Rafting the Xiuguluan river, views of mountains and ocean

This weekend I was happy to join the party of young people for the Hualien county, on the Pacific side of Taiwan, to go rafting the Xiuguluan river. Well, you can write it, as usual, also as Siaokuluan, Hsiukuluan...webpage
http://202.39.225.132/jsp/Eng/html/travel_tour/
journey_content.jsp?journey_id=220
says something more about the river and the area. On the way there from Taipei we went through the mountains-Northeast Coastal Highway-steep and curwy road, something as driving through Velebit in old days, but higher and longer. When you arrive to the Ocean, near the city of Suao, views are really magnificent! Road is carved into the marble rock up to 1000 m above the Ocean. Connect this to the manic pace of driving in Taiwan, and buses and trucks which on some curves hardly can pass each other...quite a ride!
But let me go slowly. Thanks to Meiyunn, a brotherly (sisterly!) soul I found in Taipei, I had an opportunity to join the party. I met with her in vicinity of her working place, which is near the most prominent place in Taipei:

No, Meiyunn is not working in New York...although the statue could suggest it. It is near "101" [name comes from the number of the elevations], instantly the tallest building in the world. It IS high, I can tell you. Some 560m or so, two heights of the Warsaw Daewoo, or more or less 2 to 3 times higher than this what you usually see as 'tall' in Europe. Impressive, really. It was not easy to catch at least this part of the building in the pic. The statue below just confirms my feeling this is 51st state of the USA and the building near the statue, accross "101" is "New York New York" store house.
Jack "Seven", one of the organizers, posted on his blog full photo record of the rafting trip, see http://spaces.msn.com/members/optiontaiwan4/ and pics posted 6/27/2005. Here only few of his pics, as my camera is not waterproof, and I knew there will be some swimming... Preparations were serious:

Start was like this:

Water was sometimes quite white, but not really BIG, this is only for tourists, anyway:

As I said, on Jack's page above is more pics, here I just post the final view:

The next day we were slowly returning towards Taipei, following coastal road, stopping to eat in virtually every place where possible :-). First for the sightseeing was a Lyu (=Carp) lake, come there when retired but not before, kind of Trakoscan in Croatia. Here are some of my companions in the trip, Jack "Seven" was an engine for the party, and also for the pics-here in the middle:

In the next pic, in a black shirt is MonLisa, who coordinated the organisation with Jack, and explained everything so wonderfully in our bus...in merry Chinese ;-), I like very much her Chinese, brilliantly clear-cut, almost that I'd understand everything even without Meiyunn's translation!

Big thanks to them, together with Meiyunn-here left to me! She provided, as a professional, lots of info about local food and customs. She also learned something about Taiwan from my example of Lonely Planet during the trip, ;-).

Travelling further northeast, some more stops, chances for pics. In the Hualien harbour, near the army base, with Mirages cutting the sky and ears, remembering me to some "nice" sounds from 1991 and 1992...

But coast was a bit different than on Pag:

Magnificent view...unfortunately no swimming as waves sweep everything towards the deep water. And Taiwan is not near the continent shelf, so that water is at once DEEP. For those who do not know Pacific, please note how high is the steep part of the coast in the second pic.

Anyway, if I'd be alone, I'd for sure go to swim! Water was quite pleasant. Stones on the coast were so hot that I could not walk barefoot for more than few meters. I like Pacific, it is more pleasant Ocean that Atlantic, for my taste. Resembles biiiiig Adriatic, because of the more pleasant color, in a difference to Atlantic which more resembled Balaton lake. But, then, I never saw Carribean seas, ask me after I see them :-).
In one temple along the way, this big guy was guarding the "money" (fake money used to be burnt in the ceremony which is to relate that "ghost money" to the deceased relatives). Usually big guys are "having" the money...sigh.

In front of the entrance...somebody said something about the red lanterns?

Food was one of contents of the trip, certainly! Taiwanese LOVE to eat! And it is justified: food is really good, it is true what is written in Lonely Planet: heaven for those who like SEasian kitchen(s). (Za 'rvate: skampi tu kostaju ko girice!)

In the city of Suao, small beach:

In the right side of the pic visible are the anti-desant blocks-Taiwan is always ready...
In front of Suao there is a small vulcanic "Turtle island", it was in the edge of the possibilities of my zoom, so sorry for the "Lego" effect on the boat in the front plan of the pic...

The small port of Suao:

Jack was insisting I should sing kala-ok (karaoke) with him, so we joined to ruin the Sinatra's "My way". We managed, hehehe, enjoy the pic, not the frequent one! And be happy I did not add the audio file :-}

Heading east, I was taking some pics from the bus:

It IS jungle!

Curves are sharp:

Walley and mountains...waste, rather empty area. I would like to hike these mountains.

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