TWN: Taroko National Park Visitor Centre

Off Zhongbu Cross-Island Highway via Jinwen Bridge, Hualien, Taiwan

Daily: 8.30am - 5.00pm

My BFF and I were waiting for the rain to stop till both of us fell asleep in our room at Li-Wu Hotel. Thankfully, it stopped for a while, allowing us to walk comfortably to Taroko National Park Visitor Centre. It's open daily, except for the second Monday of every month and the day before Chinese New Year.

I'd certainly love to live in such a quiet little town any day.

The stone monument marks the entrance to the majestic national park.

That's the Gate of Taroko.

The water current was quite strong.

Crossing Jinwen Bridge~

It's just a bit of an uphill task, literally speaking, to reach the visitor centre.

I moved this little friend to a safer place to prevent it from getting crushed by anyone.

It's a statue of a man from the Truku tribe with a menacing look.

It started to drizzle again when we reached the building.

Do pick up some brochures and ask questions to the friendly staff if needed.

Without the rain, I'm pretty sure there'd be people posing there for pictures.

Have you been to many different parts of Taiwan before? I haven't.

There are lots of informative exhibits there.

A foodie like me would think of the contour map as a huge slab of pizza, no? xD

Such a dreamy ambience~

Eternal Spring Shrine - I'll tell you why I was disappointed in one of the upcoming posts.

I haven't seen a real muntjac before my own eyes.

Let's take a look at the lower floor. BTW, Taroko literally means 'human being' in the indigenous language of the aboriginal Truku tribe.

Li-Wu River is central to the livelihood of the Truku people.

I was hoping to see a real armadillo during my trek at the national park, but to no avail.

I love butterflies. <3

I used to collect pine cones and colour them with spray paint when I was a little boy.

There are quite a number of articles gathered from the Truku tribe being displayed.

Would you like to try living in such a traditional house?

Giant flying squirrel! :O

A 12-minute multimedia presentation show titled 'Taiwan's Spectacular Gem - Taroko National Park' is available several times daily. We managed to catch the last one for the day at 4.30pm.

It was really irritating to see two people taking photos with blinding flashes during the screening.

Instead of stopping, the drizzle just got heavier by the time the show had ended.

I didn't know beforehand that I managed to capture the falling rain droplets in this picture.

The flowers must be very happy to get freshen up by the rain.

Facial tattoo and woven fabric are two important features of the Truku tribe.

I'm sorry, but toilet bowl was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that sculpture. =X

There's a small souvenir shop for interested parties.

Did you know that the land where the visitor centre is standing was actually the battlefield where the Truku tribe fought with the Japanese army in 1914? The tribe wasn't only outnumbered, but also lost in terms of weaponry. As a result, many were injured and died in the battle, eventually surrendering after three months of bloodshed.