Around Taiwan in 80 Days

Day 41: April 18th, Joupeng to Jaleshui.

2009-07-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

Good ol' Dawei

My friend Dawei and I had driven down the night before, and stayed at a small hotel in Hengchun. Then, bright and early the next day, we drove his car to Jaleshui, after first arranging for a driver to take us from there to Joupeng.

When we parked at Jaleshui, next to a surfer hotel called Winson House, I suddenly had to take a crap. This was full on la du zi, and waiting was not an option. I ran up to the hotels, and looked into one. It was empty. I called “Hello!” several times, but there was no answer. I found a toilet in the back and used it, leaving it as clean as when I came.

But when I exited the hotel, a surprise was waiting for me: the owner was there, looking totally pissed off that I had used the facilities without permission! He wasn’t a big guy, but had one damaged eye, which made him look a bit sinister. And he was absolutely furious! “What are you doing?? This is a private house! It’s private, you can’t just go in!” I looked around. It was a small hotel lobby of sorts, with a desk, bulletin board, and seating area. I said, “But it’s a hotel!” He responsed: “I don’t care!” I explained: “Look, I tried to find somebody but I couldn’t, and I had la du zi!” But he refused to believe me. He stayed angry and vaguely threatening. Eventually, we moved the car out of fear that he would vandalize it.

Our driver showed up and drove us to the drop off point, a pleasant 30-minute country drive. Soon, we were back in cow country!

A seaside lane on the route from Joupeng to the trailhead

We walked south along the small road, noticing signs of abandoned houses. We soon came to a small village, where we asked the local police officer for information on the trail. We got a strange answer: “You are not allowed on that trail,” he said. We protested, but he insisted: “I am sure! You are not allowed. So, I cannot explain the route to you.”

My Taiwanese friend caught the subtle hint, and said, “Let’s go!” to me. The cop turned his back and didn’t follow out movements.

This mean, it was explained to me, that we weren’t allowed, so he couldn’t tell us “OK,” but he wasn’t going to stop us!

The end of the road ...again!

We found the trailhead just past the fish port. What started as a track rapidly degenerated into basically a line well above the high-tide mark where beach rocks had been compacted by foot, bicycle and motorcycle.

Looking back at the fishport

We shlepped along for a while. For such a forbidden beach, it wasn’t actually a big deal. It was beautiful, but unfortunately covered in garbage. It looked like debris from fishing boats: floats, nets, and water bottles. The brands and Chinese characters on the bottles clearly indicated that they were Taiwanese ones, too, despite things I’d heard from my Taiwanese friends about the garbage coming from countries like the Philippines!

There were some very nice green hills to our right, covered in stubbly bushes and grass. An old fisher dude on a motorbike passed us. We came to a stream that had a small fishing camp at it. It clearly looked as if someone stayed over night there sometimes, under a tarp, with blankets and other stuff. The stream seemed pristine – except for the garbage in it!

After this point, the path disappeared. Basically, the jumble of larger rocks left no one obvious route to be smoothed down into a trail. We made our way at half speed. It was neither easy nor really hard. To our left there were some lovely rock formations sloping down in clear-cut lines into the bright blue surf. Later on, there was a point that was made of wind-shaped sandstone. There, the wind was really intense. It seemed that when we reached it, we were abandoning the protection that the southern peninsula offered from the open wind of the Bashi Strait. We stopped for lunch there, huddled out of the wind. It was a fascinating area: there were interesting rock formations, a view south to the radar station at Longpan, and large rusted ochre segments of a modern ship that had run aground there years ago. It might well have been what’s left of the Amorgos, a Greek freighter that had run aground off Kending in January 2001.

Wind-swept sandstone at a very windy point.

Rusted wreckage

After that, it was a pretty straightforward slog down the beach. We passed a pair of guys with bicycles. That seemed pretty strange, as it was pretty clear that this was not a great trail for bikes. It would be painfully slow and inconvenient over about half of the distance, as you’d have to carry the bikes while hopping on and off car-sized boulders!

As we got closer to Jaleshui, the car-sized boulders became truck-sized, and progress was often made by scrambling and low-grade climbing. But all told, no big deal. We passed by some sort of police outpost, no doubt designed to prevent access to the trail, and got stared suspiciously at. In the small beach near the post, which was serviced by a small road, there were families out harvesting shellfish, or clearing the scooter trail near the beach. And then, a long-awaited milestone for me and my little pocket-sized adventure, Jaleshui! Getting there represented the end of the difficult part and the beginning of the easier, although doubtless longer and less interesting one!

Dawei and I walked back past all the famous Jaleshui rocks, which quite honestly were nothing special compared to what we had seen that day on the “forbidden” section. We got to his car, drove into Kending, got a hotel room, pigged out at Amy’s Pizza, and then got drunk on the beach. Ahhhhhhh…burp!

Happy to finish the last tricky bit along the East Coast

Day 40; April 12th: Gangzai to Joupeng + Road hike to Hsin Chuang in Pingdong

2009-07-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

I was on the road just a whisper after dawn, and enjoyed the fine morning air and light. I crossed the beach in front of the large dunes, and on the other side came to the small road going south. But I was not to take that road further south today, as some friends had said they wanted to do that final section leading to Jaleshui with me.

Sand dunes on the beach

This was my last shot of the day as my camera battery died!

I couldn't continue south today, so instead I decided to test myself. I intended to hike as long and as far as I could and only stop when I started to feel really bad. I would follow Highway 200 to Hengchun, and from there could easily make my way home.

The first part of the journey was through Joupeng. This is a really small, farmy little community in a valley that mainly seems to subsist from cattle farming. There were cows and scatological evidence of their existence everywhere, with beasts meandering along the road and even grazing on the sports field at the elementary school! (Well, no sense wasting good grass now, is there?)

There was some tourism but it didn’t overwhelm the place. There was lots of local character, including groups of women chewing bin lang outside their homes and gossiping!

Then I was through it and following Highway 200 up gently sweeping hills. They were very lush, and there were dead snakes on the road and monkeys hooting in the trees. Below, I could see one huge rice farm that snaked up a green valley like a fat, emerald-coloured python.

After about 4 hours of walking, my feet started to hurt. This was after 30km with a medium pack the day before, and only light boots. I kept at it. Hours went by, and everything was great – the view, the temperature, my being on schedule, my overall energy level, my motivation – except my feet!

It wasn’t my arches, and blisters weren’t the main problem: it was just the whole front part of the foot felt sore to the bone! When I stopped to take a break, it felt much worse for a few minutes after I got started again.After 6 1/2 hours of walking and about 35km, mostly on hard pavement, I had had enough. My dogs were barkin’!

I stopped at a bus stop, in the town of Hsin Chuang, and thinking that it read “no afternoon bus except on Wednesday”, but being unsure, I asked a soldier carting boxes of water to read it for me. He confirmed what I thought. It turned out he was from Singapore, here on training. They don’t have a lot of mountains and jungle in Singapore for their soldiers to train in, so they often come to Taiwan. That explained the odd convoy of right-hand drive jeeps that had passed me earlier.

I got a drive back with an unlicensed cab, and the driver confirmed that it was quite common to see the Singaporeans in the area. We passed a few squads of the Singaporean soldiers out on a hike, mostly Chinese with a few Indian dudes thrown in. Then to Hengchun, and bus, TRA, HSR, MRT, home!

When I got home my feet ached and were slightly swollen for a few days.

Day 39: Daren to Gangzai; April 11th 2009

2009-06-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

The beach at Daren

This was definitely one of my more interesting walks, from a scenic and logistical point of view, as it meant passing through the first of two sections along the SE coastline that lack roads near the coast for some of their length.

It started with another hyper-active morning of traveling from Taipei to the opposite side of Taiwan well before lunch: MRT, HSR, TRA, bus. Total time, 6 hours. I literally had to sprint through Kaohsiung Train Station to make my connection, with only seconds to spare! But I made it!

Now, in Daren, I was ready to start down the odd roads on this part of the island.
I hiked along the beach for a while, until the road came to flank it. The road was a smallish lane, ambling through pleasant countryside. The village was called Nantian, and it was clearly aboriginal. That is, it was poor, quaint, laid-back, and bedecked with local art. Dogs barked at me out of habit, but with no real malice. One guy saw me walking by and told me that there was no through road, and I’d have to hike a bit. No problem! (I hoped.)

Groovy houses, sleepy country roads in Nantian

After about 6 more km, the pavement turned into a dirt road. Then, it terminated in a small cluster of farm buildings. There were also some abandoned military buildings, (something I’d be seeing a lot more of in the days ahead) and then, literally, the end of the road – but not of the way forward.

Getting close to the end of the road.

Asphalt turns to dirt

And then, hikers only!

I followed the beach path to the trail: there it was, well tagged, going up a steep hill, with ropes for support. It was a bit tough going up, but good fun at the same time. The path first climbed steeply, then traversed laterally along a very steep slope facing the ocean. It was well marked but narrow, and was slippery in places as the soil was made of many loose pebbles. It wandered in and out of patches of forest. Somewhere in one patch of woods I left Taidong and entered Pingdong. Coming down the final slope was a bit tricky, what with the slippy conditions, but I made it all right, using the tried and true (if destructive to clothing) method of going down on one’s butt.

