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Saturday 7 September 2013

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 5, Cingjing → Hualien (Taroko National Park) ☼

Back to continue about my Taiwan trip in May, I know I'm way backdated but I would definitely finish all 15 days ASAP, so I'm able to look back on my blog entries and recall all the stuff I've done in Taiwan!

This post is gonna be mostly photos because WE TOOK SO MANY!

So, we woke up bright and early the next morning, packed up our luggage and went to the common area to wait for the driver we've hired to arrive at Misty Villa at 10am. Tzu had previously booked a driver by reading forums and reviews online and he found a really reliable source to book a private cab from! (:

 It cost us 5000NT in total for the trip from Cingjing to Hualien in addition of the driver taking us through Taroko Gorge and HuHuanShan and giving us a sort of like tour. And he helped us to take lots of pictures as well! :D But the booking was rather expensive as it came up to about 100SGD per person since there was only the 2 of us and they charge by a standard rate for one cab. So it'll be quite worth it, if it was a group of friends or a family travelling together for this aspect for sure!

Here's a detailed list of the places within the Taroko National Park that we were brought around and other sightseeing destinations along the mountain route we took via the cab:

Chingjing - Wuling - Hehuanshan - Dayuling - Bilyu Sacred Tree - Tiansiang - Tunnel of Nine Turns - Swallow Grotto trail - Eternal Spring Shrine trail - Entrance of Taroko National Park - (Cingshuei Cliff) – Hualien Sunrise Hostel

Taroko National Park 
Wu Ling - Highest point on Taiwan accessible by public vehicles

It was kinda misty and foggy when we were up there, so we missed quite a view, sadly ): 

A word of caution to people considering this route: the driving can be quite nauseating as it is a rather winding path down from the mountainous regions, so it'll be good to have a packet of sour plums nearby or some motion sickness pills along with you in case you feel like vomiting. I experienced motion sickness, especially when going down the mountainous roads in the cab. So I just closed my eyes and just shut my mouth entirely for the whole journey till we reached the next stop and had some sour plums to ease the puking feeling. 




With the Bilyu Sacred Tree

We stopped by a family-run eatery along the way, where we had our lunch and a break from the road trip (:


Tzu looking extremely happy with his food heh

With some warm tea! (:

I was so glad to get some warm tea, because it was like rather cold up there and I was totally not prepped because I was only in my jeans and a cardigan for warmth hahaha. The tea leaves are picked by the owners and they  have this recipe of using peach-infused honey to sweeten the tea instead of sugar, which was sooooo good. 

Our driver! (:

The wooden cabin interior of the eatery 

Gorgeous mountains




Time for some jumpshots heh! :D 




Super-ugly-legs-jump-shot LOLLL

Yay success! (:


Rocks arranged 










Teehee, this bridge was rather shaky and the boyfriend who's afraid of heights was just a little bit scared :P 
























Construction workers lollll














Aftermath of a landslide

While we were there, there was apparently a landslide which occurred a few days earlier, so the Taiwan govt posted a restriction whereby vehicles were only allowed to pass out and in of Taroko Gorge at 3 timings per day as they were trying to reconstruct the road and remove the rocks from the landslide. So while we were queuing and waiting for the time where vehicles were allowed to pass, we actually caught a glimpse of some rocks which were still kinda tumbling downwards(!)





That's the end of our day trip through Taroko National Park (: The driver then drove us to our Minsu(Hualien Sunrise B&B), and we settled in with our luggage and freshened up to head out for dinner at Ziqiang Night Market! 

I'll continue about Ziqiang Night Market on my next post because we went there for both nights that we stayed in Hualien! (: Till the next ♡ 

20 comments:

  1. nice place! you look so happy :D

    http://breepluse.blogspot.com

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  2. Thank you for this cool blog. Reading is so much fun!

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  3. Hi there!

    Happen to chance upon your blog while searching for options to travel from cingjing to hualien. Ur itinerary and driver looks awesome, is it possible to get the contact of the driver as i will be planning a trip to TW coming december.

    Rgds,
    Glenn

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    1. Hi there!

      Here's the contact of the person: tiffany_935lk@yahoo.com.tw

      She's actually a lady named Tiffany! She couldn't make it to drive during my trip, which is why she assigned her friend to do it for us (:

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  4. hey there! thks alot for the info! anw, nice travel blog u haf here..very useful for people planning trips to taiwan haha

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    1. You're welcome! (: Glad it was useful! (:

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  5. Hi Jocina, we are planning a trip to TW in Dec too and wonder if you can share your trip experience with us so we can beef up our travel plan... our intend plan is to fly into Taipei, and then head straight to Taichung - Cingjing - Hualien - Taipei (2 nights each). any advice for us? likely we will take a cab from Cingjing to Hualien... Thanks.

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    1. Hi Derrick! (: I would say one full day and night at Cingjing would be enough alrd actually! (: perhaps you'll like to spend more time in Taipei, cause there's lots of night markets and places to visit there! (:

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  6. Hi Jocina,

    Chanced upon your blog when I was researching for my trip to Taiwan in Dec. Can I ask if you communicate to Tiffany in english or chinese in the email? Will the driver wait for you if we want to take a short trek in Taroko?

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    1. Hi! (: She can speak in English! (: Does your trek equates to walk around taking pictures to enjoy the scenery? or really like a hike sort of trek? I think it's possible for her and her other driver friends to make arrangements for you if you do have any special requirements to the standard itinerary of the National Park, cause I remember our driver telling us that he had once picked up some people at one of the landmarks who had booked him in advance after they've trekked finish a certain part of the National Park (: Hope this helps!

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    2. Oh and we were allowed our own time to walk around at certain parts, like the driver would drop us off and ask us to follow the road paths and he'll be upfront waiting for us while we snapped shots etc. And also, only Tiffany speaks English I think, most of her driver friends can only converse in Mandarin (:

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    3. That's so great to hear! I will contact her now... hope she will be available! *fingers crossed* Thanks so much for the info =)

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  7. Hi dear! I was browsing through google for some itinerary between Cing Jing and Hualien, and your itinerary seems apt :) Do you recommend your driver? Does he get down the car and guide you guys around, and the luggage remains in his vehicle? Thanks, hope to get some help from you :) Thank you!

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    1. Hi! Yup I think my driver was pretty good! Very friendly and he did help us to take lots of photos, and yup our luggage were all left in the cab (:

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  8. Hi Jocina,

    I am looking at the same itinerary, which is travelling from cing jing towards hualien. Would you mind giving me the contact for the taxi uncle?

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    1. Hey there! So sorry for my late reply :/ but here's the email of the lady who asked the uncle to drive us around: tiffany_935lk@yahoo.com.tw! She speaks english, but she wasn't available for my timeslot, so she got her friend to drive us instead (:

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  9. Hi Jocina, I'm looking at the same route from cingjing to hualien too. Heard from many people that the route is bumpy/motion sickness, was it ok for you? May I get your taxi driver contact too? Thanks! :)

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    1. Hello! (:

      Yup, I had a bit of motion sickness, but I just kept my eyes shut through the really bumpy areas and had sour plums with me to help (: There'll be quite a few pit stops along the way, so it wasn't a continuous ride for hours. The contact is tiffany_935lk@yahoo.com.tw! (: You can approach her to ask (:

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