Location: on the train on the way from Taipei to Xincheng
Weather: 16C, showers
Finally there are some signs of fall here! Last week for two days it got down to 13-14C and it was fun watching my coworkers with their big thick jackets and even hand warmers. I put on long pants and a jacket for the first time.
Currently I'm on my way to Taroko Gorge with a group of American visitors who came to Taiwan for a bicycle tour of the east coast. The bike tour company contracted our travel company to help arrange some of the transportation and I got to do a few of the airport pickups. Tomorrow and the rest of this weekend I'll have the free time to go travelling in Hualien and Yilan so stay tuned for that in the next post.
November 14th, I hiked up to the Maokong Gondola region on the edge of Taipei, which is famous for growing tea leaves, a big industry in Taiwan. I learned about the different types of tea at the tea promotion center and had lunch of fried rice made with tea oil. Towards the end of the day, I stumbled upon a trail to a small waterfall with a very interesting cliffside temple. The next day, I went hiking with my coworker Irene to another place called Huangdidian in Shiding. There was quite a bit of scrambling with ropes and chains and a really fun ridge walk. We met a big group of hikers from Taichung who came up all the way here for a day trip so it must of kind of famous.
I took two days off on Nov. 19 and 20th, and with that weekend, went to climb Yushan, at 3952m, the highest mountain in Taiwan AND east Asia (all of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong). We took an overnight bus from Taipei to Chiayi on Nov. 18th, arriving at 2:30am and then slept for 3 hours at the Chiyayi Train Station before taking the first public bus to Alishan and then a shuttle car to the trailhead at Tatajia, around 2600m. On the first day, we made it up to Paiyun Lodge, 8.5km and about 3400m elevation. The trail was very easy for something pretty high. In Canada you would almost definitely need tools to climb mountains of that height even in the summer. We were a bit worried about altitude sickness having not acclimatized at all, so we walked fairly slowly and took lots of breaks. In the end I was completely fine save for a few instances of shortness of breath. Once again I was amazed with how developed the National Parks of of Taiwan is. Paiyun Lodge not only had running water, electricity, but also people, mostly Taiwanese Aboriginals, cooking meals for you and wifi! On my actual birthday (Taiwan time), we summited the north and main peaks, making it a memorable birthday! The north peak has the highest weather station in east Asia and it was cool talking to the 3-4 meteorologists working there. Just about everyone who climbs Yushan goes up to the main peak to see the sunrise, but we made the smart decision of not doing so because we wanted to sleep in (they get up around 3am for the sunrise) and it was raining both mornings (but the clouds magically parted partially in the afternoon of the summit day). On the way back to Taipei, we stopped for a night in Alishan, a touristy scenic national forest area where people go to watch the sunrise over Jhushan, ride the little train which was originally built by the Japanese for logging, and appreciate some of the oldest and largest trees of Taiwan.
This past Saturday, I went out for an overdue longish bike ride to the north coast in preparation for my bike tour of Taiwan in January. The rolling hills north of Danshui were a bit of a shock to the legs with Taipei being so flat, but the seaside views are beautiful and I was so happy to be out cycling again. I saw quite a few people surfing and windsurfing out in the wavy waters.
On Sunday I went to a Meetup hike along Marian Hiking Trail in Jiaoxi, Yilan. In the beginning we saw the popular three tiered Wufengqi waterfalls. This trail starts at a Catholic Church located along the hillside and winds up a mountain where there's a cross at the end. Very interesting and apparently it used to be a pilgrimage route. There is also a well maintained cabin at the peak which is free to use and would make a great easy weekend hiking trip.
Work wise I've been out on a few more Danshui walking tours and even successfully led my first Ningxia Night Market tour independently. I've learned that unfortunately I won't be able to coming back to work here in 2016 after my bout of travels so December 18th (yikes, just two weeks!) will be my last day. Definitely a bit of uncertainly and lots of planning for these next few months but I'm excited for whatever that's to come!
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