We didn’t check out until midday today so Lynn did my ironing while we packed up for our drive to Wujie near Luodong in the North East of Taiwan. We plan to do the last of our drives in the Taiwan countryside before we return the hire car on 1st October and catch a train back to Taipei for a few days then fly on to Hong Kong for 5 days.
Yet another scorcher out there today so we don’t plan to spend too much time walking around in the hot sun.
Our drive this afternoon is only about 120km but it will take at least 2.5 hrs even without stops. As this is a coast road we expect it to take a lot longer due to significant road works along the way.
Crossing the river near Xincheng on Route 9, northbound.Village on Route 9.
As we approached the Qingshui Cliffs the traffic was a lot heavier with many large trucks hauling gravel and rocks from the river bed quarries and the rock from the new highway tunnels being constructed for Route 9. We stopped for a few photos at the cliffs.
Qingshui Cliff north of Hualien City.The beach looks great from up here.And the water looks clear.
We had the usual delays waiting for construction work to finish so that the highway could open. We sat half way down a tunnel for about 15 minutes but we were lucky enough to be at a section that was open to some fresh air.
A new tunnel on Route 9.A typical Taiwanese hotel to attract Chinese tourists.
We finally reached our hotel at about 3:15 pm. Our hotel is a BnB just outside of the small agricultural town of Wujie which is just south of Yilan City. The BnB sits in the middle of rice paddies and that means that we will have to drive in to town each evening to look for a restaurant. Parking is always an issue in Taiwan towns and cities.
Still our room is very nicely decorated and is very comfortable.
Our room in La Maison de France.
But the view is not worth looking at even if we could see the rice paddies.
View from our balcony.
Trying to find a restaurant in Luodong is hard work. There is no way that you can park on any of the narrow streets so we just stopped outside Maccas and Lynn ran in to get some take out. We will find a parking station tomorrow night when we are less tired and find a proper restaurant. Tonight we just need to get to bed as we have a big day out in the countryside tomorrow.
29 September, 2017
Today’s plan is to drive further up the coast road to the eastern most point of the Taiwanese mainland then on to the outskirts of Keelung City. From there we will head inland into the highlands and tea country for some more back roads Taiwan.
We were only on the road for about half an hour before the skies start to darken and it begins to rain. Lightly at first but by the time we are on the coast road it is raining constantly.
Rock platforms near Honeymoon Bay.
At least it is a little cooler today so the rain is a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the past month.
The Eastern tip of Taiwan.“There’s a cruise ship on the horizon.”
The coastal towns are all much the same up here in the North East corner of Taiwan. We pass through a number of beach villages, fishing villages and even a village with a Dive Centre on every street corner but they are all starting to look like the same shabby, run-down towns between some naturally beautiful, rugged coastlines that we have seen everywhere in Taiwan.
The Yilan Coast National Scenic Area.
Once we leave the coast we head up into the mountains for some more narrow roads on Route 42. At least today there is very little traffic about but there is very little to see as we ascend into the low clouds.
Fog in the mountains around Shenkeng.Tea plantations around Shiding.
Time to head back to our B&B and we join Route 5 near Pinglin. Route 5 has a 16 km long tunnel as we head back to the coast so it is lucky that we took the back roads to see some scenery. Not much to see in the tunnel.
Once we exit the tunnel we then join up with the Freeway back to Yilan. By this stage we are driving in a deluge and it is impossible to see the cars more than 50 meters ahead.
Even with rain lights on we could not see the car in front of us.
Somewhere up there is a car and a truck.
We are hoping that the rain will abate by the time we have to go out to find a restaurant but the storm persists late into the evening. By the time we head into town the rain shows no sign of easing up and the rain, thunder and lightning continue well after we are tucked up in bed for the night.
30 September, 2017
We are back to a hot and humid day again this morning but we only have a small drive planned. We take the Route 5 freeway up to Shenkeng and find ourselves in the outer suburbs of Taipei before we take Route 9 until it peters out just after the small village of Wulai. Since it is Saturday the urban folk are making their way out to the fringe villages and bush land so there is no parking anywhere in Wulai.
Wulai Village.Wulai markets.
The road is narrower than a single lane and we almost end up in the village markets. Continuing on just takes us further up the valley but soon the road comes to an end so the plan is to head back to the B&B the long way through the hill villages on Route 9 back to the coast.
The end of Route 9. Or at least as far as we can navigate.Turning back on Route 9.
The long and winding road back down the mountain is good fun and it seems that every biker in the north east is out riding Route 9 just for fun. What would take 10 minutes in the freeway tunnel takes us about an hour on Route 9 but the views are much better.
View of the southern Toucheng rice paddies from the mountains.Toucheng township on the Taiwan Coast.
Back to the BnB in time for a cold beer before we venture out for dinner in an attempt to find a proper restaurant where we can park.
We have spent most of the day catching up on the blog and doing emails except for a short venture out in the heat at 11:00am for coffee and cake at the 3 Koalas.
View from our room at the Arsma Hotel, Hualien City.
At about 2:00pm we noticed the building shaking slightly from yet another earth tremor. Hualien City must be known as the earthquake centre of Taiwan with 30 earthquakes (and counting) in the past 365 days, according to earthquaketrack.com, with 2 of those this past week: magnitude 5.3 four days ago and 4.6 today.
25 September, 2017
The plan today is to cross the mountain range that runs down the spine of Taiwan and meet up with where we drove up to on the Western side while we were in Puli – Qingjing Farm. It is only about 140 km but it took us over 4.5 hours to get there on the very narrow, winding roads.
We will be taking Route 8 into the Taroko National Park then Route 14 at Dayuling down to Qingjing Farm.
Taroko National Park.
Route 8 goes past the Swallows’ Grottoes on to a very narrow gully with sheer cliffs on each side. We have a 10-minute wait at the LuShi Trail while the tunnel is closed for maintenance. There is no other road through these mountains so the tunnels are closed for periods of time during the day while they undergo maintenance.
Due to long-term erosion of Taroko by the Liwu River into an extremely narrow and deep valley, the marble cliff faces were scoured into hundreds of potholes, which have become a natural nesting location for swallows. Hence the name Swallows’ Grottoes.
New bridge being built to cross the gully.Regular landslips on Route 8.Less than half way into the rugged mountains.Marble gorge.
Despite the road being very narrow and a Monday there is a lot of traffic on the road. There are even big tourist buses that go up as far as Swallow Grotto and Tianxiang Recreational Park. We now understand why it takes over 4 hours to travel 130 km.
The road cut into the gorge wall.Route 8 cut in to the gorge walls.Toilets for Westerners and for “Tools”.Would you believe, Route 8 is a two-way road?
The road is getting narrower and many of the hairpin bends are completely blind corners.
Lucky there is no oncoming traffic.
Lynn had to be my co-driver. The roads were so narrow that we had to watch the deep ditches on the side of the road as well as looking out for oncoming traffic. Lynn would look at the roadside blind-corner mirrors and let me know if there were any oncoming vehicles. Just about every corner was a narrow blind corner and just about every corner had a mirror. Lynn really worked hard on this trip.
Roadside mirrors to see around corners.Above the tree line.
Once we hit about 3,000 meters high the hills became treeless and despite being in the tropics the landscape became alpine. We even noticed signs requiring vehicles to carry snow chains!
No chains needed today.
It is still 25 deg. C outside at the summit – and a tad difficult to breathe at this altitude.
Nearly at the top.Top of the range at 3275 meters.
It is downhill now but we are still a long way from the Cingjing Farm which will be our furthest destination today but perhaps it will be faster at least.
The western side of the range appears in fog.
Wrong…. it wasn’t long before we hit thick fog on the western side of the range. This slowed us down further as Lynn could no longer see the blind-corner mirrors.
Harder to see oncoming traffic in the fog.Today’s destination – arriving at Qingjing Farm.
It is now 2:00 pm and it has taken us nearly 4.5 hours to get to our final destination. At the same rate we will be home after 6:30 pm so we only have time for a quick pit stop and we start the long trek back.
