Location: Binondo, Manila, Philippines
Weather: cloudy and very muggy, 30C
In the last 12 hours or so that I have been in the Philippines I have managed to:
-Survive NAIA. There are no shortage of horror stories online but I arrived in the newish clean Terminal 3 which wasn't that bad at all.
-Haggle like a true Asian for a taxi ride to be $140, when it was posted for like 10 times that amount. Even the hostel people said people usually pay $350. This did involve walking all over the airport to find the metered taxis that will rip you less off, rejecting numerous touts. What can I say, haggling is tiring but that's SE Asia for you!
-Ride a Jeepney trying to blend in with the locals (not too hard actually considering I am so tanned) even though I had little idea where it was going. A Jeepney is sort of like a converted truck with flamboyant designs and crowded seats in the trunk bed, originating from American military jeeps. Even though they write the major stops of their routes, I still haven't figured it out completely and have been left walking a long way back to my intended destination multiple times.
-Squeeze to the bones on the LRT, which is anything but "rapid".
-Eat balut, Jolibees, mango with pepper salt (!!), amongst other street foods, so far the stomach is holding up well!
I'm going to agree with the general consensus that Manila is not the nicest as far as cities go, quite rough on the edges with the crazy traffic, pollution and in-your-face poverty. I only designated one day here before my flight to Bohol tomorrow, and originally was looking to go to the Taal Volcano down south today but the combination of waking up later than planned and the roundtrip by public transport taking something like 8 hours made me forgo the idea. Instead I simply spent the day walking around Binondo (Chinatown) and Intramuros, the fortified historic centre with Spanish colonial architecture, hopping into churches and air conditioned fast food joints often to not die from the heat. I will say that Manila's noise and prominent Western historical background makes it quite different from all the other Asian capitals I've been to; a fellow traveller I met said it was more akin to South American cities.
However, this post will recap my spontaneous trip to Lanyu, Green Island, and Xueshan in Taiwan last week. I was amidst writing an earlier post about the rest of April and May until let's just say my phone got baptized in the cold springs of Lanyu. When I get a new phone and hopefully find that post again, rest assured that it will be retro-completed. Unfortunately the lack of a phone also means I have little to no photos of these places. Or perhaps that is a blessing. Frankly, I didn't panic at all without a phone (the guy at the Green Island Visitor Centre who helped me big time and I both joked that a Japanese, and perhaps most Taiwanese, would definitely freak out and maybe even end their trip right then) as it was actually quite nice not having to worry about taking the perfect photos (which I find I don't really look at too often after the fact except to show people occasionally), checking messages and emails, and I just lived in the moment everyday. There was a lot more human interaction because if I had questions I'd just ask people rather than asking Google. I think a lot of the time we take photos for other people, to an extent to make them jealous that we were there and they weren't. As someone who values experiences and memories over any material goods in life, I believe, as I said to many friends, that eyes are always the best lens and that your brain is better than any camera.
To start, my trip to Lanyu was not without a few hilarious hiccups. For whatever reason (lack of sleep and over contemplation of other things most likely), I took the wrong train in the opposite direction on Saturday May 14th night, going to Kaohsiung instead of Taitung. This meant that I had no way of making my planned 9:15am ferry the next morning at Fugang Wharf. As soon as I realized that, I vaguely remembered you could also get to Lanyu from Houbihu Wharf down in Kenting, and after frantic exchanges of messages with the boat ticket agent (who amazingly was still awake past 12am on Sunday), I was rebooked for a 1:00pm ferry from Houbihu. And so that is how I end up accidentally circumnavigating Taiwan again, spending a few hours chilling on the beaches of Kenting. The ferry ride itself was 2.5 hours, about the same time from both terminals, and quite rocky, reminiscent of the ferry ride to Heron Island in Australia, but scenic and filled with flying fish performances. Even though I normally don't get seasick, I took motion sickness pills just to be safe and still felt a bit wheezy.
Once on Lanyu, it was my mission to find a rental bike, which fortunately didn't take too long as the guy I asked went about calling his friends until he got a working one for me. For the type of weather (including a monsoon) and terrain (steep, steep 10%+ grade hills) I rode though all over the island, I have to really thank my stars that this cheap department store type bike held through the whole time.
