Карайте до източния бряг: малко от Швейцария!

When you hear Taiwan, you probably don't think of mountains first. However, the mountain range with several peaks above 3000 meters makes up a large part of the entire area. To get to the east coast, we had to drive from western Taichung over the mountains to Hualien. For this purpose, we rented a small VW van with eight people (unfortunately not a hippie van 😉, but a slightly newer model). The landscape and the roads remind of Switzerland, while the pleasant and humid climate didn't quite fit.

On our way, we also crossed the famous Taroko National Park. We had originally planned to do a short hike to a waterfall, but the trail was closed. Instead, we discovered a hidden hot spring where we could relax for a few minutes. The path to the hot spring was officially closed, but we still ventured into the gorge because we saw other bathers there.

With the energy from the hot spring and a Taiwanese dinner, we finally headed towards Hualien and our hostel. When we arrived, we were in for our first shock. The hostel said they had no available rooms, even though we had received a booking confirmation. It turned out that we could stay for the first night, but we had to find something else for the second night in Hualien. Luckily, we got lucky again! We asked the owner for help in finding a new accommodation, as almost everything in the region was fully booked. To my surprise, only about half an hour later, he told us that he had found something. A friend of his had recently opened a new hostel where we could spend the second night. That's how it works in Taiwan 😉 Everyone knows everyone and everyone helps each other. How can you not love this country? =)

Actually, the hostel incident wasn't the first shock, but the second. The first shock happened during the curvy drive in the Taroko Gorge. We hit something with the car, which caused a pretty big scratch. Since we were definitely too far away from the guardrail, something must have stuck out from the guardrail. I don't think we can ever go on a trip without breaking something ^^

The next day, we drove back to the Taroko Gorge because we hadn't seen most of it in daylight. We stopped at various viewpoints and went for a short hike. The whole gorge was packed with tourists, which was sometimes a bit annoying.
The Taroko Gorge also reminded me of Switzerland, specifically the Maggia Valley and Verzasca Valley. However, I missed the crystal-clear water that would probably have looked even better in sunnier weather. Nevertheless, it was a completely successful first part of our road trip. To be continued...