The trail onwards

After a steep climb, a lovely view

And then a step descent

The path led down to a fairly nice wild and natural beach. There were some nice rocks and views of green forest-clad hills, and then ahead I could see a bit of road, which was a spur of Highway 199, which came to the beach, turning into Highway 26 going south. I followed that road, and it gradually got busier, with some local tourists, blue-collar types fishing and barbecuing, not the obvious city types I’d meet later on. In the distance, on a hill overlooking the ocean, there was a huge, impressive-looking military complex. I believe this is Taiwan’s main missile base. It is hard to see from up close because it is set back from the edge of the hill it is on, and thus obscured from the base of that hill. Then, I arrived in the small village of Syuhai. It was a pretty little town, tarted up for the tourists a bit with guesthouses and restaurants. There were loads of city tourists here: nice (if a bit boring) families in minivans, groups out bicycling on silly small-wheeled bikes, and teens yeehawing around in rented jeeps.

Poopoo cairn?

Back to the road

Distant view of missile base

When the turns from dirt to asphalt, you know you're heading towards civilization.

Which, of course, means tourists!

Syuhai

Despite a longish day, I decided to press onwards to Gangzai, another 8km. The road passed through a military area that was full of disused structures. I believe this an area that was formerly off limits to civilians. There were several checkpoints on the road, all but one – which was on a side-road up to the missile base – unmanned.

About 5km of abandoned military facilities along Highway 26

The day grew to a close, and I finally arrived in Gangzai, which is a nice little fishing village next to some fairly impressive sand dunes. I got a room in a guesthouse, (whose owner was humorously forgetful, like Barliman Butterbur in the Prancing Pony) and crashed out.

Days 37 and 38. February 28 and March 1 2009. From Jinluen to Dawu town centre, and from Dawu town centre to Daren.

2009-06-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

Day 37:
The first coastal hike of 2009! Chinese New Year would have been a good time to get some km under my belt, but I had gone to Mexico for a family wedding instead. In any case, now here I was, on the road again! …But only after the usual elaborate transportation arrangements: MRT from Danshui to Taipei Main Station, HSR to Zuoying, TRA to Jinluen. I finally started to walk at around 11.45, after changing into exercise clothes in the train station.

Right outside Jinluen train station, the road was flanked by walls covered in bas-relief painted sculptures with aboriginal themes: snakes, warriors, etc. There were also some cute kids riding around on bikes, very pleased to spot and talk with a foreigner!

Onto the road proper: winding up a cliff, then back down to flat coast-hugging. It was a gray day and although the scenery was OK, it wasn’t anything spectacular or new to me.

However, I did come across something that I found interesting: A crew was installing a new wave-barrier wall of concrete tetra-blocks. I had never seen this actually being done before. Flatbed trucks brought in the huge blocks, and a couple of guys helped put the cable around the top of the block. Then, a crane lifted them off the truck and swung them into position, with the guys guiding the swinging block precisely into place. They were seemingly oblivious of the risk of being between a massive moving block and a stationary block, as they kept squirming carelessly between the two large masses!

Next to the new wall I could see how eroded and covered in sand the last series of blocks had become.

Risky yes. But well worth 200 NT per hour.

I moved on: The fading light found me in Dawu. It had a lot of restaurants and shops, so I figured it would be a good place to spend the night. I found a really cheap hotel – 600NT – and was shown my room. Aaagh! There were fresh wet spots in the middle of the bed, nice shiny ones too! Gross! It seemed like the traveling salesman had had a quickie with the farmer’s daughter. I asked for another room and was shown one a bit better, which I accepted. But it turned out not to be so great either. One thing I hadn’t noticed before taking the room was that there was no light switch for the interior light inside the room. The switch was outside, so I had to reach outside my door to turn the light on and off! Another bad point was that the bed cover was a shiny artificial fabric that kept slipping along the bed. But the worst thing was the stinky pillow! It must have been about 50% mite feces, and had been well sweated into over the years.

I woke frequently throughout the night, each time feeling a wave of mild horror. Little did I know that this uncomfortable night’s sleep would lead to an interesting epiphany the following day….

(Day 38:)
The next day dawned in groaning, stinky-pillowed weariness. I felt like crap. A look in the mirror confirmed the sensation. I got dressed and packed, and went down to have some breakfast. Then, I started trudging dutifully out of town.

A km or so out, I felt the call of nature. Just ahead was a full-service CPC gas station, with toilets. Fortunately in Taiwan it’s rare for these to be enforced as “customer only”.

I found the men’s, located the door to the Western-style crapper stall and opened it up.

Hallelujah! Heavenly trumpets blared! I was instantly transported to a better world, a higher state of being. Inside the spacious, highly private stall, all was white, clean, new and gleaming. A window near the high ceiling let in air and sunshine, and the odor was of the great outdoors with a tiny bit of detergent. Compared to my hotel room, it was heaven! After making my deposit, I actually stayed on a bit longer, drank another small bottle of coffee and read the paper. When I emerged, it seemed as if the stain on my soul of the long dark night had been erased. I started laughing at how the toilet had cheered me up so much, and with that gentle self-mockery, the bad feelings of the previous night were swept away. Thank you CPC, for that wonderful experience!

As loyal as a dog, the East Coast never disappoints when it comes to beauty.

On down the road: In a few hours I came to Daren, where Highway 9 diverged from the coast to cross over the mountains into Pingdong. A small road, Highway 26, continued down the coastline. That would be my next route, for another day, as I guessed there was no bus service along this route. I was getting closer to the last bit of coastline in Taiwan with no road. In fact, the last two bits!

Sorry guys, but I think you got the swatikas the wrong way round!

Beautiful Daren township. The end of the main road for me.

A quiet sort of place.

Day 36: December 14th, From Taimali town center to Jinluen.

2009-01-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

After a good sleep, I set off again. I followed the road out of town, looking for my way down to the ocean. I spotted a promising route, and followed it past a military base. Oh my God! I thought, as I saw the base. That’s strange! Wow! That’s really intriguing! But, unfortunately, I cannot say why, as it might constitute a legal offence to some boneheaded prosecutor. Sorry! If you want to know, go check it out yourself!

Past the base was the beach. There was nobody on the beach, and it felt strange and lonely. A river joined the sea here, and it joined at an angle, as it first cut right and followed a channel parallel to the coastline for a few tens of meters before joining it. The sea and river were separated by a band of gravel. Waves were crashing really hard on the band, making a terrific roar, and then sometimes spilling over the gravel and running into the river for a short ride back to the sea.

The Jones's from down the road, Austronesian style

It was an overcast day, and somehow the grayness of the sky and rocks, the fierce crashing of the waves, and the loneliness of the beach gave me a strange otherworldly feeling, like I had stumbled back to another time. It was of course merely a subjective experience. But it reminded me of how our sense of normality is so well maintained. We reinforce it as much as possible, to give us security. But how different our ideas, impressions and feelings can be if we are taken away from all that is familiar. Or, in this case, shaken into a slightly more sensitive state by a night in a shitty hotel in a slightly odd town, plus seeing the odd thing I can’t talk about, and then experiencing a raw and powerful beach alone. I think that it’s that novelty of inner experience that brought me to Taiwan in the first place; and that led me to take my long walk around the island when my day-to-day life had become too familiar.

The lonely beach in the distance

But familiarity breeds security, as well as boredom.
Security on this project to me was all about route planning. Where could I get a train to where I wanted to go to transfer back to Taipei, at what time and were seats available?

After the beach I kept on, and found myself taking the highway because the beach route looked tricky: lots of rocky points and cliffs, with no guarantee that I’d be able to pass all the way to the next access out. There were also rising tides and rogue waves to consider. Maybe it was doable but I couldn’t be sure. It goes into the “make up bin” of odd little bits of coast I’ll have to make up before I officially finish, if I discover that they were doable.

Teeming with life

Roadkill reptile

I walked along the road, dodging massive trucks, as the route climbed up on the cliffs again, as the terrain became reminiscent of the Su-Hua highway. In time, it rounded a corner to the small aboriginal town of Jinluen. It was a quaint little place, with a train station and a 7-Eleven.

My plan was to get back to Taipei by taking the Southern Link railway from Taidong to Kaohsiung and then transferring to the High Speed Rail. Because of this, I stopped at mid-day so I could get back no problem and figure out the timing for future trips. After I got my ticket, I had some food and beer at the 7-Eleven. It was amazing how much more confident I felt in the 7-Eleven than in a small place with a red mouthed local guy saying “Hi man, check it out!” and then laughing at his own intense wittiness. I was back on the grid: I had a train ticket, was at 7-Eleven, and had figured out the next few hikes on the map. I was back in my route security happy place!

Jinluen

Day 35: December 13th, From Taimali Township to Taimali town center.

2009-01-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

This was the first time I actually flew down to go on my trip; a bit pricey but much faster than the lumpy old train. Taidong Airport is a bit challenged in terms of bus options, so I walked from there to the highway, through a rural neighborhood where they either had been or were in the process of burning the dried remnants of the rice crop. They were also seeding it with grass to restore the soil.

After the harvest, let the stalks dry out and then burn them.

Then, seed with grass to protect and improve the soil for the next crop.

At the highway, I found myself on ground I had covered on my last trip. The bus stop information sign promised an hour’s wait, so I stuck out my thumb and got a lift within 5 minutes with a nice young couple from Taidong. They were off to Kaohsiung to find out the sex of their unborn child.

