How would you describe Taroko Gorge?

Well, our New Year vacation remained fairly uneventful in that there were no major crisis (other than my camera batteries dying and my charger being the wrong one).

I got pictures of Taroko Gorge on the first day, but unfortunately that's it.

It rained pretty much constantly in Hualien and Taroko Gorge. Leila and I were troopers though and we still got up no later than 6:15 a.m. and trudged through the hills and trails which were absolutely beautiful and breathtaking despite the less-than-ideal weather.

We were a bit disappointed when we got to Kenting and it was still cloudy. Granted it wasn't exactly raining, but we were looking forward to the warmth of the sun.

Luckily the sun finally came out on Saturday and we just lazed about the entire time we were in Kenting — like you do when you're at the beach. I have to admit, Kenting was a tiny bit boring.

I'm sure it's great in the summer when there are watersports to be done, but it was still a bit too chilly for that if you ask me.

I'm a wuss though.

It was still a great vacation and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I can now say I've been to the north, east and south of Taiwan (Taoyuan is technically northwest, but I'll wait until I've managed to spend time in Taichung or Kaohsiung).

Also, given the path we took to travel, I have literally made a circle around the island. The circle would have been a lot prettier had we taken the train back from Kaohsiung, but the bus was simply cheaper and easier.

Oh and Happy Birthday to my momma!

I will leave you with just a couple of photos from Taroko and you'll see what I meant when I said the rain didn't ruin it for us.

The view from the Swallow Grotto entrance.


A tunnel on the Swallow Grotto trail.

This is from the Lushui Trail which was an actual hike as opposed to the paved pathways like most the trails.

In most cases it was really difficult to get a picture that had the base of the gorge and the top of the mountains.


This is my favorite picture of all of them. I just get this gripping feeling watching the sun try so hard to peak through those clouds.