An Exciting Trip with the ‘Rents

It’s been a long time since my last post, but that’s because I’ve been extremely busy these last two weeks.  On April 30 the ‘Rents flew in from Singapore, and we spent six sweet days driving around the beautiful mountains of Taiwan.

Our trip topped 1,000 kilometers through some incredibly rugged, mountainous terrain.  We went from the sea to a peak elevation of nearly 10,000 feet, and enjoyed the narrow, windy mountain roads along the way.

From Fengyuan, Nok and I made the drive up to the international airport just outside of Taipei.  We picked up Mom and Dad at the airport, then headed to a small city called Sansia which was just an hour south.  After a night in Sansia and a morning spent seeing a big temple and “the Old Street,” we headed east and then south, down a windy mountain road to a place called Wuling Farm.

At Wuling, we spent two nights in a beautiful campground with a spectacular view (and even a few monkeys), before heading to over the mountains again to Taroko Gorge National Park.  After a day in Taroko, we headed up the scenic East Coast of Taiwan along some superb cliff-side roads, before spending the night in Suao and enjoying its rather strange “cold springs.”

The next day it was back to the airport, but first we made a quick stop in Taipei to head to the top of the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101.  Sadly, the ‘rents left soon after, but it was an excellent trip that we won’t soon forget.

This crude map shows the approximate route we took.  I will write in detail later about each of the stops along the way, but since my camera batteries died I’ll need to wait for pictures from Mom and Dad before I can get to everything.

Even with six days and 1,000 kilometers, you can see we only touched a fraction of the island.  Guess we’ll have to plan another trip soon.  And sadly, no, we didn’t almost die.

Taian Scenic Area

Yesterday afternoon Nok and I took the chance to head to a place called Taian that we’d heard a bit about. Taian is home to the Taian Hot Spring Scenic Area, which supposedly has some of the best natural hotsprings in Taiwan. It is also home to some beautiful mountains and has a dozen decent hiking trails in the area.

On the train, Taian is just two stops away, maybe 15 minutes. I incorrectly assumed that it would be just a quick drive, but we ended up driving about 65 kilometers each way, spending more than three hours total in the car. Taiwanese traffic is terrible!

Another thing we discovered during the drive is that Scroggins is not a good car dog. For the first hour, he was riding in the front seat with Nok. After a while, Nok asked me if I smelled something nasty. I replied that no, I couldn’t smell anything. It was a second later that I heard Nok exclaim, “Oh no! He pooped!”

Sure enough, Scroggins had managed to poop on the floor of our car. Luckily, even though he was sitting on the seat with Nok, none of it got on her or the seat.

So we stopped by the road and cleaned up his business, then off we went again. Well, it wasn’t more than 15 minutes later that we heard a disgusting hacking sound coming from the backseat. Seems old Scroggins had gotten a little carsick and vomited all over the backseat. I had the pleasure of cleaning up after him this time, with nothing but a plastic garbage bag and a little bit of water.

But when we finally arrived, Scroggins was great. The place itself was a minor disappointment in that it was a bit of a tourist trap and no springs were available to the public. A bunch of resorts have moved in and started charging like $10 a head just to enjoy the privilege of a natural hot spring. So we didn’t get to go to any hot springs, but we did follow a trail up a large river in search of a waterfall. And even though the trailhead was pretty crowded and parts of the trail had some people, once we got upstream a bit we were all alone in paradise.

It was a beautiful place, and I’m looking forward to getting to some of the more remote parts of Taiwan this week when the ‘rents come.

On the road to Taian. This road was called “Country Road No. 62.” It was windy and often very narrow, following the river as it climbed up into the mountains.

After we parked the car and walked a couple of kilometers up the river, we were completely alone and surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Another shot from further up the river. I was extremely tempted to go for a swim, but the icy cold water got the best of me.

We came across this little waterfall a bit further upstream. We had headed up the trail in search of a waterfall, but I don’t think this is the one we were meant to find. Anyway, it was nice and a bit bigger than it may appear in the photo.

We climbed about halfway up the waterfall to get a better look. Scroggins proved to be a pretty good rock scrambler.