Once we exit the fog I pick up the pace as we head down the eastern side of the range. Lynn is getting very good at calling the traffic on the blind corners so it isn’t long before we bring our expected arrival time back to 5:00 pm. There are still lots of hazards on the road such as Taiwanese drivers doing inexplicably dangerous maneuvers, monkeys running across the road, washed out sections of the road and blocked tunnels due to maintenance.
At least the traffic has reduced so there are a few less road hogs but just as we reach Swallows’ Grottoes the tourist buses block the road and then we are stuck in a queue of traffic behind a dozen buses until we reach a dual carriage way at Xincheng.
Monkeys sighted before we see the sign.
We finally arrived back at the hotel by 5:30 pm. There was fantastic scenery on the drive today but the road is not really suitable for the large tourist buses or, indeed the volume of traffic using Route 8. If this was in Italy there would be a long, straight tunnel from one side of the range to the other and the speed limit would be 130 kph, not the 30 kph on Route 8.
26 September, 2017
Today is going to be a less strenuous drive. We are heading south to see the other end of the East Rift Valley by way of Route 9. We drove to Hualien City from Donghe (our last stop) along the coast road known as Route 11.
Compared with yesterday’s drive this is a bit easier. Most of the valley is farmland and rural villages, although we did come across a perfectly-manicured road with gardens either side and a large group of buildings. On closer examination of the buildings we realised that it was the local prison. The inmates must get gardening duty as part of their exercise.
Further down the valley we came across some fruit tress that seemed to be growing baseball caps.
Baseball cap tree?
It appears that the farmer is using the brand new baseball caps to protect the maturing fruit, whereas his neighbours are using plastic bags.
Must have been a special on caps this week at Aldi…All terrain vehicle?
At the end of our tour today is Liyu Lake. Liyu means carp in English hence the name as the lake has a lot of carp. The name itself originated from the Liyu Mountain beside the lake.
The lake is about 1.6 km in length and 930 meters in width, making it the largest inland lake in Hualien County with a total area of 104 hectares.
Liyu Lake.
After the development of the lake into a scenic spot, the lake became the site of various recreational activities, such as light boat sailing, water sports, etc. It has single lane bicycle path around 5 km encircling the lake and footpaths for strolling along the shore. The Chinan National Forest Recreation Area and Mukumugi surrounding the lake displays old logging trains, logging displays and aboriginal culture respectively. Every year in April, thousand of fireflies flash above the lake.
The area is quiet today but looks like it could get really busy on weekends.
27 September, 2017
Another 33 deg. C day today so we plan to have a rest day and Lynn is off to the air-conditioned gym to work off last night’s pizza and this morning’s apple pie.
Autumn, or Spring, Equinox – depending on where you are!
When we return to our room after breakfast we are greeted by the sound of sirens – like air-raid sirens – and we both get disaster alert messages on our phones in Chinese – a tsunami drill – only 11 hours after the event of the offshore earthquake. And our next stop is right on the beach! Terrific.
We were on the road by midday and planned to take the coast road for the short 1 hour drive north to Donghe.
The east coast of Taiwan.
We are struck by the similarity of today’s landscape with what we have seen in Tahiti – steep mountains covered in luxuriant vegetation plunging into a placid ocean of azure water; dark beaches, and banana, pineapple and coconut palm plantations interspersed with tin sheds.
The drive to Donghe on Route 11.Ludao Island.Calm Pacific Ocean.Shame about the sand.Strange things happen in Taiwan.
We arrived at Donghe at about 1:00pm and it seems that we are the only guests tonight. The hotel is a small boutique hotel right on the cliff above the Pacific Ocean and our room is on the top floor with a great view. At least the hotel is 30 metres above sea level – plus another 8 metres to our room. High enough in the event of a tsunami, we hope!
The home stay hotel has only been opened for the past 2 years so everything feels brand new. We don’t have internet access in our room and Elvin, one of the staff members, explains that the WiFi on each floor struggles with the solid walls and doors. I asked him about the ADSL outlet in the room and we explored some of the wiring and I suggested that the hotel just needs to install a patch panel and a router in each room and the problem will be solved. The wiring looks like something done by Vietnam Telecom and appears to have not been completed.
Jacaranda House in Donghe, Taiwan.Our 2nd-floor room with balcony at Jacaranda House.View from our balcony over the coconut plantation.
After we unpacked and had a complimentary cool drink in the dining room our host Arnold gave us a few tips on where to eat in town and offered to guide us to a couple of the local beaches. It is so hot outside that a swim at the beach is certainly tempting. I changed into my togs and we followed Arnold in his car to a beach just north of the hotel.
This area is known for good surf waves but the Pacific Ocean is very calm today. Surfers from around the world have come to this beach area and many have stayed.
The water looks fairly clean but the “sand” is volcanic pebbles.A “swim” up to my knees.
The “sand” is way too hard on the feet so we abandoned the idea of a surf and go to check out the surfboarding beach near the fishing harbour.
Not much surf today.
The “sand” is even harsher here so we head for the showers to wash off the salt and fine beach pebbles from our feet.
Surfboard showers.
Back to the hotel for a cold beer before we go in search of a restaurant.
A beer on the balcony.
Arnold has recommended the Italian Restaurant in town. Actually there are only two restaurants in town and the other is called Low Pressure and has a mix of Asian and surfers’ food such as burgers. We find a parking spot right next to the Italian Restaurant but just as we are exiting the car we are advised that they are closed for their night off tonight. Looks like it is Asian food or a 7-11 sandwich for dinner tonight. At least Low Pressure is air conditioned but it really looks like a Surfer’s Shack so we aren’t expecting much.
The food was excellent and the beer was cold and cheap. Lynn wants to come back here again tomorrow night but I was really looking forward to Italian so hopefully the other place is opened tomorrow night.
Back at our hotel and we head downstairs with the computer and tea bags in hand to watch Netflix in the dining area since we couldn’t access the internet in our room. Our host, Arnold, made us a couple of papaya smoothies that went down very well and we explained that we did not want salad and soup for breakfast so we ordered our usual fare: orange juice, fruit, yogurt, bacon and eggs, toast with butter and jam, and coffee. We are not holding out much hope for a good breakfast as it is usual for us to bring our own OJ, yogurt, fruit and cereal to breakfasts at hotels in China and Taiwan.
Lynn checking the facts while editing my blog work.
22 September, 2017
Breakfast was a very pleasant surprise. We started with 100% OJ then a very well-presented yogurt with honey and fresh fruit followed by fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit bread toast. This was all topped off with a fantastic coffee. Best breakfast so far! Elvin even promised to do poached eggs tomorrow morning. We can’t wait….
After this leisurely breakfast we are off for a drive along Route 23 through the nearby mountains to Chishang in the East Rift Valley then up Route 20 to Wulu Gorge and Hot Springs and only as far as the Lidao Tribal Village in the Central Mountain Range. Our return trip will be to Antong to join Route 30 through the Coastal Mountain Range back to the coast then back down the coastal Route 11 where we’ll stop off at the 8 Arches Bridge that connects Sanxiantai Island.
We hadn’t gone far on Route 23 when we came to a bridge and had to stop for all the monkeys on the road. A couple of families of local tourists had also stopped and were feeding fruit to the monkeys.
What’s for lunch?Hey, hey it’s The Monkeys.
Lynn wasn’t too keen to get up close and personal to the monkeys. I find that a bit odd considering she was born in one of the Chinese Year of the Monkey. Professional courtesy, I guess.
As we climb up into the mountain range Lynn notes that there are a lot of landslides in the hills. These mountain ranges are generally built from volcanic ash so they are generally unstable.
Spectacular clouds on the mountain range.Lots of land slips in the mountains.
At the top of Route 23 we came across a queue of traffic at a small bridge and tunnel. The tunnel and rock walls on the other side of the tunnel were being drilled and stabilised so the road was closed during work hours but open while the work crew had a lunch break between midday and 1:00 pm. Lucky for us it was 11:45 am so we only had a short wait. Some of the other drivers looked like they had been here a while so they were out of their cars and sitting in the shade fanning themselves.
