A guest house, run by a friend of mine, next to Taroko Gorge has unexpectedly rooms available these days. It’s fairly cheap and convenient.
Located in Xincheng (Sincheng/Taroko) Village at the start of the gorge. The owner Rihang Su 0922938743 is very helpful, including renting out bicycles - let him drive you up to Tienxiang, you freewheel back down - stopping at all the sights.
The only problem is getting there over the holiday. If you somehow get a train ticket, get off at Xincheng station (just north of Hualien). Rihang can pick you up in his van.
No worries. You have eliminated another place for me to check out next time in Taroko…and anyway it’s the last few minutes of the Year of the Tiger, should we not have something better to do right now?
When my husband took his mother there, the staff (owners?) were rude and the place was filthy; we have photos; we’ll never stay there again!
If it’s not that place, it may be very nice![/quote]
When researching my guidebook I dropped into that place, and it took less than 10 minutes to decide I’d be wasting my time investigating any further. Yep, steer clear.