Saturday 7th April Woke up before six, got dressed, went
down to the lobby and waited for two Chinamen in a Kombi. It was raining. We
drove to another hotel to pick up three Chinese (I think) and then another for
three Koreans. Then out to the domestic airport and had some breakfast – hot
dog, with lemon & lime Warata - $50 ($US1.50). I also bought some Chiclets
– orange, lemon and apple flavoured, $10 each.
The flight to Hualien was cloudy and bumpy, but as we descended we could
see the coastline of sheer mountain slopes straight into the sea. But then
there was a little bit of flat land, and then a little bit more, and then came
the plain where Haulien lies. Our China Airlines Boeing 737 went down the
coast, banked around and landed at Halien
Airport, concrete. Our
guide for the day was Charlie Tai, a character who speaks Chinese, Japanese and
English, which is why he’s a guide. We waited for a while at the airport; there
was a typical American couple from Virginia.
The bus eventually arrived, full of Japanese, Chinese and some Germans.
The bus had a ‘Clarion Car Amprifier’. How quaint. The seats were also
designed for shorter people than I is.
Charlie was talking in three languages, saying how good and how glad he
wa that we could come visit his country etc etc, making silly jokes etc etc. he
said that this part of the country grows a lot of sweet potatoes, and also
guava, papaya, pineapple, oranges, etc. and that the mountains yield deer,
bear, goat, monkey, boar, etc. It takes 30 minutes from the airport to the
entrance of Taroko Gorge.
On the way to the entrance, things are passed
and observed upon. Look over there – a round thatched hut useful for sheltering
in. And here, these linear settlements along the roads – houses and shops that
look low because of their length with little stores that are common all over
Asia – well, the three parts that I’ve seen; motorcycles, food, that sort of
thing; with blocks of marble outside. Thick bamboo copses, palm trees
(coconuts?) plantations, corn and other vegetables, though only a few rice
paddies. Over there, where the Ami aborigines live at the foot of the
mountains. I think it is in this province that the highest mountain in Taiwan
is – 3000 metres. [Actually, Mt Yushan, Jade Mountain,
3952m. the fourth highest mountain on an island. But it’s in Nantou County,
not Hualien County.] And a fairly overgrown
graveyard with little pagodas and grass-covered limestone-concrete-marble
edifices. At the side of the road, a duck farm with the fowl swimming in a
square pond, or not. And all these funny short tress with a pathetic clump of
leaves at the top. They stand no more than two metres high and below the leaves
hang several green or yellow bulbous fruits. I think this is papaya.
As well as the marble, in these hills is a lot
of limestone which is mined to make cement. In fact, the Asia Cement
Corporation is the biggest cement
factory in Hualien, Taiwan or wherever it was he said
that it was the biggest cement factory. There was quite a long orange conveyor
belt from the factory to the limestone cliffs just inside the valley entrance.
We turned left into the east-west highway, which was begun in 1956 and
took four years to complete. The valley
entrance is quite flat. At the bottom is a small river with a large flat plain
which is of large stones. To the north turns the highway to Taipei, which takes 8 hours to travel from
Hualien.
But at the entrance of Taroko Gorge itself is
a sort of Gate. Basically red but with designs and orange tile roof. We stopped here for ten minutes, along with a
lot of other tourist buses. Here, Ami Indian girls in red costumes and their
head dresses pose with tourists at $10 a time. Some use a pale face powder
which makes them look a bit ill.
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| Ami girls stand in front of the gate (brochure picture pasted in my diary) |
Then back on t’bus, through the
gate. The road skirts the side of the gorge, passing through (man-made) tunnels
and under overhangs. The river down below is still very flat, and some of the
stones are arranged in patterns and Chinese characters for I don’t know what
reason.
We passed a shrine built for those who died
during the construction of the road – something like four hundred and fifty of
them.
The second stop was just past a tunnel, on the
other side of the Eternal Spring Shrine. There were more Ami girls there. The
shrine is built on a ledge and there’s a waterfall underneath it. There’s a red
wall around it with large white circular shields/windows/whatever. Behind, a
building with round windows and typically Chinese roof.
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| Eternal Spring Shrine 1 |
 |
| Eternal Spring Shrine 2 |
Then onto the Swallows’ Grotto, a series of
caves in the ravine wall. On the way. We passed what Charlie called the Niagara
Falls of Taiwan – a piddly little stream flowing vertically down the rock, two or
three hundred metres. There is evidence of other such watercourses which would
undoubtedly flow during the rainy season. Also passed was what I think Charlie
called the Lingual Dam. It was a dam, anyway. Not very big, but it held back
the grey-green water so often found in this little river. The dam is probably
one reason why there’s not much water downstream.
The Swallows’ Grotto was another place we piled out and went walkies
through the tunnels and taking pictures. Apart from the bus groups who get out
to walk, there were quite a few backpackers walking along the highway. [If you go up this road in Google Earth, you’ll see how
narrow it actually is, barely wide enough for vehicles to pass.]
