It was incredibly hard to leave the hot springs hotel. If I could do it again, I would visit Taroko Gorge, spend mutiple nights in Chiao Hsi hot springs, and perhaps pick and choose a few waterfalls and caves. This day ended up being the most relaxed, however, especially because by now our guide had gleaned our disappointment in previous days' itineraries.

So instead of visiting the National Folk Art museum and yet another city park where we could give pedal boats another try, we visited the much more famous Wufengchi waterfall. The very lovely falls comes down in three levels, but due to a recent rockfall, the top level was closed. Many people came here to meditate or do tai chi chuan. In typical Chinese fashion, the area surrounding the falls emphasized safety and convenience over nature, with paved walkways and stairs with sturdy handrails. Chinese people—or at least Chinese people these days—prefer user-friendly sightseeing.

Walkway to Wufengchi waterfall

Lunch was at a hotel called Shangri-la, in its "fusion" restaurant. Quite tasty, as all our non-buffet meals had been (excepting the bizarre sunfish banquet). We had a delicious shrimp salad, meatballs coated in tofu, salmon, bamboo soup, and fruit and custard for dessert. Everything was beautifully presented Western-style with individual servings.

The area where we had lunch was where the majority of rice in Taiwan is produced. I would have much preferred learning more about this region rather than the former sugar factory! The scenery was interesting; we'd see grand houses on tree-lined plots of land like islands floating in the center of rice paddies. It turned out sometimes farmers would sell the houses but continue farming the paddies while living elsewhere. Some stayed on the paddies in smaller houses, which were government-regulated to have slanted roofs so the residents could not add additional stories and rent out the space.

On the way back to Taipei we drove through a controversial tunnel dug through the mountains. The tunnel had originally begun construction under KMT rule but was never finished. When the Democratic Party took power, one of the campaign promises was to finally finish the tunnel. But with an overly-optimistic deadline, the tunnel was rushed to open on time, and subsequently closed for further work.

The lovely drive took us through Pinglin, a major tea-manufacturing area of Taiwan that I had also wanted to visit. Both tea and rice are important products for Taiwan, far more important than sugar is these days, and one of my very favorite teas—an oolong called "high mountain tea"—comes from Taiwan. While history does interest me, modern living does as well. I would have far preferred meeting tea masters, tasting food made from tea, watching rice being harvested and learning about rice varieties to some of the other "cultural" stops we had instead. Even from the road, Pinglin was quite a sight, with terraced green tea fields surrounded by modern buildings and the busy highway.

Back in Taipei I reflected again on the problem of taking tours. It's a dilemma because it really is difficult to find fluent English speakers outside the tourism or business industries...and our tour guide certainly didn't speak English either. So how do Western tourists who want to see all the beautiful sights listed in their Lonely Planet guidebooks get by, when the average joe on the street, the average server in a restaurant, the average bus driver looks blankly at anyone not speaking Chinese? I'm convinced it can't be that much more difficult than mainland China, but with my own parents' aversion to independent travel, I probably never had a chance to truly find out. I would love to come back and give the scenic sides of Taiwan another try someday on my own. The little I saw of it was enchanting and very inspiring for future trips.

But even without any adventures in backpacking, Taiwan will always offer amazing food.

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