On the first afternoon, I went off counterclockwise without a plan, stopping at Qing Qing Meadows just in time for the sunset before finding a wonderful backpacker's inn for the night in the east coast village of Hongtou, where I ended up staying for two nights. Over the next 2.5 days, I splashed around in the cold springs (my absolute favourite place on Lanyu despite it being the death location of my phone), rode around the coast checking out all the interesting rock formations, swam in the ocean (so much so that my skin started peeling although that might be sun-related too), traversed over the coral rocks coming face to face with sea snakes amongst other marine organisms, visited the Tao tribe's underground dwellings, climbed up to the Lighthouse, Small Heaven Lake (which was dry) and Large Heaven Lake, scuba dived through this hole 20m below the ocean, and most of all, ate enough flying fish for a lifetime. And yes I did have time to nap on the beach too. It was in the middle of flying fish season so the local Aborigines go out to fish every night and you could see all the fish hanging to dry on racks everywhere. On my last night I camped at a pavilion by the cold springs, and let's just say I had the most random conversation with a drunkard who insisted on telling me all of his life troubles before coming back to bring me a bunch of flying fish.
The lack of development, authentic natural beauty, and the sincerity of the people I met makes Lanyu such a hidden slice of paradise and now I think my favourite place in Taiwan, even though it resembles little of the rest of Taiwan. How does one go back to living in Taipei, or any urban city for that matter, after going to Lanyu?
On the 2 hour boat ride to Green Island I met two Taiwanese sisters who were biking around Taiwan, using the same rental bike that I had! We also witnessed one of the biggest whales I've ever seen! Arriving at Green Island, which was overrun with commercial establishment like the Taiwan that I knew, on Wedsneday afternoon was quite the cultural shock for me. Here comes part two of the bike searching bonanza. For some reason this guy who was waiting at the terminal as soon as my boat docked, initially wanting to rent me his scooters, was very keen to help me find a bike even when I told him I had no interest in a scooter. So off we went asking multiple shops and homestays, sadly without luck, and we were just about to give up as I told him to drop me off at the main food strip when we stumble upon a homestay undergoing renovations with some bikes parked out in front. We asked the owner who let me try the best bike amongst them and I couldn't believe my luck because not only did this bike have gears that work well (much better than the Lanyu one), it was actually a touring type bike with a rack, panniers and even disc brakes. On top of this he didn't really care how much he charged me for it so we just settled for $100/24 hours which to me was ridiculously cheap. I felt like I've won the lottery! To celebrate I had some sea grass shaved ice, which was very expensive as most things on Green Island but was sort of a local must-try delicacy. As it got dark, I rode off to the Lighthouse, which the scooter guy had recommended a good spot for wild camping because even the only campground on the island charged $400/person, and before long was settled in my bivy along a beautiful stretch of sand on the beach. Earlier that night, people kept coming for night shore excursions where they looked for nocturnal animals in the tidal pools, and I secretly laughed at a few of them who thought I was an animal (just like when I camped at a school playground on my bike trip across Canada) or commented that this (as in what I was doing) was what life was really about (not to sound arrogant but I agree!). I ended camping both nights of Green Island on the beach, the second night at a more secluded area called Swallow's Cave (it was where a lot of the past prisoners were cremated and buried, and this should have freaked me out more but didn't really as I generally don't believe in ghosts). It was windy but otherwise perfect weather and I wouldn't have chosen any other accommodation.
Quite a bit of my time on Green Island, which geographically and geologically is similar to Lanyu but that's about it, was spent at the two prisons that used to hold "political criminals" during the White Terror Period (1949-1987) of Taiwan, when the KMT released widespread propaganda, heavily restricted the freedom of speech and captured those who had different ideas than the government (proving that history does repeat itself over and over again). I had no idea about this bit of history, in fact, even the museum staff say they don't really teach this in the schools in Taiwan, and so it was very eye-opening seeing how the prisoners lived in captivity and was brainwashed with political lessons. Of course I did also hit on all the coastal rock formations, hike up mountains, soak in the Zhaori seawater hotspring (one of only three in the world), and the most funny of all, experience a Taiwanese-style guided snorkelling excursion where we were all tied into one chain by lifesaver rafts that the guide would control. To make up for the zero freedom of movement, we did see some fantastic underwater life and the third largest mushroom coral in the world just a short ways off the coast.
