Grand Formosa Taroko 天祥晶華度假酒店, Tien-Xiang 天祥, Taiwan

Ma-Lu-Su? ("How are you?" in the language of the Atayal, a local aboriginal mountain tribe)

Nested in the mountains and only reachable by an half hour drive in the sinuous and narrow roads through the tall mountains is the Grand Formosa Taroko hotel 天祥晶華度假酒店.

Years ago, the Japaneses during the occupation were the first to turn the region from a dangerous mountain path hanging dangerously on the cliff of the mountains to a tourists destination.

Now, tour buses of mostly Taiwaneses and mainlanders with a few westerners and Japaneses sprinkled throughout negotiate a not much larger road, stopping to admire the beautiful sights of the high, jungle covered mountains and bare cliffs that drop to the rivers.

Some, like us, stop at the amazingly affordable five stars hotel Grand Formosa Taroko with all the modern facilities in the middle of it all. Two restaurants (one western style buffet and one chinese style), indoor and outdoor (roof) swimming pools, spa facilities and a gamut of entertainment choices (ping pong, billiards, video games, bowling). The dinner buffet looks delicious although expensive even by the standards in North America.

You can get a room with a view on the courtyard or overlooking the river and cliff outside. We switched to the second choice so we could run naked in the room with the windows opened.

At night, huge insects (including an enormous wasp that made it in the room) are attracted to the light and land on our window. A bat profits of this by flying again and again next to our window to eat them.

The rooms are decorated tastefully with some inspirations from the mountain tribes while the friendly employees wear uniforms with slight additions that reminds us of traditional aboriginal tribes.

Amazing, if not slightly nauseating, that this mountainous and remote area went from tribes getting necessities from nature to hydroelectric dams to the comforts found in any large city of the world in the span of less than 75 years with the help of a few generations of murdered natives or exploited labor.

All of this so that I can make a call sitting on the toilet by using the convenient phone handset there or watch HBO while lounging on the bed...

Thank you doesn't seem enough.

The only thing left to do then is to complain about how hard the bed is, how the hotel corridors are smelly and how few towels there are.

S-Wa-Yai Da Da! (goodbye in Atayal)