They let me off where I had finished last time, and I was once more on the move! I found a road that led to the sea, though an old graveyard where many of the headstones had been damaged and not repaired. This was no doubt a sign of some problems in the family, and to the superstitious, a good reason to expect an unhappy ghost to visit relatives in their dreams.

Lovely, calm seascape

By the sea, all was again sunny, breezy and fresh. I carried on along the beach for several hours until I decided to cut inland for lunch. Soon thereafter, dark clouds threatened serious rain. I found myself in the town of Taimali, so I thought I’d just hang out here for the rest of the day.

Tying on a rice bag

I checked into a rundown hotel, and wandered around the town, hiding under bridges or awnings when the rain pelted down, exploring the small, mixed aboriginal and Han village when the going was good. It was a bit decrepit: not destitute, but not prosperous either. It was untouched by tourism, as far as I could see, so it was authentic. There were lots of repair shops for farm equipment and motorbikes, simple shops for clothes and groceries, and many simple restaurants. An old woman scolded her husband on the street; another old man dozed in a doorway. Some kids hung out in a tiny Internet café, playing computer games. Along the highway just east of the town, there were dealerships for farm equipment, and other types of businesses that suggested this town was a hub of sorts for the local area.

I walked up the hill west of town a bit, and saw lots of signs of aboriginal culture in the paintings outside the local high school. But other towns I had been to were much more quaint than this one.

I went back to my hotel, only to realize how shitty it was: it had a dull background stink of years of cigarettes; there was no hot water and the toilet leaked at floor level when flushed! But the bed worked.

Between cloudbursts

Yo man, check it out!

Day 34. November 1st: Around Zhiben

2009-01-04T03:27:00.000-08:00

This day I decided to do something different. Instead of continuing along the coast, I decided to hike around Zhiben a bit, to get some relief from the unrelenting sunshine of the beach, and to see some mountains and forests for a change.
For those unfamiliar with Zhiben, it is a small, lush valley with steep hills and a clean river that comes from the high mountains. It’s about 10km south of Taidong city center, and about 5km from the shore. High mountain areas are just inland from Zhiben. It has natural hot springs, and it’s a famous resort area that was started by the Japanese.

The Zhiben River

A beautiful, almost unspoiled area

I got a bus to Zhiben no problem, and set out from the last stop, which was quite close to the Chipen [sic] Forest Recreation Area. But as I shlepped along towards it, I saw a sign indicating other trails. I followed it, and made my through various tracks and shortcuts until there was a clear mountain road going up to the hills (850 meters?) on the side of the valley. I saw some little hot spring facilities –blocks of concrete with pipes coming out of them, all shrouded in steam - loads of bin lang trees, and some jungley-looking woods, and a waterfall. At the top of this road there were some magnificent views.

Small road leading up to the high hills

Electrical wire up to the top, just dangling there

A trickle of a waterfall

I came down and entered the Forest Recreation area. This is actually fairly good, and has some nice short trails through old forest. There are some magnificent banyan trees, with buttresses and roots, and lots of other interesting plants. The shady fecundity of the forest was welcome after so many days of beach walking. I saw a bunch of monkeys, but got the impression that I was happier to see them than they were to see me! Then, as I slogged along, a short round deer suddenly plopped out onto the path from the bushes about 3 meters in front of me. It gave me a nervous glance, and then shot into the bushes on the other side! Time elapsed, two seconds, but long enough for a good look. Later on informative signboards along the path told me that these native deer (Formosan Reeves's Muntjac, also known as barking deer; Muntiacus reevesi; Chinese: 山羌) are fairly common in the area.

Green beauty: inside the Chiben Forest Recreation Park

Finishing my 90 minute hike in the park, I went to the “Don Tar” ( [sic] should be Dong Tai, as in Tai Dong) hotel’s outdoor spa, which was just great: 43C water, AAHH! Then the 17C cooling pool. OOOH! Nice views of the river too.

It was drizzling in Zhiben, but when I got to the train station nearer the coast it was hot and sunny.

Day 33: October 31st, 2008. Taidong to Taimali township.

2009-01-04T03:08:00.000-08:00

This day started out with a late night journey to Taidong on a train that left Taipei Train Station at 11pm and arrived in Taidong at 6am. I’m OK at sleeping on trains, planes etc but needless to say it wasn’t a terribly restful night. It was a lovely morning that awaited me in Taidong city though. I took a cab and found a nice cheap traditional small hotel – which may have also functioned as a Love Hotel. At least, their blanket wrap concept seemed a bit erotic. Or was I missing my wife already?

I walked through the town to get to the Taidong Forest Park on the northern edge of town, right on the south bank of the Beinan river. It was pleasant enough, and had a long, shallow lake enjoyed by several swimmers despite the signs saying that it was of course INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS!!

Beinan River flowing under the Zhonghua Bridge

IDF training maneuvres

I went to where the Beinan river enters the ocean. At such places there is always a sandbar, and it’s interesting to watch the complex interaction between the river current and the waves: the current accentuating the surf, as it slips along its ever-changing path of least resistance.

Complex interaction of river and surf

After that, for most of the next four hours, it was a straight beach walk. Taidong has a great beach. It’s a bit rough and gravely for a swim in many places, but there were calmer spots. Loads of driftwood. There is also a lot of nice parkland right on the beach, some of it tarted up a bit for tourists.
The sun burned through thin clouds and I started to become very aware of its strength, but I had on enough 50SPF sun block to keep a vampire alive. It was sweaty work, and I drank about 4-500 mL of water per hour.

Framing the sky?

Past the town proper, the beach became wilder, but still easy to hike. I loved the visual effect of the bands of colour: dark cerulean sky, sparkling blue sea and silver-gray beach, brightly and warmly alive in the noonday sun.
I cut inland a bit on a farmers’ road that ran parallel to the beach. Although I’ve seen my fair share of farmland in Taiwan, there’s an intense vibrancy and fertility in the appearance of the rice and other plants in Taidong that I haven’t seen elsewhere. There were also loads of birds, reptiles and insects. Non-human life in general seemed more “full-of-beans” than anywhere else in Taiwan, whereas the human life seemed to move more slowly. I guess that’s a hallmark of the real tropics.

Traditional dwelling

Today is a good day to fish

Vibrant farmland

After alternating between beach and farm road, I finally cut back to the highway to get some food and liquids. I trundled along for an hour or so, and got to the end of Highway 11, where it intersects with and becomes Highway 9, in Taimali Township, just south east of Zhiben. Then, I waited at bin lang place with a wide room and tables where, the boss said, the bus would stop if I flagged it down. They sat me inside in the shade (I was in OK shape, but definitely a bit tired and sweaty) and I drank a couple of very cold bottles of Taiwan Beer. AHHHHH! As much as I love a pint of Guinness in a cozy pub with good company on a Saturday night, cold Taiwan Biru after a hot hike in a rural locale is still better.
Inside the large shack, flies buzzed around. Some old guys with badly bin lang-ed teeth shot the shit, while the younger owner and his wife rolled bin lang. A skinny, starey-eyed cat wandered around. Then, one of the guys suddenly offered me a ride to Taidong! Great!

Bands of colour

Day 32: October 26th: Fugang Harbour to Taidong City Centre

2009-01-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

The next morning’s walk was just a stub, as I had only a few klicks left to Taidong City Center. It was a nice morning, and the coastline was beautiful as always, with good trails and seaside roads. But, one little section was not so nice: a small road between a collection of dilapidated shacks that people still lived in, and the sea. It was about 100 meters of dog shit covered road that actually made me puke. Good thing I hadn’t spent much money on breakfast!

The coastline between Fugang Harbour and Taidong City

The Zhonghua Bridge: Above, in the distance; Below, from on it.

Past that nasty bit, I continued onwards, very much enjoying watching the IDF (Indigenous Defense Fighter, Taiwanese-made) fighter-planes doing training runs from the nearby airbase. The powerful roar of their engines as they took off was thrilling, and it was cool to see them zoom through the gap between the observation tower on the hill next to Fu Gang, and the mountains on the other side, right after takeoff. They would go through the gap, head out to sea, and then circle round and do maneuvers: one chasing two; two preparing to land at the same time with one suddenly breaking high; or one landing, then immediately taking off again without slowing down. As I walked across the Zhonghua bridge over the Beinan river, which leads right into the main Taidong city area, they flew by no more than 100 meters away. Cool!

Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDF) training near Fugang.

Taidong Forest Park lake

A bit further on, past the Forest Park, I was in the residential outskirts. I caught a cab to the train station, and – replete with bien dang and cappuccino – was on a train home a few hours later, with supplies from the 7-Eleven. 11:30 AM too early for beer? Not on your Nellie!

"Come back to Taidong soon, cutie!" this alluring creature seemed to say to me.

Day 31: October 25th: Longchang to Fugang

2008-12-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

When I started out from Lonchang on yet another fine morning, the lovely weather and beauty of the Taidong countryside was yet again a tonic for the soul. But the journey there had been a bit arduous. I had taken a late night train to Hualien, arriving at about 3 AM, then waited at the bus stop for two hours, in the company of some interesting characters: a man of the countryside sitting nearby, rather surprised to see me; a gaggle of bin lang chewing youths sprawled over their scooters in the parking lot chatting loudly, saying gan and ji bai with every breath; and an old man in a singlet and boxer shorts wandering around in the rain. In the fullness of time, the bus came and we set off, once again along the Highway 11 coastline that had become so familiar.