From halfway up the waterfall. I’m pretty bad about estimating heights, but this quite tall.

Nok wades through the icy, crystal clear water.

Scroggins sat and watched as we walked through the river. At first he was afraid of the water, but he soon learned to cope. We had to cross the river to get back, and I didn’t feel like carrying him, so soon enough he was swimming.

On the way back, Nok and I headed down a different trail. We soon came across this knotted rope leading down a 20 foot cliff. Nok waited at the top while I went down to have a look around. This really was straight down.

These impressive cliffs were the view I was greeted with when I got to the bottom of the rope..

From the bottom of the rope I also found that I was very near to this footbridge.

And back up the rope…

I stopped to take this shot of the sunset from halfway up the rope.

We stopped for a quick break on this excellent suspension bridge before we headed back to the car. From here, it was still another kilometer or so to the parking lot.

The Beast-Mobile

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally, finally have a car.  Oh man, that’s sweet just to type.  After a last minute scare regarding a mandatory inspection for cars older than 10 years, I finally went up to Maoli City late Thursday night to pick up my old (very old!) new car.  At 250,000 kilometers, some might say this ‘92 Ford Telstar is way past its prime.  I disagree.  This is one beater that still has some glory days to come.

Anyway, I’m still working seven days a week so we haven’t had much time to venture very far yet.  But we did head into the hills a bit on Saturday afternoon and it was great.  I haven’t had this much freedom in ages.  Even with a motorbike in Bangkok, I never felt safe enough to really venture too far from home.  But with a car, I can go anywhere.  Here are the highlights from our Saturday afternoon drive.

I had envisioned this picture since long before I bought the beast.  This was taken on a quiet country road in the hills just beyond Fengyuan City.

And another one for good measure.  As you can see, the beast is not so bad for 900 bucks.  You can see the head of a little old man zipping by on a scooter in the background.

Scroggins wanders ahead on one of the many little trails we found around the road.  This one, like so many others, wound through an orange orchard.  We eventually had to turn back when we came across a pack of angry, wild dogs.

We came across this little temple further down the road.

This little trail was just across from the temple.  While seemingly well-groomed and even lined with little benches such as this one, it soon fizzled out into impassable jungle.

Jasmine flowers like these lined the trails and roads.

An old, long-forgotten tomb sits in the middle of a bamboo forest.

Scroggins running down another trail we found.  In the city, he’s the most timid dog you’ll ever see.  But once he gets into the hills, he’s a fearless ball of energy.

Taking a break at a little rest area.

Later in the afternoon, Nok and I drove aimlessly further into the hills, and eventually found this temple about 20km from home.  Another pack of dogs came roaring out to greet us, and the leader can be seen here.

The other dogs that tried to scare us away from the temple.  They acted fierce, but ran away as soon as we walked towards them.

On the drive home, we came across this massive Taiwanese cemetery.  It was really eerie to see all these ancient, miniature mausoleums crammed so closely together.  And the cemetery was enormous.  This picture covers just a fraction of it, but I didn’t feel comfortable taking any more.

This big temple was just next to the cemetery.

To end on a lighter note, here’s a shot of our new kitten sprawling out comfortably on my pillow.  I have decided to call her “Hagatha Christie,” aka “Haggy” aka “Hags Mcgee,” in honor of the original Hagatha Christie.  You know who you are.

Cakes and Kittens

Well, I mentioned before that Nok and I were suckers for animals. Nok seems to be more so than me, but I’m not far behind. Last night when I came home from work, I was shocked to see a tiny little kitten come strolling out of the bathroom. I shouted in surprise. Seems Nok found the little thing next to the dumpsters behind our building. There was a kid playing with the cat at the time who told Nok that the kitten needed a home. Nok snatched it up and took it home.

Now, actually the kitten is very clean and a bit fat, which makes me think she had a home before. Looks like the previous owners let her get a little bigger and stronger then sent her out in the world alone. At first, I emphatically said we had to put the cat back on the street. But, I’m a sucker too, and it wasn’t long before I was thinking about keeping her.

