The next week began with a trip to a public hot springs in the north of the city at an area called Xin Beitou. I went up with housemate Shaun, Xin Beitou is a pretty cool area of the Taipei, it had a real village vibe. Set into the hills, was a large steaming pool of green coloured hot spring water, the sign nearby informed us happily that the water there contained traces of the radioactive element Radium, which was apparently good for health and well being and gave the waters a green tinge…hmmmmm not to sure about that!
The long line of locals waiting for the afternoon session at the public baths convinced us it was safe enough. The springs were in three sections on a small hill. Moving up from the bottom of the hill temperatures were hot, very hot and “holy shit that’s hot”. There was also a cold plunge pool set to the side. Making my way up the hill gradually I managed to stay in the mega hot section for about 2 minutes before I got out looking like I had spent a week in Benidorm with no sun screen.
Was watched by a laughing local the whole time I was in there…god knows how long he was in the water for but I could see him laughing at me as I grimaced with the heat on initial entry and then laughing again as I got up quickly to leave 2 mins later fighting to stop from passing out from the heat….I jumped straight in the cold pool instantly , an amazing sensation!,………… doesn’t feel cold at all at first but you can actually feel the improvements to your circulation straight away as a tingling sensation all over…..After the springs we went to a local restaurant and got a great dish of beef noodle soup, felt amazingly healthy afterwards…will def miss the hot spring culture in Taiwan.
Later we met up with Shaun’s girlfriend Ting and they showed me round some great food stalls in the famous Shilin night market…had some tasty snacks…after initially being cautious with food in Taiwan ( have never been a great fan of Chinese cuisine I must admit) have grown to really like what is on offer and will def miss some of the more interesting purchases on offer. One example we had that night being Frog Egg Tea, an iced green tea with tapioca sugar cream and ice…sounds pretty disgusting I know, but really grows on you after a few tries.
The next morning got up early to catch a train to the southern city of Chiayi and the beginning of a week long hiking/camping trip with Rob and Steph. The journey was fast enough esp. as I slept through most of it ( had to get up at 630 to catch the train, it was the first day of Chinese new year and the only seat available that day to Chiayi was on the 8am slow train).
Arrived in Chiayi in the early afternoon and instantly noticed a different vibe than Taipei, There was much less of an English influence with nearly all the signs written in mandarin. Also the weather was noticeably better in the south, the sun was shining on my face for practically the first time since I arrived in Taiwan 4 weeks ago….
Chilled in the park for a few hours next to yet another cool Chinese style temple and then met up with Rob’s friend Tiffany who was back home to Chiayi from Taipei for Chinese new year. We met up with Rob soon after, he had driven his scooter down from Taipei doing about 40miles per hour on average…took him about 14 hours over 2 days to make the journey. This fact that always drew laughter from the locals over the next week when they asked where he had come from. The general consensus was that no one in their right mind would make the journey from Taipei by scooter when you could do it in 3 hours by train. I always made an effort to heighten the situation by laughing heartily along with the locals at Rob’s fool heatedness…
Rob had driven down so as to have his own scooter to drive round the national parks we were going to visit. Myself and Steph would be renting. I had only had one attempt at driving a scooter in Taipei before that week and had been dismayed to realize it was much harder than I thought to maintain balance, speed and direction. .Seemed so easy when riding on the back with someone else driving.
Rob, tiffany and myself went out for a drive round some quiet lake roads so I could get some practice on Rob’s bike while he shared with Tiff. Okay ……after a couple minutes realised it was just like riding a bike but without having to pedal…..felt prepared for quiet mountain roads ..although driving into traffic in Chiayi later ,on the wrong side of the road with no knowledge of the highway code was a bit hair raising….
That evening we were joined by Steph and stayed a Tiffany’s parents house, where we were treated to a great home cooked meal while getting drunk with her parents….A really great experience seeing a Taiwanese family in Situ…thanks to Tiff for her hospitality and for getting us a great deal on the scooter rentals…
Next morning we picked up our bikes for the week and drove out from town into the country side towards Alishan national park….The sun was out and the scenery was looking very tropical,…… feeling more confident on the bike I began to relax and enjoy the environment we were in. We drove uphill un till around 4pm and found a great place to camp near a public footpath that stretched over a long suspension bridge over a river. There were hardily any public campsites in the areas we were going , most locals would do day trips by car or bus or go on packaged tours….
