chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/loca … hinese.htm
Whats up with the Chinese tourists these days? 2 injured by falling rocks in Taroko. Course that place is one big falling rock zone. And I guess since Chinese tourists mainly are going to be found in Taroko, SM lake, Alishan , Taipei 101 , SYS memorial, National Palace Museum, any incidents there could likely include them.
I don’t know, but I’m amused by the way the article veers off into an irrelevant tangent at the end.
I was just there. But because I love Taiwan I was spared the wrath of the rock gods. 
Seriously, sad for the poor tourists but this is probably just highlighting how many accidents happen in Taiwan all the time. It’s just that when it happens to A-fu from Puli, it doesn’t make the news.
I was told recently that one local tour operator asks his customers to wear helmets when they drive through the gorge (in a bus!).
Pap for any mainland reader I suppose. In fact this is probably how it’s being played out in China. They’ll make a mini-series out of it with the first ten months devoted to demonizing the Japanese.
What? :loco: So when a boulder crushes the roof of the bus the helmet does what, exactly? That makes about a much sense as my mum’s “clean underpants theory”.
What? :loco: So when a boulder crushes the roof of the bus the helmet does what, exactly? That makes about a much sense as my mum’s “clean underpants theory”.[/quote]
It’s not always boulders. A good orange size rock is more common and yes a helmet would protect against this.
Ok. Maybe I need to get my mum to lead me through the underpants theory again aswell (only a little more slowly this time).
Ehem, in related news, I am reading one Mainland tourist fell/was dropped/jumped? from a 12th story in Natou…
News in Chinese: http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/090501/1/1iqwl.html
That’s what happens when you cut and paste from a language you barely understand.
Yeah, Chris doesn’t know any Chinese at all. What a shill.
I don’t know. He claims to be a translator but every time we’re out and I ask him to identify a characters he never knows! He NEVER knows!
That’s what happens when you cut and paste from a language you barely understand.[/quote]
Urodacus he means the writer of the article barely understands English. Not Chris barely understands Chinese. And what’s a shill anyway?
A four year old kid was injured today in Taroko, when a rock hit him on the head. He was taken to Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien for evaluation, due to possible fractures. He was sightseeing with his parents. Father was identified as from US. They rushed him to the local hospital as fast as they could, met the ambulance halfway. What an awful situation for a little kid. Courage to the parents.
Yes, I just heard about that. Poor little guy.
Is it true that people now have to wear hard hats when they go through the Tunnel of 9 Turns? It seems the Chinese tourists complained that it was too dangerous and too many falling rocks. Now that is shocking: Chinese complaining about safety. But I guess they have a point. Last time I was there it really struck me (no pun) just how unstable that area is.
Shortly after one of the typhoons in 2007 I went on a road trip to Tarako with some friends, which was a bit risky but also interesting because you had waterfalls covering the tunnel entrances of the Suao-Hualien highway and “rainfall” inside the tunnels.
After we stayed a night in Hualien we drove into Taroko the next morning, it drizzeled initially but then cleared during the mid day. Had lunch at that expensive hotel and drove further in.
Since it was getting late we decided to turn around and stopped to look at the landslide that had occured the day or so before, noticing the cars and then people removing rocks that must have fallen down after we passed the area earlier. The people are those white little dots in the middle, a bit to the right.
Just when I was about to get back in the car I heard this rumbling and more rocks came down, sending the people running for their lives. Yet they went back and by the time we reached the area the street had been cleared so that cars could go through. Our driver was advised to step on it and not stop until we had passed. To give you and idea of the scale of the landslide:
So beware, it’s a beautiful place but it can be treacherous.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Yes, I just heard about that. Poor little guy.
Is it true that people now have to wear hard hats when they go through the Tunnel of 9 Turns? It seems the Chinese tourists complained that it was too dangerous and too many falling rocks. Now that is shocking: Chinese complaining about safety. But I guess they have a point. Last time I was there it really struck me (no pun) just how unstable that area is.[/quote]
Yep, I was there two weeks ago and they were handing out hardhats to everyone at the start of the walk. Somewhat flimsy hardhats, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.
Still lots of busloads full of Chinese tourists though…
Just read on the Taroko National Park homepage that you can rent (or borrow?) helmets at the information center
in Taroko Village. 
Wonder how many people will be hurt or die before they close a top tourist attraction… tourist money comes before life.
Yes, and while we’re on the subject of safety, when are they going to close the ocean???
So many people drown in it every year. It’s time that they fence the whole thing off. It will save lives!
Death by landslide is a risk anyone must be willing to take if they want to visit some of the wilder, rougher natural wonders of the world.
Of course, it’s a calculated risk, and hopefully any tourist will understand that it’s far more dangerous to visit places such as Taroko after heavy rain or a typhoon. To me, that’s obvious, but perhaps it isn’t to some so maybe they should put up a sign at the entrances to the park.
People die in the Grand Canyon now & then. No one seems to be demanding it be closed.