第十落天: Day 16 Part II

We took a 45-min trail around the mountains, where much of the marble and unique gems can be found and extracted. As we walked, I could see these huge rocks with smooth surfaces by the river. It was like pebbles you found on the beach but the size of houses.

It's hard to tell from these pictures but the rocks were humungous!

Many people died working on the roads in the mountains. Rocks fall without warning and there were signs all over the trail saying "Beware of falling rocks" and "Do not linger". The country then built a memorial with all the names of the fallen workers, which is in the picture below:

A suspension bridge in the distance. You need to check out a permit to cross and when you do, you stay overnight on the other side since there's a lot to explore.

Lots of swallows make their homes in the holes embedded in the rocks.

There were many Mainland China tourists. There were also many people wearing hard hats but seeing the size of the rocks nearby, I'm rather skeptical that they would help.

These mountains were unique in how parallel and steep they are to each other. There are parts of the ravine where sunlight only enters at a certain time. 

This was the son of Chiang Kai-shek who was responsible for all the road-building in Taiwan. The statue is in honor of him.

A short rest stop

Ayi, Katherine and me

We stopped by a visitor center to watch a short film on Hualien Mountains

Very close brothers

Once again, HUGE ROCKS!

After the trail, we headed back to the hotel. I wish I took more pictures because it was so beautiful there. We were located in the mountains and it felt so peaceful.

This was the rooftop. 

There were tennis courts, the gym, swimming pools, jacuzzis and a "pillow area".

The view from the gym

Outside

After taking a nap and dinner, we headed back to the rooftop to listen to a performance of aboriginal music

The pool was beautiful to look at during the night. It overlooked the mountains and the stream below.

I definitely fell in love with aboriginal music. It's very soothing and melodic, and the musicians had very good voices.

Music by firelight.