The campsite we found way perfect, close to a water source with a public table and benches nearby and a good little wooded area in a bamboo forest where we could set up tent without being seen….Sat round the campfire on that first night and made some noodles on a wood burning camp stove in total isolation.
Next morning we did a quick walk around the local trails. The mountain areas of Taiwan tend to be populated by the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the island who appear more Polynesian in features than the urban population who have migrated from mainland China….Walked through a few forest trails running through bamboo woods and visited an aboriginal town to buy supplies.
That afternoon we drove to our next destination, a mountain town 2 hours drive up the road. By this time was really enjoying the scootering and the mountain views we passed along the way were breathtaking. On arrival we found another place to camp, on the side of a disused maintenance trail on the edge of town, then headed into town to get a good meal and hang out at the local 7-11 which had a few seats where you could drink cans of beer and pick up a wi-fi connection.
Later in the evening we did a flashlight lit night walk along a raised wooden trail through the adjacent bamboo forest… a really cool environment to be in …felt eerily calm , when coming back into town we seemed to wake up all the livestock in the area including loud barking dogs and Roosters…hmm bet the locals weren’t too impressed with these crazy white people who were camping in the woods even though there were plenty of hotels in town……
Headed back to the campsite around 10 and ate super noodles round the campfire. We had to make the fire 10 meters up the road that night as Robs scooter had drained petrol in the area surrounding the tent. The three of us had an uncomfortable nights sleep later as the tent was pitched on uneven ground and sloped to the side, meaning you would constantly wake up in the night curled up in the bottom corner of the tent with petrol fumes in your nose, and then have to inch your way slowly up the slope in your sleeping bag to lye flat again.
The next morning we stashed all the camping gear in the woods and then set out on a 12km round trip hike over the mountain and back again. The trail was one of the most naturally diverse I have ever hiked….we went up steeply through the woods sometimes on steps and sometimes just scrambling over lose rock before walking along a flattish trail that stretched for a long section through mixed bamboo and fir woods…really amazing environment with some amazing mountain and tea plantations along the way.
Next we went down a long section of steps to get to the next town and halfway point of the walk at the bottom of the adjoining valley to our campsite…took about 4 hours to walk there and we pretty much had to turn straight back in order to be home by dark….Did meet one cool local guy called Kevin before we left who worked for a tea wholesalers….He gave us a cup of tea and some free tea bags while we quizzed him about the local area.
Walking back up that long series of steps was killer, at one point they were about as long and steep as the path into Mordor. We made good time afterwards though, and only had to use flash lights for the last decent towards our campsite……This provided an amazing treat towards the end in the appearance of a number of fireflies in the woods, an awesome spectacle, good thing we started late or else we would have been back before dark and missed them.
That evening I had a cold shower in the public toilets near the bamboo forest we had walked through the previous evening …no one was around and the site was secluded so stripped off and used the outside sink to fill a 2 litre water bottle a few times and get myself clean…felt so cold after but it was worth it to get ride of the 2 days of grime and campfire smoke that had covered my body from wearing the same clothes constantly night and day.
Felt like a new man after and headed into town to drink a few cheap cans at the 7-11.
That night we moved our campsite to a better location just down the hill and had a great fire using the dead bamboo trees from the woods. Bamboo is amazing for fires though it burns very quickly it lights up easily and gives of a lot of energy and heat.
The next day we had a lazy start and then drove our scooters to Alishan national park forest recreation area. This was a couple of hours up the mountains from where we had been camping and after another really enjoyable scooter ride we entered noticeably colder temperatures near the mountain top. Once inside the park we drooped off our bikes and got the mountain train to a really cool forest walk with another amazing temple along the way ( see photo). Had to rush the second half of the trail to get the last train back to the park gates at 430pm….was a really amazing site, too bad we got up so late or else we could have had more time to explore…..
