(upbeat music)
- [Will] Previously.
- Hope later, have good way.
- They thought I was pro.
It's starting to grow
- Mm, so crispy!
(screaming)
- [Will] So much passion!
Can I have the rest of this?
In December, we had the opportunity
to travel to Taiwan with my wife, Chantelle.
We explored the country from top to bottom.
We learned about something called Taiwanese "re qing"
and came out of it with that much more of an appreciation
for the people, the culture, the landscapes
and very full and satisfied tummies.
I don't know if we've pushed ourselves to the limit
as much as we have on this trip
but that's kind of what travel is all about.
This was one awesome trip that I'll never forget.
From Taitung we finally make it to Hualien
where we check into our hotel and then go out to explore.
Look, look, look!
The claw.
Do we have change?
Do you think we can redeem ourselves?
(claw machine noises)
- Oh no!
- [Will] Did you get it?
Oh! Ah!
How do you feel about that?
- Not good. Not good.
I can't believe it.
I don't know how I feel about that.
(a bell rings)
(truck playing music)
- At first, you think it's an ice cream truck
but how it works in Taiwan is that
these trucks play really loud music
so that locals know that the truck is coming by
so that they can bring out their garbage and recycle
and then they pick it up.
Fourth night market.
Her third night market.
And I don't know, this one feels a little different.
I mean, part of it is that a lot of shops are closed.
This is a proper, established, night market.
All the stalls are permanently here.
I can tell the stalls are definitely a lot bigger.
I don't know.
But there's something about a grungy, kinda like,
night market, where you've got to wheel in your carts,
and there's a lot of action happening.
So the problem here is that
you're walking through a night market
and there's not a lot of people,
you're kind of worried that
the food's kinda just been sitting there for a while.
(upbeat music)
- [Will] Alright, we got a juice!
We just found this really cool spot.
Near the, one of the exits or entrances to the market,
And this one is some sort of dumpling with veggies
and some pork I think, as well.
The local vegetable, it's quite crispy.
Good morning from The Azure hotel.
You got your basically, your own,
- [Chantelle] I have my noodle in here already.
- [Will] Your own noodle station.
So you can make your own noodles.
And you make your own veggies.
It's all DIY. - What's over there?
- [Will] And you're good.
Sam, right?
- Yeah, I am Sam. - Hi, Sam!
- Alright, Sam just picked us up.
He checked out our gear and I think we're looking good!
We wanted to do Taroko Gorge a little bit differently.
So we joined a My Taiwan Tour 2 day trek.
So we're at 7-Eleven and we need to
get some lunch for our hike because
there's not going to be any food along the way.
So we got some onigiri's.
And I guess we need to get some lunch for tomorrow as well.
And just snack food along the way.
Let's go!
This is the Taroko National Park Visitor Center.
Sam is going to show us a little bit about the topography
and some of the places in Taroko.
This is the pre-hike stretch.
Packing up!
Put on some lipstick which is important for hiking.
That means it's definitely gonna to be wet.
- Ready! Ha!
- Alright, we're geared up and ready to go.
So we're basically going this way.
Stopping here for the night.
Up to Datong and then back down.
Following the river, this is Shakadang Trail.
And then we walk all the way back to the Visitor's Center.
And off we start.
It's only 1.2 kilometers up, actually.
And we're joining up with a second trail.
It's no so bad so far,
but we're only literally fifteen minutes in.
Got some other locals that are climbing.
I think it's time to take off some layers.
And we got the stair-master climb coming up.
Wooh.
Yeah, basically signposts every couple hundred meters.
- The village of Dali.
The ancient name is he he se.
That means snake.
But now is winter.
Now have spiders.
- [Will] Same wasn't kidding, there are giant spiders.
See, right there, it's called the face spider.
Up and up and away we go.
1.3 kilometers doesn't seem like much
but when you're climbing up hill it's vicious.
Sweatin' like crazy.
- We finished the Dekalun Trail.
- Oh yeah, I changed my pants.
Less sweaty in there, you know what I'm saying.
Hat on.
The mud doesn't have a really good hold, for sure.
How's the trail?
