Train travel is luxurious in Taiwan. Starting from the northwest of Taiwan in Taijung traveling southwest were coastal plains and rice patties. The typhoon caused roads to be closed so we couldn't go to Mt. Ali to view the sunrise. Instead we hopped on another train to Kaohsiung where we took a romantic walk along Love River at night (above). Also, we hit some balls at the batting cages. Baseball is the national sport of Taiwan. For weddings, women wear orange, lime green, and red wedding dresses? I liked the pink ones above.
Next we took the train south to the tip of the island passing Kenting Beach (above) and then north up the east coast to Hua Lien. The scenery was lush with green trees covering the hills and several waterfalls. Hiking in Toroko Gorge National Park outside of Hua Lin had amazing scenery.
The aboriginal Taroko tradition was at 7 years old everyone had to be tatooed on their forehead for identification. At 14 years old a young man was tatooed on his chin after his first successful headhunting. The Taroko Gorge was formed by calcerous rock heated at high pressure causing it to metamorphose into marble. The Liwu River carved it way through the gorge forming the valleys. There were rock slides everyday and an earthquake rumbled at 3am when we were there! Check out the damage below..