Gorge on beauty of Taiwan

The Taroko Gorge is rich in deposits of marble. Photo / Phoebe Falconer

Phoebe Falconer rides high to discover man-made as well as natural wonders.

Great feats of road engineering demand as much respect as the often forbidding terrain they traverse. The road through Taiwan's Taroko Gorge is no exception.

The gorge lies inland from Hualien on Taiwan's east coast. We arrive in Hualien by air from Taipei, the capital, accompanied by Beral from Taiwan Tourism. The airport is commercial and military, like all of Taiwan's airports, and is on constant alert for attack from the People's Republic of China on the mainland, 160km to the west.

Air Force jets sit in hangars built above the ground in pairs and covered in grass so they cannot be spotted from the air.

The stage for the creation of Taroko Gorge was set about 4 million years ago, when tectonic plates collided to form Taiwan's central mountain range.

The pressure of the plates forced marble deposits deep into the land surrounding what is now Taroko Gorge, and subsequent erosion by the Liwu River and an average yearly rainfall of 2500mm exposed huge marble boulders on the floor of the gorge and throughout the surrounding national park.

We board our bus and set off on the 19km drive through the gorge to the Grand Formosa Hotel. The route begins at an ornate roofed gate just outside Hualien, the entrance to the national park. The road winds gently at first, following the river.

Across the Bridge of One Hundred Dragons, named for the marble figures lining the sides, the road plunges into one of many tunnels, and reappears opposite the Changchun (Eternal Spring) Shrine, built to commemorate the hundreds of men who died while building the Central Cross-Island Highway, of which the gorge section is a part.

The highway, built against sheer cliffs, was completed in 1960. Tunnelling was necessary, and large parts of the road are covered by roofs to shield the highway from rock falls. Taiwan has 1000 earthquakes a year so rockfalls in the mountains happen almost daily.

Further along the road we stop at Yentzukou, the Swallow's Grotto. This offers impressive views up and down the gorge, although the noise and dirt of heavy machinery tunnelling yet more roadway has driven off most of the swallows.

A short walk takes us to a viewing platform where we are exhorted by our guide, Beral, to admire the profile of an American Indian chief sculpted by time in the cliff just above the river. The effect is somewhat blurred, as a flood some years ago washed away his chin and mouth, and the bushes forming a moustache have since died. We make admiring noises and move on.

The road narrows, and our minibus moves towards the edge of the road to allow huge tourist buses past. It's not a trip for the nervous, as the mountainside plunges straight down from the road.

Chiuchutung, literally Nine Turns Tunnel, is the longest on the cross-island highway, and contains more than nine turns. Sections of the tunnel are open, and its construction at the steepest part of the gorge is again a monument to the determination of those who built it. In places, the gorge is so narrow you cannot see the sky.

Our hotel for the night is located in the quaint village of Tienhsiang. It's all a bit shabby, and the small shops are full of stuff you would not buy. The hotel overlooks the gorge and is quite acceptable. Although it is classed as five-star in Taiwan, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it would probably not reach that grade elsewhere.

A massage and jacuzzi in the spa overlooking the gorge revive us after the trip, then it's time for dinner. The buffet is vast and varied. I try edamame beans, which are rather tasteless but apparently good for you, and the ubiquitous noodles and rice with vegetables.

I ignore the purple food and the great bowls of M&Ms on the pudding table. We drink endless cups of Oolong tea, grown high in the mountains, then wonder why we can't sleep. The tea is a mild stimulant. No more of that, we vow.

The restaurant managers and waitresses are dressed in an approximation of the native costume of the local tribe of Formosan Aborigines. Their facial structure is different from what we normally assume as Chinese, being flatter and with high cheekbones.

They look more Peruvian than Chinese in their white jerkins and skirts with bands of colour at the neck and hem, red and grey headbands and ankle-bands, and shirts buttoned to the neck.

The little striped shoulder bags carried by the women must be a hell of a nuisance when you're carrying a pile of plates.

The resemblance to South American Indians is fascinating, as it seems to turn the Lapita theory of migration on its head.

Most Formosan Aborigines live in eastern Taiwan, and Taroko Gorge National Park is home to the Ami and Atayal people. There are more than 150,000 Amis, and they are the only tribe to have adopted face tattooing.

Beral says one reason for the tattoos is so that in the afterlife the deceased can be recognised by their ancestors. Another reason is that, in men, it is a sign of maturity, signifying he has undergone rites of passage from childhood to manhood and is able to support a family of his own.

Tattooing was frowned on by the Japanese during their occupation of Taiwan in the first half of the 20th century and examples can now mainly be seen on the older population, although it is enjoying something of a resurgence with young men.

My room has a real four-poster bed, complete with silvery curtains. I hurl myself joyously on to it, only to nearly break every bone. The bed is as hard as marble.

In the morning after breakfast we stroll across the bridge to the pretty little temple opposite the hotel. The pagoda next to the temple is undergoing some reconstruction, and materials for the building work are carried by flying fox across the gorge.

We scramble aboard our minibus for the half-hour drive back to Hualien.

The city of about 110,000 is the centre of Taiwan's marble industry. Great boulders are trucked out of the mountains and machine-cut into manageable size for export, mainly to Japan. Pieces not up to scratch are used to pave the streets of the city, face buildings, or are carved into trinkets for tourists.

Back in Taipei we still have time for last-minute sight-seeing, including a trip to the top of Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. It is 508m high and has 101 floors above ground and five below. The lift to the viewing lounge on the 89th floor is whisper-quiet and well-buffered. The windows in the lounge slope out, which makes looking at the view easier but scarier.

I bale out early and wait for the others at ground level. And find another source of fascination - the traffic lights. As in other countries, a visible timer is on the lights to let motorists know when the lights are due to change. But they also have a timer with the pedestrian phase, when the normally sedate little green man begins to run when there are 10 seconds left. I loved it.

Taiwan has a way to go before it can foot it with better-known and more developed tourist destinations. But away from the cities, the countryside is beautiful, and the mixture of cultures and ethnic features fascinating. As the latest tourist slogan goes, Taiwan will touch your heart.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Eva Air flies from Auckland to Taipei four days a week.

Getting around: Far East Air Transport (FAT) have a regular shuttle service from Taipei to Hualien, about $50 one-way.

Accommodation: The Hotel Grand Formosa is the only five-star hotel in the Taroko Gorge National Park.

Phoebe Falconer travelled to Taiwan as a guest of Taiwan Tourism.