Waiting for tunnel to open.Locals sitting in the shade.
At Chishang we turn onto Route 20 which theoretically should take you over the mountains via the Xiangyang National Forest Recreation Area and down to Tainan City, but we see a ‘Road Closed’ sign (which was also in English) with only access to Xiangyang. The road narrows the further that you drive into the mountains but there is very little traffic about. We stopped regularly for some great photos and outside the temperature has dropped to a very comfortable 25 deg. C.
The red bridge across the Xin Wu Lu Xi river.River bed in the gorge.Spectacular fluvial scenery.Narrow roads and tunnels on Route 20.Limestone flow-stone from a spring in the Wulu Gorge wall.
By the side of the road is a hot spring for all to enjoy. The water is almost boiling but feels great on the feet once you get used to it. The hot springs were discovered by a road working crew many years ago and they built the hot pools as a place to rest after a long day on the job.
The Liukou Hot Spring.Hot water but soothing on the tootsies.The Liukou Hot Spring ponds.
In the gorge below the hot spring is an abandoned, rusty excavator that looks like it fell into the gorge during a heavy rain storm.
Not a good place to park the excavator.
We drive up as far as the Lidao Tribal Village but there is nothing much to see here. The village looks like it is prone to be regularly cut off every time there is a landslip on the only accessible narrow road to the coast.
Time to work our way back to the coast via Route 30. Lynn wants to stop off at the Sanxiantai Dragon Bridge and also check out the Amis Folk Centre for tomorrow’s time for the traditional tribal music show.
Sanxiantai consists of a headland facing an islet in the sea. The three huge rocks that make up the small island’s most prominent feature have given rise to a local legend that three of China’s Eight Immortals once landed there; hence the name of the island, which means “terrace of the three immortals.” The island was once connected to the headland by a neck of land which has been eroded away; it is now connected by a red, scalloped footbridge, and the island has a network of footpaths for viewing its geological features such as potholes and sea-eroded caves and trenches, as well as rare coastal vegetation.
The 8 arches of the Sanxiantai Dragon Bridge.The usual pebble beach.Storm clouds gathering in the north west.Lynn being an Asian tourist.Yeah. Too hot to play the fool.
Not sure why they didn’t just make the bridge flat. Well, I do… it is supposed to represent a dragon. It was hot work walking up and down the eight arches. It feels like 40 deg. C out on the island and there is almost no breeze as we walk around the headland and return back to the bridge. We are both wet through and the clear water of the pebble beach looks very inviting.
Back to the bridge after a hot walk around the island.
I should have worn my swimming trunks. Although walking on the pebble beach is hard work and the stones in the water are hard on the feet it’s worth the dip up to my knees.
Cooling off at the beach.Wet shorts? I don’t care! At least my legs are cooler.
I just don’t understand why almost none of the hotels in Taiwan have swimming pools. The beaches have clear water when they are away from the rubbish-infested creeks and rivers but very few beaches in Taiwan have proper sand.
It must be “beer o’clock” so I suggest to Lynn that it is time to head back to Jacaranda House for a cool beer on the balcony. Lynn has one more stop planned on the way back. We drop in at the Amis Folk Centre to find out details of tomorrow’s Tribal Music show which we plan to see after we check out in the morning and on our way to our next destination, Hualien City.
After all the storm clouds building over the mountains there is still no rain and it remains very hot and humid. While Lynn drops in to the Amis Folk Centre I wait in the car with the air conditioning. This is the only cool place in Taiwan.
Dinner tonight is at the “Little Italy” trattoria in Donghe. This is “the other” restaurant in town. It is run by Giovanni and his Taiwanese wife. The food is very good and we manage to consume a whole bottle of expensive but average Toscana red wine over dinner. The rain that we were expecting this afternoon came mid meal but since the restaurant was just a tin roof over the concreted front yard of the house it eased the humidity and cooled the air.
23 September, 2017
It is 150 km to Hualien City and will take about 3 hours to drive plus our planned 30-minute stop at the Amis Folk Centre.
Even at 10:30 this morning it is already 30 deg. C and sitting in the covered but open air theatre is very uncomfortable. We are the first guests to arrive but we are followed closely by two bus loads of tourists. As a side note… one of the things that we have noticed in Taiwan is that the Chinese and Taiwanese tourists will turn up for an opening of an envelope. Concrete statues of animals and totem poles at parking areas along the coast roads are packed with tourists taking photos/selfies of these usually dilapidated objects yet most of the natural beauty spots such as waterfalls and the limestone flow-stones tend to go unnoticed.
The Amis Folk Centre music show.
After an endurance-testing 30 minutes we are back in the air-conditioned car and heading north along the coast to our next stop at the Tropic of Cancer marker.
I still don’t understand why 6 bus loads of tourists would stop here for just a concrete marker. The Tropic of Capricorn marker in Rockhampton, Queensland would be unknown or unvisited by most Australians.
The Tropic of Cancer marker, Taiwan East Coast.Big marker, little Lynn.Stone notations of both tropic latitudes.
I was keen to also drop in at Shiti Port and Shitiping. Surely they can’t be that bad!
Not as bad as the name would suggest.
The area around Shiti Port was not as bad as its name would suggest. Just another small coastal town with grey-pebbled beaches.
We arrived into Hualien City at about 2:30pm. It was bloody hot outside but our hotel has underground parking so at least we won’t have to get into a hot car every time we go out for a drive. We’ll be here for 5 nights but since it is the weekend we will have the first couple of days as catch up rest days to avoid the weekend crowds.
Tonight we walked 3 minutes up the street to the “Three Koalas” restaurant for dinner. Although there are lots of Australian photographs on the wall and a hint of the type of restaurant by the name, it is actually noted in Google Maps as an American-style restaurant. Not sure that the owners or the locals or even Google Maps understand the difference.
However, the food is good and the cakes look great. We plan to return at 11:00 am tomorrow for coffee and cake.
The Three Koalas restaurant……and next door to the restaurant.
Taitung is a medium-sized city in Taiwan and the largest in the South Eastern region of the island. The plan today is to take the hotel bicycles and ride around town. Taitung is a typical Taiwanese town with little parking, poor pedestrian access and lots of traffic. It is flat so we may see more by bicycle. It is cloudy this morning and a little cooler but by the time we ride into town it is starting to rain. So much for the ride….
Let’s go back before we get really drenched.
By the time we return to the hotel, Lynn looks like she is getting ready to enter the wet T-shirt competition so we dried off and completed the tour in the car. The bike ride was probably the best part of seeing the town. Not much here for tourists but the areas in the mountains look more promising. A quick latte in the hotel cafe and, as it continues to rain, we ensconce ourselves in the room for the rest of the day planning our trip to Tassie in 5 months’ time.
20 September, 2017
About to head down to the car when I realise that the camera bag is nowhere to be seen – in the room or in the car. I last had it with me when we came back from the car ride yesterday and we headed straight into the hotel cafe for a latte. We ask the staff downstairs and they don’t understand. A quick look in the manager’s office and voila! Looks like someone kindly handed it in when they found it under the table we were using. I’m always giving Lynn grief about leaving things behind. Mea culpa!
Anyway, yet another hot and humid day in Taiwan. At least the car has a good air conditioner and today we are planning a drive along the East Rift Valley to Yuli.
Route 9 to the East Rift Valley with the Central Mountain Range in view.
The Rift Valley has the Central Mountain Range on one side and the Coastal Mountain Range on the other.
The Bei Nan River which runs down the centre of the Valley.Parked in the shade while I take a few photos of the Bei Nan River.
We took a small detour to the Luye Highlands which is famous for paragliding and hot air balloons.
Tea picking in the Luye Highlands.A view of part of the East Rift Valley from one of the paragliding launch pads.
While we enjoyed the valley view, 3 paragliders launched from a nearby hill and landed near us.