- Pretty good.
- The trail has definitely gotten
more interesting, more slippery.
I think it's drizzling a bit, as well,
but luckily we're in the forest right now
so there's quite a bit of foliage to cover us.
- We got one up, one up, one up.
(video game sounds)
- [Will] Got all foggy all of a sudden.
I guess we're about halfway there.
I'm tired, crazy sweaty,
but you know what's keeping me going?
Those mochis.
- Indigenous people, they use those cars
to transfer their vegetable or some goods they will use.
- [Will] Put on our rain jackets.
Headed towards Dali village.
We made it, finally.
It looks quite abandoned here, though.
I don't know if there are many villagers left here.
(acoustic guitar music)
So unfortunately, the church is closed,
so we're literally having lunch
at the doorstep of the church in the Dali village.
It's raining cats and dogs,
but I am so thankful we have lunch
right now cause I am famished.
I'm eating the whole thing.
And you know the best part of lunch is the mochi, so good.
And we're back on the road, hiking up about 3.3 kilometers.
And then twenty minutes up to our eventual accommodations
for the night.
This area down here, which just,
you can feel it kinda starting to go.
It's just like old.
- [Chantelle] You're getting old.
- So we just did our 3.3 kilometers.
We're at kind of an intersection of roads here.
We can continue along this way to Datong
or back this to Dali, but we're actually heading
up to our little village over here.
We made it!
We were wet and exhausted,
but so glad to be home for the night.
Alright, we're losing light pretty quick,
but I wanted to give you a quick tour of what it's like
to stay with the Taroko tribe member's house.
And so we're actually staying in a gentleman's house
called the Dadao's house and this is his place
and he's been receiving guests here for a long time,
hikers like us, and on the outside
it doesn't really look like much.
The views are gorgeous, obviously you have the mountainside,
the clouds opened up, the rain dissipated,
and it was quite the scene.
But we're actually standing just outside the house right now
and you wouldn't expect to have tables like this here.
Over here we've got the dining tables,
where we're going to be having dinner.
Our host for today is actually the Dadao's son's wife's mom.
So we're calling her "Ah Ma" here for today,
and she's basically gonna be cooking us dinner.
And she helped us prepare a few different things.
We've got hot water, we've just got water as well,
clean water, and rice.
Let me take you inside so you can see what it's like.
So on the outside it looks like kinda metal walls,
it doesn't really look like a whole lot.
It looks a little run down, but once you come inside,
you realize they've done a really good job
of putting this place together, right?
And really great place for hikers like us to stay here.
You've got these sliding doors here, really Japanese style.
It's been raining all day, so we're usually just
hanging things on the wall here.
We're not staying here tonight,
but this is one of the largest dorms
that they have here available.
So inside is this long room
and it is that tatami type of accommodation.
I think you can accommodate probably
a good 10 to 15 people here, you'd be fine.
You can see a bit of a wall of fame here,
with all the different folks who have come
to this house over the past many years.
Let me take you around the corner here.
This side of the house, this is actually the room
that we're going to be staying in tonight.
It's a smaller room, it's just the three of us here today,
so I think it's gonna be the perfect place.
So inside the room, there are blankets,
they have carpet down below, pillows.
And lastly, the backside of the house,
this is were Ah Ma is really cooking up a storm here,
they have utensils, we've got a gas powered stove here
where she's cooking salmon.
There's like vegetables that she's making for us,
so this is the full kitchen right here.
This is where all the action's happening.
Over here on this corner is where the shower is.
To our surprise, there is actually a shower here,
which is crazy.
We didn't think we'd actually be able to shower here.
It's really spartan, but it has everything that you need.
You've got running cold water,
there's hot water that comes out of there.
The pressure isn't really good,
so you kind of have to mix it together and use the pail
to put it over you to wash yourself up.
But it's everything that you need,
and the toilet's over there, as well.
And lastly, if you can look through the window there,
we've got a working campfire out there.
And after a much needed shower, it was finally dinner time.
- Time for dinner! Chicken.
- [Will] Meatballs!
- (speaking Mandarin)
(fire crackling)
- [Will] It is really, really wet.