The bus only went as far as Chen Gong, but that was no problem, as an opportunistic cabbie waited for those heading further along the coast. He named a price, and I haggled with him a bit. He caved in at once, beaming and chuckling, seemingly delighted to come across a foreigner with the gall to haggle like a local! But he was an old softie: When we had almost arrived at Longchang, he made a pit stop: where a rough track left the highway, he stopped, took a bag of dog food out of the trunk, and called out. Within seconds, a pack of skinny and diseased strays materialized, and mobbed the kind guy with almost heartbreaking affection. He came back soon, and within minutes he had let me off and it was time to walk.

I found my way to the coast by farm roads. The beach was rocky and slow going, my discomfort made worse by my new hiking boots, only partly broken in. After several sweaty hours, I found some farm roads following the coast, again enjoying the rustic tracks through farms and coconut palms.

After a while, I returned to the highway, which now followed the coast closely. There was beach after beautiful beach, lovely sand, sparking blue ocean, rocky points, small fishing communities, temples, a fine breeze. It was fantastic…except for my feet! Those tough new European boots were starting to do a number on my pods. As they say in Texas, “My dogs were barkin’!” After four hours I had to take them off. My feel almost had an orgasm when I did. The only problem was that my only other shoes were Tefa sandals.
I trudged on, being sufficiently uncomfortable to skip “Water Running Uphill”, a kind of optical illusion tourist spot. On I went, overall having a good time as that area is really beautiful.

North of Taidong city, there is no shortage of stunning coastline.

I came to Shuishan beach, not far north of Taidong, where I had camped with my wife-to-be many years ago. ACK! That lovely beach had been blemished with the Mother of all Garishly Inappropriate Hotels – an utterly tasteless monster.

The "wart" on Shuisan beach.

Looking north up the coast and deliberately not seeing the wart!

Past that there was an odd touristy art-park rest-stop. That was OK, as the art was inspired by Formosan aboriginal themes and used natural materials.

I trudged on, my arches being encouraged to flatten in the unsupported sandals. I was tired from virtually no sleep and a long day hiking in the sun with a backpack. Never mind!
The next point of interest was Siao Yaliou, another collection of rather interesting rocks by the sea. I gave it only a brief inspection, as I’m no “looking at rocks by the sea” neophyte! It was cool though, despite the obnoxiously friendly bicycle group roughly insisting I sit with them.

Hmmmm....

What I did like however was finding a sneaky back way into Fu Gang harbour. I love fishing harbours, maybe a holdover form living in Nova Scotia as a child. There’s something about the old boats being repaired, the industrial and mechanical activities and equipment, the smells and feeling: oil, fish, nets, boats, purpose. Fu Gang was a fish port and a tourist harbour, as the marine transport hub to Green and Orchid islands. There were seafood restaurants a plenty. And, as it turned out, a nice little guesthouse.
Flop on the bed in the air con, take a long shower, pop, clean, sterilize and bandage my blood-infused blisters; do my yoga stretches, drink a shit load of water, dress in clean clothing, and set out again on shaky pins in search of COLD BEER!!

I deserved this!! Ahhhh!

Fugang Harbour

Then, I went to the sea wall with a few pops to enjoy the view of the ocean in the evening light, and watch the locals fishing from high up on the wall. It was 15 meters straight down to the dark ocean.
Then, a solo seafood feast, and a burpy journey off to bed. No trouble getting to sleep!

Day 30: September 20th, Duli to Longchang.

2008-12-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

The next day I started off along the road. I ended up walking for a couple of hours along the highway, uncertain how to get to the coastline, which was about 1km away. I kept thinking the road would rejoin the coast, but it never did. Hence, there’s a section of about 4km that I missed, and will have to go back and do at some point. Or do I? It’s become a point of internal debate to me how necessary it is to always follow the coast. In one sense, that’s the point of my exercise, the thing that defines the walk. But on the other hand, if there’s a cool aboriginal village along the road, 400 meters inland from the sea, am I by duty compelled to walk the beach instead? In the end, I think that in certain areas, such as coastal Taidong, that it is justifiable for me to stay inland for short stretched to capture the real feeling of the place, and then to return to the true seashore walk. But I will and make up most of these sections before I call the walk over.

Lovely, pastoral Taidong County

On this day, I eventually came to a beautiful red bridge over a river valley. On the other side was a path to the sea. Ahh! I went down to the beach, and followed it around the bend. Shit! Tetra-block molecule land! I mean, the shoreline was composed of the big tetrahedral concrete anti-wave-erosion blocks. They present a highly varied surface profile for walking, as they are designed to interlock and counter-lever each other for stability. It’s a good workout, anyway.

Quiet harbour

That ended a bit later, and I came to some farm roads near the beach. It was about 35C and the sun was really strong. I eventually came to a medium-sized but almost deserted fish port. I guess all the boats were out or something. The water was the most amazing, luminous blue-green. Beyond that, there were a series of really beautiful beaches, clean and open, undulating past small rocky outcrops, the gentle surf sparkling gleefully. I trudged sweatily along through the beauty, until eventually I came to some wooden stairs leading back to the road. As it was almost time for me to think about going home, I went back to the road. A few clicks later, I came to Longchang. I found a bus stop – this time headed for Taidong, not Hualien – and got a few cold ones into me before the bus arrived.

Love that colour

The beginning of a long series of beaches

Day 29: September 18th: Sansiantai to Duli

2008-12-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Sansiantai after the usual long journey: train to Hualien, sleep in a cheapie hotel, early morning bus down the coast. The “Platform of the Three Immortals” is something of a tourist attraction, so there were lots of little restaurants. After eating some salty, oily fish and deep-fried sweet potato (Why?) I walked over the 8-arched bridge and out to the island with the three big funny looking rocks – the so-called immortals. Yep, nice rocks. Onwards! I backtracked a bit to the small village next to the island. With my pack, my stomach full of weird food, and the intense heat of mid-day, I didn’t feel too great humping along the slidy gravel beach.

Sansiantai: "Platform of the Three Immortals"

Later I skipped back through Sansiantai and found a little track near the sea, where the tourist trail connected to some farm roads. It was lovely, quaint countryside: coconut palms, farm shacks and houses, rocks next to the see. In time, the small road joined the bigger roads, and I ended up on the smaller of two main roads into Chengong City, which is the largest settlement on the coast between Hualien and Taidong. I walked through the fish port, too late to see the catch coming in, but in time to see them chopping up tuna, and sweeping up fish guts. I carried on through Chengong and out on the road beyond. It was about 5 pm and I was starting to think about where I would spend the night.

Chengong fish port, after the big rush

At the top of a hill, there was a road that went down to the see, with a sign saying “Bawangwang” or something like that. It sounded like a sinicized aboriginal name. It seemed like a through road, so I followed it, and was soon walking through what was certainly a very poor and simple aboriginal village. It was spread out, and there seemed to be no center, no stores, nothing but poor-looking houses and coconut trees. It felt more like Thailand than Taiwan. The road was right by the sea, so I guessed these guys got walloped by typhoons regularly. A few people passed by, on extremely old and noisy scooters. There were three police patrols in the 50 minutes that I spent walking through. Not a postcard village.

Eventually, this road rejoined Highway 11, in a cluster of upscale but fairly tasteful looking hotels. One looked nice, with wooden cabins, but NT2700 per night was too much for my trip budget (all these trips add up). The lady did tell me of a guesthouse down the road. So, at about 7pm in the dark, in the very humble town of Duli, I arrived. Downstairs they were playing mahjong. Amusingly, the female proprietor got a call, and when she saw who it was asked all us to shhhhh! After a while, the call was over, and the other players laughed! It turned out to be another player who hadn’t been invited to the game!

Day 28: Changbin town center to Sansiantai.

2008-09-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Strange wicker boatman near the roadside

I started off very early, eager to make progress before the day got too hot. It was very beautiful, calm and fresh in the post-dawn, as always. The coast continued as before, but fish ports became more noticeable. They were very charming and although obviously they were trying to make money from tourism, they had a very authentic feeling to them. One noticeable one was Shihyusan. There were many interesting rock formations in or next to the sea, some of them creating natural harbours.

A proud eagle

The main factor for me that day was the heat. It slowly crept up on me, and into me. I was concerned with the dual factors of heat stroke and sunburn. I was hydrating madly and sweating like a squeezed sponge, so it was hard to get the sun block to really stick. I also found myself getting that impatient, uncomfortable feeling that I always get right before heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion is one stage before heat stroke. Heat stroke can kill you. Heat exhaustion is the warning that you better get into the shade and take it easy. By the time I got to Sansiantai, I was boiling hot. Although I felt safe from heat exhaustion, that was only because I had been very careful in my level of exertion. I got the bus from Sansiantai to Jingpu – one of those buses where you actually sit over the driver head. I was right in front, with the aircon blasting. Ahhh!

Shihyusan Fish Port

Natural harbour

Warrior and faithful friend

There was a stopover in Jingpu, and I sat outside in the shade in the tiny little bus station. I drank three ice-cold Taiwan beers in 45 minutes, waiting for the next bus. It was bliss! The ride back was a sleepy dream of staring out the window at endless blue bays and rocky coastline.

Day 27: August 2nd, Changbin Township to Changbin town center.

2008-09-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

An Amis hero?