Paragliding at Luye Gaotai.Tandem gliding.Collapsing foil after a controlled landing.
I asked Lynn if she was interested in having a flight on the tandem paraglider but she quickly declined. She is well aware of the poor driving skills of the locals in Taiwan so imagine what damage could be done in the air!
From Luye we continued up Route 9 to Yuli then returned to Chishang where Lynn planned we take Route 197 on the opposite side of the Bei Nan River in the foothills to Luanshan then return over the river where it empties into the ocean at Taichung.
Terraced rice fields on Route 197.
In the foothills on the east side of the Rift Valley we were about half way along the 197 when the road suddenly shifted to a gravel road. We continued until the road was completely blocked by excavation equipment as they were rebuilding the road after major landslides.
We had to retrace our route to a road junction and take a narrow, winding concrete pavement down to Ruiyuan, then to reconnect to Route 9 back on the west side of the river.
The end of the road on Route 197.
Route 9 is a main arterial road starting from Fenggang on the SW coast, crosses the mountains to the east coast at Daren then continues up the coast until Taitung when it goes inland up through the East Rift Valley to Hualien where it joins the coastal Route 11. It then travels up the east coast until it heads NW towards Taipei, so it is quite busy on the road. It still comes of no surprise to see absolutely stupid driving from the locals. We have been overtaken by cars as we were pulling up at traffic lights on double unbroken lines; faced cars driving on the wrong side of the road; cars turning right across oncoming traffic at traffic light intersections and cars pulling out from side streets right in front of us in 80kph zones then driving at 30kph.
I now understand why Western civilisations like Europe, UK, USA and Australia have enforced road rules. People around Asia don’t seem to have any sense of how stupid, rude and dangerous some of their driving habits are. If the road rules were enforced (or perhaps they don’t exist or are never taught) then maybe the driving standards would improve. I am beginning to think that people are generally unskilled at understanding danger unless they are taught. Learning the hard way probably kills off the unaware here in Asia.
We came around a bend on the 197 and had to jump on the brakes to miss an idiot trying to do a 5-point U turn on a narrow section of the road between two blind corners. The lazy prick could have just driven a few hundred yards to a safe turning area. If we had been a large truck we would not have been able to stop and would have T-boned him. I guess it is a way to clean out the gene pool.
Lazy or just stupid?
Heaven help us if these guys ever hire a car in Australia…. Oh, I forgot, many of them move to Australia and therefore our speed limits are lowered and we have more speed cameras and highway patrols to take in to account the lowered driver skill levels due to these drivers. Thanks a lot, guys!
At least my blood pressure starts to drop on the way back as we drive through a very nice tree-covered boulevard on the outskirts of Taitung.
One of the few shaded boulevards.
Just as we are about to go to bed at 10.30 pm I noticed that our room was shaking. It went on for about 3 minutes and I realised that we were in the middle of an earthquake. We had another after shock a few hours later. It turns out that the earthquake was rated at 5.3 and the epicenter was just off the east coast or Taiwan. No major damage was done but this was probably the largest earthquake that we have experienced.
The earthquake epicenter at 10.29 pm on 20 September, 2017.
We are only at the Boutix Hotel for 2 nights so today is our only full day to drive around the southern tip of Taiwan. Initially we thought that 2 nights here may not be enough to see the National Park area but the tip is relatively small compared to driving around National Parks in Australia.
Today we are driving down the coast road and will stop in at a few of the beaches and bays along the way to the southern most tip of Taiwan. We will then return via Jialeshui Waterfall and Hengchun to see the wall and gates of the old town.
Baisha Bay beach.
The sand and the water is relatively clean at Baisha (White Sand) Bay. We didn’t bother to bring our swimming gear after what we had seen at Checheng. It is hot again today so a swim would have been very nice.
Hills in the Kenting National Park.
The beautiful scenery is suddenly marred by what not only appears to be, but is, an aging nuclear power plant right on the beach.
Nuclear Beach at Kenting.
On the road south Lynn spotted a Starbucks so we stopped for an ordinary coffee late morning.
Pregnancy test sticks, anyone?Apparently imitation is the highest form of flattery…
Next stop is Shadao for a photo of yet another ordinary beach and a photo of Sail Rock.
Sail Rock near Shadao.
The Rock is a towering 18m-high slab of exposed coral offshore and said either to resemble a Chinese imperial war junk or former US President Richard Nixon’s profile. Anyway, not much to see here so I was glad to quickly get back into the air-conditioned car.
Each of our planned stops so far has been about 5 minutes’ driving time apart. At this rate we’ll be back at the hotel by lunchtime!
Our Toyota Vios for the next 16 days.
In Taiwan, like China, if you want to visit any of the natural wonders then you have to pay for parking and usually an entrance fee (although any of the shrines are free). Imagine if they tried to charge to see the most easterly point in Australia? Communist China claims dominion over Taiwan. Doesn’t the country equally belong to everyone? Perhaps George Orwell was correct. Some are just more equal than others.
The sea off the southern tip of Taiwan.
We managed to avoid paying for the parking area (which was the furthest walk to the end of the Eluanbi Peninsular) and just parked much closer and like a local – i.e. so pedestrians had to walk around the car. We then walked the 1 km bush track to the southern-most tip of Taiwan.
‘Artistic’ geo-point marker at Taiwan’s southern-most point.
And you have to pay to park and walk to see this?
We continued driving around the coast road to Longpan Park. Although it was a bit windy the breeze was at least a bit cooler and it was clearing the smoke haze so visibility was quite good.
The water seemed a lot clearer here and this could be because it is a National Park so settlements are few and far between.
Lucky she’s not wearing a wig!Hard to keep my hat on in the wind.
Our next stop is at Jialeshui Waterfall. Along the way we came across an interesting road sign. Do the locals have crabs? Are the crabs so large that they will cause a car accident? All a bit odd really.
Watch our for crabs at Gangkou.
On approach to the Jialeshui Waterfall we again came to a “Toll Booth” so we had to pay to see the natural wonders of Taiwan and an additional fee to park. Like China, you can’t drive the last 2 km to the falls. You have to take a shuttle bus just to justify the hefty fee to enter.
The shuttle bus for the 2km ride to Jialeshui Waterfall.
Along the shuttle bus trail the driver stops regularly to point out special rock shapes. This is just like any rocky coastline and you have to have a very good imagination to think that the rocks are anything but weathered sand stone.
Weathered sandstone and limestone on the SE coast.Thank heavens we didn’t have to walk in the hot sun.
At the end of the shuttle bus ride we stop near a trickle of water on the rocks above the sea. Surely this is not the Jialeshui Waterfall? Yep, it sure is. And we paid what to see this??? Perhaps they are just excited that there is no plastic coming over the falls or that the sea here is not brown? There is certainly enough plastic bottles and rubbish on the rocks below to make them feel at home.
The Jialeshui Waterfalls.Nice wave action.
On our drive back to Hengchun we reminisced about the beauty of Ireland, the USA (National Parks), the UK and Australia that hadn’t yet been spoiled by converting natural wonders to amusement parks and using them as rubbish dumps. The Chinese flock to these parks but don’t seem to care that they leave behind their rubbish and excrement for others to enjoy.
The old town wall in Hengchun.
We did a walk around the remaining part of the old brick-facade town wall at Hengchun. The city itself was once completely surrounded by the city wall, now about half of the wall remains intact, as well as the four city gates. The wall and city gates were built in 1873 during the Qing dynasty but by the time they were completed they would have been useless against artillery available at the time.
Above the East Gate entrance in Hengchun.The hills behind Hengchun.The East Gate.The South Gate – now a roundabout.
On our way back to the hotel Lynn noticed a large temple in the distance so we found a few back roads and I parked under a tree while Lynn took some photos. I have seen enough temples and shrines on this 12-month tour of Asia to last me a lifetime.
Tongbu Temple.
