The other Taiwan

While quite precisely half of Taiwan is one continuous stretch of cities, industry and urban sprawl, the other half is an exact opposite. Down the middle of the island runs a huge, rugged mountain chain (its highest peak, Yushan, is 3952 m), and on the eastern side of this are deep gorges and remote jungles, wave-beaten, jagged Pacific coastline, and only two smaller cities. This was the side we decided to check out first, as we left Taipei a week ago.

Bet you didn't know Taiwan looked like this!

We took an afternoon train down to Hualien, the first of the two cities on the east coast. It was a lovely, scenic train ride, despite the chilly fog over the mountains, and our welcome at the hostel in Hualien was if possible even warmer than in Taipei. (It had a piano!) I decided to use the rest of the daylight for a run. I hadn't found any running trails on the maps, but since this was Taiwan I figured I'd just try my luck and run down to the river, and sure enough: A lovely biking and running trail ran along the river, which was full of fish and beautiful herons catching them. Following the river I quickly got to the rocky river the mouth, and the violent Pacific ocean opened itself before me, for the first time in my life. Quite a sight! I continued along the ocean until it got dark, battling the fierce wind on the way out and enjoying it in my back on the way back. Although I had some trouble finding my way back to the hostel (it's much harder to find English-speakers outside of Taipei), it was a fantastic run! In the meantime Alex hadn't been bored, playing piano, chatting with fellow guests, and getting a free haircut from the very nice hostel owner! For dinner we joined the gang from the hostel to the local night market - always a delight.

A quiet provincial town, Hualien's main draw is as a base for visiting Taroko Gorge National Park, and that was our primary motivation for going there also. So the next morning we bought one-day "hop on hop off"-tickets for the Taroko bus, and started exploring. The weather was great, and we took the bus all the way up the windy, tunnely road up the gorge before working our way back down.

I like what I'm seeing!

At the innermost stop we took a hike down a side tunnel in a tunnel, where an abandoned hydropower project had left a little road along a spectacular valley full of cliffs and waterfalls, culminating in the "Water Curtain Cave", a tunnel which struck an underground stream and now has water gushing down from the roof and flowing through the tunnel. You walk in barefoot with a poncho and flashlight, it was really neat.

Stalactites are already forming in the roof of the tunnel. Cool!

The water curtain is really beautiful!

Yumm, nature.

Rice and some filling in seaweed - these are our new little favorite snacks.

We made a couple more stops on the way down, but had a hard time enjoying the most famous one, Swallow Gorge, as it received a constant flow of stinky, noisy tour buses full of rude, noisy Chinese tourists.

They're wearing helmets in case they... fall off the fenced plankway?

There are four in this shot - we probably had closer to forty altogether. 

Our next stop was Taitung, an even more relaxed town. We just stayed there for a night and a morning, before heading out to the distant, windswept Green Island, but we had time for a hilarious stroll through downtown taking pictures of the terrible English on T-shirts!

Such a half-assed approach to the English language!

We just couldn't stop laughing.

This is from the wall of our hostel... same style. Pure gold! 

The boat ride to Green Island is famously bumpy. Though it is less than an hour long, and the first stomach-tingling wave brought cheers and laughs from the passengers, it didn't take long before the puking cacophony started. Neither Alex  nor I had ever experienced waves like that, and we only just managed to save ourselves by intensely staring out the windows. Green Island is famous for its beautiful ocean scenery, fantastic diving, and one of only three salt water hot springs in the world. Arriving there I immediately thought of the Faroe Islands. It is a small island; the road around it is just 17 kilometers long, and we rented electric bicycles (woo!) and whizzed around the island to the various sights, of which nature's were the most impressive. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The weather kind of kept us away from diving, but at dusk we went to the hot springs for a delightful soak.

The uphills were a breeze... even with the wind against us!

Thank you, bagasjebreetbatteri (baggage board battery).

Green Island used to have huge prisons, that today are amazing eerie ghost towns.

Minus the palm trees, it could have been the Faroes!

This beach... Don't you just love it when you chance upon spots like this?

Let’s check out this huge cave and its crazy conglomerates (?).

Yeah, I could stay here all day.

"The Little Great Wall of China" - since we skipped the mainland version.

The view from the top!

That evening we ate at a restaurant full of loud Taiwanese tourists. We turned in the door the first time, but our search for another place proved futile, and we returned, to much laughter and cheer, and an invitation to share in their meal. It turned out they were a gang from KYMCO, Taiwan's largest motorcycle company, and they invited us to ride with them from Taitung to Hualien the next day! We of course couldn't pass up an offer like this, even though it was the opposite of the direction we were headed, so sure enough, the next morning we got on the boat back to Taitung with 200 KYMCO-people, and every single one of them thought it was just grand that they had two Norwegians with them. (Even more so than in other places, when Taiwanese ask us where we're from and we say "Norway", they'll go "Woooww!!") They treated us to a terrific, trillion-course seafood lunch in the little fishing village outside Taitung where the boat docked, before we were given helmets and each our motorbiker to cling on to.

A fortunate turn of events on Green Island!

The first four in a never-ending line of courses in Taitung.

Our view more often than not. Thanks for posing, guys!

Nervous? Not the least!

Before we knew it we were whizzing along down the coast at terrifying speeds. Neither of us had tried anything like it before, and we could hardly see the beautiful scenery for the battering wind in our eyes. I recorded my driver topping out at a ridiculous 136 kph (85 mph)! It was great fun, though, especially in the more winding, mountainous parts, where we were forced to slow down and could actually enjoy both the driving and the scenery. We stopped at the Tropic of Cancer marker, and at a very photogenic stretch of volcanic, wave-battered coastline, and arrived in Hualien before we could blink. KYMCO got us a room at the same top-end hotel they were staying in - we couldn't thank them enough (mostly because they constantly wanted to take pictures with us, but still), and happily accepted!

Mid-flight! You can tell by the eyes!

Scenic spot is scenic.

And photography is fun!

Alex and I with our respective drivers at the Tropic of Cancer.

The next day we left for Kenting, a summery holiday destination on the southern tip of Taiwan. The train down went through the inland East Rift Valley, a pretty, rural valley running parallel to the route we biked, so we really didn't double up on any part of the trip. We had a fantastic time on the far side of Taiwan, excited for a refreshing dose of nature and sea, and the many new additions to our already extensive list of modes of transportation!