DAY 7: "Swiss Alps" in Taiwan
After breakfast visitedQing Jing Farm - 成立于1961年2月20日，面积约360公顷，是“行政院退除役官兵辅导委员会”为了安置早年投效疆场的退除役官兵在此从事农垦开发而设置的。
- Had English tea (late lunch) at The Old England Manor (老英格兰庄园)
- Took walk along some walking paths in Qing Jing area and admired many charming European-style guest houses scattered amongst tea plantations and steep slopes.
- Dinner at a local clay roasted chicken place 阿东瓮仔鸡. Chicken was great and view was supposedly great as well, but we couldn't see anything at night.
Our drive started from Qingjing up toward the central mountain range, reaching Wuling(武嶺) to view some of the highest peaks in Taiwan.
“Wuling(3,275 m), you’ve cleared forest cover and are amongst waving grasslands; just above, not
more than a few hundred feet, is a world of bare rock. Mt. Hehuan’s east peak is right on top of you, the road running over its neck and down its back toward Taroko. Laid out to the right of the east peak is what seems like a scale model of ridges and peaks running far toward the island’s south, a who’s who of topographical stars lined up – Qilai Ridge, Nenggaoshan, Yushan in miniature far at the end. All are now at eye-level, and you feel you can reach out and touch them all. "
Continuing on the treacherous mountain road, passing through Dayuling(大禹嶺), it's another 57km of twists and turns to Tianxiang(天祥) at gorge’s head, down mountainside, into the spectacular Taroko Gorge (太鲁阁大峡谷). We took many stops to enjoy the impressive scenery.
- 绿水步道：only walked a section of the trail
- 慈母桥: 立雾溪与荖西溪的交会处，故又称此地为「合流」。利用花莲的特产大理石材所建成在桥的东侧另有先总统蒋公为纪念慈母王太夫人而建的『慈母亭』。慈母桥以其巨狮坐镇之传统中国风设计，成为中横公路众多桥梁中相当引人注目者。其名称由来是据说曾有位少年在此被洪水冲走后，其母却仍每日在此望儿早归，深受感动之后人于是将此桥命名为『慈母桥』。
- 布洛湾游憩区位于中横燕子口附近的布洛湾台地上，东距太鲁阁9公里，西到天祥约10公里。太鲁阁国家公园管理处费时3年规划、辟建，希望将此地发展为国家公园中横沿线的游憩心脏区。以竹林搭建、设计优美的泰雅族式竹屋，位在布洛湾上台地，其它辟为圆顶舞场、饮食部、艺品部、文物展示馆，主要目的在重现传统泰雅族山胞持有的生活方式，表现原住民文化的特质，竹屋附近围绕着桂竹林、桃、梅、山樱、枫香，景致清丽。
- 以山地文物的保存与展示为主题，并提供游客步道探幽的游憩方式。
DAY 9: Another day of spectacular scenery
In the morning we went back to the Taroko Gorge area to see some sights that were too crowded yesterday:
- 錐麓斷崖 “燕子口是指中横公路距靳珩公园约500公尺的大理尺峡谷峭壁上，无数小岩洞的奇景。这些景观的形成，乃因峭壁上的岩质为变质石灰岩，流水顺着石灰岩岩层侵蚀，终成许多小洞穴，久而久之，山谷间的燕群在其间筑巢而居，形成”百燕鸣谷”的奇景，也因此而有燕子口之名。如今燕群已被车声、人迹惊走，只留下一个个空空的巢穴，但此地峻峭的奇岩、冰凉的山风，每令游客留下深刻的印象”
- 长春祠景色清丽，充满古意，前方的一道飞瀑分流入溪，山水景色绝佳。祠后方有一道 380阶的石梯，俗称「天梯」，沿石阶往上走到尽头便可抵达观音洞，内有观音石佛及横贯公路的施工全图。继续前行经过吊桥即可到达禅光寺，沿途有许多平地罕见的石灰岩生植物，如青刚栎、太鲁阁栎、台湾榉等，极为特别。 以唐式风格的建筑依地势嵌入山壁间，专门为死难的退伍军人和工程技术人员修建。
- Then we went to 七星潭風景區 which wasn't much at all. Maybe it wasn't the right season, but the view was no comparison to the gorge. We made a quick stop as strong wind was picking up.
- Next was 清水断崖指清水山临太平洋之处的断崖，位于花莲县北部。断崖形状如鞘，绝壁万丈，脚下白浪滔天，形式甚为险峻。连接宜兰县与花莲县的苏花公路，全长118公里，这条公路以沿断层海岸修筑而闻名。沿着这条公路旅游，一路上除悬崖峭壁、山岩耸立外，还有惊涛裂岸，碧海万顷的壮丽景色同时收入眼底。途中经过"清水大断崖"，更是举世罕见的海岸断崖奇观，列为"台湾八景"之一。
- Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped by a city park 美仑山公园 for a stroll, and then Hualien downtown for dinner.
Highway between Hualian and Taipei was closed due to damaged done during the recent heavy rain, so we dropped our rental car at Hualian and took train toward Jiao Xi (礁溪) which is known for it's natural hot spring.
Arrived Jiaoxi for some lunch first, then soaked feet in one of the many public soaking pools. Jiao Xi downtown was very small, other than soaking in the hot spring, there wasn't much else to do.
DAY 11: Quaint Historical Gold Mining Town
Continuing our train trip toward Taipei by first stop at Ruifang (瑞芳) then taxi to the guesthouse which is a ~15minutes ride on the narrow mountain roads.
It was around noon when we finally settled into the guesthouse, and the roads around Jiufen were jam packed with tourists, cars, buses, etc. We had snacks along the old street as we were walking toward bus stop. We visited Jin Gua Shi area (金瓜石)，Golden waterfall (黄金瀑布)， Ying-yang ocean, then bus back to the old streets.
The streets were less crowded by the time we returned to town, we had a nice stroll then dinner at a tea house.
DAY 12: Finally Taipei!
Hired a car from the guesthouse and started trip back to Taipei city. Unfortunately it was raining, so we had to skip Yang Ming mountain and Ye Liu Park:
十分瀑布
平溪天灯
金山鸭子午饭
朱铭美术馆
世林官邸
宁夏夜市
DAY 13:
After a nice and inexpensive breakfast at a local eatery, we only had time to visit and watched Changing of Guards ceremony at Zhong Zheng Memorial Hall. After a quick beef noodle lunch, we headed to the airport.