Tomorrow we move on to Taitung for 3 days but tonight we decided to take advantage of the free arcade games in the hotel. As expected I wanted to play boy racer on the car-racing simulator and Lynn wanted to test the basketball skills she acquired as a teenager at the hoops.
Free play on the boy racer game.
You can take the girl out of basketball…..
18 September, 2017
This morning we drive to Taitung on the South East Coast of the island. It is only a short drive but we plan to take a side trip over the mountain range on Route 199.
Looking down across the valley and the reservoir at Qiezhilu.
One branch of Route 199 ends at Xuhai, a traditional fishing village on the remote parts of the South East Coast of Taiwan. All through this area are some of the original tribes of Taiwan.
Local tribe murals en route to Xuhai on the coast.The fishing village at Xuhai.
From Xuhai we have to back track to the other branch of Route 199 to where it joins Route 9 to continue over the mountains and down to the east coast further north of Xuhai as there is no coastal road between these two points.
The new bridge on Route 9 along the east coast.The third new bridge for Route 9 from the original bridge.
We arrived at Trianon Hotel in Taitung at about 2:00 pm and after we checked in we decided to sample their, quelle surprise, authentic French Patisserie for afternoon tea.
French pastries at Trianon Hotel with the French certified pastry chef and hotel owner, Chih-chun Huang.Pastry Chef – made in Paris.Delectable French pastries – made in Taitung. Naturellement!
For the first time we have no space on the train to store our luggage for the 37-minute trip from Tainan to Kaohsiung. Lynn squeezes her bag between her short legs and the seat in front and I keep mine in the aisle which proves a nuisance to anyone wanting to get past. Luckily the trip is only short and there is only one stop before we arrive at our destination.
Kaohsiung looks very much like any industrial city in China but on the coast. Not much to look at but we pick up a hire car at the end of our 4-day stay here and we are staying in the 5-star Howard Plaza Hotel in the CBD.
The plan for this stay is to visit some computer stores and decide on a new Asus computer so Lynn doesn’t have to wait for me to finish before she can get access to a PC and to check out the night markets and the coastal areas of the town.
Our hotel room is a good size but the hotel is probably in need of a refit which they have started on the ground floor in the Howard Cafe – lots of noise and the very strong odour of PVA glue. Lucky we are on the 21st floor!
The Howard Plaza Hotel KaohsiungOur room.View from our room over the pool on the 10th floor.
At least we have a pool so during the day we can just laze around and cool off with a nice swim.
After dinner at the sky-lounge in the hotel we decided to take a walk to the computer shop district to check out deals on Asus computers. It is almost comfortable out walking tonight so we visit quite a few shops in the one street to see what information we can gather so that we can decide on the new PC.
13 September, 2017
At last, we’ve found an hotel in China with a proper breakfast. The orange juice is not a watered-down cordial, there is lots of fruit, yogurt, raisin toast and freshly-cooked eggs and bacon.
We spend most of the morning doing research on PCs and prices and still can’t make a definitive decision. The best value is an updated model of what we already have but Lynn feels that it is too large for her to carry on our travels. The best all-round (albeit a bit more expensive) solution is an Asus UX390UA but it is being phased out so we plan to head back to look for alternatives again this evening.
Asus UX390ua Zenbook.
Strangely, the pool and the gym are closed from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm each day. It would seem that this is the best time to be at the pool. Is this another Chine-ism?
A blind masseur???But we like playing around….
14 September, 2017
We have been in this hot, industrial town long enough now that we need to find a half decent coffee. The hotel coffee is the usual undrinkable rubbish that is served up as machine coffee. There doesn’t seem to be a specialist cafe close by so we have to drop back to Starbucks that are in the next block from the hotel. It will have to do today as we have a full day planned to finalise the PC purchase, take the metro down to Fisherman’s Wharf and check out a night market tonight.
After walking around the computer and technology district and negotiating on various models we come to the conclusion that for a couple of hundred dollars we will be better off buying the PC at Harvey Norman back in Oz. We decide to abandon the PC purchase project.
It is time to get back to the hotel to escape the heat and then head to the pool to do a few laps.
By late afternoon we are refreshed enough to head to the subway and take the underground to Sizihwan Station to visit the harbour district, Fisherman’s Wharf, Gushan Ferry Pier and walk up to the old British Consulate Building at Takao.
We walked around the wharf area for a while but found nothing worth visiting so we walked through some narrow alley ways to the Gushan Ferry Pier and crossed the Pedestrian Bridge on the way to the British Consulate Building.
The Gushan Pedestrian Bridge.The Marina from the Gushan Pier Pedestrian bridge.The Gushan Ferry Pier.
We then took the walkway up to the top of the headland for a view of the Consulate Building.
British Consulate Residence building.
The British Consulate at Takao is a former British consulate built in 1865. Located in Gushan District, it lies at the peak of Shaochuantou and overlooks Xiziwan Bay and the Port of Kaohsiung.
In 1860 the Treaty of Peking forced the Qing dynasty to open up the ports of Takau (now called Kaohsiung), An-ping (Anping, Tainan), Tamsui (Tamsui, New Taipei) and Keelung to foreign trade. As the largest empire of the time Britain was one of the first western countries to establish a consulate, appointing Robert Swinhoe as the first British vice-consul in 1861, although he was unable to physically obtain the post until 1862. Initially the consulate was centered in Tamsui, but in 1864 the office was moved to Takau.
Sunset from the Consulate Residence building.
It is just on sunset as we walked down to the waterfront park below the Consulate Building. The waterfront is full of people taking photos of the sunset as if it was the first sunset on record.
The park below the Consulate on the waterfront.Qihou Lighthouse complete with sunset photographers.The Consulate Office at the waterfront.
The original plan was to also visit the adjacent Art Centre and search for a suitable restaurant for dinner but it was still hot and the streets are as difficult to walk down as streets in Vietnam. There are no navigable footpaths as any available sidewalk space is taken by parked motorcycles or encroaching shop fronts, kitchens, storage and rubbish. Walking on the road is fraught with danger as you navigate the badly-parked cars and speeding traffic. We abandoned any further plans to walk around this city’s streets and headed back to the station.
Car boot sale – for food!
Not only is the foot path blocked but they stop in the no parking areas and even right on the intersection to sell goods out of their cars. Even cars can’t get past.
A small clearing on a crowded footpath.The normal storage on footpaths.Dining al fresco – but this time it is the complete kitchen on the pavement.
The underground railway is very clean, cool, cheap and underutilised. It cost us all of A$3.5 for the return train fares for the both of us. We stopped off at the Formosa Boulevard Station (Main junction station for the two metro lines) to go to the Liouhe Night Markets as it is only a short walk back to the hotel from here.
Formosa Boulevard Station’s Dome of Light.
The Station’s Dome of Light is the largest glass work in the world (as at 2008) designed by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata.
Live music for the commuters.
Considering that it would be rush hour back home there are no crowds any where to be seen and a lot of the shops on the radiating corridors are closed. Very strange. Perhaps it is because the station was revamped for the 2009 World Games. It was designed to accommodate the influx of visitors then, but now the local population cannot support so much retail space. Or, the locals must like the dirty, hot, noisy and crowded city streets above.
The night market is very close to the underground station exit so we had a stroll through to check things out.
At the Liouhe Night Market.Hand-rolling and stuffing dumplings at a food stall.
There is not much to see here. There are a few handicraft stalls and some technology stalls but mostly the vendors are selling street food. But, unlike Vietnam and China, the street is clean and orderly. It is still hot and most of the food is on display without refrigeration. Much of the food is prepared without too much consideration of sanitary standards so we were not tempted in any way to sample the food. I read in some of the reviews that tourists regularly were quite ill after eating at these food stalls.
Suddenly I have lost my appetite.
15 September, 2017
After breakfast Lynn heads back to Starbucks for coffee but I am not that desperate for mediocre coffee so I will catch up on the blog while she is out. The pool will be calling by the time she gets back and today we plan to go to the car hire company to sort out the paperwork in advance since it seems to be a major project to complete the mountain of papers in Asia to hire a car.
