Taiwan Cycle, Day 6

Hualian county to Nan 'Ao

This was the first official day of the Chinese New Year holiday. The night before seemed to be one huge party on the streets, with firecrackers going off throughout the night.
With the start of Chinese New Year, this meant that everybody would be leaving their homes to go to their family home, so the roads were going to be busy. Luckily, because we were going north, the traffic was quite light as most Taiwanese work up north but their homes are in the south, so at least the traffic would be going in the opposite direction.

A very early start in Hualian, and yes, I am holding toothpaste and a toothbrush in the photo. I forgot to pack them away.









This turned out to be one of the best mornings, the skies were clear and the sun was out. It was pity it stay like that the whole day!

























After this picture, the mountains on one side of the valley began to grow smaller the closer we got to Hualian city; the East Rift valley road was coming to an end.
By the time we reached Hualian city, it was getting time for lunch. We found a bakery and got some cakes. The sugar rush was greatly appreciated.
Once we left Hualian, the only road we could take to go further north was the coastal road. I had heard a lot about this part of the coastal road; the Hualian to Su 'Ao section is a narrow two lane road that skirts along high cliffs, up and down hills, and through numerous tunnels. It was going to be an exciting leg!









One of the tourism information signs along the road went into the history of this road, I won't go on too much about it, but it did say that many people had died in the process of constructing the road. It's incredible that they were able to build a road along here, the rock is hard and the cliffs are steep.

At certain points along the road, we had to cycle through tunnels. At first, this caused us some confusion as at the entrance of the tunnels, it said no bikes allowed. Well, firstly, if no bikes are allowed, how could we go on with no other road available, and secondly, I don't think any of us were prepared to turn around. So we decided to ignore the signs and cycle through.
The tunnels were really exciting,




















The line you see in the photo below is the road we had to cycle up, and it didn't just stop at the end of the photo. When the road turned the corner, it just kept going up and up. However, before cycling up, there was a tiny town at the base of the road which was full of people all grateful that there was a place were one could eat, rest, go to toilet, etc. We took advantage of a small shop to buy some drinks and sweets for the road ahead.




















The clouds above me are a sign of the rain that was to come.












And with the start of the rain the plastic raincoats come out.

Taiwan Cycle, Day 5

Today's entry takes place mostly in Taidong County. As we had cycled the Coastal road on a previous occasion, we now wanted to try the East Rift Valley road which connects Taidong city to Hualian city.
The East Rift Valley seemed to be where most of the produce for Taiwan is grown, we cycled by numerous rice, bamboo, corn and other vegetable fields.

As the name suggests, the East Rift valley takes us through the centre two mountain ranges. However, thankfully the road is mostly flat.




















When you are hungry, there is no need to go into a 7/11 for a snack, there are plenty of roadside stalls that sell delicious fresh food. We bought some corn from this woman, who as I got talking to her, found out she was from Vietnam. She then offered us free of charge some sugar cane because as she put it 'we were all foreigners here'. Very nice lady, and very nice sugar cane!




























Police stations are great, they offer free water, bike pump, and bicycle repair kit. And if you have a tent, you can camp on their grounds and use their shower and toilet facilities for free! These police men had to take pictures of each cyclist who used their station, so we decided to use this opportunity to also get a photo of them for our collection.

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.