views of the swift flowing Liwu River, flanked by beautiful marble walls, plus the potholes on the cliff faces. There were a few springs, sprouting water along the lower parts of the walls.

The rock cliffs of the Liwu River gorge seem to reach to sky above.

The peace and tranquillity did not last for long. We were soon overran by waves of helmeted tourists from a convoy of tour buses that came through once the road was reopened at 2.30 PM. The swarm of people created some new photo opportunities, although it was difficult to stand still to take a photo in the dark narrow tunnels with people and buses making their way along close to you.

We met Tiffany at the mid point of the trail where she pointed out a famous rock formation known as the "Chieftain's profile rock" and helped us take a group photo. The chief’s profile face is on the right side of the photo, just above the water.

Taroko Gorge – the family with “chieftain face”.

Rock formation known as the "Chieftain's profile rock".

She also got a fellow tour guide to take a photo of us with her. This was posted in Tiffany’s facebook page.

We had to cross a bridge that leads to the second part of the trail. The photo below shows the bridge and the second part of the trail.

Fascinating demonstration of the beauty of nature and man’s engineering capabilities in the above pictures. It was interesting to see the buses crawling into the tunnels, with only a foot or two to spare on each sides of the tunnel.

There is a statue to remember the engineer who led the construction.

I paused at the bridge to take a picture of the small water cascade pouring clear mountain water into the greyish waters of the Liwu river.

Swallow Grotto got its name from the swallows that fly through the caves in spring and summer and nested along the rocks edges. The only swallow I saw was this figurine on the bridge.

Some parts of the trails are marked with signs warning of rocks falls. Not a place to linger too long. Especially since we did not have any safety helmets on. In any case, the helmet would be useless if a hugh boulder were to drop on you.