After getting back on the bikes we did an incredible drive down the other side of the mountain to a hot spring town called Dongu. The ride was about 3.5 hours but the weather conditions were crazy…Not long after we left Alishan the mountain was enveloped by a freezing fog which limited visibility severely on the steeply winding down hill section…The road was in a bad state of repair due to the constant landslides in the area meaning it was slow going all the way down but really exciting in a spooky way.
By the time we reached Dongu we were all freezing our tits off and almost out of fuel. Due to a lack of suitable campsites and cheap accommodation in the area we ended up getting a moderately priced room in town for 3 people that had a hot spring Jacuzzi bath tub built in .We would use it in turns after a good meal in the hotel restaurant. A great way to recover from 3 nights in a cramped tent and 3 hours of freezing cold mountain scootering ( a scene from dumb and dumber is the best way to describe how cold it was on those bikes) . Had a few beers then filled the bath tub with piping hot mineral water straight from the mountain and then turned on air jets and relaxed for 45 mins….Bliss!.
We all slept like logs that evening ……..
The next morning we parked our scooters near the foot of another mountain trail near town, stashed our un needed baggage in the woods and then set out on the Jade mountain trail for an overnight hike in Youshan national park….This hike was probably the best I have ever done due to the danger factor….Recent landslides had weakened the mountain trail that was often only 2 feet wide between the rock face and a 200 hundred foot drop….we climbed high into the mountains along steep ledges and rickety bridges above canyons until we reached a waterfall in the early afternoon. This was as far as most of the locals would go as the remainder of the trail was official closed due to rockslides….however the local Aboriginal population still used the trails so we decided to press on…..after crossing various scree slides and passing a few more water falls we reached a series of cutbacks that lead high up the slopes along and impressive river valley with Jade Mountain’s summit in the distance.
We reached a flat wooded section in mid afternoon and stashed the remainder of our equipment after spending 20 minutes choosing a campsite. After carrying on up the trail for 200 meters we reached a hiking lodge that was open, empty and free to use, with no other hikers risking the trail was the perfect place to spend the night and we decided to move camp to the new location….
After carrying on up the trail for 5 minutes we came to a new rockslide where the whole trail had been swept down the mountain and was now replaced by a slope of loose rubble above a nasty drop. We slowly made our way over the scree one by one with loose stones sliding under our feet and down the slope before dropping 100 meters to a rock lined river below….probably the most dangerous thing I have done on the trip…not a good place to fall. After we were all safely over the hazard the trail evened out moved away from the cliffs and passed over a few more waterfalls as it ran through a wooded section.; Another couple of hours walking in these conditions and we had to turn back in order to reach the lodge again by nightfall. Just as we did we heard the sound of voices on the trail above us and were shortly passed by a group of Aboriginal guys from the village 5km up the hill. They were all built like brick shit houses and were walking all the way to Dongu that evening to sell goods in the new year festivities. They walked on in front of us but we passed them some time later on the trail smoking and talking with none of the urgency we showed to get off the road by night fall.
As we approached the dangerous rock fall section for a second time we discussed the safest way to traverse the scree for some time. We stood studying the hill after arriving but were soon passed again by the aboriginal guys who simply walked straight over the scree section like it was a small sand dune at a beach…they kicked loose rocks out of the way and over the mountain when necessary with their seemingly in appropriate foot wear of Wellington boots…
Hmmm ……we followed them over the trail cautiously and found that it was now considerably firmer than before they had crossed and manipulated it with their feet…felt a bit stupid for spending so much worry on that section but hell those guys have lived their whole lives on the mountain…...anyway we were all safe!
We got back to the lodge before nightfall and got a roaring bamboo and hard wood fire going in the fire hearth outside…had a good meal of pasta and de hydrated veg and listened to Led Zeppelin under the stars on laptop. We were all pretty beat that night and retired early. I spent about 15mins outside after the others had crashed and watched the stars while listening to the animal sounds of the jungle forest around me. One of the most poignant moments of the trip for me, really felt like I was a long way from home crossing into uncharted territory travel wise.
The next morning we got up early after a cold and uncomfortable night in the mountain lodge..got going soon after breakfast and the sun was soon shining in the valley and warming our bones. The walk back down the mountain was amazing with some absolutely stunning mountain views ( see various photos) we were met near the bottom of the trail by a large group of Aboriginal adolescents who cheered our arrival like we had just climbed Everest…. Hilarious!………….One of the best hikes I have ever done and one of the most rewarding will definitely be a highlight of the entire trip.
