Wuling – Day Three

After two months of steady studying, I finally have a break. The next term starts in two weeks, and it was wonderful to spend my first weekend in ages without feeling completely overwhelmed by all the homework I had to do. Can’t say I did much this weekend, though Nok and I did finally head down to the Natural Science Museum of Taichung City. Our goal was to see the I-Max and 3-D Theaters, but it turned out there were no English shows available. Still, the museum was huge and the exhibits were well-made. I may post about that later, but for now I’ll take the opportunity to fill in some more of my now three month old trip with the ‘rents.

The third day and night were also spent at Wuling Farm, high up in the mountains of central Taiwan. It was an astoundingly beautiful place, and one I hope I have a chance to see again to explore in more detail. We spent the third day walking up to a waterfall that I’d read about in the dreaded Lonely Planet. There were a lot of people on the “trail” (if it could be called that — it was wide and concrete for most of the way), but it was still an enjoyable walk. The surrounding mountains were beautiful, and aside from the strange old woman practicing Tai-Chi or some other weird dance at the base, the falls were excellent.

We did see a snake on the walk up. After we’d stopped to take a photo, we happened to look at the ground just behind where we were standing, and were surprised to see a rather large, brownish snake scurrying into a crack in the ground. There are lots of poisonous snakes in Taiwan, and this snake looked at least similar to one of them, so we should consider ourselves lucky that we only had a brief sighting.

Heading up the trail.

Mom, Dad and Scroggins take a break on the side of the trail. Later, we ate lunch at this same spot.

Mom and I stop for a picture at a beautiful lookout. It was here that we saw the snake.

Because it's just so beautiful. Nok, Scroggins and I from the same snake-infested place.

The same excellent view, but this time without the ugly people spoiling the shot.

Approaching the waterfall, we also saw this smaller one across the valley.

A small gazebo just before the waterfall. Mom, Dad and Nok are seen ahead.

Nearing the waterfall. It was actually pretty tall, this picture does it little justice. The strange old dancing woman can be seen on the far right.

A closeup of the waterfall, with Nok on the left.

Heading down the trail.

At the start of the trail was an excellent suspension bridge, where we stopped on the way back for this sweet photo.

After the hike, we walked around the little park in the middle of Wuling "town." This shot may seem rather ugly, but I include it because if you look very closely at the bottom-left corner, you can see Nok and I at the exact moment that we discovered Scroggins had rolled in some mysterious poop. Whoops, there's that word again. I'm working towards a PG-13 now.

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.

Dakeng Scenic Area

On the edge of Taichung City and not so far from Fengyuan is a massive park called the Dakeng Scenic Area. I’d heard great things about it from several people, but I wasn’t really sure how I could get there. Well, last Saturday afternoon Nok and I hopped on the train to Taichung City, determined to find a way to Dakeng.

As it turns out, there are several buses that drive past the park. However, the park is a pretty massive place with trails spreading out over quite a large area. As a result, it’s difficult to get to one specific part of the park. Our bus driver dropped us off in a strange part of town with no signs indicating we were in the park at all. But after walking around for a while, we found some trails up into the hills and were very pleased with what we saw.

Unfortunately, after a week of beautiful weather, Saturday proved to be a dreary, rain-soaked day, and our hike was cut short after a downpour started just as we began our walk. We waited out the storm in a small hillside temple next to a strange little park filled with obstacle courses and a paintball field. We will definitely be back to Dakeng in the future, but hopefully with better weather.

An interesting thing did happen before the rain came though. Near the temple, there were several trails branching into different directions. We ventured down a few of them searching for the best one. On one, we found a rather feeble looking dog strapped to a tree. The trail was rather narrow, with a five foot drop on the left side and a thick forest on the right. Nok and I passed the first time without incident. However, after finding a dead end we were forced to walk past the dog on the narrow trail again.

As I walked by, the dog started growling. Nok was just behind me, but the dog lunged at her. It happened very quickly. I heard the dog make a nasty snarling sound as it pounced at Nok. Nok screamed and put her hands up to block the dog’s advancing teeth. In a split second, she fell down the five foot drop onto some brush below. I thought for sure she had broken something, as it was a nasty fall.

