Toroko Gorge

2-Apr-2014 • Hualien Taiwan, R.O.C.

TV's Globe Trekker episode about Taiwan hosted by Megan McCormick made us decide to visit Toroko Gorge in Hualien once we arrived in the island nation.

Unlike most of the places we traveled to in Taipei, the trip to Hualien required a train ride out of the city. We had read about the tour buses that left from the tourist information office by the train station and we were hoping to catch one in the morning of our arrival. However, the very last tour bus had just left minutes before we got there.

The very friendly lady at the tourist office suggested we hired a cab for the day. We were quite wary of touts in the station though and this we told her.

Meanwhile, there was this cabbie who kept following us all around the train station as soon as we arrived. He even followed us inside the tourist info office. We grew a bit suspicious of him but in the end, we decided to take him up on the offer. We agreed on the price before setting out. I honestly don't remember anymore how much we paid but he did charge per person. The TI female employee talked to the cabbie in Chinese and even informed him about how suspicious he had made us by following us everywhere. He didn't say much. The lady TI employee instructed us to inform her about the driver and his services upon our return which we did later that day.

The day went smoothly and the cabbie turned out to be a nice and friendly guy. He acted both our driver and guide for the day. He took us to every important point around the huge park, dropping us off, then picking us up to visit other points of interest. He gave us a lot of time to explore which we appreciated.