Dakeshan (Mt. Dake)

I know I’m supposed to be writing about the hike to the waterfall at Wuling, but I just can’t wait to share this one. Yesterday, Nok and I headed up to a little known forest recreation area called Dakeshan. We knew nothing about the place and could find no information about it on the web. But we spotted it on a map we have and knew it was within a 90 minute drive, so on Sunday morning we packed for the day and hit the road.

What we found was a spectacular, incredibly isolated hike up some of the most beautiful mountains I’ve yet seen in Taiwan. At the base, there was a little fish farm with some HUGE fish swimming in the little pools, along with a nice restaurant. There were a handful of cars there, but this wasn’t what interested us. On a map near the entrance, we saw what appeared to be a little hike up Dakeshan (Mt Dake). It didn’t look to be that far, so we headed up an old, narrow and winding road. The road was rocky and pretty much impassable by car in many places, so though it was occasionally paved it was still a nice walk.

After a couple of miles, we saw signs for “Dakeshan II” and “Dakeshan I.” Dakeshan I said only 50 meters, while Dakeshan II said 500 meters. We figured we’d hit both of them, but went for the 500 meter trail first. Well, apparently that sign was completely wrong. After passing through a beautiful, sunny valley surrounded by jagged outcroppings of rock, the old road soon turned into a tiny, largely overgrown trail that went straight up. It was incredibly steep, requiring ropes to get up many of the slippery (from the steady trickle of rain) parts.

Thinking there was only 500 meters to the top, we continued on for about an hour, straight up. Eventually, we topped a ridgeline and found a fork in the trail. Not being able to read Chinese, we headed right towards the sign with a 2. The trail followed the ridgeline through thick, almost impassable jungle. By this time we were also enveloped in a thick fog, and indeed we started to feel a bit concerned about where we were going. We had no map, no idea where the trail was really going or how long it was, and since the trail was so narrow and overgrown, getting lost seemed like a very real possibility.

Then suddenly, after climbing over a two meter tall rock outcropping, we came into a small clearing. The first thing my eyes noticed was the sheer rock wall not more than a few hundred meters across a valley. The next thing I noticed, with some fright, was the incredible drop off just in front of where I stood, with a forest-covered river passing far, far below. I almost lost my balance.

It was foggy at first, but eventually the clouds lifted for a few minutes, allowing us to glimpse a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The trail continued on, but having gone on the hike with the expectation of just a quick, 500 meter jaunt, we were by this time not in the mood to hike any further. We did glimpse the peak through the fog, but it would have been at least another hour (on top of the 2.5 hours we’d already done).

To top it off, we were soon shocked to find nasty little leeches crawling all over our feet and legs. We headed down the mountain with a jolt, but not before both of us were bitten by leeches. Still, it was a beautiful place without another soul on the trail, and I’m extremely pleased to know it’s just an hour away.

We saw this friendly lizard at the very start of the hike. He let me get just inches away to take this picture, but when I stuck out my hand to grab he bolted.

There were many waterfalls like this along the old road for the first couple of miles.

And this one.

This little spring had a ceramic pot built into it, indicating that it was safe to drink. Some tin cups on a wire were hung to the left.

Giant caterpillars like this were found all along the trail, probably responsible for the multitude of beautiful butterflies in the area.

After a mile or two, we came out into a pleasant valley with beautiful, rocky ridges on both sides.

From the valley, we also had a beautiful view of the mountains and plains stretching all the way back to the ocean, though it didn’t come out very well in this picture.

Scroggins took a break in this cozy bed of flowers while we stopped for water.

Soon afterwards, the old road ended and we headed into thick jungle on a tiny, overgrown trail. The trail went literally straight up. The big-leafed trees here are wild banana trees. At the entrance to this tiny trail, after 2 miles of hiking, the sign said something about 300 meters. We guessed it meant 300 meters to the top and expected a short hike, but we were in for a tiring surprise.

After a mile or so of climbing straight up, we came across this ancient tree shrouded in old rags. The tree must have been several hundred years old, and its vast, antiquated roots stretched across the mountainside. At this point we were certain we were just a few minutes from the top.

After another mile or so of wandering along a ridgeline through thick, fog-enclosed jungle, I was perplexed when I came into a small clearing and saw this view. It was a sheer vertical mountain wall not more than a few hundred meters away. How was this possible?

Then I looked left and saw this foggy view, though I was still a bit perplexed.

Then I looked down and saw the valley floor far, far below me, at least 1,000 feet away. And I realized that I was standing on the top of a sheer wall of mountain just like the one I’d seen across the valley. The trail was incredibly narrow at this point, and on both sides of the ridgeline the mountainsides plummeted straight down. Taking this in suddenly after coming out of the dark jungle, I had a pang of vertigo.

The fog was shifting steadily, and after a while we were rewarded with some stunning views of the surrounding, absolutely gorgeous mountains.

Though the mountain we were on was high, the mountains beyond were enormous, and greatly surpassed our humble peak.

Eventually the fog lifted enough to see the top of the rock wall across the valley, and we surmised that this was the peak our trail was leading to. However, by this time we’d discovered the leeches so I wasn’t able to get a picture of the peak.

This was the view in the direction from which we’d come.

The hike back to the old road and the beautiful valley was a wet, nasty one with a steady rain and a horde of leeches. But when we finally made it back the sun came out and made for some wonderful views.

One of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen.

After stopping to pull all of the leeches out of our shoes and socks, we took the opportunity to get some sunny photos of this mountain paradise.

Nok and I make a point of having a campfire every time we go hiking. We soon found this big old rock and set up to cook a late lunch before walking the remaining 2 miles back to the car.

On the walk back, we noticed this waterfall was much bigger than we had thought and was backed by a beautiful rock outcropping.

It was getting dark by the time we reached the car, but this is one hike I won’t soon forget.

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.

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.