I swung my backpack at the dog, who then cowered behind a tree and watched timidly as I went to help Nok. Thankfully, Nok was smiling when I went to pull her back onto the trail and I knew that a disaster had been narrowly averted. We were laughing nervously about the incident for the rest of the day.

The little hillside temple where we waited out the storm. On the next hilltop we could see a giant golden Buddha poking out from the treetops. I plan to head up there on our next trip to Dakeng. When the mist lifted briefly, much higher mountains could be seen just beyond.

This little shrine was next to the temple.

We came across these two rope bridges over a little park filled with military-style obstacle courses. It was a strange place.

Nok and I started to cross it together, but she got scared and turned back after about 15 feet.

I ended up crossing the bridge alone. It got pretty high in the middle, probably about 30 feet above the ground. You can see it is over some of the tree tops.

From the other side of the rope bridge. Some tombs can be seen on the hillside beyond.

We found these stray puppies at the start of the trail. Unfortunately, they were too shy to let us near them, and their mother was barking ferociously the whole time.

Shengshing Station

Last weekend Nok and I ventured north for the first time to a town called Sanyi. According to my (crappy!) Lonely Planet, there is an old train station in Sanyi that is worth a visit. The guidebook describes 12km of unused tracks winding through quiet, hilly countryside with nothing but birds and forests to be seen.

Well, for some reason or another this place has become a Taiwanese tourist hotspot. We were absolutely shocked to find, literally, thousands of people wandering on the tracks next to the old station. There were cars parked along the road for a few kilometers leading up to the station, and there was even an entire little tourist village of shops and restaurants that had sprouted up. I couldn’t believe it. What was so exciting about that place that it could draw so many people?

Well, just past the station there is a huge, 1 kilometer long tunnel that cuts under a giant hill. That, along with the many shops in the tourist village, seemed to be the main draw. After stumbling through the darkness of the tunnel for 20 minutes or so, Nok and I finally emerged on the other side, hoping to find the quiet countryside we had come to see. The crowds did indeed thin out just past the other side of the tunnel, but we were horrified to see that the old tracks actually followed a rather busy road!

So we scoured the sides of the tracks looking for an alternative way. Sure enough, after a kilometer or so we found a mysterious little path winding off through the woods, along a nice little stream. That path proved to be quite a gem, as it led us through lush green jungle and up into the hills. We eventually emerged in a clearing on a hilltop, and were extremely pleased to be surrounded by beautiful green mountains covered in forests, with not a person to be seen. The trip was worth it after all, and I would say that the mountains around Sanyi need some more investigation.

Chinese New Year is coming up next week, so Nok and I will have six days to venture into the heart of Taiwan and really get a chance to see some beautiful mountains. But till then…

A shot of the real Sanyi Train Station, not the old abandoned one.

The back entrance of the 1 kilometer tunnel. I couldn’t be bothered to take a picture of the other side, as the crowds were far too beastly.

Walking through the tunnel. It was actually pitch black inside aside from the little pinholes of light at the other end, but this shot had a camera flash.

Walking along the tracks on the other side of the tunnel. This was just before we found the sweet side trail.

Nok reads a book next to the little stream. The jungle here was thick and impossible to walk through outside of the tiny trail we found. For some reason, a lot of our pictures from the forest came out blurry. Like this one.

This was the view we were greeted with when we finally broke out of the forest on the hilltop. If I’d had more than just an afternoon free, I would have loved to have set out towards the farthest mountaintop.

More of the view.

We came across the little old couple out for a stroll at the bottom. I hope I’m still out walking when I’m that old.

When we got back to Fengyuan, I was feeling rather mischievous. This shot was taken from the very top of my apartment building after I climbed up a few ladders I found next to the rooftop garden.

Chengchung Park

When Nok and I first arrived in Fengyuan, we set out one day towards the hills in the hopes that we’d stumble across some hiking trails. Unfortunately on that day, we found nothing but impassable jungle. It turns out, if we’d headed in just a slightly different direction, we would have come across an excellent park filled with miles of hiking trails.