In my obligatory stopover in Hualien City before going south, I ended up at a bar called the Surfer Lounge. Needless to say, it was a late start the next day. The earliest bus I could get was 11.30am, so I only actually started walking at around 1pm. It was the full heat of the summer day, and I didn’t move to fast, but I still very much enjoyed checking out my surroundings. It was classic northern Taidong County scenery: farms by the sea, and a string of little villages with a strong aboriginal flavor. In this part, there were many statues of chiefs, princesses, warriors and animals, which I guessed were legendary characters from the myths of the aboriginals who lived in the area.

Tearing a banana tree into strips for plaiting

Cool blue Guanyins near the Basian Caves

One point of interest on this walk included the Basian Caves. These caves have some archeological remnants from the Chun-Pin Culture, which is the oldest known Paleolithic culture in Taiwan – as much as 15,000 years old. The caves themselves are fairly interesting. They are not deep but they’re impressive. One of them has been turned into a temple and is full of Buddhas, Guanyins and other gods.

Friendly locals. Apparently, the woman seated at front center needs a boyfriend!

I got into Changbin Township about five and decided to call it a day, as there was a nice cheap hotel with beach access winking at me and luring me in. I did the usual beer on the beach thing, enjoying the peacefulness, and then had some food in the little town center.

Incongruous but interesting.

The east coast is studded with architectural dream homes, probably country retreats for wealth urbanites.

Day 26: Friday, July 4th, Shitiping Fish Port to Changbin Township, Taidong County

2008-09-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

The Tropic of Cancer Marker in Hualien County: Looks like a chess pawn

NOTE: OTHER DAY 26 PHOTOS ARE FOUND IN THE FOLLOWING POSTS

Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!” went my cell-phone alarm. It was almost four, and I wanted to get up in time for the sunrise, which was to be my first on the East Coast. Crapped, washed, dressed, packed = sorted! Out I went. It was only 4.30. The predawn glow was yellow, orange and purple, and it silhouetted two marching lines of cumulus clouds at the horizon. I ate my breakfast at one viewpoint, and then moved closer to the sea for the real show. It was a slow buildup, delayed but enhanced by the clouds. The main glow filled half the sky, slowly building up. One either side of the main glow was redness, which made the flanking clouds into a delicate frame for the main event. Ground zero was behind the marching lines of cumulus. The sun’s furnace first turned the edges of those clouds into burning filigree of incandescent tangerine. Around them, the colour was a cherry copper. (The birds finally got the message and started their melodic ruckus.) The transcendent brilliance of the sun finally burst above the horizon and through the low clouds like a glowing orange knife. After only a few seconds, it was too bright to look at. But soon, it went behind the second column of clouds. A few minutes later, it reemerged, a second sunrise. It bathed the eastward looking hills in a warm reddish glow for a few minutes. Then, it was full day.

The sun dazzled and the sky shone a newborn blue. The green had been refreshed, and tufts of mist clung here and there to mountain peaks or deep patches of forest. Everything was perfect. I walked on, checking out the beauty of it all with a feeling of deep satisfaction. Later I cane to Da Gang Kou, a sleepy village. You know you’re up early when you see farmers on the way to work! There were lots of old men out cutting stuff down, and old ladies all covered up with clothes, hats and gloves. They smoked as they walked. Later I came to the Changhong Bridge, a big red metal bridge over the Shiouguluan River.

This river penetrated all the way from the Rift Valley, and in the distance, through the river valley, I could see the Central Range catching the morning light. The river was beautiful, as it came to the sea at Jinpu. There was a small island at the river mouth, and interesting play between the current and river waves. I walked through Jinpu to the beach, and then along until it got too rocky again and I cut back to the road. I followed it until I came to the odd looking Tropic of Cancer marker. Then onwards still until I got to Changbin Township in Taidong County. There I stopped, so I caught a bus back.

Beautiful morning series

2008-09-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

The following three posts are photo based, and are of the dawn and early morning of 7.4.2008. I didn't want to interrupt the visual continuity with text. Enjoy!

Beautiful morning series No.1: Powerful dawn in Shihtiping A

2008-09-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Beautiful morning series No. 2: Powerful dawn in Shihtiping B

2008-09-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

Beautiful morning series No. 3: Early morning at the Shiouguluan River mouth

2008-09-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Single arched bride over the Shiouguluan River

All of these photos were taken on Day 26, on Friday July 4th, in the area of the Shiouguluan River mouth. This is the most popular white-water rafting river in Taiwan, and the mouth is the rafting terminus. There are two villages at the mouth of this river, Dagangkou and Jinpu.

The morning breeze ruffles a wave crest on Jinpu Beach

Central Mountain Range peaks visible in the distance

On the Changhong Bridge

Brilliant morning sun

Day 25: Thursday, July 3rd, Fongbin to Shihtiping Fish Port, Hualien County

2008-09-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

A day of amazing light, only hinted at in these photos.

Got the bus to Fongbin late on a bright and sunny morning and I was back on the move. The day was already hot – stupid idea for me to start at noon! The coastal scenery was nice, but not remarkably different than what I had seen before. The most significant thing about the day – other than the fact that walking under the hot sun with a backpack is a hell of a lot harder than walking on a cool day without one – was the light. It was not too humid and the sun was ablaze with light. The air itself seemed almost to glow with sunlight, as if it was resonating, saturated with it. The blue of the sky was a truly passionate colour. The ocean blue was such a deep, mysterious one. The green all around was really bright and joyful. The colours actually inspired feelings so strong they felt like physical sensations.

Time's Radiography

As the afternoon slowly drew on, the light became gentler and slightly more yellow. Whiter rocks were stained yellowish orange by the relaxing sun. Shadows were etched out of the mountains, first becoming definition, later shade. The ocean colour darkened as the light gently receded. Because we were on the east coast, with a high mountain ridge to the west, there was a false sunset, with the sun disappearing from view about 5pm, but only setting after 6.30. So, there was a lingering twilight, quite rare in my experience in Taiwan. That day’s route was mainly along a straight patch of coastline about 12km long. At the end was Shitiping fish port. There was a low headland, with white rock formations in the ocean. There was also an excellent camping area, but I ended up paying for a guesthouse before I found it. Good thing I lugged my tent all day! After showering, eating, re-hydrating and changing my clothes, I ventured out. It was still only 5pm.

Shihtiping Fish Port

Rocks in the ocean near Shihtiping

A long and gentle twilight

I wandered around on the rocks, where there were many campers and tourists checking out the tidal pools, and the sloshing and gurgling water of the surge channels. The water flow around some of the half or barely submerged rocks was extremely complex. I went inside to read my book for a while. Later, after a few beers, it had gotten truly dark. I went out and noticed that the stars were amazingly bright. The dry air, cloudlessness and lack of light pollution allowed me to see what is always hidden in Taipei. There were tens of thousands of stars. Every quarter of the sky was filled with bright constellations. Best of all, the Milky Way was visible, the first time I had seen it in Taiwan: two diaphanous veils of starlight arcing across the sky. I stared, gaga, at the sky for an hour. Then I went to bed.

Day 24: Sunday, June 1st, Jici beach to Fongbin, Hualien County.

2008-09-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sketchy route down to fishing spot

The next day I woke up around 8, ate my little breakie of tea eggs, a snickers bar and a can of X2 caffeine coffee [Hopefully, without too much melamine in it!] and set off. First, I climbed the big rock hill across from the guesthouse. It had a nice trail and good views, and wasn’t too tough. Then, along the road I continued south. The view was pleasant. At first there wasn’t much in the way of settlement, but there were nice looking mountains, some of which had lovely streams coming down from them. There was also a tunnel, an aquaculture facility, and a fish port.

Gilligan's retirement home

Later, the coast straightened out, and started a section whose pattern became very familiar: A 50-200 meter strip of coast to the east of the highway, sloping gradually down to beach level, often planted with rice, corn or coconut palms. The beach was just out of sight, but the deep, lazy blue of the Pacific always visible. Every 1 or 2 km, there was another little village, often with some kind of aboriginal influence. There were circular stone meeting or dancing areas, buildings made with canes and reeds, churches, crosses on graves, and other indications that I wasn’t in HANsas any more. (Sorry!) In one town, I saw a squad of old ladies, on the kind of scooter-style motorized wheelchairs the disabled often have, buzzing around town like a motorbike gang! Reminded me a bit of Monty Python.

Small town feeling

Pit stop!

Rice near the ocean: Typical Highway 11 scene

Onwards I went, until my schedule forced me to stop. I found a bus stop and parked myself in front of it, much to the interest of the old couple sitting outside across the street. A few minutes later a taxi came by, and offered me an amazingly cheap rate of 200NT to Hualien Railway Station, which was at least 50 km away. So off we zoomed.

Day 23: Saturday, May 31st, Shuilien to Jici Beach Resort.

2008-09-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

The life-affirming green of a rice field, in Shuilien

I took the down the coast to get to where I had left off last time. The other passengers on the bus were fairly simple folk: elderly women on their way back from the big markets in Hualien with plastic bags of produce or bog wipe; families; older guys drinking beer. There was a lot of aboriginal influence in the features, like dark skin, and a strong-boned facial structure. The bus was, like many in poorer areas, no longer in deluxe condition. But soon enough we arrived in Shuilien.

