New Year Hike

It seems strange that already a year has passed so quickly as last year's trip to Maolin still feels so recent. I have almost completed my fourth year here in Taiwan, and I was only meant to come here for one!

So to this trip, with the Joy girls, Noria and Elsie (from my previous job) we arranged to go on a trip to a hot spring. The guide we had is the same one as from when we went River tracing last summer. His website has lots outdoor trips, unfortunately it's all in Chinese!

We had planned to go to a hot spring in Taidong, but a couple of days before we set off, I got a call from Elsie who told me that the guide had told her that the spring we planned to go to had been destroyed and that we were now going to a hot spring in Hualian. However, to get to this hot spring we had to cross a river several times. The guide assured us that the water level would be knee deep, but it was best to put all of our clothes in plastic bags before packing them into our backpacks.

So on New Year's eve, after going to a Japanese restaurant with a couple of friends, and then straight onto a barbecue restaurant with a different group of friends, and then onto bar to see another group of friends, I went home at 1am to wake up at 4am.

So this is Noria, me and Elsie getting our ride at 4.30am. After a 6 or 7 hour journey to Hualian we begin to prepare for the hike.
















With the other members of the group. As you can see, everyone except the two other guys were wearing long trousers.









At this point I must have realised that the water level was going to be more than knee high!





















As many hikers go to this hot spring, they had set up ropes which proved really helpful when having to fight the current. As you can tell from my face, the water was cold, but it didn't deter any of us.









Being tall does have it advantages! Everyone was getting soaked, but I stayed dry waist-up.









Once we crossed the river the views really became amazing and made getting cold and wet worthwhile.









At this section, the current was particularly fast flowing. The guide told us it was best to jump in, but we were all rather hesitant as this was a lot deeper than waist deep and none of us really felt like getting soaked further as the sun was beginning to set and so there would be no chance to dry off.









This is Elsie crossing


And then Noria, who was not at all happy as she had gotten immersed up to her neck!!


After this section, there was another two hours of hiking, but none of us could really be bothered to take out our cameras, all we wanted to do was to change out of our wet clothes and eat some food.

So, skipping ahead, we reached the camping area which was a rocky section by the river. So first thing we had to do was to clear the area of rocks to set up our tent. We managed to get every rock out except this pointy one, which was far too deep and large to be moved.
Once our tent was up, we changed clothes and got ready to eat some delicious warm food. I was pleasantly surprised that our guides were able to cook up a feast which was delicious.









And after eating, I headed off to put my feet in the hot spring. Even though the water was hot, I wasn't in the mood to get wet again that day.
The area was covered in these tiny frogs which had no trouble dealing with the hot water from the springs.









After warming our feet, we headed to our tent to get some deserved sleep. However, that was not to be, right next to us a bunch of guys had set up a dining area for themselves and they had plans to stay up till past 1am (as one guy so kindly told us!). Thankfully, Elsie had brought some sleeping pills which worked magically. They worked so well, that we didn't feel an earthquake, nor did we really acknowledge a big crashing sound of a boulder falling down a few feet from our tent. We heard some commotion outside, but we really were too out of it to care.

The next morning, while waiting for breakfast to be cooked up, we all warmed our feet again in the hot spring.








The plan for the second day was to do a bit of river tracing and then to return to camp and chill out in the hot springs.
As we set off, we found that further up the river there was another hot spring, so we had a quick break in that spring. Actually, the whole area seemed to be one giant hot spring. People were digging their own holes which quickly filled up with hot water.








The following pictures are taken while making our way up the river.
























And of course, lots of group shot are mandatory!
















And these are our guides.









As this was a very picturesque area, everyone was busy taking photos. At this point I decided to have a quick lie down, before rejoining in the picture taking marathon.



















Back at camp and time for lunch.









After getting cold and wet from the river tracing, we
















So after bathing in the hot spring for a few hours, it was back to bed (more sleeping pills) and then an early start to go home. I don't think any of us took any pictures going back as we just wanted to get back to the car.

These pictures were taking once we had reached the car.