Location: on the train returning to Taipei from Fulong
Weather: during the day, sunny and humid 26C
It's been a busy two weeks (especially the last!) but busy in a really good way as I'm learning and doing a lot more both at work and outside. I just booked my flight to Bangkok in December, so it's official, I'm going to spend Christmas and New Years in SE Asia! I also have some special plans in November but a few very important details still need to be confirmed so I don't want to crack the egg too soon!
Today I went for a hike on the Caoling Historic Trail from Dali to Fulong, which is so far my favourite hike in Taiwan, despite it being all concrete stairs. This trail used to be the only connection between Danshui and Yilan. November just happens to be silver grass blooming season so it was I assume extra busy especially with today's good weather. I ended up sidetracking onto the Taoyuan Valley Trail and the ridge walks were absolutely breathtaking. I would have followed it all the way if it hadn't been the opposite direction that I needed to go.
Along the way I received multiple warnings to not walk too far (compared to Canadians the Taiwanese are a lot more safety-oriented, tend to way overestimate walking time, and less comfortable with the concept of exploring as you go), talked to an experienced Kiwi mountaineer who proceeded to tell me all of his stories of mountain climbing in BC, and found a stream to soak my feet and cool down. I ended up in the seaside town of Fulong which is famous for their bento boxes (used to be sold only on trains) so I had to try one. The beach there is so-so (and you have to pay admission!), although they say it's good for surfing. You walk over this long arch bridge to get to the paid beach but I found a small free beach by the temple.
Yesterday I helped out a group of guests from Hong Kong who were in Taiwan for a team building retreat. I was responsible for planning and leading a little bike tour along the Danshui River. It was a really good learning experience as I found out how difficult it was to keep together a group of 14 people of different cycling abilities, even with their tour guide helping. In the afternoon they went to Songshan Creative and Cultural Park to partake in some DIY glassblowing and cup holder making, and once I again I saw how popular and varied DIY was here.
This past Thurday I tagged along a cruise tour (as part of my task to market research cruise passengers) with some very nice visitors from the UK and US. We went to Yehliu Geo Park (an area on the northeast coast of Taiwan with various interesting-looking sandstone formations created by the force of plate tectonics), Jiufen, Gold Falls (so called because the water used flow with an abundance of gold, reminds very much of the Fraser Canyon gold rush), and Zhongzhen Park in Keelung (where a large Buddha watches over the Keelung Port to protect the incoming migrants and fishermen). Our awesome tour guide Airy broke down the introduction of Taiwan to four different things and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing them here:
1. Scooter/motorcycles (for the most part, they drive carefully and follow traffic rules, but they constantly cut from the sidewalk to the road so accidents do happen often as well)
2. Convenience stores (open 24hours, at every corner and selling everything you can possibly need)
3. Betel nut shops (This is something I've only read about in books prior to coming here. It's a strong stimulant used by truck drivers, construction workers or other job positions with very long strenuous hours. It's green and you chew it until it becomes red before spitting it out. Unfortunately long term use leads to oral cancer, and this is commonly seen with the shop owners)
4. Temples (Taoist temples are distinguished from Buddhist temples by their intricate, handcrafted colourful roofs, as the latter are much plainer looking)
Also this past week I attended two different Live as Local projects that our company is hoping to launch. One is a walking tour led by previously homeless individuals introducing an area of Taipei from the eyes of someone who used to live on the street; the other is a lion dance troupe, the oldest in Taipei I think. Both are original and potentially well-liked ideas so it will be very interesting to see how things turn out.
Contrary to this weekend, weather the last weekend was full of the wet stuff. We had already postponed a camping trip from the weekend before for the same weather reason so we were going to go regardless. In the end, we got lost looking for the trailhead on Saturday, and by the time we found it, it was too late so we ended up going just to Sanxing to eat green onion pancakes, vowing to come back and tackle the trail in a day trip the next day. It turned out to be the best decision we could have made as it continued pouring overnight and many people we met coming down on Sunday said their tents flooded. The trail is one of the muddiest I have ever been on and I was so thankful to be wearing rain boots, which apparently the Aborginal Taiwanese hike with all the time.
I'll leave you some cows and waterfalls from hikes at Yangmingshan and Sandiaoling the weekend of Oct. 24-25!