The caves of Swallows’ Grotto is, as the name suggests, where people
come to eat grots. No, no, no – it’s where thousands of birds nest during the
nesting season, which isn’t on April 7th. There weren’t any there.
On again, on again, on to the Tunnel of Nine Turns. The tunnels along
the whole gorge, which is 19 km long number thirty-eight, and some have holes
gouged out of the sides to provide common commodities such as light and air.
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| Taroko Gorge |
We took fifteen to twenty minutes walking
along this tunnel, boarded the bus and went over the ‘original’ Golden Gate Bridge,
a pathetic attempt at humour by Charlie to convince us that a small red
suspension bridge was the predecessor of San
Francisco’s much larger span. We got off at the next
bridge, called the Bridge of Motherly Devotion or the Marble Bridge,
because surprisingly enough it’s made of plasticene. At each end of this
bridge, on either side, are two carved lions. The one on the right has its
mouth closed. The one on the left has its mouth open but with a great marble
marble inside which was carved in situ (à la bouche). Or vice versa, of course.
There was a shrine or something opposite the bridge.
The end of the line in the direction of West
was Tienhsiang. There are a few lodges and hotels and little stores/stalls
across from what is actually Tienhsiang. What is actually Tienhsiang is reached
by a pedestrian suspension bridge which feels very suspended. Tienhsiang is
situated on a big knoll of rock with trees. There are steps leading from the
bridge up (steeply) and following whichever path takes one’s fancy, one can end
up at a temple where one takes a photograph of Japanese girls on one of those
ghastly compact cameras. To it may lead you to a pagoda, which is the edifice
most in evidence on the knoll. There is, curiously enough, a small gauge
railway track. Inside the pagoda are two staircases leading to the bottom,
though these latter two are the exact some two that lead to the top.
 | |
| From brochure. The Japanese caption says: On the mountain on the other side is a beautiful seven-storey pagoda. |
Coming back down (on the way to the bus) I saw
two monkeys on chains. One could catch peanuts in its paw. I’m glad you know
that now.
On the bus again, it feels like old times, leaving some of them behind,
those that are staying for a while in Tienhsiang; for it is time to go to
luncheon, which is back at the entrance of the gorge; down the tunneled highway
back again at the marble Plant or factory.
At one end of the building, most of which is an establishment which
sells marble/jade/other types of rock stuff, is an open store room of marble
mantelpieces and tables and such. Outside is a huge machine which continuously
cuts through huge blocks of marble. Behind the shop is a restaurant type
situation with round tables of green marble, which is the most rare and most
valuable of the four types of marble – green, black, white and vermillion.
(Grey, really). It is where we had a Chinese meal. After fulfilling the
bellies, we went into the shop – some magnificent pieces in there. I looked at
a pot and from then on a little old lady followed me around until I bought
something – two tortoises, one marble ($150) and one jade ($350), to add to my
collection.
After waiting around outside for a while, we proceeded to a very much
smaller version, and less-than-capacity version, of the round theatre if the
Rose Gardens of Bangkok.
There we sat.
Recorded music. An Ami aborigine girl enters,
speaks in Chinese. Sings. More girls enter, dressed in colourful costumes. They
go out, get changed, etc etc. The girl had a nice singing voice but I’m not
altogether sure that it wasn’t the same song all the time.
After this festival of song and dance, we headed back towards Hualien,
passing through, again, the linear village
of Hsin Cheng.
In Hualien we dropped people off at various
places. Hualien – ah, the streets are paved with marble. Well, the footpaths,
at any rate. It is a very provincial city, sitting on its coastal plain. Some
kids roller skating in a park. We passed the biggest hotel in Hualien, the
Marshal, and the Waikiki Beach of Hualien, which is extremely boring.
Finally, but finally, got back to the airport,
but had to wait a while for the plane, having a can of Root Beer to relieve the
thirst. China Airlines, window seat – up into the clouds back to Taipei where it was still
raining. I was met by a Chinese girl, we waited for someone not to show up and
then we caught a taxi back to the hotel. They don’t seem to like using their
windscreen wipers very much in Taipei.
At the hotel, I had dinner with Paul and
Heather Walsh, Jane, Elly, Dee and Joyce.
Chinese again for Chinese $180. Then Jane, Elly, Dee
and I went by taxi to the Grand Hotel. It wasn’t raining then but the Grand
Hotel is the top hotel in Taipei.
It’s on a bigger hill. Inside, ‘tis immensely magnificent, with hugely thick
red columns, wide staircase and very big. We had a look at an exhibition of
Tibetan artworks of religious significance. Very interesting and sometimes
vulgar – multi-multi-faced idols, millions of hands, etc.
We decided to live it up and have a drink in the bar - $55 for a
lemonade. Then we waited outside for a taxi. It was raining heavily again by
this time. A car decided to flush some water onto the taxi windscreen. The
driver couldn’t see a thing but braked anyway. My window in the front was open
a little and Elly, sitting behind, had an early shower. Hotel. Bed.