After recovering our stashed equipment and packing up the scooters had about a 3 hour drive to our next destination of Shitou, a mountain nature recreation area to the north.
We ended up driving separately on the way there, meaning I was driving a and navigating by myself…..really enjoyed the freedom of the road…will def endeavour to travel by motorbike in the future…..after negotiating some crazy traffic in a town on the way managed to find the small highway I needed to take to Sitou. An amazing ride along low palm tree lined paddy fields with mountains in the background.( see photo) Passed through a few villages along the way and stopped frequently for photos and to say hi to the locals..
When I did eventually reach the mountain road to Shitou there was a massive tail back of cars and tour busses… Chinese new year is the only public holiday in the year for the Taiwanese and popular destinations are known to get hellishly busy…..no problem for me though… simply drove around them on the side of the road and was straight to the top in no time…another reason to take 2 wheels rather than 4.…..think ive been converted!
Once we had all met up at the recreation ground we found a cheap public campsite with good facilities and a local Japanese style market nearby….Drank a good few beers from the local family market and sat round our last campfire till late before crashing.
Next morning Rob made his was back to Taipei while Steph and I drove our bikes back to Chiayi and then caught the high-speed train back to Taipei. Was back home by 10pm and totally exhausted with tonnes to do before leaving Taiwan the next evening on a flight to Thailand….
Still after washing my wood smoked clothes and taking a Doyle style odyssey shower felt amazing. Was one of the best camping trips of my life, physically demanding at times but felt in great shape after. The trip was a good contrast to the modern urban living of Taipei and considering I had barely explored the full set of natural environments the island had to offer in the time I was there was a testament to what an amazing little country Taiwan actually is.
So I retired that night feeling good about life and looking forward to a new challenge the next day………
Still time for one more drama though,…….. after falling asleep with my laptop on my bed, woke up went to the toilet and then accidentally sat on it heavily when getting back under the covers..heard a loud noise upon impact but wasn’t too concerned as I had been travelling with it unprotected for some tome with no problems……..Upon turning it on to inspect though I wasn’t so blasé. A large crack in the LCD screen rendered the monitor useless…Argggghhh … I cursed myself, and with less than 24 hours before I had to fly out wasn’t sure whether I could get it fixed before heading to a totally new city in Bangkok. Luckily my laptop was made by a Taiwanese company and that gave me some hope I could get a replacement LCD in the morning…
Next day got up at the crack and went to the electronics mall in the centre of town…luckily they had it fixed in 3 hours, but it wasn’t cheap. With time running out didn’t have the option of shopping around for better quotes….the replacement price will see me eating street food only in s/e Asia but should serve as a stern reminder to me to take better care of my stuff…..in any case was just glad it was fixed as the pc had a lot of important stuff on it I couldn’t access and was vital for the rest of the trip….
That afternoon the sun was beaming down in Taipei and the winter conditions of just over a week ago seemed like a thing of the past…felt like I was leaving prematurely, just as the city was getting into the swing of things……but a few hours later I was on a bus to the airport and my budget flight to Bangkok, to begin another chapter in my travel story.
Taiwan Summary
What a great little Island Taiwan is! The people a super friendly , you can make a decent living as an English speaking westerner and there is a varied an dramatic natural landscape throughout the Island. Really enjoyed my time in Taipei catching up with old friend and making new ones, while learning about Chinese history and culture. Its great to know there are good employment opportunities there if needed in the future. And considering that I was in Taiwan in the worst time of the year weather wise, and still had such a good time, I can imagine the place is even better in summer.
Did feel like 5 weeks was only enough time to scratch the surface of the country with so much on offer, but had some great experiences including teaching kids, learning to scooter and doing some incredible hiking….
Okay I’m now running over budget and about to hit S/E Asia where the mantra will now be “cheap as possible” in all actions taken….Though I am looking forward to roughing it a bit again India style too after having such a chilled and relaxing time in Taiwan……Thailand here we go!
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