The biggest issue is that we would need to find a home for her in a year when we leave Taiwan. I’ve contacted the people who gave us Scroggins, and if they say they can help out, then we will most likely keep the kitten.

On another note, I was able to get store credit for that crappy bicycle that attacked me a few weeks ago. Rather than buying another crappy bicycle, Nok and I bought a little oven. So we’ve been baking away the last week. Last night I made my first chocolate cake in about four years! Oh man, it was sweet. Mmmm… Chocolate cake….

The kitten is absolutely fearless, and quickly made himself at home on the desk.

The tasty chocolate cake. If the frosting looks a bit sickly, that’s because it’s impossible to find vanilla or cocoa here in Taiwan.

That’s some tasty cake.

Around Fengyuan with Scroggins

The countdown has begun until I have a car at last.  From this moment, there are just 9 days and approximately four hours left to the time when I will become the proud of owner of a beastly 1992 Ford Telstar.  The car itself is incredibly cheap.  However, the extra expenses just keep piling on… taxes, insurance, parking and on and on…

Combine this with my recent misfortune on the bicycle and you will see why for the last couple of weeks Nok and I have barely ventured outside of our apartment.  I’ve gone into ultra stingy lazy mode, awaiting the day when I will finally have wheels of my own.

So last Friday, a national holiday (Tomb-Sweeping Day), instead of heading out to the hills like we usually do, Nok and I spent the day walking around Fengyuan with our new dog Scroggins.  Fengyuan is actually a nice little city.  There are a few main roads which are packed with people, shops and cars.  But as soon as you duck into one of the quiet back streets, you find an entirely different world.  The little alleys and lanes of the quiet neighborhoods of Fengyuan never disappoint in giving unexpected surprises, and are always rather enjoyable to walk through.

Nok and I find new parks, temples and canals almost every time we venture out.

Scroggins looks out over one of the many small rivers that criss-cross Fengyuan City.

A small bridge crosses the river downstream from where Scroggins was standing.

Little shrines like this are found all throughout Taiwan’s alleys and along every stream and river.

Nok and Scroggins stand next to an incense stand across from the little shrine.

Further on, we came across this weird little statue of two naked dwarfs throwing their naked child into the air.

This little park followed along one of the many rivers.

A shot of the river next to the park.  A quiet neighborhood can be seen on the other side.

Another shot up the river.

Scroggins smiles for a picture.

Scroggins

Nok and I are suckers for animals.  After the unfortunate passing of Jeebo last month, we swore we wouldn’t get another animal until we were in a position to settle down in one place indefinitely.  Our plans haven’t really changed in that we won’t be in Taiwan for more than two years and will probably continue moving from country to country for the foreseeable future.

Yet here we are today with a new dog named Scroggins.  We got in touch with a group of foreigners here who run a handful of dog and cat shelters in Taichung county.  They had tons of dogs looking for homes, and after visiting one of the shelters we chose an 18 month old mutt previously named Maui.  He was found living on the city streets as a puppy, and he would have stayed there if he hadn’t been picked up by the government animal catchers.  Since the government shelters eventually put to sleep the animals they find, these people rescued Scroggins from the pound and took him to live on their spacious, no-kill shelter at the top of a lovely mountain on the edge of Taichung City.

Nok and I went out to that shelter last week, and it’s a pretty interesting place.  The road gets incredibly steep, narrow and windy towards the top, so much so that our taxi refused to continue and we had to walk another kilometers pretty much straight up.  Scroggins was delivered to our home the next day, and so far he seems to be adjusting well.

Scroggins in our apartment just after he arrived.  He is one of the shyest dogs I’ve ever seen.

 

Nok hugs Scroggins on the floor of our apartment.

Scroggins on the roof of our building.  I tried to get him to sit for a picture, but he’s so clingy he just kept following me when I backed up to take a picture.  This was the best shot I could get.

Today we took Scroggins for a walk at the school behind our apartment.  The tall building behind the palm trees on the left is our building.  I don’t know about the quality of teaching inside the school, but facilities of the schools I’ve seen here are far superior to any schools I attended as a kid.  This is an elementary school, yet it has a massive athletics field complete with a nice, new, rubber-topped track.