It was a very hot walking the 700 meters to the hire car company but it was worth doing the paperwork a day early. The only guy in the shop spoke absolutely no English so out with Google Translate. Even this was an effort but after about an hour we completed the task. We are not sure if we have secured an English-language GPS or how we pay for the tolls as they are all electronic in Taiwan.
We dodge the obstacles on the footpaths back to the hotel and head for a refreshing dip in the pool.
I have lost my desire to walk any more Asian city streets so I am looking forward to getting the car tomorrow so that we can visit some national parks and some more remote beaches and rural areas.
16 September, 2017
Collecting the hire car is a breeze and the same guy has done some excellent preparation and has an English note on his phone that tells us that the tolls will be settled on our car return and the GPS has been set up in English. Great job. The car is a Toyota Vios and although it seems like a tiny car we can fit both suitcases and our backpacks in the boot with space to spare. Nice….
We take the freeway down south towards Checheng (near Kenting National Park) and the drive it easy all the way. Even the normal roads are in good condition and the traffic flows well.
A cluster of road-side vege stalls, all sporting the same strange signs.
Along the road are a number of vege stalls but we have no idea what they are selling. We will have to stop in the next couple of days to find out.
Our hotel is on the waterfront at Checheng and we checked in at about 3:00 pm. It is not a great hotel but it is clean and comfortable and seems to have everything that we need. We have a room overlooking the fishing harbour and there is a beach just across the road. There is nothing much around so we hope that the restaurant in the hotel serves edible food as an alternative may not be readily available.
After we unpacked we headed down for a beach walk and to check out the surroundings.
The beach at Chechung.
So much for the advertised golden sands beach at the hotel. The photos in the hotel lobby are of aqua blue waters and tropical beaches. They obviously weren’t taken here!
The Boutix Hotel from the fishing harbour.The less than golden sands on the beach.
I went in to the surf up to my ankles but was amazed at the significant content of fine particles of plastic floating in the water. The sand is a muddy, river-bed colour and the water is a murky sewage colour. I don’t think that we will be swimming here.
Fine plastic granules in the ‘sand’.
Our proposed walk along the beach was very brief. The Chinese flock to the natural beach areas but are quite happy to dump their rubbish in the sea and waterways.
At least dinner in the hotel is edible but we are glad that we don’t see what ‘quality’ ingredients went into it.
This morning we are driving back to Taichung to return the hire car and take the train to Tainan. The little hire car has been very convenient and we couldn’t have seen the highland areas without it.
Although it was a bit of a rush we managed to catch the 12:12 train. It was 3 minutes late. The train is faster than driving and reasonably comfortable although there is very little room for our main suitcases. The 2-hour trip gave us time to check out the scenery on the way and just relax – and for just A$16 each.
To our amusement, each time the train stopped at a station a PA announcement of “Mind the gap” was said just like Marvin, the depressed robot in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” – by a female Alan Rickman.
The Limited Express train to Tainan.
We arrived in Tainan on time and took the 10-minute taxi ride to our hotel which is in Anping, a western suburb near the coast on the river.
Tainan, officially Tainan City, is a special municipality of Taiwan, facing the Formosan Strait or Taiwan Strait in the west and south. It is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the “Capital City” for its over 200 years of history as the capital of Taiwan under Koxinga and later Qing dynasty rule. Tainan’s complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname “the Phoenix City”.
Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company as a ruling and trading base called Fort Zeelandia during the period of Dutch rule on Taiwan. After Dutch colonists were defeated by Koxinga in 1661, Tainan remained as the capital of the Tungning Kingdom until 1683 and afterwards the capital of Taiwan Prefecture under Qing Dynasty rule until 1887, when the new provincial capital was moved to Taipei. Tainan has been historically regarded as one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, and its former name, Tayouan, has been claimed to be the origin of the name “Taiwan”.
Our hotel room is very large and has a view over the Anping Canal.
The view from our hotel room in Anping.
It would be nice to just have dinner in the hotel tonight after a travel day but the thought of a Chinese Hot Pot dinner after last night’s disaster just doesn’t seem appetising. Lynn does her magic and locates a cafe about 700 meters away that may serve food that I’d find acceptable. I am not too keen to walk that far in the 30 deg. C evening heat but Lynn drags me along.
The Reve Cafe has a surprising menu and I ordered the Paella and Lynn ordered the Black Truffle Chicken Risotto. I have to say that my Paella was better than most that I had eaten in Barcelona. Nice find Lynn! And it was worth the walk in the heat.
The Reve Cafe in Tainan..
9 September, 2017
Speaking of Barcelona, after a good night’s sleep we head down to breakfast early as we have a Skype call at 8:30 am with the Vidlers who have just arrived in Las Vegas from Barcelona as part of their 3-month holiday.
As we are finding in Taiwan, breakfast is mostly inedible so we usually take our own orange juice, yogurt and fruit. However, this hotel does have a good supply of crunchy peanut butter so breakfast this morning is peanut butter toast and we will go back to the Reve Cafe for a proper coffee after the Skype call.
Highly-doubtful signs at breakfast.
I really don’t feel like walking in the 35+ degree heat this morning for a hot coffee but the hotel has free bicycles so the plan is to ride to Reve Cafe for a coffee then ride west to the riverside park and back to the hotel along the bike path.
Buckets of Cafe Latte in air-conditioning.
The coffee at Reve is as good as the food. It is so much easier to ride here than walk. I’ll be back!
Compared with the brown water in the Canal at the hotel, here at the marina bay area it is clear and a nice cool breeze is very welcomed.
Anping Harbour.On the bike track.Photo op with the kite seller.Lin Mo-Niang Memorial Park.
The 2-hectare park sits on the south bank of the Anping Canal just at the spot where it opens into Anping Harbour. The park is dedicated to Lin Mo Niang, the human embodiment of the goddess Matsu, as she protects the sea workers and offers an image of piousness to young Taiwanese.
The bike ride was good fun so we will borrow the bikes again this evening when it cools down to head over to Anping Old Street and the Fort.
10 September, 2017
Sunday in Asia has been busy in most places that we have visited so we plan to have a rest day today and avoid the crowds and the 35+ deg. C temperatures. We still collected our bicycles and rode down to Reve Cafe for a proper coffee but on our return we stopped off at the local roller blade circuit to watch the speedy tiny tots and teenagers race around the track in sweltering heat. These kids are fit and very fast. What a great activity for the local youths.
We collected the rental car and loaded up our luggage. Driving out of Taichung was a bit nerve racking as it has been a while since I drove on the wrong side of the road and driving in Taiwan is a bit like the chaos of China with lots of motorbikes darting through the traffic. Once we escaped the Taichung ‘burbs the road narrows to a mountain track as we climb up towards the geographic centre of Taiwan.
Climbing towards Nantou County.Crossing the river at Caotun.
As we climb further in to the hills the bush is getting thicker and the road is getting narrower. It is rather nice to be back behind the wheel again and driving in the countryside.
A different wildlife sign on the road.The highland jungle.
Our next stop is only 39 km away to the South East of Taichung. We are staying at a small private hotel (almost a BnB) at Yuchi close to the Sun Moon Lake for 4 nights then at a hotel in the village of Puli which is only 12 kms away, NE of the lake.
Love to Stick Together hotel.View of wetlands from our 1st-floor room in Yuchi.
We are the only guests tonight so it will be a bit quiet here on the edge of the bush. Our host suggested a few places to eat so we head out to try and find one of the local restaurants. Our host catches up to us as we are driving out and guides us to a remote family restaurant. There is no English spoken here. The menu has no English options or pictures so it is lucky that we have mobile internet. A quick scan of the menu using Google Translate and we choose a few non-adventurous options. The food is very good and, including a large bottle of beer, the total bill comes to a very digestible TWD 420 (A$18).
Even the restaurant name is not translatable to English.