We're just trying to dry our stuff right now,
around the campfire.
Makin' tea.
(a bell rings)
- [Multiple Speakers] (speaking in foreign language)
(a bell rings)
- Thank you.
- [Will] Thank you.
- Thank you.
(speaking in Mandarin)
- Good morning.
- [Will] Good morning.
- (speaking in Mandarin)
- [Sam] Good morning.
- [Multiple Speakers] (speaking in foreign language)
- [Will] We're all set up tatami style.
- Yeah, it's pretty cold.
- Goodnight, guys.
Good morning!
(tranquil music)
Like the previous night, we had a big, big breakfast.
Putting on some traditional... got the head-wear on!
We're headed up to, I guess, the mountain peak,
so that we can check out the Pacific Ocean
on the other side of the mountain.
We're going up with Ah Ma, as well.
No walking stick, nothing.
- Almost can't keep up with Ah Ma.
- [Will] Ah Ma is collecting all the ferns.
- [Chantelle] This is off the beaten alright.
- [Will] There's the coastline down there.
It's just peaking through.
Literally a path that they've been caretakers of
for generations, up here to the top.
- So after two tumbles.
- [Will] It was muddy. It was muddy.
Pretty muddy, but luckily mostly just the jacket.
It'll come off, like right now
it's literally coming right off.
Packing things up here at camp,
and then we're gonna head back down.
- (speaking Mandarin and Truku)
- Sad to say good bye to Ah Ma
and her hospitality was definitely something else.
Until we hit the road again,
but we didn't know it at the time,
things were gonna get a lot harder.
Just passing through Datong Village.
There's a B&B over there, as well.
Which looks pretty nice.
But we're on our way now to Shakadang Trail.
Think we got a pretty steep downhill
that we've gotta pass through,
all this down hill is beating on the knees for sure.
Look at the patterns on that.
They call it a snake tree.
Oh my god, after all that, we've only done one-ish km,
there's still one km to go.
The words Shakadon never sounded so good
because we were so glad to make it down to the bottom.
One, for the flat trails, but, two,
for the enormous beauty that was down there,
including the turquoise waters, the marble boulders,
and the trails carved out of the canyon.
Sam says we have to have the sausage.
Mm. Sam was right.
Just when you thought it was over, there was more.
Oh my god, we're back in the van,
it feels good to be sitting down, in a chair.
My legs are really sore.
So, Sam, tell us, how do you feel?
You feeling pretty good, right?
- Yeah, I guess, still walk,
and then remember this route is not suitable for
those who have no experience of hiking.
- Like us.
Okay, so we're at the Taroko train station,
we weren't able to make it to the Hualien station
because we're not gonna make it.
It's a four thirty train ride, it's four ten,
it's still a bit of a ride back.
What Sam has suggested us to do, is basically,
let's come to the station first,
let's see what kind of trains we can switch to.
- (speaking in Mandarin)
Things actually got a little bit complicated.
They weren't able to switch tickets for us
and the one they gave us was way too late,
so we ended up buying our own tickets
to get to Taipei a little early.
Guess we're having dinner on the train again.
Oh man, crazy.
We've made it back, we did the full loop around.
We literally made it a few steps off the train
and we found a food court in the station, so why not.
Our hotel for the night is WESTGATE,
and they're in a really super popular area
called Ximending, which we're walking through right now,
which is kinda cool, so super convenient.
So we're in a new place.
This is Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle
and it's literally in the middle of Ximending
and it's happening.
- [Chantelle] It's happening.
- It is really happening.
It's almost like noodles that are like shiitake mushrooms.
Just a lot of shiitake mushrooms.
But they're just thin rice noodles.
Pretty salty, hinted with like a soy sauce type of base.
Something chewy, I don't know what this is.
(record scratching)
Look at the consistency of that.
This would be a lot easier to eat with chopsticks.
We're finally home in Taipei.
(soft piano music)
So we're trying to find...
Next time on 12 days in Taiwan.
(techno music)
It's gonna take a lot of patience.
- [Chantelle] You're first one!
- I gots it.
She's crying.