This post will be about my time in southern Taiwan in Hualien as that was the most enjoyable and unique part of my trip. My time in Taiwan was limited and if your time is also limited I highly recommend to spend minimal time in Taipei and get the high speed train down south to Hualien where all the natural beauty is. The high speed train took approximately 2 and a half hours and was an enjoyable ride. I wasted many days in Taipei that would have been far better spent in Hualien so I could explore more of Taroko Gorge and further down south in Kenting National Park.HualienQingshui CliffI split a car fare between 3 other people I met through hostels to come to this place. The view is incredible and photos will never do it justice. It is huge and on a good day the water is an incredible color. It has plenty of lookouts along the road for you to stop at.Taroko GorgeI rented a car that cost me 1500 TWD which converts to $68 AUD or $48 USD. This was for 24 hours and I highly recommend doing it if you have an international drivers license. There is public transport to Taroko Gorge however the buses cannot get to all the trails as the roads are quite narrow. Also renting a car it was a 1 hour drive from my hostel (near Hualien station) vs 3 hours via public transport.The drive was quite easy mostly highway and incredible views before I even got to the gorge of huge mountains. Nothing would come close to the actual drive through the gorge itself however. Driving on the right side of the road as you enter the gorge you are forced to drive right next to the cliff edge however it is safe as there is guard rails. There are multiple places to stop and admire the view you just have to be careful of other cars as the road is quite narrow.Shakadang TrailShakadang trail was incredible. If you are scared of heights this trail is the one to do however you need to cross a suspension bridge at the start. This suspension bridge isn’t as bad as the one in Baiyang waterfall trail as high trees cover a lot of the view of the height. There is also a decent amount of stairs however it is a scenic walk through lush green trees. Further along the trail you start to get a nice view of the gorge and river running through it from above as it slowly takes you downwards closer to the river. I highly recommend following it close to almost the end until you get to a massive rock shown in this picture Shakadang Trail Lagoon This lagoon is one of the best ones I have ever seen and was incredible to swim in. All the locals were swimming in it and it seems to be a very treasured spot amongst them. You will need to jump the fence and climb down some rocks however it is not steep and relatively safe to do.Baiyang waterfall trailThis is a friendly trail towards people scared of heights as the path is quite wide in most places. Baiyang waterfall trail was incredible. You go through multiple tunnels with the bats hanging from the ceiling and awesome views of the gorge. You have the option of crossing a Suspension bridge that crosses to a lookout where the path stops. The lookout is incredible and even if you are scared of heights (I am terrified of heights and required a lot of coaxing to cross it) I highly recommend doing it. Do you really want to go all the way to this bridge and not cross? How I crossed it was focusing on the other side and not looking down at all. If I can do it almost anyone else can (A 3m drop scares me and makes me feel like im going to fall over). I would estimate the bridge to be 40m – 50m above the gorge.Once you are back on the path and continuing the trail you will get to an amazing tunnel which has Waterfalls inside of it. Raincoats are provided outside however myself and my friend decided to go in without raincoats to cool off. This waterfall tunnel was one of the coolest experiences of my life and definitely only second to Shakadang trail lagoon.Final SummaryI think Taiwan is an incredibly underrated place to visit and I have never seen such natural beauty before. It made me sad how empty the hostels were in Hualien and how many of the people visiting seemed to only be Chinese or Taiwanese. There was maybe 1/10 people that were not Asian and I feel like this is because Taiwan has terrible marketing for its natural wonders. The country is a great country and the people are the friendliest I have ever encountered so far in a country. They will go out of their way to help you even when they don’t speak a word of English and are very kind via /r/solotravel https://ift.tt/2JVIb1Y