Today would be my first day with a full pack, including tent, sleeping bag, air mattress etc. As well, I would need to carry all my food and water. (As it would turn out, these precautions were unnecessary, as there were many guesthouses and small stores along the way.) Shuilien was a nice little town, built on a few hills 100 meters or so above beach level. The ocean wasn’t visible from the main streets. The town definitely had a sleepy feeling to it, and quite friendly as well. I walked down to the beach, a fine gray sand one, bounded by rocky headlands in the distance. Then, I went back to the road. I felt a bit crappy that day, and there was a bit of rain. But let’s not dwell on the negative! This was my road-kill day, and I started off by seeing a nasty looking live millipede and an even nastier looking dead centipede crossing the road. Later, I saw dead snakes, frogs, and bats, all spattered and dried. Jolly good fun.

The gorge at Fanshuliao

Soon I was on the road leading out of town, as the coastline was impassable for a while. Most of the day was spent climbing up and down over the hills, which although tiring, offered beautiful vistas of more green hills. One recreational area on the coast presented a challenge to me. It was a beach and farm type deal, accessed by a side road that went down a good 800m of altitude over about 3 km. Getting down there and back would have been a small hike in itself. I just couldn’t be bothered, as it would have sucked up at least 2 hours, and to see what? Just one beach – which I could see from the road anyway. I decided to give it a miss, but couldn’t shake the feeling that I had wimped out! I’ll have to go and do it one day, before I officially finish. A bit further on, there was a fantastic gorge at Fanshuliao.

It was really "gorge"-eous!

Hazy day view from Baci Lookout

On and on, and then I came to a lovely spot, the Baci lookout. The view from here was really wonderful. There was a long curving beach, capped by a lovely big rocky lump of hill at the end, which was to be tonight’s destination. I trudged down the road, which eventually rejoined the coast proper. I got onto the beach, but had the usual problem of running into a stream that was difficult to cross. I followed the road again, and came to the Jici Beach resort, right at the end. It was a nice place, lively but not too tacky. They had camping, a restaurant, swimming, and beach activities like Jet Ski and canoeing. Unfortunately, they had a big group in the camping area, so I didn’t want to stay there. The guy at the ticket window was a nice guy and he drove me (drunk as he was) up to a little guest house about 200 meters up the road. I changed and went back to the beach for a swim, shower and dinner. Then back to my huge room for a good sleep.

The unpretentious Jici Beach Resort

Day 22: Sunday, May 25th, Hualien Bridge to Shuilien, Hualien County.

2008-09-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Road leading to peninsula at mouth of Hualien River

I got a taxi near Hualien train station, and got off at the Hualien Bridge. I get out, and am soon across the bridge, where the road splits. I take the left road. Highway 11, heading south. There’s a rocky peninsula on the south side of the river, which tapers to a sandy spit. I followed that first. It was not very developed; in fact they seemed to be selling land parcels on it. I got to the end, and there was a nice view of Hualien, the river, fishers at the estuary, etc. Then, off I go “Due South” again.

Family picnic at the mouth of Hualien River

This was Highway 11, which follows the coastline and not the rift valley - which is where most of the towns in southern Hualien are located. It was a nice enough road. It’s always lovely to have the sea on one side, and mountains on the other. A few km down the road I passed the Hualien Ocean Park, which looked a bit garish and touristy. Then later, I came to an apparently famous temple with a gold statue of Buddha on it, in Yanliao Township. After Yanliao, settlements became fewer and farther between.

Takin a load off, eh?

The mountains on the coast were interesting too. The Coastal Range is not nearly as high and rugged as the Central Range. The mountains were less intimidating and looked more inviting to the casual hiker. There were many side-streams that had cut through them and joined the sea along the coastal highway, and these streambeds led up into the hills through intriguing routes that looked like they could be followed fairly easily. [One day I must go back and check them out.] One interesting port in Yanliao township way had a biggish breakwater and an older ship “the Colkuandah” by the road, put up as some kind of monument.

Later on, I saw some higher cliffs and mountains closing in on the coast. The weather was also starting to close in: the storm clouds that had been hovering over the mountains in the distance starting to slide down towards the coast. Then, I unexpectedly came across another place where the old, cliff-hugging highway had been abandoned, while a new tunneled highway (Shuilien Tunnel) – assumedly a safer one – had been created.

River-cut gorge in the Coastal Mountains

I took the old way, and found it completely deserted. There was not a single scooter or fisherman along the entire 3km section. It was a bit eerie, like something from an “after the plague” movie. No zombies though, although I heard some aggressive monkeys hooting from the forest. It was a very scenic area, and had obviously had been a tourist route, as there were informative signboards at points of interest. The funniest one was about how the aborigines in the Shuilien area had had to, on a constant, daily basis, run from safe spot to safe spot along the bottom of the cliffs to avoid incoming waves when they visited people or went looking for food! (“Mom, can I go to Makwak’s house?” “Sure honey, but be back before high tide.”)

Gray-blue sea near Shuilien

Eventually, as the day cooled off in the late afternoon, the rain set in - a heavy downpour. Fortunately I had an umbrella. I walked the last few clicks to the town of Shuilien, and stuck out my thumb for a ride back. As usual, within 5 minutes I had a lift, this one right to Hualien Railway Station. It was a young Taiwanese couple. She had just got her license and they were out for a practice drive. The man’s English was pretty good. He was amazed I would be hitchhiking and convinced that he had saved me from a desperate situation. Well, he had saved me a 30-minute wait in the rain for an 80 NT bus ride! Still, much appreciated! His girlfriend’s driving was a bit dubious, though. She failed to notice a maniac coming out of the tunnel at 100 km/h on the wrong side of the road, doing an illegal passing maneuver. Eventually, her boyfriend and I made her aware of the situation and we narrowly avoided a head-on collision at a combined speed of 170km/h. This was just a reminder to me about how you never know where and when death is going to get you. That day, it brushed by me so close I felt the wind on my face. Not a nice feeling. LEARN TO DRIVE YOU F***ERS!!!!!

Day 21 images

2008-05-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Starting out at Hualian fish port

Hualian Port: Rocks and ships

More Day 21 images

2008-05-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Even more Day 21 images

2008-05-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yet more Day 21 images

2008-05-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Tai ke shiao gie hao ke ai!

Molecules

You lookin' at me?

Day 21

2008-05-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Day 21. Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. Along the Hualien City seashore, 5 hours.

I got the very fast Taroko Express train to Hualien: Only 2 hrs 7 mins from Taipei Station. Arriving at Hualien Railway Station, I first ate, bought some water and sun block, then got a ride with a friendly female cabbie to Hualien fish port. It was a pretty nice day, and not too hot. A few dark rain-clouds hugged the mountains and threatened to come over, but they never did.
I walked first through Hualien’s northern industrial area, which is by the port, and seems heavily based on marble, aggregate, and concrete. The port and the objects in it were on a large scale, and interesting.
Then, from the port road onto a pleasant bicycle and walking path that at first offered great views of the port, then crossed a wooden bridge into the more residential areas of the city.
Because it was Saturday, there were many people out enjoying the fine weather. In a park near the river, a big bunch of high-school students were having a boisterous barbecue. On the gray gravelly beach, picnickers, kids, fishers, and others were out having fun. I walked along on a path atop a wall separating the beach from the road. Soon the beach disappeared, and there were massive rows of concrete jacks, looking like huge molecules.
On my right there was a seaside park, and then mixed-use land, with houses, fields, and few factories. Eventually I came to the large river that flows to the sea at the southern end of Hualien. There, as always, the fishers were out, exploiting the estuarine conditions. Across the channel I could see a headland, and a highway, which would be my route south on another day.
I followed the river shore, past a wary Brahmin cow, until the path petered out. I snuck through the snaggly scrub and a hole in the fence on the backside of an industrial park, and came out after a while to the highway: noisy, big, irritating, but well provided with gas stations, convenience stores and bin lang huts.
I walked a bit further until I found the bridge that had been my goal while I was following the riverbed. I took a good look south, along Highway 11. That was my future path. It was a lonely road for a lone walker, with no trains, and probably very little in the way of public transport. The main connection between Hualien and Taidong was in the rift valley, the Highway 9 route. I would be going on the exposed outside edge. Hualien would be the last big town I would see until Taidong. Logistics would be harder, security less. The easy part of my trip was over.
But that would be for another day! I turned around and trudged into Hualien proper, past km’s of factories or warehouses, then scruffy outskirts, and finally into the thriving center. The train back was the slow one, but, whatever!

Day 20 images

2008-05-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Don on train

Friendly future bien dang ju pai's

Didn't get my b***s wet

More Day 20 images

2008-05-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Goat milk latte sir? ....Nope!

