Songshan local airport at 6am
2/21/08 - Taiwan
Songshan local airport at 6am
We flew down from Taipei to Hualien on the East Coast of Taiwan
My Carambola Juice box - it was kind of vile
After days of rain and clouds, we had to go South to find the sun.
The park wasn't yet open so they took us to a marble factory
OSHA might have freaked a bit, because when they said factory, they meant factory
Marble being sliced with diamond saw
All my pictures of plants didn't come out. But the corn, that I got
The entry gate into Taroko gorge
The river into the Gorge
And the Liwu river flows to the sea in the East
Eternal Spring Shrine - in honor of the workers who died building the Central Cross-Island Highway
Writting on the marble wall
Me, my tour sticker, and the shrine
Temple on the ridge above the Eternal Spring temple
Karen over the spring
The valley below the above
The valley is made of solid marble. The river cut through over millenium. As the cliffs rise, the river keeps cutting down. The gorge deepens several millimeters every year
The hand carved path to the shrine
The almost bridge and the actual bridge
The names of those who carved the road
A forever ceiling in the shrine
The carved tunnel through the rock
The straight fall of water
The road next to the swallows nests
Ricktey old sway of a bridge, dip down gorge
The swallows nest in the caves carved out by water flowing through cracks in the stone
Crystal and the gorge (and camera)
Water seeping through the stone
The water slips through a crack, which becomes a cave
The marble that makes up the mountains is so hard that the water wears in a straight U shape.
And the walls narrow. Not really widening.
Jade waterfall with fizz
Palm tree over mountain
I'm told that the rock looks like an American Indian Chief. I'm not sure I see it.
Karen looks at the big rock
The big rock
There were signs everywhere telling us to stick to the cliffs (and move fast) to avoid rocks
Caution!
Seep from the rocks
Lily over my head
Waterfall
Narrow cliffs lean over to touch
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I loved the signs for in Taiwan
Fish leaping
across the dragons gate
Clear spring water as jade
Actual sunlight on white marble
Butterfly shadow
Ghost of a butterfly
Mountain in the sunlight
Dragon and the phoenix
The maternal bridge. Every day, the mother of one of the workers would bring him lunch. He went missing, but she still brought his lunch every day.
Shrine by the bridge
While we stood on the shrine on the other side. It was warm. Warm!
Bouganvilla
Lion by the bridge
Kissing butterflies
Maternal gate by the moss
White marble river
Chysanth and Rose/blueberry tea
Shadow butterfly daisy
Turn
Sky shadow
Shrine in the valley
The lodge where we ate lunch
White flowers at the shrine
Gates
Lotus pool
Sunshine
Moth like a leaf
Mother mercy says shhhhh
Tower over the valley
Tables of marble. Everything's marble. Well, the mountains are made of it.
Marble on the bridge
Random marble statue
Fishermen in the Pacific
The sun rises over this Pacific as it sets over our Western shore
Rocky shore
Karen with rock
The water is so warm, like chocolate froth
The train on back to Taipei
And here's the sign telling us to go past go.
Here are paddies and lights and me. A ghost in the window. Or something.
The MRT of the infinite.