We took a bus from Kenting town north to Fangliao. The bus took about an hour and a half. When we were looking into how to get to Hualien from Kenting, nowhere told us where to get the bus from in Kenting. It turned out that the bus stops in lots of places, including directly outside our hotel. Lucky us, we got on the bus after 15 minutes and arrived in Fangliao to change for a train direct to Hualien (the direct trains are few and far between). The train traversed Taiwan west to east, across the mountain ranges that give Taiwan it's backbone. The time was mostly spent in tunnels, but what we did see was hilly, green and lush vegetation. After crossing the mountains, the train headed north. Four and a half hours later, we arrived in Hualien and were glad to stretch our legs.

Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the train station . The hotel was basic but had a lovely friendly receptionist who helped us find what we needed. The room was back to smelling slightly like smoke and a hard but not uncomfortable bed. We headed straight out for some dinner and went to a nearby vegetarian restaurant. Evidently we were looking lost, as a lovely lady came and translated for us, to confirm that yes we had indeed found the vegetarian restaurant and it was an all-you-can-eat buffet, for a very reasonable price. We ended up sat by the lady and her husband, and had a long chat with them. They told us about their lives and how they had ended up in Hualien. They also informed us that the previous day (before we had arrived), Hualien had had quite a significant earthquake. They also told us that, prior to that, in the early morning, Taiwan had been shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the richter scale that we should definitely have felt in Kenting. We had no idea. Apparently earthquakes do not wake us up. The food was great, so much so we got takeout for the following day for lunch. We accidentally bought some 4% wine (rubbish!), skyped our good friends Ryan, Sarah and baby Dylan, and retired for the evening.

On Friday 18th, we woke early and went to a shop by the train station, to purchase a hop-on hop-off bus ticket for our main activity in Hualien, the Taroko Gorge. The gorge is a marble gorge, and is the most famous sightseeing spot in Taiwan . We were excited for some more pretty scenery. We took the bus into the gorge, stopping at the visitor's centre. Here we picked up a map and got some advice on trails which were open. Many of the trails were shut, so our choices were somewhat limited. We decided to start with the Shakadang trail, a kilometre away from the visitor's centre. After picking up coffee, and after Ken ate a 'tea egg' (a boiled egg, stewed in tea - it looked disgusting), we walked through a long dark tunnel to get to the start of the trail. It wasn't the immediate pretty scenery we were after but we stuck with it.

The Shakadang trail was open for the first kilometre and a half, with the return journey being walking back the way we came. The trail itself was longer, but, like many other trails in the park, the extra length was shut due to damage, earthquakes, rockfalls or overgrowth. The trail was popular and followed the stream as it wound through the bottom of the gorge. Here, the water was a beautiful blue-green colour. It was stunning. On the way, we saw some formosan rock monkeys clambering around on what looked like a sheer part of the gorge wall on the other side. At the end of the trail, we walked down to the water's edge and looked at thousands of tadpoles gathered in the rock pools. It was very pretty. We walked back and realised we'd just missed a bus, with the next one not for an hour and ten minutes. We ate our takeout lunch in a secluded and shady spot, before waiting for the bus on the busy bridge above .

The bus arrived 10 minutes early, and we realised that the wording on the sign, "times are indicative only", meant that the buses would basically come whenever. As the buses were less than hourly, that was a bit of a problem. We took the bus to the next stop, swallows grotto. Except that we got off at the wrong swallows grotto, as there are two, next to each other on the map. We were at Bulowan, a high up view point. So we took the opportunity to look out over the scenic surroundings from some high platforms, before walking down many, many steps to the road below. We watched carefully for poisonous snakes and giant hornets this time, and luckily encountered neither. At the bottom of the steps, we walked alongside cars whizzing past, and rued the fact that there was no pavement. We reached the actual swallows grotto and started our walk. The walk took in narrow gorge walls, with swirling patterns in the marble which were very pretty to look at. We turned back after 20 minutes, to make sure that we would be in time for the bus. This time, the bus was late, which left us waiting for 45 minutes. We realised that this was a really cr*p bus system and decided not to trust leaving on the last bus of the day.

Our next stop was at the Lushui trail. This hugged the side of the gorge and took us through a couple of unlit tunnels, with some very pretty views along the way . Again, we walked for 20 minutes before turning back, so that we could catch the penultimate bus out of the park. This turned up late, and was a small bus. It was also rammed full of people. So much so that at some points, the driver was refusing passengers because the bus was so full. It also took twice as long to get back to Hualien city as it should have done.

All in all, we enjoyed our gorge experience, but if we were to go again, we would definitely take an organised tour bus. We found the hop-on hop-off bus entirely unreliable, and left us worried that we would get stranded in the park. Because of the bus times being so far apart, we weren't able to make the most of our time and didn't even make it to Tianxiang, the top of the gorge and the furthest that the buses can go. The place names were spelt differently on signs, the visitors centre map, and the map in the Lonely Planet, which added to confusion. The facilities for pedestrians, ie. pavements, were woeful or non-existent. There were meant to be hard hats available because of the high risk of rock falls, but we never saw these available anywhere. Plus the terminology used, such as describing a trail as a 'loop', was misleading. This, combined with the park being busy and many trails being shut, left us feeling that the place is a bit neglected. Which is a shame because it is popular for a good reason; it's natural beauty really does speak for itself.

After we eventually made it back to Hualien, we went back out for dinner to the delightful vegetarian buffet of the previous evening. We had a great meal and again picked up takeout for lunch the following day. We prepared to check out the following day for our next destination - Taipei, again!