Hualien fishport and east breakwater

2008-05-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Day 20: Saturday, March 1, Sincheng to Hualien fish port. / 6 hrs

Accompanied by my good friend Texas Don, it was time to finish the first major segment of my round the island walk – arrival in Hualien! We took the train down, a mellow and sleepy journey, arriving in Sincheng about 10.45. The weather was fairly warm compared to Taipei, although a cold front was expected. We had a few km to the beach, and near the train station we passed some very congenial pigs! To bad pork tastes so good. When we got to the beach, I had to backtrack to the river mouth, for continuity’s sake, which took about 30 minutes. Then it was time for some more forward progress.
It was an overcast day with fairly poor visibility, but we could see the point at the far edge of the bay, a good 15km away of hard slogging along the beach’s gravel and sand. This kind of surface really sucks the energy out of your legs, as there is absolutely no bounce back. We got down to it, experimenting with different parts of the beach to see which gave better support. In general, areas closer to the water were harder-packed, but there was some heavy surf so you couldn’t get too close. Some of the waves really came pounding in to the at times steeply sloped beach, occasionally surging unexpectedly over a lip or high point in the sand with marvelously white foam. This was a great show, and helped us keep our minds off the tedium of the trudge. Several times, small rivers crossed the beach, but in every case there was an easy way across, although in bare feet. Every case, that is, but one! The biggest river (---) was broken into many small streams with one main channel. The streams were so close together that it was impractical to put our shoes back on after each crossing, so we were barefoot between each one, on sharp, uneven rocks. It was really painful, and we felt totally helpless as we ahh!ed and ouch!ed our way along. Then we came to the main channel, which was about a meter deep, and easy enough to cross.
It was about this time that we noticed the cold front catching up with us. We felt cooler shafts of air in the wind, and looking north we saw dark yellow-gray clouds, coloured by Gobi desert sandstorms, pouring over the mountains like a load of dirty snow from the roadside being pushed over the curb by a snowplow.
After more trudging, we eventually came to a tourist spot just outside Hualien, Qishincheng Beach, right next to the Hualien airbase. It was an enormous relief to walk on a solid surface again. When we got onto the sidewalk, it felt like we had on some kind of space-age power boots, as we skipped and bounced along with little effort.
Then, we followed an easy trail over the hill at the edge of the beach, through some military training land. The same as the last time I was there, I saw some lad soldiers doing training, capture the flag or ambush type stuff. There was a tough-looking trainer, some training weapons that might have been replicas, and some boot camp boys. We pushed on, passed some marble lots, with huge chunks ready to be shipped out, a lighthouse and park, and then we cut through next to a garbage dump. Just past that, there were a bunch of surfers, some of whom looked like the waves were just a bit too much for them. Then, just after that, Hualien fish port. It felt good to arrive there, as I had long been looking forward to Hualien as an important landmark in my journey. The port was interesting enough, with a huge breakwater. Judging from what I’d seen on the nig beach and with the surfers, this was a rough area for waves. Although our plan was to push on a bit farther, we ended up having sashimi and beer at the port, and then taking a taxi to the train station. Hualien at last!

Day 19 images

2008-05-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Southern section of Suhua Highway, in Taroko Park

More Day 19 images

2008-05-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

The old Suhua highway and Chingshui cliffs

Yet more Day 19 images

2008-05-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

Chingshui cliffs

Down to the sea again

Day 19 walk

2008-05-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Day 19: Monday, December 25, Heren to Sincheng / 6 hrs

This time I was really hoping to finish the whole Suhua area. It had been very interesting, but the cliffs were a bit dodgy and it was time for a change. Besides, dealing with both the old highway and the new made progress too slow.
I set off on the most imposing part of the hike to date, the Chingshui cliffs. These are the highest sea-cliffs in Taiwan, and tower almost a 1000 meters above the sea. They are actually part of the Taroko Gorge area that touches the sea. They are beautiful not only for their grandeur, but also for how the dust from falling rocks being pulverized turns the water an enchanting and wonderful light blue color near the cliff base.

I started off from Heren, and the road (the coast was impassable) soon led up up up. I passed the Taroko Park entrance, and again played the game of trying to access bits of the old highway, and really hoping they wouldn’t dead-end and cause me to backtrack. This worked out OK, and luckily there were sidewalks in all tunnels, so when I couldn’t follow the old road I could safely continue on foot. After a few hours of trudging, in somewhat gray and cheerless weather, I came to a rest area that was equipped with many informative placards about the Suhua highway. I continued again, with the old road finding. As I have described it all before, there isn’t too much more to add, except that the Chingshui cliffs are almost breathtakingly beautiful at times, and the best way to see them is on the old road on foot. It’s an exciting if dangerous walk, and on this day there were many tunnels and cliff-roads. Later, about lunchtime, I came to another rest area, near which there was a restored section of the old road, obviously deemed safe enough for tourism, which was swept clean. At the end was an easily crossed barrier. I continued along the road past the tourist area. Soon, I entered a long tunnel. It was a wide, flat tunnel, in good repair, with occasional side tunnels connecting to the cliff. But it was really long, and totally dark except for the main and side tunnel mouths. I had the odd experience of walking through the dark, and navigating by lights ahead, behind and to the side, which were bright enough to guide me for me to see my destination, but didn’t illuminate the road or me. It was like traveling towards a light on the sea at night. At the end, there was another section of old road, along the sheerest bit of cliff, one that many people never get to see, as they are in the newer, safer road tunnel.

I could see that I was approaching the end of the cliffs area: ahead, I could see the beach reasserting itself, curving away from the mountains, and reclaiming its role as ocean’s margin. The mountains receded away on the other side, leading off to Taroko. In the middle area, abandoned by both beach and mountain, lay some bumpy land, with farms, some industry, etc: I was almost in Hualien City.
I made my way down from the cliff-walk to the beach by a staircase at a tourist rest stop, and started trudging along. I passed some pull-up fishing boats, and a friendly group of aboriginals. I started to feel nagged by the wind. There was a small road running parallel to the beach, just inland, so I took that, happy for a change of pace. Soon, I came to some sort of sand excavation site, probably for making aggregate. I started to think, “Hmmm…looks like the kind of place where there might be dogs.” Yup! I was about halfway through the site when I was spotted by a pack of seven or eight similar-looking yellow dogs, clearly a family. One came first, and then the others showed up. They all came tearing at me, frantically snarling, barking, trying to outflank me, and getting too close for comfort. I knew not to run, so I chose fight instead of flight: I charged them, shouting very loudly, throwing rocks at the leader. They all backed off a lot, but when I started walking quickly out of the area, they came after me. I had to stand them down several times in this way. Eventually, I made it out of the sand site and onto a rocky beach. They kept following me, but I gave them a bombardment of beach rocks, so they left. Later, as I passed adjacent to the other side of the same area, I could hear them barking as, I imagined, they caught my scent in the wind. FUCKING DOGS!! Anyway, it was good for an adrenaline rush!

I then soon came to the mouth of the river that flows out of Taroko. There was a wide river mouth, mostly dry. I followed my way up the watercourse to the bridges: as usual, there were two rail bridges close to the ocean, one old and out of use, one modern one, and a highway bridge much farther up. Again as usual, it was easier to find a way up to the railway bridges. I climbed up the slope, and found where the bridges started, and found that the modern bridge had a kind of walkway along the side. It was a long trip across, at least 1km. I did it, without any trains passing. In the middle of the bridge a bunch of crows started flying around. They seemed to have a colony on an island in the middle of the river. I though it was interesting, as I hadn’t seen any crows in Taiwan up till then.
I got to the other side, and found my way down to a farm road. Just as I got there, a police car pulled up, and a cop got out. He was looking at me intently, but looked a bit embarrassed. Maybe someone had reported me on the tracks, and the cop had been sent to investigate. But, unable to speak English, he just stood there! I followed the farm road, which led to a larger road, which led to the road next to the train station, past the store with the Murphy’s – an increasingly rare commodity at 711, alas. I was in Sincheng, only one more day from reaching Hualien.

Day 18 images

2008-05-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

Forgot to bring the sunblock, eh what?

More Day 18 images

2008-05-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Looking up ..

Old highway tunnel

Even more Day 18 images

2008-05-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Old Suhua highway, and its at-times precarious left overs, and weird tunnels

Yet more Day 18 images

2008-05-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

See that guy fishing?

Dangerous road

Near Heren Railway Station

Day 18 walk

2008-05-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Day 18: Saturday December 15, Heping (Aohua) to Heren / 6 hrs.

This turned out to be a really sunny day, which took me a bit by surprise, as the weather in Taipei had been rather gray and damp. I guess I had gone south of that magic line which often divides Taiwan weather into good and bad. I hadn’t brought any sun block, so I had to wrap a shirt around my head to keep from getting burned. It was quite a fashion statement. Last time I had gone up the road a bit past the train station, but hadn’t found a safe crossing point for the train tracks, hence missing out on the lovely beach I had seen on Google Earth. This time, I cautiously ran across the tracks and hit the beach. It was all the more pristine for being hard to access, although I did spy one car route in that connected to an underpass. At the end of the beach was a fairly impressive cliff. The brilliantly blue sea and sky, the bright sun, the imposing cliff; it all looked great. As I approached the cliff, I suddenly noticed a man-made feature: it was a tunnel mouth, halfway up the cliff. Getting closer, I saw also the roadbed. I had to cut through a small farm to get to where the road should start. Coming through the farm, I saw the graded slope where it did, now overgrown On it, there was a simple dirt track, next to which a very non-urban character was hacking up some bamboo with a machete. He seemed like a Formosan aborigine, and had a bit of an afro. I asked him if there was a road, and he said that yes but it didn’t go far. He said I could go on in. I followed it for a short distance; it was overgrown with vegetation. Soon, I came to the tunnel. It was just a short one, and the road only continued for a short distance after that. I wasn’t surprised, as Google Earth had shown a huge bite out of the cliff-side where doubtless there had been a massive rockslide some years before.

