Reading Time: 5 minutes
⛰️ Key Details:
📍 Location: Taroko Gorge – 972, Taiwan, Hualien County, Xiulin Township
🏨 My Hostel in Hualien: Dumbo Hostel Hualien (formally On My Way Hualien Hostel)
🚗 Getting There: Catching the express train from Taipei is around 2.5 hours, train schedule can be found here.
🎟️ Entry Fees: No entrance fee! But some trails require bookings in advance, and you might want to consider a guided tour.
🔎 Tips for Your Visit: This area is prone to earthquakes and I even experienced a small one when I visited. Please check the news before visiting to see if it is safe to visit.
Thumb Out, Hope Low: Hitchhiking in Taiwan
The sun was setting, and I was still standing on the side of the road like a bozo with my thumb in the air. Car after car flew past me, occasionally slowing down with a few making eye contact, then driving off. Each time, I felt more and more stupid standing there. I could feel my panic starting to rise. No signal. No buses. No backup plan. Just me, my backpack, and a half-squashed Nutella sandwich.
Hitchhiking had always sounded like something I would only read of. Risky, unpredictable, and too “free-spirited” for me. But in a weird sort of way that nomadic travel style fuelled by nothing but trust in strangers, was a kind of story I’d always wanted to experience. My trip to Hualien was a spontaneous two-night escape from the busy streets of Taipei. I thoroughly enjoyed the capital, but I felt worn out. The crowds, the noise, the endless stimulation. I wanted mountains and hiking, something I knew Taiwan was famous for. Other travellers at my hostel had talked about Taroko Gorge, praising it for its untouched hiking trails, marble cliffs, and streams so clear you could potentially drink straight from them. I was sold.
I caught the Taroko Express 402 train from Taipei to Hualien. After staying the night at Dumbo Hostel Hualien (previously On My Way Hualien Hostel) I took the morning local bus into the gorge. When I got to the gorge the first thing I noticed was how big everything was. The scale of the gorge was honestly pretty breathtaking. Waterfalls spilled over cliffs, beautiful red temples were tucked into caves, and every trail seemed so mysterious and cool. I spent hours hiking alone through the gorge, hopping between trails and losing sense of time. On two of the trails, I kept crossing paths with another foreigner I’d noticed on the bus into Taroko. Each time, we exchanged a silent nod, acknowledging each other without ever speaking. He looked a little older, but something about him felt familiar. Probably another solo traveller chasing the same kind of adventure.
Later that afternoon, I decided to push on and explore a couple more trails, this time further from the main road that winds through the gorge.
That’s where things started to go wrong. The public buses in the gorge are very inconsistent and were scheduled to come every hour. However, I’d missed the return bus from my area. I was too deep in the mountains and the only buses returning to Hualien were stopping closer towards the main visitor centre. So I was stranded in the middle of the gorge with no obvious way out. With a mix of optimism and delusion, I convinced myself that this was the perfect opportunity to try hitchhiking. So I paced the side of the road, throwing the odd thumb out half-heartedly at speeding cars. Nothing. The park was getting quieter by the minute, and the sky was slowly draining of light.
There’s a kind of panic that you can only experience when solo travelling. I was alone, stuck, and didn’t know what to do. The worst part was that this was all due to my lack of planning and it was all on me to find a solution. Sitting on the side of the road, defeated and thinking about what I should do next, I decided I couldn’t just sit here and give up. I continued walking, first through car tunnels on the main road, then eventually finding a pathway with a sign pointing towards a small park office. I continued walking and I figured if I couldn’t find a lift, maybe someone there could help.
The ranger on duty didn’t speak much English, but she understood enough and was cheery and friendly. Using my broken Chinese and a mix of English words I explained in desperation how I was trying to get back to one of the main bus stops further down the gorge. She nodded, and told me that there was a final bus I could catch if I could make it back to the gorge in 30 minutes. In a hurry, she waved me towards one of the busier sections of the park and started stopping people individually, eventually she flagged down an older couple, maybe in their mid to late 50s and they stopped to hear about my situation.
They reminded me of my parents, and were visiting Taiwan from Singapore. They told me that they had a private driver and that they were happy to drop me off wherever I needed to go. We spoke briefly in the car and they told me that I reminded them of their son, it was a short drive and I thanked them for helping me. They dropped me off right on time and I waved goodbye at the bus stop. I don’t think they’ll ever know how much that small act of kindness meant to me.
That evening, standing on a packed bus back to Hualien, I couldn’t stop smiling. I’d gotten myself into a mess—but I’d also gotten myself out of it through the help of strangers. I had trusted that someone would help, and thankfully someone did. As the bus was pulling out of Taroko, it made one last stop, picking up the same solo traveller I’d been crossing paths with all day. He stepped on board, saw me, and we both laughed at the coincidence. This time, we finally spoke. We swapped stories: my failed hitchhiking attempt, his past adventures through South East-Asia. We talked the whole way, swapping stories like old friends. Somewhere between his tales of getting bit by a rabid dog in Vietnam and my awkward attempt at hitchhiking, the stress of the day started to fade. The bus was crowded, loud, and sweaty, but for the first time that day, I felt completely at ease. Like everything had unfolded exactly the way it was meant to.
Thank you for reading! I know this was a bit of a different type of post and was less informative, but if you have any specific questions don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. I’ll try my best to answer any questions about the specifics of Taroko 🤠