A shot from Go-go mountain, where Scroggins’ shelter was.  This was taken from where the taxi dropped us off, on top of a massive abandoned Buddhist monastery.  The monastery was condemned after the massive 921 quake.

Another shot from on top of the old monastery.

For those curious in the how things are going regarding my recent bicycle mishap, for the most part it’s good news.  My wound seems to be healing well, though most people I’ve spoken to agree that the doctor who stitched me up did a terrible job.  It’s incredibly sloppy, and even though the wound covers almost one whole side of my ankle, he used only three stitches spaced very far apart.

I was also concerned because my foot and lower ankle have gotten pretty swollen over the last few days.  I’ve seen five different doctors since the accident, and only today was I able to get a reasonable explanation for the swelling.  Apparently, in addition to the nasty gash I also have pretty serious ankle sprain, which explains why I’ve had so much trouble walking around.

On the legal side, I’ve been referred to an American ex-pat who’s lived here for about thirty years and specializes in representing other foreigners in Taiwan. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Painful Irony of Riding a Bicycle in Taiwan

Well, I said I was going to write more about my riding a bicycle to work, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. When I first moved to Taiwan, in spite of riding a motorbike for a year in the insane traffic of Bangkok, I decided that it was too dangerous to ride a scooter here. So instead I bought a bicycle which I planned to use for my daily 5k commute, until I could afford to buy a car.

Last night I was riding home from work as usual. As I was coming up a small hill, I stood up and shifted all of my weight onto one pedal to gain momentum. As I did so, I heard a loud CRACK! as the pedal snapped off the bicycle. I nearly fell off the bike, but instead I slammed my leg into the metal spike where the pedal used to be. I don’t know if the pedal shattered or simply fell off. I was in too much pain to think about that, and didn’t bother looking for the pedal on the ground.

Still, as painful as it was, I could see that the spike hadn’t torn my jeans so I thought the wound wasn’t serious. I rode on, with no pedal, for another kilometer or so. It wasn’t until I had to stop at a railroad crossing that I noticed a pool of dark liquid staining my jeans. At first, I thought it was oil from the pedal, but after I touched it and held my hand to the light I was startled to see that it was red, not black.

I’ve been known to be a wuss about such things. I still didn’t look at the wound. I was probably about 600 meters from home now, so I returned home before I finally took a look at my leg. What I saw was a nasty, gaping wound that was clearly in need of stitches. So off Nok and I went to the emergency room where they cleaned my wound, stitched me up, gave me two shots and five bags of pills.

I returned to the hospital this morning to have the dressing changed and to get a fresh batch of medicine. But it’s not over yet. The doctors are afraid of an infection, so I need to return to the hospital again on Saturday and again on Tuesday, and then yet again in two weeks to have the stitches removed. And even though I have National Health Insurance here, I’m still stuck with a good portion of the bill. Pretty crazy, eh? I bought a bicycle because scooters were too dangerous, and look what happened.

Anyway, for those with a strong stomach you can see a picture of my freshly stitched wound here. The shot was taken today, the morning after the accident.

My freshly cleaned and dressed wound.

The offending bicycle, now with only one pedal.

The nasty spike that bore into my leg. I’m looking into the possibility of taking legal action against the store where I bought it, so far it doesn’t look promising. At the very least, I’d like to have my medical expenses paid. I’ll write more as I know it.

Hillside Temple — Second Attempt

It seems I’ve become the thing I’ve always dreaded: a lazy blogger. Sure, I have the same excuses everyone else has. I’m so busy! I have no time! Well, that’s kind of true but it’s also true that I’ve just been feeling pretty lazy.

Actually, I’m working a lot at the moment. In addition to my full time job and four hour Sunday class, I’ve also taken on an early afternoon class twice a week along with a late evening class every Wednesday, on what used to be my only free evening. So I really am busy, and when you add into the mix the fact that I now ride a bicycle to work and back everyday (5 kilometers each way), I’m usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day. More about that later, actually, because it’s a pretty beautiful ride to work.