Today Nok and I went for a stroll there, a place called Chengchung Park.  The name Chengchung Park is particularly amusing, because it is so close to the Thai word for “go pee.” But that’s another story.

We spent a few hours hiking through the trails there and came across some interesting sites along the way. We were feeling rather lazy today since I’m six days into a nasty cold/flu, and had to teach four hours in the morning. But it was still a nice day and we’ll definitely be back in the future.

This giant statue was at the bottom of the park, with the trails beginning just behind it. I have no idea who he is, and the sign was in Chinese.

A view of Fengyuan City from the first hilltop. The air was surprisingly clear today.

Little shrines like this are found on the tops of many hills. They remind me very much of India, accept the Taiwanese shrines are metallic and shiny.

This giant temple was on top of one of the hills. Chinese style temples are incredibly ornate and remarkably creative.

A closer shot of the front of the temple. The walls were covered in what appeared to be granite carvings.

The inside of the temple. This was a difficult shot to take because there were no lights inside, just the sun reflecting off the floor. I didn’t really feel comfortable going inside, so I had to take this from the doorway.

A giant stick of incense in a shrine in front of the temple. Many Buddhists in Taiwan and Thailand believe that burning incense is respectful to Buddha and can bring good luck.

Resting in a swing before the walk down. It was pretty hot today, especially after the cold weather of the last couple of weeks.

The walk down. I think Nok was getting bored of being in so many pictures.

A picture of the cameraman. This was taken in a strange little gazebo we found near the bottom of the trail.

Hiking in nearby Tanzih

On New Year’s day Nok and I headed over to a town called Tanzih to check out some hiking trails we’d heard were decent. Tanzih is actually where I go to work everyday. It’s a pretty quiet town and since the mountains are literally just behind my school, I’ve been anxious to get a chance to do some hiking.

Well, it turns out it wasn’t really hiking. Taiwan does have some big, beautiful mountains. There are five peaks that top 3,000 meters (or about 9,000 feet), with the tallest reaching 4,000 (more than 12,000 feet). But here in Fongyuan and Tanzih, the hills don’t get much higher than 500 meters or so (1,500 feet).

Still, it’s pretty nice to have so close to where I live and work. We went to a section of trails called “Hsintien,” which is just 9km (5 miles) from our apartment. The trail head was pretty packed. There is a good sized parking lot and even a restaurant with karaoke blaring out at all hours of the day and night. Even at 10am when we arrived, people were going nuts on the karaoke.

But after climbing for a while and seeking out the more remote sections, we found ourselves alone in lush green forests with various fruit orchards scattered across the many hills. It was refreshing to say the least, and Nok and I enjoyed a picnic lunch on top of one of the larger hills, surrounded by trees and birds and a clear blue sky. The city of Tanzih could be seen in the distance, past the next set of hills. It was a great way to start the New Year.

Nok climbs some stairs on the way up the first hill. Wooden stairs were built on many of the trails.

The view from one of the hilltops. Orange orchards are scattered across the hills.

My trademark lunatic grin. For some reason I greatly enjoy acting like a madman whenever a camera is pointed at me.

Another shot of the hills. Unfortunately, the air was a bit hazy. Otherwise, you’d be able to see the city of Tanzih over the hills.

Nok poses next to an orange tree. Trees like this were all over the hillsides. We sampled a few of the goods, but don’t tell the farmers!

These giant grasshoppers were all through the trails. I put my foot in the picture to give an idea just how big it was, and because I know how much people love my feet. In Thailand people eat grasshoppers like this!

This tree was like something out a Dr. Suess book. The flowers were like little balls of incredibly soft hair.

Nok stands in the middle of an orange orchard. The orange trees went all the way up the hill. You can see from her thick coat and gloves that things got a bit cool in the shade. During the last week here, temperatures have dropped as low as 45 degrees. That’s pretty cold after three years of 95+ in Bangkok!