20130607 Taiwan Day 6 - Taroko Gorge

The next day, we woke up very early.  We had an arrangement with one of the tour guides recommended in tripadvisor (Mr Zheng, the husband of a husband-and-wife team) to bring us up to Taroko Gorge for the day.

 

 

It was a day filled with stops, and extreme highs and lows (in more ways than one).

 

 

Due to a landslide a fortnight ago, the authorities restricted the number of cars that could go into Taroko Gorge by opening certain routes only for ten minutes every two hours.  Mr Zheng assured us that he had the timing planned out and he would let us know if we overstayed at a certain tourist spot.

 

First, we went qi xin tang (seven stars bay?)  It was very early, but it was already very warm.

Me with the notice board map



Me, Charlie, yy and popo taking a photo at the beach but we are not going into the water haha



Mommy, popo, yy, Charlie, Kathleen and the other 2 adults

Somewhere along the way, he brought us to a famous muay chee place and treated us to freshly made muay chee.  Yummy!

Next, qi xin ya (Seven Stars Cliff?)



Charlie, yy and si yiyi in the Qi xing duan ya

That was followed by the entrance to Taroko Gorge.  There were many tourist buses (and tourists) there taking pictures.


The owl on the floor.  There are so many patterns.  The owl looks cute.



Popo and me taking a photo

The sky is blue, the air is clear... beautiful (and hot)!


Me and Charlie preparing to do our star jumps

At the Taroko Customer service, where the children can buy a book and stamped the different birds/tribes found in the region and also do shading on the imprints found on the tables.


Me and popo sitting on the chairs.  I am doing the book coloring picture.  The character will be on the table.  I have to use a colour pencil to get the picture out on the paper.



Me doing the stamp on yiyi's envelope

A temple next to the stream....


Me, mommy, yy, si yiyi and the 2 old people

Isn't the waterfall beautiful?

Next, we went to the Swallow's Grotto.

The cliffs are so beautiful! Unfortunately, the reconstruction work done after the landslide means that a lot of soil and dirt are dumped into the river, resulting in the greyish waters instead of the usual turquoise. :(

K, Charlie and Po po stayed in the car as they did not want to walk in the tunnel.

Mommy later dragged her out to take some photos.


Me in the cave.  Did you know? When the adults and yy went out to take their photos, me and Charlie stay in the car but mommy asked me to come out to see something and take a picture



Me and mommy at the Swallow's Grotto.  I think Charlie wanted to stay in the car.  Mommy was the one who asked me to take photos in the Swallow's Grotto.

After that, Mr Zheng brought us to Ci mu bridge (kind mother bridge).


Me on the road near the Ci mu Bridge (kind mother bridge).



Mommy, popo, si yiyi, gonggong and me who is the only child who is outside

This is the bridge leading to a Goddess of Mercy temple


Me on the long way bridge.  Wow, the beams are all coloured in yellow. Yellow is almost my favourite colour.  Yellow is my third favourite colour.

 

 

Where is this place? This beautiful scenery is actually found outside a public toilet! :P

Our final destination for the day was actually Starry House in Cingjing area.  To get there, Mr Zheng had to drive us over the mountain ranges.  To do so, we must go UP!  BTW, yy nearly threw up on the way up.


Me and Charlie in the car.  We can see the clouds on the sky and the mountain.  How cool!  I can't believe it. Charlie must be happy on that trip.  Yy felt like throwing up when we went to lunch outside the car.

It was really cold and windy nearer to the top and K refused to come out to take photos.


Me on the really high mountain.  Do you know why am I cold?  Because all the clouds are close by.  Charlie and yy are cold too but the adults are OK I think.

A scene from the window in another public toilet in the mountains.  Beautiful!


Me in the toilet.  There are windows. We can see everything below.  There are even trees and it is cold in the toilet too.



Me outside with all my three covers.  One jacket and two scarves. It felt really cold up here on the mountain even four layers are not enough.

We finally reached our 'top' destination.  Wu Lin which is at 3275 meters.  Mr Zheng said it was about twelve degrees.  It was raining slightly which accounted for the lower temperature.



The 2 adults, 3 kids and gongong.  Popo was in the car.  The signboard says Wu Lin (peak) which is at 3275 meters

Looked at the mist! COOL!


The 2 adults, 3 kids and gongong at the same place with the signboard.

After Wu Lin, Mr Zheng dropped us off at our next minsu - Starry House.  The kids were so tired they took a nap.


Everyone sleeping except si yiyi, mommy and popo.  Sleep sleep.

As Starry House was away from the busier Cingjing district, dinner and breakfast were provided.  Dinner was steam boat which was very welcome because it was cold!


Everybody having their dinner. Wow, so much food!  There was a steamboat too.  We can put food to cook.  I can't believe it! The food is so yummy.



Me outside on the stairs waiting for the rest to finish getting their water.  I did not know that the door is automatic.

At night, we went out to courtyard and tried to view the stars.  We managed to see Sagittarius but not the milky way so mommy was quite disappointed.

It was so cold we all decided not to bath that night :P