We had to sit around the Taitung train station for about 2 hours while we waited for out train to arrive. We read some paper and drank some coffee. They at least sell a couple of English newspapers. It doesn’t tell much about the rest of the world news, but at least you get a brief overview of what’s happening in Taiwan.

The train ride took about 2 1/2 hours up the east coast. It was pretty neat as you would have a mountain on your left and then the pacific ocean on your right. When we arrived in Hualien we grabbed a cab. The cabby spoke really good english and we indicated that we wanted a cheap hotel…but not too cheap. He took us to one place which was $1600 NT, but he quickly turned that down and said he knew of a better place…even cheaper…oh great.

The hotel he took us too turned out to be not too bad for only $1200 NT ($40). The view was a little better this time too, although the view still looked a little “slum like”. The bathroom also had a built in shower in it, meaning that when you went to the bathroom, you were technically in the shower too! I forgot to take a picture of it, but just believe me when I say it.

We ventured out into the city to find a place to eat. On the way here we saw a Domino’s Pizza sign, but couldn’t quite remember exactly where it was. After arguing on a few “restaurants” we finally came upon a Shabu Shabu restaurant and decided to give it a try. The man graciously gave us an English menu. We decided to order the spicy broth with it. Boy was that a mistake. The menu said a “light” heat. My freaking tongue and mouth were on fire from the start. Needless to say I didn’t eat as much as I would’ve liked too.

The next day we went back to the train station to catch a bus up to the Toroko Gorge. We were warned from a dorm roomate that she had previously taken a bus into Toroko Gorge and she basically feared for her life. We put that aside and decided to go for it. On the bus was Amanda, myself, and Belgium girl and an Australian guy. Both were backpacking and were stopping into Taiwan for only a month.

The train ride was nuts. Roads through the Toroko Gorge are barely 2 car width’s wide. Take a bus into consideration and it cuts it even closer. Yet, this bus driver was going 80 KM through the windy roads. You would look out the window and all you would see is the ground 100 feet below you.

We finally made it to the last stop where we got off. There was a hotel at the top, charging $6000 for a night to stay. We ventured off looking at the surroundings around us. We decided to head to the buddist temple that seemed to be in the middle of the mountain. The temple had a ton of statues and great views to which you could see the gorge a long way down.

From there we ventured back down to the river. Amanda was in heaven as she started to collect some rocks. After that we decided to leave a little gift on the ground like others had done before us!

We headed back on the bus back to Hualien. We headed out for supper again to the Shabu Shabu restaurant. This time getting the non-spicy broth. It was delicious.

The next morning we got to see a little sun, but that quickly went away by bit morning. We headed back to the train station and then back home. Our little 6 day adventure was over!