Taiwan Day 3 at Cimu Bridge and Yue Fei Pavilion

Note: This trip was made in December 2018.

After a complimentary morning tour to Changchun Shrine and Swallow Grotto, we were brought back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch, we arranged for a driver and car to bring us to the rest of the Taroko (太魯閣) Trails.

The driver also played the role of a guide. He first brought us to the Cimu (Motherly Devotion) Bridge, for a view of the Bridge and the Frog Rock. Cimu Bridge is built by marble obtained from Hualien. There is a pair of white marble stone lions sitting at each end of the bridge. Beneath the bridge is a huge rock that looks like a squatting frog, which is why it’s called the Frog Rock and on top of the rock is the Orchid Pavilion that is like the frog’s crown. The Orchid Pavilion is built by the late President Chiang Jing-guo, in memory of his mother.

On the east side of the bridge is the Cimu Pavilion built by late President Chiang Kai-shek, also in memory of his mother, Mdm Wang.

Cimu Pavilion built by the late President Chiang Kai-shek in memory of his mother

Along the way, the driver stopped by at the Yue Fei Pavilion, situated at 173 kilometres on the Central Cross Island Highway, between the Tzumu Bridge and the Hollu Camping Ground. The Yue Fei Pavilion is built during the construction of the Central Cross Island Highway, named after the folk hero of ancient China, Yue Fei.

There is a suspension bridge across the river that leads to roads that were used to access the forests of some of the major mountains. I walked to the middle of the bridge and turned back as there was a bunch of teenagers sitting in the middle of the bridge, taking pictures and chit chatting away.

Before heading to Qingshui Cliff, we did a pit stop at Taroko Archway, the official gate to the Central Cross-Island Highway (provincial highway no 8), the starting point of the Gorge trail.