We’re back from our motorcycle trip around the island of Taiwan and now I know beyond a doubt why Taiwan will touch your heart.   Our travels took us over high mountains and deep rivers.  We slept in valleys of clouds, surrounded by blue mountains on every side.  We traveled through deep gorges with towering cliffs and up to impossibly high mountain peaks.  We saw the heavens meet earth on Hehuan mountain, the aching beauty of Toroko Gorge and the superb and eye-dazzling eastern coastline from ChingShui Cliffs to Keelung. 

John and I on the Eastern coastline of Taiwan near ChingShui Cliffs.

We saw so much in the five days that we were gone and covered so many different kinds of terrain and landscape it would be impossible to document it here in one post.  I’ll be documenting our travels in a series of posts over the next few days so be sure to check back for more! 

There was no time for anything other than living in the experience.  I wasn’t prepared for being on a motorcycle every day for hours at a time.  No wonder our Taiwanese friends thought we were crazy!  By day’s end, I could barely get off the bike and had a hard time staying awake long enough to eat.  Every body part burned and yet oddly enough, I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike and see more. 

My only two complaints about the whole trip are two self-indulgences that wouldn’t necessarily make the trip better for others. 

Neither one of us slept well, despite the long tiring days.  Taiwanese hostels and hotels are simply not equipped with comfortable bedding!  We’ve stayed in several high-end hotels and hostels in Taiwan and to date, we have yet to find a perfectly comfortable bed.  We’re still looking though and I admit, we came awfully close to finding the perfect accomodations in Cing Jing. 

I also was pleasantly shocked to learn that it was next to impossible to blog on the road.  We were in completely remote areas for days at a time that didn’t allow us access to a computer!  The only time we found a computer was at the Grand Formosa in the heart of Toroko Gorge.  Before I make myself sound too spoiled, I have to admit, it was kind of nice being cut off from the real world for awhile.  This is the first time I’ve encountered this and honestly, it wasn’t really a problem.  I was happy to see there are still some places in this ultra-modern world of ours that still reflect the values of a simple and uncomplicated lifestyle.