I don't like going backwards. When I was in Egypt, returning to Cairo for a single night to catch a flight was enough to give me recurring nightmares about accidentally finding myself back in that crazy city, and I've had even worse dreams about realising I'm back in the UK.
But this week, faced with the choice of heading back up north on the efficient high-speed railways of Taiwan's industrialised, little-explored west coast or trundling my way back through the familiar mountains of the east, I gave myself permission to retrace my steps.
I've got four more weeks to kill after all, and one day at Taroko Gorge really wasn't enough.
Cars for perspective
Shakadang Trail
(砂卡砀步道)
Again, the landscape miraculously conforms to my needs.
If only the ceiling wasn't a couple of inches short, I'd suspect intelligent design
How much more blue could it be?
The answer is none: none more blue
'Oh, hello there - you just caught me hiking.'
(Yeah, like this is CCTV footage or something)
Good advice. I expect
Eternal Spring Shrine Trail (Backwards)
(長春祠)
Pseudo-perilous bridge to/from Changuang Temple.
If only there was an amazing photo of me risking my life on the stable walkway
This'll have to do.
Bell Tower
Told you. Goddamn sceptics
Wee temple
Eternal Spring Shrine gushes forth
Cave statues.
I wish I lived in a cave. Bloody statues have all the fun
Someone evidently thought giant fighting bugs were an appropriate touch at this memorial site for fallen veterans.
They were correct
