新年快樂! Day 2 of Chinese New Year

I really am going to catch up. This is from way back in February...that's how behind I am. This blog will be more detailed cuz I started it a while ago. But as for the remainder of catching up, it will have to be more brief. Otherwise, there's no way I can recap the last few months. So here we go...back to Chinese New Year, February 2010. :)

On the second day of Chinese New Year,
we returned to Taroko for more adventure.

My friend Susan's guide book describes the national treasure perfectly:
"Taroko Gorge is simply a spectacular place, a wonderland of natural beauty that would leave even the most jaded visitor impressed. Its deep marble canyons, rushing white water, and towering cliffs put it in league with the world's best scenic attractions".
- National Geographic Traveler Taiwan, page 134

How true that is.

Amy, Megan, Brandon, and I started off on the Shakadang Trail,
recommended by a new friend we had met at church the day before.
The plan was to explore this beautiful trail and be back at the visitor's
center by 1 pm to meet up with our friends Whitney and Susan.
Little did we know the adventure that awaited us.

Amy, me, Megan, and Brandon

After a while, we came to a map of the trails (they didn't have a good
map that you could carry with you...go figure). Based on what the lady at the
visitor's center had told us, we had the impression that the trail looped all the
way around and would bring us back to where we had started. And as we were
checking out the map and deciding which way to go, a group of Taiwanese
people at a nearby "restaurant" motioned to keep going. And so we kept going...

and going...

and going...

and going... This is what happens when you don't speak
the language. The markers we saw were going down, and based on that
indication, it appeared we were nearing our destination.
But we had been going up and up and up...

As the trail markers neared 0 km, we heard a dog barking ferociously. After
finally getting past the little guy, we noticed a new marker that
said 3.7 km to our destination! "What?!" It was 1 pm, and we were
nowhere near the visitor's center, where our friends were waiting.

We were considering going back the way we'd come, instead of
continuing to venture off into the unknown. But we talked to this woman
in the little Chinese we could muster, and she indicated that we should
continue in the same direction. And so we decided to trust her.

We saw these beautiful sights in an abandoned aboriginal settlement.

An abandoned Protestant church. (The aborigines
from this region participated in ancestor worship, but
after 1945, many converted to Christianity.)

We could have just hopped on this old thing
and ridden straight down the mountain. :)

How much longer? It was a tad bit worrisome, but...all in all,
it really was a fun adventure that we'll never forget.

We breathed a sigh of relief as our destination came into view.

1000's of stairs...the home stretch!

We left the park and went back to Hualien, but the day's adventures weren't over...

That night, we went to see this awesome (not to mention free)
aboriginal dance performance put on by some university students.

And we danced along with them. :)

This really sweet guy we had met at church the day before
had told us he wanted to show us around. He called us up and
invited us to come and do fireworks with him and some friends.

We entertained ourselves by taking jumping pics
while waiting for our new friends to meet us.

We all hung out by this bridge in the city and set off a bunch of fireworks.
It was so much fun to be a part of the local Hualien experience, hanging out
with a group of kids our age, doing what they would do for fun.

They were the coolest people ever. See, this is what the world can learn
from the Taiwanese. They really go out of their way to help you and
serve you. We met this guy at church, and he was like, "Hey, I'm a local.
I can help you out if you want to know some good restaurants." And then
he invited us to hang out with them, went out of their way to pick us up
and drop us off at home afterward. After the fireworks, they took us to
a night market, and even bought us juice... Talk about sweet.
I have never seen such selfless, giving people in my life as I have in Taiwan.