It was pouring with rain when I arrived in Taibei. No trouble finding the Happy Family hostel, although the atmosphere was a little less jolly than I had hoped. Most of the inhabitants were holidaying away from English teaching jobs in backwater towns elsewhere on the island, and they showed considerable hostility towards travellers and other free people. Mr Rat had also apparently evaded the sun-drying rack in Yangshuo and followed me across the Straits. To top it all off, I got eaten alive by mosquitos both nights - they were biting me even on my face, so i wore my beanie pulled down over my nose, which resulted in a band of mosquito bites around my jaw, but nothing above, a rather strange look which probably caused people to suspect I had some strange disease - at least I got some personal space.
I went to see the central park with the Opera House and special gate in honour of Chiang Kaishek (actually, everything in the city seemed to be in the honour of Chiang Kaishek or Sun Yatsen). The National Museum was a highlight, with the collection of ancient Chinese art smuggled across the Straits by the fleeing Kuomintang, although of course I couldn't take any photos there.
From Taibei, I caught a train to Hualien where I planned to catch a bus straight to Taroko Gorge. I missed the bus by a few minutes and had to stay overnight in Hualien, which was a real dump. Stayed in a pokey hotel room (entrance via the fire escape, v. classy), ate some God-awful mush in a place recommended by Lonely Planet (no surprise, those guys have absolutely no idea) and watched The Cowboy Way (a really corny Woody Harrelson movie) on cable TV.
Finally reached Taroko Gorge after a very long, windy bus-ride, and it was well worth the trouble. I got a bargain price for my room-with-lightbulb-and-hard-bed at the Catholic Hostel, ate a very average meal at the only budget eatery in the one-street "town" and went hiking. The first trek (see also 1) involved going through tunnels drilled through the hills (you had to bring a torch), and then wound along a river to a big waterfall. After this I went to the Wenshan hot springs, which sit adjacent to a river, so you can go back and forth from hot baths to cold river (the photo is blurry because it was taken from the wobbly cable bridge above). This place was so good that the next day (New Year's Eve), after another hike I went back there to soak for another couple of hours.
On New Year's Day, I checked out and bussed back to Hualien, before catching a train to Taitung, another to Fengliao, then a bus to Kenting (blegh! a very tiring day).
