HUALIAN - TAIWAN

With the number of items in the average western household having "made in Taiwan" printed on the label most people could be forgiven for thinking the country consists of nothing but factories. According to my guidebook the west coast consisted of this but everywhere else seemed to be stunning countryside.


Hualien city was the first stop outside of Taipei, within 10 minutes of arriving at the hostel I was invited out to go bowling at a local leisure center. Pity all the people I met that afternoon were leaving that evening but that's travel for you.


Taroko gorge was the obvious place to see the next day. Met someone from the hostel who joined me for the long walk in the spitting rain. Many of the paths had been closed off due to landslides from the bad weather so we had to stick to the roads.


Some of the road tunnels were very long and dark. At one point I nearly walked into a web which had a horrible and very big yellow/black spider in the middle. A German couple picked us up and gave us a lift through the worst parts.


The last couple of days the weather went from bad to worse so it was a good job the hostel had books, free internet, plenty of people to talk to and a friendly dog. On the final evening the hostel owner took a group of us round a friends house where we sat talking and drinking tea until late.