New Year's Friends

Xinnian kuaile!  Happy New Year!  

I had two friends come visit for a few days - Ross and Nathan.  Ross lives in Atlanta, GA and Nathan lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Both were coming from the US as Nathan was back home visiting family over Christmas.  So they both got to experience some good jet lag upon arrival!  Unfortunately Rachel could not join for our adventures as she was not able to get the time off of work.    

They arrived on New Years Eve and we spent the evening in Taipei.  The main attraction in Taipei is the fireworks at the Taipei 101 building.  (It was the tallest building in the world up until 2010).  There was a very large crowd in attendance for the concerts / fireworks - est. 1 million people - but it was eerily quiet for the festivities.  Everyone was sitting patiently, calmly, and orderly in the streets awaiting the fireworks.  There was very little cheering during the countdown or during the fireworks, and once it was over, everyone very orderly got up and walked to / lined up at the nearest MRT (subway) entrances.  It was...interesting.  But I am glad we were able to experience it.     

On New Years Day we rented a car and headed down the east coast to Taroko Gorge.  This is one of the main attractions in Taiwan and supposedly one of the most beautiful places to visit on the island.  Now after being there, I agree.  It was pretty darn nice.  And we had great weather!  

on the E. coast, just before the entrance to Taroko National Park

We arrived to our hotel in the gorge around 4:00pm.  Driving in to the gorge was incredible.  High marble walls with huge drops to the river below.  And the road kept switching from two lanes to one, so you really had to keep an eye on what was coming from up ahead (lots of tour buses that barely can fit down the road).  It was starting to get dark so we grabbed dinner and made it an early night.

We had a tour guide planned for the next morning so we were up early and headed out to meet the guide.  Everything we had seen on the way in looked different as the sun was now shining from the other side.

our guide giving us the skinny

safety is our first concern!  notice the 2 bridges in the background? 

we were looking up at the hike we would be doing the next day.  

pretty sweet triple water fall in the background

we had crossed many suspension bridges

The next day (after our tour) we were up early again to tackle the Zhuilu Historic Trail in Taroko Gorge.  We had to apply for the hiking permit 3 weeks in advance as it is a very popular trail but they only allow a small number of people to hike it each day.  It is supposedly the best day hike in Taiwan and I now see why.  Just don't attempt the hike if you have a serious fear of heights.

the size of the boulders was incredible.  many were larger than houses

only way was through...then up and up we went 

once out of the woods the views were great.  we really lucked out with the weather!  

as you see, there is no safety rail or anything.  it was a 1000 ft. drop over the edge.  

yep, no safety rails.

looking over the edge (still no safety railings).  see the river and the road below? 

We completed the trail in about 5 hours than grabbed lunch and hit the road.  We decided to head further in to the mountains as to drive completely across the island.  There was a nice pull-off place with a short hike to a high point once in the middle of the island.  We are at approx 3200 meters (10,500 ft) in this picture

the west end of the national park.  now a long drive back down to sea level

We had read about a nice hot spring resort that was not far from Hsinchu so we decided to push on and drive there for the evening.  It was quite a looong drive and we were pretty beat from the early morning hike, but it was worth the trip.  We arrived and the hotel / b&b owner prepared us a feast of food that we thoroughly enjoyed.  An evening soak in the hot springs and we were all quick to bed.  The next morning we were up for an early morning run then another feast prepared by the hotel owner.

It was now Saturday morning and we drove to Hsinchu to grab Rachel and head back to Taipei for the day / evening.  Rachel was glad to join at least a little part of our trip ;-)  We returned the rental car (oh - it was GREAT driving a car again.  I didn't realize how much I missed driving.  Or maybe it was having a fully enclosed, climate controlled environment while going down the road?) and dropped our bags at the hotel.  We set out to climb Elephant Mtn and get the view of Taipei 101 from the south side.  

clouds rolled in so the visibility wasn't as good

We finished the evening at the Shilin Night Market where Ross drew a crowd winning all the carnival games and we walked through all the different shops.  Ross and Nathan left for the airport the next morning and Rachel and I went back to Hsinchu.  It was a great trip and I was very glad to hang out with my friends from back home.