The good news that comes from all of this is that I should be able to meet my goal of purchasing a car next month. In fact, I went and looked at a car on Thursday which I had fully intended to buy after my next payday on April 1. But I hit a snag when I learned that in Taiwan car taxes are due on the day the registration/insurance is changed to my name, which will tack an additional $400 onto the price. So, the car purchase will have to wait until mid-April, but after that I should be able to cut down on hours and actually have some time to explore and hike.

So in the meantime, here’s a post about our second attempt to reach the mysterious hillside temple. The difficulty we’ve had locating the place brought back childhood memories of the strange, hidden town in Exodus Ultima that could only be reached during a short window of the waning moon.

This was about two weeks ago. We started out by tracing our footsteps up the tiny trail off the small hillside road. Since we’d been so close to the temple on our last attempt, we were certain we’d be able to find it this time by trying some of the other trails in the abandoned orchard.

The view from the top of the first hill. It’s nice to know that even though Fengyuan is a fairly good sized city (similar to Portland, Maine), it basically ends where the hills begin.

When I saw this fallen tree, I just couldn’t hold back against my monkey instincts to shimmy on up.

Once in the orchard, we took what appeared to be an old trail heading into the jungle in the general direction of the temple. Even walking on this “path” was tough going, as the jungle is incredibly dense and had taken over the trail in many places.

Our little trail turned out to be an ancient rock wall, which soon abruptly ended in the middle of the jungle. This was us returning to the old orchard.

We didn’t manage to find the hillside temple this time, but on the walk back from the hills to our apartment, we came across this massive temple and monument. The picture just doesn’t give an idea how huge these really were. The fact that the moon can be seen in between makes for especially surreal picture.

The front of the massive temple in Fengyuan City, lined with countless Chinese lanterns. You can see one tiny person to the left, which gives at least some idea how giant this temple really was.

Inside the smoky temple. The giant brown shrine was for burning incense.

Taiwanese temples are elaborately decorated and are usually filled with fruit, flowers and Chinese lanterns.

More from inside the temple. The smoky air from so much incense made for a rather blurry picture.

Nok poses in traditional Thai fashion inside the temple doorway.

On the way out of the temple.

From the enormous parking lot, it looked merely ordinary.

Still on the walk home, Nok and I discovered this nice little park in the middle of Fengyuan City. It seems like every time we go for a walk we find a new park.

Also in the park as the light was beginning to fade. This monument with a typical, quiet Taiwanese neighborhood in the background made for a rather nice atmosphere. We didn’t make it to the hillside temple this time, but the day had not been wasted. But that temple can rest assured: We will be back.

 

The Hillside Temple — First Attempt

On the top of my apartment building is a nice little rooftop garden with picnic tables, trees and grass, and even a karaoke room. It’s a pleasant place to go on a quiet afternoon and read a book in the sun. It also gives a nice view of Fengyuan City and the hills and mountains on the edge of town. One of the most tantalizing things about that view has been a giant temple nestled towards the top of the first set of hills. Since the first time I set foot in the rooftop garden, I have been determined to find my way up to that hillside temple.

Our first week in Fengyuan, Nok and I tried to walk to it, but were met only with impassable jungle. However, after discovering the network of trails at Chungcheng Park, we were confident we would be able to find a way to the temple after all. So a few weeks ago (I’m pretty late on posting this), we set out on our first real attempt.

The view from the rooftop garden. I took this picture today, and unfortunately there was a haze in the air that prevented a clear shot of the temple or the much larger mountains beyond. The hills begin just a few kilometers from our apartment.

After arriving at Chungcheng Park, we headed up this small road that appeared to be heading in the direction of the temple. We paused to take pictures and eat squid next to this weird little shrine.

A shot of the shrine from further up the road. The forest around the shrine was thick and tangled with vines.

We headed off onto a tiny “trail” as soon as we spotted one. This section was incredibly steep as we climbed straight up to the top of the hill.

Our puny trail soon fizzled out, but we were lucky to find this incredibly overgrown path nearby.

Also on the overgrown path, I instruct Nok on how to take my picture. She didn’t listen. This path reminded me of the many old, overgrown logging roads strewn throughout the Maine countryside.