1 September, 2017
After last night’s surprisingly nice meal we are back to reality for breakfast. Sandwiches with fruit, corn and chicken all on the same sandwich is a bit of a shock to our Western taste buds. It looks like we will have to bring our own orange juice, yogurt and bananas to breakfast while we are here.
mixed fruit on bread for breakfast. No thanks.
The weather is supposed to be a very comfortable 25 deg. C today with some cloud cover and raining tomorrow. Our host has given us a few tourist suggestions so we plan to check out the area and perhaps take a boat ride on the lake and a gondola ride for a bird’s eye view of the lake and mountains.
We are hardly out of the driveway when it starts to rain. So much for the weather forecast. Change of plan. We will now just do a drive right around the lake and check out places to see when the weather improves. At least it is so much cooler than the coast.
Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan as well as a tourist attraction. Located in Yuchi Township, Nantou County, the area around the Sun Moon Lake is home to the Thao tribe, one of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan. Sun Moon Lake surrounds a tiny island called Lalu. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name. This area is classified as the geographic centre of Taiwan.
Sun Moon Lake is located 748 m above sea level. It is 27 m deep and has a surface area of approximately 7.93 km2. The area surrounding the lake has many trails for hiking.
Our first stop is at Xuanguang Pier. The rain has eased a little so we stop to take a look around.
Clear waters of Sun Moon Lake.Floating gardens on the lake.Romantic views.Xuanguang Pier.More floating gardens.Out on the Pier.Ferry boat with a prancing horse – of course.
Above the pier is the XuanguanTemple. We climbed the stairs to get a better view of the lake and thankfully the weather had cleared enough to get a wider view of the lake.
Lalu island.Our hire car for this week.
Notice the number plate on our little hire car…. RAL-2712. It stands for Rob And Lynn. Yes, get over it. Just a coincidence.
We then drove up a winding road to the Xuanzang Temple. While we were there we could see the mist rolling in at a rate of knots. Just a few minutes later and we were completely fogged in and the rain was now falling heavily.
The mist rapidly rolling in.Xuanzang Temple.
This pristine temple is named after the famous Chinese monk, Master Xuan Zang, who traveled to India in 627 AD in search of Buddha Dharma. After 18 years of intensive study he returned to China at which time he devoted the next 19 years to translating 75 books of the Buddhist Sutras and Treatises consisting of 1,335 volumes. Upon the Master’s death at 65 the emperor decreed a state funeral for this “national treasure”. We initially came across reference to this monk while we were traveling the Silk Road.
The 3rd floor of the Temple houses his “head relics” in a stupa.
One of the two temple guardians in the courtyard.The temple bell.Mist and rain obscuring the view.One bright flower in the gloom.
After dragging Lynn out of the temple we continued to the northern end of the lake to yet another temple, called the Wen Wu Temple.
Previously, two temples were located on the coast of Sun Moon Lake. In 1919, the Japanese colonial government constructed a dam to generate hydroelectric power, causing the lake’s water level to rise. The two temples were subsequently torn down and consolidated at the temple’s present location in 1938.
After the Japanese handed over Taiwan to the Republic of China in 1945, the government invested in developing tourism around the lake. Wen Wu temple was rebuilt again in 1969, increasing its size and constructing it in the Chinese palace style.
Above the Wen Wu Temple.View from the top of the temple.
The temple consists of three halls. The first hall, located on the second floor of the front hall, is a shrine devoted to the First Ancestor Kaiji and the God of Literature. The central hall is devoted to Guan Gong, the God of War, and the warrior-God Yue Fei. The rear hall is dedicated to Confucius.
Massive Chinese guardian lions are located in front of the temple, one male and one female. Lions have not been found at Wen Wu Temples in Mainland China.
The Wen Wu temple from the below.Temple prayer bells.More prayer bells lining the 366 stairs to the lake – which used to be the only access point to the temple.
This afternoon we have a Skype hook up the Ken and Helen from Brisbane. It is so nice to see some faces from home and catch up on all the Price’s comings and goings.
2 September, 2017
It is supposed to be raining heavily today but when we throw back the curtains we are met with a beautiful sunny day. We just can’t trust the weather service!
We have lots of “inside” tasks to do today so hopefully we have this nicer weather stay around for a few more days. Lunch time and it starts to rain and by 5 pm the hills are in mist and it is raining solidly.
3 September, 2017
So far this morning the weather is dry with occasional sunshine. After breakfast we took a drive into the highlands and the plan is to drive a few kilometers to Mingtan Reservoir, Checheng Railway Station and on to the Jiji Wuchang Temple ruins then into the highlands via Lugu, Guanyinshuhu and Xiangxingu. If the weather was a bit more predicable we would have gone to the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway but we will do this from Puli next week and park at the top and take the rope-way down to the lake. It is Sunday today so the place will be crowded and parking will be impossible.
A local motorcycle rider complete with safety-approved helmet.
As we suspected parking at the Reservoir and Checheng Railway Station is impossible so we may return during this next week.
The Checheng train track.
Located near Mingtan Reservoir in Nantou, Checheng is a rustic little village serving as the terminus of the Jiji tourist railroad. It was once home to a thriving timber industry, and these nostalgic trains were used to facilitate logging during the Japanese war era. As the timber industry began to decline, Checheng was abandoned, too. Today, the village has successfully restructured its tourist industry by promoting a more family-oriented scene combined with leisure and pleasure, continuing to serve as a reminder of the flourishing history of the local industry.
In the old days, the Shuili Township was a collection and distribution centre for wood in Nantou and acted as a trans-shipment point, where hundreds of handcarts were parked, hence the name Checheng (literally “trolly car yard”). In 1919, the Japanese colonisers started to construct Jiji railroad while building the hydroelectric power station at Sun Moon Lake in order to transport equipment and materials needed for the hydro power project. Serving as the terminus of the Jiji railroad, Checheng drew in a significant number of workers, which hastened the village into a prosperous town. In the 1960s, Zhenchang Logging Co. built a plant here, turning Checheng into a major hub for timber transport.
Walking around the small town of Checheng, the scenic pond once served as a log pond. Storing logs in water has the additional advantage of preventing the logs splitting from dehydration prior to milling.
Next stop is Jiji. We drove around town for a bit but there seemed to be nothing of interest here until we came across the Wuchang Temple.
The Wuchang Temple ruins – Jiji.
In 1999, a devastating earthquake struck the centre of the island, and Jiji was the nearest town to the epicenter of the quake. Wuchang Temple toppled over during the disaster.
Let’s see Lynn look inside this temple.Still standing-ish after 17 years.
After the earthquake, the temple management decided to keep the remainder of the building, leaving the upper half of the building and the ornate roof resting on the ground, and to build a brand new temple right in front.
The new temple in front of the old ruined temple.A dragon ornament on the new temple roof.
In the car park of the temple is another Taiwan idol – the God of Baseball.
Batter up! A Taiwan baseball god.
From Jiji we headed up into the mountains. We soon found out that all the city folk have come out for a drive on this Sunday and there isn’t a spare parking space on the mountain. The rain has now set in and most of the driving is in dense fog. The fog, the Sunday traffic and the locals’ lack of driving skills meant that we couldn’t really enjoy the scenery or stop and walk around the little mountain villages.
Fog on thickly-forested mountains.A stop to smell the flowers.A section of the road without traffic or fog.
It was a nice drive but may have been better without the Sunday drivers and the crowds. We arrive home at 3 pm and shortly after we have a thunderstorm.
4 September, 2017
This morning we are checking out and driving the short distance (about 12 km) to a rather nice hotel in Puli. We plan to finish visiting the areas around Sun Moon Lake and re-visit the mountain areas in sunshine and without the Sunday drivers.
The hotel in Puli is very nice with parking underneath. We also have free use of a washing machine so this afternoon we will be doing the laundry and taking a walk around town to check out restaurants and coffee shops.
The Ease Hotel in Puli.The hotel emblem.
Lynn is fascinated by the hotel mascot. A statue of an ancient Chinese Horse. Perhaps it is the fact that it has short legs and can’t run too fast that intrigues Lynn???