Saying goodbye to Green Island, I had a few hours to kill in Taitung (in the middle meeting one of the few foreign English teachers living in Taitung on the bus and hearing all about life there) before my late night train (this time there is no room for mistake to take the wrong train haha), so I went into the city with just enough time to stroll the night market, buy food for my hiking trip, and get an opinion on the salvage probability of my phone (he was super nice and even cleaned the corroded insides of my phone for free but did ultimately give me false hope). I arrived in Luodong, Yilan just before 3am (super nervous about missing the stop and since I didn't have anything to set an alarm I barely slept), where I slept-waited for my 7am bus to Wuling Farm at nothing other than a 7-11. The longer you live in Taiwan, the more you depend on them and realize how essential they are in daily life. Consequently I spent most of the 3 hour bus ride up the mountain asleep. At the bus stop in Wuling Farm, it was another 7km walk along the road to the Xueshan trailhead but fortunately this shuttle bus driver offered to drive me about 3km within minutes after I started walking, even waiting while I sorted out the permit at the police station. I was a bit worried that the National Park staff wouldn't let me hike alone but it turned out to be no problem at all as the Xueshan route is very easy, well marked and well travelled. Some time a bit after noon on Saturday May 26th, I started hiking up, reaching the 369 Hut in a little over 3 hours where I would be spending the night. Everyone who met me exclaimed the fact that I was alone, and yes I guess this was my first time tackling a high mountain solo, but the trail was honestly so dummy proof and easy there was no way to get lost. Along the way I met a Taiwanese-Canadian who was back in Taiwan studying medicine, and asked her if she could send photos of me at the East Peak of Xueshan (3201m), where on Saturday afternoon you could see cloud-shrouded bits of the magnificent Xueshan ranges.
Being a weekend, the hut was packed with Taiwanese hiking groups, who all like to wake up at 2-3am to go climb the main peak for the sunrise, exactly like at Yushan, even though there was again no sunrise the next morning. When I woke up around 5:30am on Sunday, there was hardly anyone at the hut and I could enjoy the brief serenity of being in the mountains. Around 6:30am, I started up towards the second highest mountain of Taiwan, and arrived at the 3886m Xueshan Main Peak in a bit over 1 hour with a much lighter pack. For the first time (okay maybe second after biking through the monsoon on Lanyu but that was exciting to say the least) this week, the weather didn't cooperate and I could see nothing but fog at the top. Chilly photos later, again borrowing other people's cameras and appealing to them to send them to me, I scratched my originally plan of going a bit along the Holy Ridge to the North Peak and just went down and up a slippery scree at times to Cui Pond, the highest body of water in Taiwan. I guess this was the only part of the entire hike where something could have gone bad especially since I was completely alone, but I didn't really think about it too much at the time.
Returning to the hut I still had a good part of the day even though it was raining outside with pretty bad visibility, so I slowly made lunch, took a nap, and then walked as leisurely as I could down to the lower Qika Hut where I was spending my second night, realizing now that it was possible to do this just in 2 days and make the bus down, even though it would be definitely more rushed. I got to Qika Hut around 4pm, and was insisted by the other hikers to eat their dinner even though I'd just cooked mine. Later a big school group of children arrived to fill the hut, but I didn't care and still managed to crash around 7pm. Over these two days, I saw more of how Taiwan's convenience makes people lazier. People could sign up for these hiking trips and not pay very much for porters, mainly Aborginals, to carry their stuff and cook for them. To me this kind of takes the meaning out of hiking; if you can't be self sufficient on a hike maybe you're not ready to do it just yet,
The next morning (again many had already left to go up when I woke up at 5am) I walked the last 2km down to the trailhead and because it was still very early decided to make a jaunt for the Taoshan Waterfall. I managed to hitch a ride partially with one of the aforementioned porters going off to do the Wuling Sixiu for another group, even though he told me that I wouldn't have enough time to do this. Leaving my pack at the entrance of the trail, I speedwalked to the waterfall, which I think was definitely worth going to, and ran back down all in about 1.5h. Eventually I did still have lots of time before the 2:10pm bus and was walking back long the road towards the bus stop when an empty bus stopped to pick me up. It turned out to be one of the buses that transported the school group, and the driver was a super experienced hiker, having climbed like everything in Taiwan as a guide and enthusiastically chattered on and on about his experiences. Then he said that he and his partner, the other bus driver chartered by the school group, were going to Lishan, a scenic area about 40min away famous for growing fruits like pears, apples and peaches, and staying there for two nights because the school group wouldn't be coming down until two days later, and asked if I wanted to tag along. We checked the bus time from Lishan to Luodong, after ensuring that it would work out for me, it was a no brainer to join them as I had nothing to do anyways. The weather was much better that day with glimpses of blue skies and sunshine (if only this had been yesterday), and I had a beautiful scenic ride to Lishan with the most knowledgeable guide pointing out everything. For the 3 hours or so at Lishan, we had lunch together and the drivers kept chatting about their hikes and travels right up until I had to get on the public bus back.
So once again, Taiwan proves to be the best place in the world for hitchhiking. And the spontaneous life continues, who knows what's going to happen in the Philippines tomorrow?
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