Taroko George

Deep in Taiwan


Eternal Spring Shrine
A Buddhist shrine blesses an uninterrupted stream of water in the region and praises the lives of more than 200 workers (military veterans) who lost their lives building the Central Cross-Island&n
convenient conversation
Taiwanese visitors inform themselves at the entrance of a bridge that gives access to one of Taroko's many tunnels.
rocky meanders
The stony and winding bed of the Liwu River, the main watercourse of the Taroko Gorge.
river adventures
Visitors to Taroko Gorge test the clear water of the Liwu River.
in the shadow of taroko
Hiker admires a deep gorge carved by the flow of the Liwu River.
Heavenly Summit Pagoda
The six-story pagoda that stands out from the leafy vegetation of Tiangsiang, the last and largest settlement in Taroko.
The Shakadang Bridge
Another one of several bridges that allowed the continuity of the Central Cross-Island Highway, one of the few roads that crosses Taiwan from west to east.
Eternal Spring Shrine II
The Buddhist sanctuary built on the slope of Eternal Spring, crossed by the constant waterfall.
an illuminated trail
Buddha Statue welcomes visitors and worshipers atop the Tiangsiang Slope from which the Heavenly Summit Pagoda rises.
The entrance to the tunnels
Casal walks along the road of the Tunnels of Nine Turns, carved into a slope of pure marble.
The Liwu River
A small natural lagoon formed by the then small flow of the Liwu River.
The Buddhist Strand of Taroko
White Buddha statue halfway to Heavenly Summit Pagoda in Tiangsiang.
on the way to eternity
Visitors traverse a treacherous rock-hewn trail near the Eternal Spring Shrine.

In 1956, skeptical Taiwanese doubted that the initial 20km of Central Cross-Island Hwy was possible. The marble canyon that challenged it is today the most remarkable natural setting in Formosa.

The kind of road roller coaster that runs along the east coast of Taiwan's main island, between Suao and Hualien, seems to only entertain us. Inveterate cyclists report to each other and beyond that, despite its crazy terrain, Formosa is probably the best Asian destination to explore by cycling. They curse, however, this stretch between the Pacific Ocean and the rocky foothills of the Cordillera Central. Lyndall Pyckering, for example, complains to an online cyclo-community that barely had time to admire the landscape or feel the pain in his thighs caused by the constant climbs, such was the concentration he was forced to maintain to avoid being sandwiched against the walls of stone or cement, by the lorries and tourist buses that disputed the asphalt.

At the wheel but in his boss's Volvo sedan, Jack suffered a lot to prevent his job from having the same fate: “damn traffic! The government should ban heavy trucks once and for all on this coast!” We realized that this would be his protest, even if expressed in the rudimentary English we were already used to. We already trusted your experience. For this reason, we were still dedicated to the most photogenic sections of that extreme coastline, which, by the heights of Chingshui cliff, became vertical as never before. There, cliffs of mountains with more than a thousand meters plunged, steeply, into the blue sea.

A few kilometers to the south and inland, we enter the land of Hsiulin. This district has long been Taiwan's largest in terms of area. It houses six villages and has almost 15500 inhabitants, the vast majority of the Taroko ethnic group. In more recent times, the island's aboriginal ethnicities and the Taroko Gorge gained such importance that the authorities forced Hsiulin to change his name to Taroko, an ethnic term truku meaning wonderful. This is allegedly what an indigenous of this tribe uttered when he left the excavated territory of the gorge for the first time and was amazed at the ocean.

Soon we left that eastern marine vastness behind. We entered a narrow canyon, sometimes green, sometimes rocky, made of raw marble to be more precise, the reason for its other name, Gorge of Marble.

We detour 2.3 km west of the main road and come across the Eternal Spring Shrine, a fruitful and uninterrupted natural spring that a Buddhist order blessed with a sanctuary crossed by the stream. It was erected in honor of the more than 200 workers (military veterans) who perished in the bold construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway and have their names inscribed on stone plaques.

Even today, Taroko Gorge and Eternal Spring Shine reserve their risks, especially if those who visit them are caught by storms or typhoons, which are very common in Taiwan.

Although he prefers this new domain to the frantic side road that brought us from Taipei, Jack is well aware of its dangers. “Be careful on this trail!”, he alerts us with an unusual drama. “Once, a honeymoon couple posed for pictures near the sanctuary when they were surprised by a landslide!”. We also found that that slope had already collapsed several times and that, since 1950, the sanctuary had been rebuilt twice.

When we returned from the walk and the rejuvenating splashes of the spring, Jack sighed impatiently behind his crumpled Taiwan Times. “I was starting to get worried” justifies his discontent, still and always in rudimentary English.

We don't want to intensify your despair. We stuff ourselves and our work packs into the Volvo and set off towards Taroko's bowels.

At 3.6 km, we reach the surroundings of Swallow Grotto, a cliff covered with small caves carved by ancient underground currents and where thousands of swallows have installed their nests.

Onwards, we find the Jinheng suspension bridge and cross the Liwu River again, which runs through the entire gorge, this time in an inevitable vertigo caused by the permanent sway of the rope structure.

