We spent the last two days visiting Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan. On the first day, we took the train to Hualien and then a bus up the mountain to Tienhsiang. We stayed the night at the youth activity center, which despite its name is more like a hotel than a hostel. True to its name, that night the youth activity center hosted a large collection of youth who spent the night karaokeing and dancing.

The next morning, we woke up early to hike to Baiyan Waterfall, which was sadly closed due to recent rock falls. On the way down the mountain to our next hike, we met two fellow tourists from Germany and Singapore. While our trip has been quite long, theirs are even longer. The German tourist is midway through a 9 month journey. The Singaporean tourist was just starting a 6 month journey. We all got off the bus near Swallow Grotto where we got a great view of the path the river carved through the marble walls of Taroko Gorge. Our next stop was the Changchun Shrine. We tried to hike up the mountain to the shrine, but I was too tired and gave up about halfway up. Instead, we took the bus to visitor center and took a break at the café. After a brief hike, it was time to head back, so we boarded the bus back to Hualien and a train to Taipei.