The view from our Puli hotel room.A view of the nearby hills in cloud from our hotel room.
It is about 35 deg. C out this afternoon so we didn’t walk too far. Just enough to see the usual funny signs and get frustrated with the cars and motorcycles parked on the footpaths.
Yummy…
5 September, 2017
Another warm and sunny morning so we do our best to be on the road early. We have a full day ahead. The plan is to drive to the Ropeway (otherwise known as a cable car) at Sun Moon Lake, then down the valley to the Chung Tai Chai Monastery followed by a drive across the mountain range that runs down the spine of Taiwan on Highway 14.
Since parking at the Sun Moon Lake is usually non-existent we planned to park at the top end of the Ropeway and do a walk at the Lake end then return back to the car.
One thing that we have learned about the Chinese….. yes, we have found our first Chine-ism in Taiwan. Although there is a very good parking area at the top end of the Ropeway you cannot just take the Ropeway from this end unless you also buy a ticket to the plastic amusement park as well. You have to drive all the way to the other end, get on the Ropeway, get off at the top and then take the Ropeway back down again.
It is a bit like that Irish joke… A man walks into a bar in a small country town in Ireland. He asks the bar tender how to get to Dublin and after a long and detailed explanation the bar tender then advises the man….”but I wouldn’t be going from here….”
So we drive all the way down to the Lake and buy a return ticket on the Ropeway to do exactly what we originally planned but in reverse. See what happens when the Chinese take over a country? Chine-isms!
The lake end of the Ropeway at Sun Moon Lake.I wonder if this is a literal translation of the Chinese?Aerial view of the Lake from the Ropeway.Back at the Ropeway Terminus at the Lake.
Since we had to start the Ropeway ride from the wrong end we now have to retrace our steps back to the Chung Tai Chai Monastery. We drive almost back at Puli since we can see the Monastery from our hotel room.
The Monastery from our hotel room.
The car park at the Monastery Museum is very large as are the grounds. This place is huge and the gardens are manicured and well laid out. This looks like another example of a superstition causing the poor to pay for the extravagant assets of the “religious organisation”. I can only imagine how beautiful Puli would be if they had spent the time and money on the town instead of on the Museum and Monastery.
The Monastery Museum with the Monastery in the background.The enormous fortress-like museum.The modern Monastery.The Museum, reminiscent of the ancient fortified city wall around Xi’an, must have cost more to build than Puli.Puli township from the Monastery.
Once we leave the superhighway of the road connecting the street to the museum we are back on the narrow and poorly-maintained Highway 14 that carries the majority of traffic across to the east coast of Taiwan.
Near the peak of the range we were a little surprised to come across Taiwanese copies of European villas. We parked at the Old England Manor which is cheek-by-jowl to the Florence Resort Villa, Shangrila Music Villa, Le Retour de Printemps Villa, the Luxembourg and, not to be out classed, the Yosemite Park BnB!
The Old England Manor in the Wushe Scenic Area.Its Restaurant was empty…Tudor design Chinese style……complete with Yurts..
By the time we reached the summit of the range we were two-thirds of the way across Taiwan. We will complete this crossing from the other side when we drive around the island in a couple of weeks.
The views from the top are pretty good and the rain this past week has settled the smoke so we have a good view down the valley. While we were taking a few photos we came across a small patisserie and coffee shop next door to The Manor so we dropped in for afternoon tea.
Nicole at the “Patisserie a La Montagne”.
The coffee was good and the pastries were a work of art.
Lynn’s lemon meringue tartlette.
The drive through the mountains was so much easier without the Sunday drivers. We finished up at the top of the range at Qingjing Farm before heading back towards Puli. The scenery was excellent although the narrow road made it difficult to stop for photos along the way. We did manage to pull over while Lynn snapped off a couple of shots of the Wan-ta reservoir. It seems that the reservoir is silting up due to the large number of landslides caused by forest clearing for agriculture in the mountains.
A silting problem in the dam.
By the time we arrived back in Puli – past numerous chicken pot restaurants and some interesting shops called ‘Master of Mushroom’ and ‘Pretty Wife Eat Cheese’ – we noticed that there were a large number of smoking braziers on the footpaths outside many homes and businesses. It seems that it is Ghost Festival today.
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, Zhongyuan Festival or Yulan Festival is a traditional Buddhist and Taoist festival held in Asian countries.
In Chinese culture, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Double Ninth Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, during Ghost Festival, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is veneration of the dead, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals (often vegetarian meals) would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the latter includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the former only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.
Burning Joss Paper outside the hotel in Puli.A pack of Joss Paper.
The number of fires in town is creating a large smoke haze so we may have poor visibility tomorrow so it was good that we managed to do some sights today. Not only are the fires causing some pollution issues, some of the fires are lit directly on the street so the bitumen is being damaged on the main road. I just can’t imagine this being tolerated back home. Thank heavens for the EPA.
6 September, 2017
We awake to a thick layer of smog so that we can’t see the hills from our room. Today we are revisiting Checheng railway, Guanyinshuhu and the Monster Village where parking was impossible last Sunday.
Checheng railway yard.Squat loos.Log pond at Checheng railway.
The village is almost deserted this morning so we take a stroll around. We go looking for a proper coffee but the best we are offered is drip coffee. No thanks, the hotel coffee was bad enough…
The old timber mill at Checheng Station.The train arrives.The river from the dam along side the station.
As we drive up the range to Guanyinshuhu area we are again driving in patches of fog. It is rather nice to be in the cool mountain air after the heat and smoke of Puli.
Mud slide warnings, prevalent in this area.
Lynn navigated us along some very small back roads until we came across a deep mud bog. Since she refused to be the one to push us out if we became bogged we did a u-turn and headed along an alternate route to the Monster Village at the end of Highway 151 past Lugu Township where we could not park on Sunday.
Funeral notices in a village on the way.
The Monster Village is a stop off point for tourists who want to hike through the Shanlinxi Forest. The village has a number of boutique hotels and the usual plastic amusements – in this case eye balls, bones, skulls, monster masks – that we have become accustomed to see attached to Chinese natural wonders.
A Torii Gate at the Monster Village. We did leave Japan, right?Live music in the village.Enjoying an ice cream at Mo Chocolate shop, Monster Village.
On our drive back to the hotel we stopped in at the Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre to check out what is left to see in the area. Tomorrow is a planned rest day unless we find anything that is a “must see” in the area.
7 September, 2017
It is going to be hot yet again today so the planned rest day is very welcomed. I have lots of photos to sort out and a few blog backlogs to finish off.
Since there only seems to be one decent coffee shop in town Lynn wants to walk the 1.2km each way for a coffee this morning. Did I mention how much I hate walking Asian city streets in the heat? Japan is good for city walks as they have controlled car and motorcycle parking and covered sidewalks but in other countries in Asia there are no pedestrian walkways and cars and motorcycles park on the footpaths so that you are forced to walk on the roadway in the heat while dodging poorly-parked vehicles and road-encroaching food preparation kitchens.
Footpaths in Puli.Coffee at 85 Deg C.
At least the coffee is good but the walk back was even hotter!
After a very restful day we are finally going to a restaurant just up the road that is highly recommended by the hotel staff as (1) it features traditional Formosan cuisine, and (2) it had been selected to host/cater for a number of high-profile events including a 2007 Presidential State Dinner and the 2008 Taiwan Gourmet Event. The Jin Dou Restaurant is only about 100 meters away and since it looks like rain it will be close enough to dash back to the hotel if we need.
Lynn requested their Paper Sugarcane Pork but was told that that dish served 10 people so we were only given one option for dinner – the banquet for two people. Since the menu was only in Chinese we didn’t have much choice. There were lots of dishes but unfortunately only one or two were anything like edible. Even the steamed rice was thick and hard.
Jin Dou Restaurant.Jin Dou Restaurant lobby.
This was the most expensive meal that we’ve had in Taiwan so far and it was disgusting. By the next morning we were both down with diarrhea. I don’t think that this restaurant will get a good review on TripAdvisor!
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