We soon came into a clearing, where we were greeted with this lovely view of Fengyuan City. From the hilltop, I could see our apartment building, but I can’t make it out in this photo.

This quiet little valley was the view from the other side of the clearing.

See that little temple peeking out through the trees? We were near, and I thought we’d reach it shortly. Sadly, this was about as close as we were able to get to it on this trip.

Like so many other promising trails in Taiwan, this one soon fizzled out and we found ourselves wandering through this old abandoned orchard, with Fengyuan visible in the distance.

We wandered through the old orchard for over an hour, just searching for a way out.  Seemingly solid paths like this one would instantly turn to overgrown jungle at almost every bend.

We came across the lovely purple trees after rounding a rather promising corner, but were soon confronted with yet another dead end.  Fengyuan is in the background.

So near yet so far.  Lost in that maze of an orchard below, the temple seemed to be taunting us.  This was taken as we finally discovered the way out by following those power lines.  The temple had managed to elude us on that day, but Nok and I would be back.

921 Earthquake Memorial

Lying on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Taiwan is subject to some of the world’s nastiest catastrophes. Earthquakes and typhoons are a regular occurrence here, and the danger of of another disaster is always at hand. A quick search on Wiki reveals that Taiwan has experienced 44 major earthquakes since 1906, an average of once every 2.3 years.

The most recent major earthquake in Taiwan was in 2006, which in spite of having a whopping 7.1 magnitude claimed only two lives. Other quakes have not been so generous, with the most infamous being the 921 quake from 1999, which struck in the the middle of the night and claimed more than 2,400 lives and seriously injured another 11,000. Of course knowing all this is not very comforting, especially knowing that the epicenter of that quake was very nearby and Nok and I live on the top of a 14 story apartment building.

On Saturday Nok and I returned to Dakeng Scenic Area in the hopes that we could find some new trails and not get rained out. We got of the bus at a different spot this time and walked into a nicely groom park nestled into the hills which we presumed would be the entrance to one of the hiking trails. As we walked towards the back of the park, searching for a path into the mountains, we came across an old abandoned school which was cordoned off by a fence with occasional picture displays with written Chinese.

We guessed that the school was important for some reason, but couldn’t yet figure out why. As we walked along the building, we began to notice that the walls were finely cracked from floor to ceiling in many places, and the building was actually leaning to the left. Then we came across a monster of a gap torn into on of the buildings pillars, nearly separating the building into two pieces from the ground to the roof. Across from this gaping wound, we were shocked to see an old concrete path on the ground with a jagged 6 inch gap carved out of the middle, and we instantly realized what this place was.

Turns out, the school had been abandoned after that infamous 921 quake, and the area surrounding it had now been turned into a somber memorial.

The giant crack. Notice the smaller cracks nearby and the slant of the building towards the left. It’s pretty amazing the building didn’t collapse altogether.

Coming from such a geologically tame place as Maine, seeing this giant crack in the ground was like something out of a movie. It wasn’t hard to see how this quake had completely destroyed more than 44,000 homes and seriously damaged another 41,000.

We returned to the weird little obstacle-course park in Dakeng, and Nok had a go up this wall. It was a lot higher than it looks here.

Hiking in Taiwan has so far proved to be a rather frustrating endeavor. The hills and mountains are full of promising-looking trails that take you just under the ridge line and just fizzle out into impassable jungle. This was me venturing to the top of the ridge in the hopes I could find a walkable trail, but all I found was thick jungle full of tangly vines and dense brush.

From this viewing platform, the very edge of Taichung city can be barely made out straight ahead in the distance.

A view away from the city. Through the clouds, you can barely catch a glimpse of the much larger mountains beyond.

Chinese lanterns like this are a common sight throughout Taiwan.

Nok and I from another viewing platform in Dakeng.

Afterwards, we headed into Taichung City and spent some time in Taichung Park. It was actually a rather nice park, and quite large. A political rally for this month’s presidential election was just beginning inside the park, but sadly my camera batteries died before I reached it.

I have no idea why, but this giant goat statue was in the park just behind the Taichung City Library. The library here is brilliant, by the way, but that’s for another post.