Korean Job Discussion Forums

[panchotino]

hi there. Just bought two tickets for me and the missus for taiwan.
i am thinking of spending the first and last nights in taipei but doing a bit of travelling between. we are looking at toroko gorge but i am having trouble finding cheap accomadation for the night. whats the best way to get there via taipei? i don't want to drive but maybe hiring a scooter when we get the the gorge would be nice.
After the gorge, we were looking at finding a nice beach, doing some snorkelling off green island ( ? ) then making our way back to the capital via the west coast. Basically, we have four days to do this before staying in taipei for the full day before we fly out.
any info would be greatly appreciated particularly on the accomadation front
thanks in advance.

[LarrytheGiraffee]

The easiest way to get to Taroko gorge is to take the train to the biggest city just south of the gorge (I forget the name). The town has plenty of cheap accomodation to choose from right around the train station. People will be outside asking if you want to look at cheap rooms. There is also a very hand information center on the right as you come out of the train station. A scooter would be a great way to see the gorge, but I dont remember seeing any for rent while I was there.

The gorge is nice to see but its easy to do in a half day trip. There are buses that go into the gorge and you can walk out (take the first bus in if you decide to do this or there will be a lot of traffic with you as you walk along the narrow road. Just an hour or so further along the coast is absolutely gorgeous. There is a really nice bridge and hiking area that I would definitely recommend.

It would be a very long and tiring trip if you went from there down the east coast then back up to Taipei along the west coast. Taipei is larger than Korea, so unless you want to spend a lot of your time on a bus or train, Id narrow down what you want to do.

Sun-Moon lake is gorgeous and is a very nice place to go and rent scooters for the day. I think its about 40km to drive around the whole thing and there are several nice places to stop along the way.

[panchotino]

thanks for the advice mate. it will be well heeded. the name of that city next to the gorge, is it hualin? (sp.) will look into sun moon lake aswell. The missus wanted a beach but will just settle for water i'm sure. I didn't fancy the idea of koshung beach cos i want a relaxing time with some peace and quiet.
anyway, thanks again. any places you'd recommend to stay in taipei?

[LarrytheGiraffee]

That's right the town is Hualien. If there have been any rains in the past couple of weeks, its important to check with the information center on any trails that may be closed. When I was there, most trails WERE closed. Since the main trails we wanted to hike weren't accessible, we took the first morning bus to the Tiansiang (from what I remember) and walked back. Once we got outside the entrance to the park, we hitchhiked back to Hualien. It common in Taiwan and fairly easy to get picked up.

We read about a road that goes from the gorge to Sun-Moon lake that involved hitchhiking but it seemed like too much hassle. The best way to see both sites is to just head back to Taipei and take another train down.

The coast line between Hualien and Taitung are gorgeous. I dont remember there being much actual beach to lay on but there were a couple of spots to stop and do some hiking.

Have fun!