After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we walked to the Taipei main station and caught our train to Hualien. This coastal city ~2.5 hours south and a touch east serves as our springboard to Taroko national park. If our train ride afforded us nice views of the mountains to the sea, the van ride into Taroko Gorge was absolutely stunning. Sheer drops, interesting rock formations, small waterfalls, and water so blue it looked dyed were sprinkled with temples, shrines, and pagodas on our 90 minute drive. My favorite parts were the short tunnels, or more accurately, the re-emerging into the surreal beauty of the gorge. The idyllic and peaceful landscape was comically contrasted by the barely contained frustration of our driver at having to follow first time visitors slowing to glacial speeds on single lane roads to take in the sight above them.