As we cross it, we realize the drastic speed with its deep bed must flood again and again, as it receives the bulk of torrential rain fed by the overheated Pacific. After some effort, also the latent form of Yindiaren Rock, a huge boulder carved by erosion into the shape of a Native American chief with his headdress.

Back in road mode, we cross the Liufang colored bridge and reach the Tunnel of Nine Turns. There, Taroko's Man versus Nature confrontation takes on unprecedented gravity. At one point, the main road turns into a detour that leads to a series of short tunnels carved out of the marble, along the winding gorge and irrigated by waterfalls that plunge into the Liwu River, which is agitated there by furious rapids.

We walk along these semi-open tunnels. last reveals the true dimension of the scenario

Just 2 km further on, the capricious Liwu forces us to make a new crossing, the Bridge of Motherly Devotion.

This bridge was built by former Taiwan President Chiang Jing-guo, son of another far more famous, Chiang Kai-shek political-military pioneer of the Republic of China (Taiwan) who saw his army defeated in the civil war raging in China continent and was forced to take refuge on the island.

Chiang Jing-Guo, opened the bridge in memory of his mother, inspired by his father. Chiang Kai-shek himself had had a Buddhist pavilion built in honor of Jing-Guo's grandmother.

We beat the stone lions that guard their entrance and contemplate the huge pebbles that share the rich flow, now in the company of Jack, who once again uses one of his favorite Anglophone terms: “Crazy river, isn't it" ? ” asks us knowing by heart and stir-fry that we would confirm it.

Tiangsiang is the last and largest settlement in Taroko Gorge. It appears embedded in its threshold, with verdant mountains in the background. We glimpse the six-story pagoda of Heavenly Summit and a golden Buddha that blesses visitors, those who, like us, sacrifice themselves to climb the steep path to the Xiangde religious complex, and others who, like our plump and indolent conductor, they shunned the little pilgrimage. " Up there??! You are crazy. Marco is crazy, Sara, that's got to be it!"

We had a good laugh, we left him joking with other drivers and tour guides, and we went on our way. We were in the last canyon territory and we had no time to relax in its Wenshan thermal baths, an additional moment of leisure with which many visitors make a point of finishing their exploration of Taroko. Instead, we went back to slaughtering the legs in the name of Buddha and discovery. A long road trip followed the continuation of the Central Cross-Island Highway, to Hsitou, on the other side of Taiwan.

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In the Heart of the Other China

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The Small Tropical Japanese Amazon of Iriomote

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Taiwan

Formosa but Unsafe

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Safari
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Not all rivers reach the sea

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Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

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Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
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The Beach of All Vanities

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Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Adventure
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
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Look-alikes, Actors and Extras

Make-believe stars

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Cities
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The Longest 4th of July

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Meal
Markets

A Market Economy

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Dances
Culture
Okinawa, Japan

Ryukyu Dances: Centuries old. In No Hurry.

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Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

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Traveling
Beagle Channel, Argentina

Darwin and the Beagle Channel: on the Theory of the Evolution Route

In 1833, Charles Darwin sailed aboard the "Beagle" through the channels of Tierra del Fuego. His passage through these southern confines shaped the revolutionary theory he formulated of the Earth and its species
Native Americans Parade, Pow Pow, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Ethnic
Albuquerque, USA

When the Drums Sound, the Indians Resist

With more than 500 tribes present, the pow wow "Gathering of the Nations" celebrates the sacred remnants of Native American cultures. But it also reveals the damage inflicted by colonizing civilization.
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Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

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History
sitka, Alaska

Sitka: Journey through a once Russian Alaska

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Santo Antão, Cape Verde, Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande, Morro do Tubarão
Islands
Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande the Seaside Way

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Winter White
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

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Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

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Nature

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Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
mini-snorkeling
Natural Parks
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Back to Danny Boyle's The Beach

It's been 15 years since the debut of the backpacker classic based on the novel by Alex Garland. The film popularized the places where it was shot. Shortly thereafter, the XNUMX tsunami literally washed some away off the map. Today, their controversial fame remains intact.
Sanahin Cable Car, Armenia
UNESCO World Heritage
Alaverdi, Armenia

A Cable Car Called Ensejo

The top of the Debed River Gorge hides the Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat and terraced Soviet apartment blocks. Its bottom houses the copper mine and smelter that sustains the city. Connecting these two worlds is a providential suspended cabin in which the people of Alaverdi count on traveling in the company of God.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Cable car connecting Puerto Plata to the top of PN Isabel de Torres
Beaches
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Home Silver

Puerto Plata resulted from the abandonment of La Isabela, the second attempt at a Hispanic colony in the Americas. Almost half a millennium after Columbus's landing, it inaugurated the nation's inexorable tourist phenomenon. In a lightning passage through the province, we see how the sea, the mountains, the people and the Caribbean sun keep it shining.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

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Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

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Society
Dali, China

Chinese Style Flash Mob

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Wildlife
Fazenda São João, Miranda, Brazil

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Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

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