I found my way back to the road, and soon came to the modern highway tunnel that had replaced the precarious cliff-side route. But I soon found that the tunnel was precarious enough for pedestrians! There was no sidewalk. I went in about 20 meters, and heard loud truck noises approaching from around a bend, magnified by the enclosed space of the tunnel. Looking down, I saw tire treads only 10cm from the tunnel wall. No thanks! I got out of there fast, and started to hitchhike. It took me all of five minutes before someone picked me up, a country Christian couple, it seemed. Five minutes of tunnel was easy enough to bear in their company, then we came out the other end, to a brief section of cliff-hugging road. I got out, and walked along it for a bit, then came to the next bit of tunnel, and another bit of hitching. This time it was a young couple from Hualien. They took me through the next bit, and let me off at the end, where there was a clear access point to the old road.
I backtracked, enjoying the lovely views, but mindful of the risk of rocks falling on my head. The whole road was peppered, covered or at times almost blocked by fallen rocks. Some were small and some were very big. Most of them looked quite capable of killing me if they landed on my head. On the cliff-side there were also chunks of rock that seemed to be in the process of splitting off from the face. Who knows how many summer days, winter nights, and earthquakes would happen before they did? But in geological time, they were like dogs yanking at their chains to be let go. There were also occasional holes in the pavement, or places where guard walls had been smashed, leaving gaps with bits of twisted rebar sticking out. The whole area was a testament to the natural violence of the Suao – Hualien area, where sheer cliffs meet a pounding sea, regularly blasted by typhoons, and shaken by earthquakes on an almost weekly basis. Not an easy place to build a road.

As I followed the old road, much of which looked like people had been keeping it clear enough of debris to let scooters through, I came to a tall cliff, even more vertical than most around there. At the top, a sunburned, pot-bellied, betel-stained man was fishing, his line dropping down at least 40 meters to the sea below.
Later, I went back to the main road, and followed it down to the Heren. I got my reward beer at a small store by the road. The young woman cashier was quite attractive, but obviously not used to dealing with lao wei. She was shy and excited, which I found amusing. I found the train station, and had a few more beers on the platform. And so another day was done.

Day 17 images

2008-05-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

More Day 17 images

2008-05-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

In the riverbed

Goats, I guess

Even more Day 17 images

2008-05-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

Best way across

Cooling water release

Day 17 walk

2008-05-09T07:34:00.000-07:00

Day 17:Around the Henben / Aohua area. Friday July 27th, 5 hours

Henben is really close to Aohua. They are both in the same "ao", the middle of which is the border between Ilan and Hualien counties. It also had a fairly big stream running through it, which gave me some trouble. The stream was quite shallow in most places and quite spread out, into many small branches. But there always seemed to be one main channel that was just a bit intimidating, especially if you didn’t want to get cell-phone etc wet. I diddled along the beach for a while, until I got to the river area that would certainly be flooded during high water. Then, I laboriously explored it, looking for a reasonable way across. I wandered around in that riverbed for hours, getting hotter and hotter, until I came to some narrows where the stream came out of the mountains. It was steep and rocky, and the water below was fast and deep. There was no easy way across. I walked back towards the ocean, and came across an abandoned railway bridge that, judging from the trail and little ladder leading up to it, was the locals’ solution to the problem I had encountered. The rails had been ripped off so there was no threat of a train coming along. It took me across to the other side, and into Hualien County. I followed a barrier wall around the outside of a huge power plant and cement making plant that dominated the town like a castle in a small village. As I came around the corner on the other side of the river mouth, the beach resumed. There was an odd outflow from the plant, from which the water came out vertically from a massive pipe. It didn’t spurt up into the air very far, but it did gush up rather impressively. I followed that beach for a while but it soon dead-ended at a huge wall of wave protectors (massive concrete jacks) that were at the mouth of the harbor that this factory had to itself. I had to make my way back to the railway bridge that I had crossed on, and followed the route even further until it connected to the main rail lines, which penetrated the whole factory. I followed the tracks through the complex, many times sighting cops and security guards driving past on small roads only a chain link fence away. Strangely, they all seemed unaware of me. I went past the railway station, figuring that I’d get busted if I approached the platform from the tracks. Well past the station, I dashed across the rails to get to the road, then headed out of town for a while before realizing it was time to make my way back to Taipei. I went quickly back to the station, just in time to get the fast train back to Taipei. The only trouble was, unlike most train stations in Taiwan, this very modern one didn’t have a dinky little store attached where I could grab some Taiwan beer, so I had to make the trip back totally dry. That train trip really seemed long without a few beers to chill me out.

Day 16 images

2008-05-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

More Day 16 images

2008-05-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Holy rock!

Cement factory / power plant in Henben / Aohua

I definitely earned this one

Day 16 walk

2008-05-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

Day 16: Tuesday, July 24th, Nanao to Henben. 7 hrs

This was another day of heat, in fact the hottest, sweatiest day yet. I had found on the previous trip that the beach route was blocked by periodic rocky outcroppings into the sea. So my route would begin along the road, heading south. It led inland for a bit, through more alluvial farm areas, a big touristy shop for local products. I saw lots of bicyclists on this stretch of road, many of whom would yell “Jia yo!” or “Yeehaw!” as they passed. Two of them stopped, and, slightly annoyingly, wanted to take pictures with me. After five minutes I got rid of them, but noticed a country road leading towards the ocean that had a proper sign. It was worth checking out, as a possible route to the sea or to see the sea, a necessary action for my “continuity quest”. I started up the road, which led up into the hills separating me from the ocean. It was a dirt road but in good shape, and it was obviously a farm access road, as their was a lot of cultivation and irrigation. But no one seemed to live there. It also seemed like an access route for maintenance of electrical towers. As I climbed higher in the blazing noonday sun (I’m half-mad dog and half-English) I slowly started to feel baked. When I got to the top, I was feeling the first effects of mild heat exhaustion. The land on top was drier and dustier, and there were masses of flies swarming about. I had hoping that there would be a nice sea view at the end of it, but in the end I just came to the end of the last field, then a wooded cliff with almost no view whatsoever – just a tiny bit of blue through the trees. Damn! Back I went, definitely feeling worse for wear. I took it easy, and drank loads of water. I even used my umbrella to create some shadow, which worked well, of course. I followed the main road, feeling a bit like shit. A friendly passerby in a car stopped and offered me a lift, which I declined, and some water, which I gladly accepted as my supplies were a bit low. I kept trudging along feeling a bit weak, nauseous and headachey, until, suddenly, I came around a corner and saw the ocean. Oh azure ribbon of cool comfort for the mind! I drank in its blue freshness in quiet ecstasy. Not only did it look good, but also it produced a nice cool breeze. I followed the road in joyous sight of the ocean, looking down on the shoreline below, seeing into the clear water, where huge boulders lay submerged just offshore. I noticed how some of the obstacles that blocked the beach were actually quite narrow, and could be swum around, possibly. There was also a road that wound down to the sea, which I guessed was another old section of highway. I was too tired and hot to take it. [A few weeks later, I went back with some friends and we “beach traced” our way along that coast, swimming or climbing past the outcroppings. We also explored that old road, which leads down the cliff in switchbacks, and then terminates in what must have been a truly god-awful landslide. South of the landslide about 60meters, there is a small path that leads down to the beach.] I was descending towards the next “Ao” and I saw a small temple by the roadside. It was a massive, smooth boulder, painted with Kuanyin. Over and around, but not touching it, there was a concave concrete shell, obviously designed to protect the “holy rock” from falling debris. In the shade behind this, where the locals had some chairs, tables and kettles, I slumped on a sofa. An old caretaker and someone else came around, told me to sleep if I wanted, and offered me some “Ching chao cha” literally, Ching dynasty tea, which was super cold. It is made from a wild plant, not tea, and had a strong, dark flavor, the more intense for being unsweetened. However, it was very refreshing. After a break, I moved on. I was within a few km of my destination, the train station at Aohua, and had come down to a much lower height. I found another small road to the seaside. I took it, and it led to what was obviously a small abandoned military building. From there, I saw a big tunnel leading into the mountain. The gate was open. The tunnel seemed modern, tidy and well used, with some kind of electrical control boxes on one wall. There was a dusty oily wind blowing out of it. I walked into the tunnel, which disappeared into darkness. As I got farther and farther away, I heard a muted mechanical roar that slowly got louder and louder. It seemed to be coming straight for me! Louder and louder and louder! I freaked, and ran out. When I got to the gate, I turned and looked. About 200 meters away, I saw the lights of a train going by! My tunnel was an access tunnel perpendicular to the railway tunnel. Amused, I started walking into town. I was tempted to stay the night on the beach, but as they say in Texas “my dogs were barking” that is, my feet hurt, and so I decided to call it a day. On the way home, when my train was in the tunnel, I looked for the tunnel mouth I had walked into. I saw it as a flash of bright daylight for about two blinks of time.

Day 15 images

2008-05-09T06:29:00.001-07:00

Traditional Taiwanese grave

Above: ripe rice. Below: cold spring on a hot summer day.

More Day 15 images

2008-05-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

Day 15

2008-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

Day 15: Wednesday, July 4th, around Nanao. 6hrs

This day was just going to be about exploring the charming little town of Nanao. I had known from my last trip that there was no way I could both see the local coastline thoroughly and move onwards to the next train station on the same day. For one thing, there was a little hilly nature trail right next to where I had stopped last time that had coast views, and I couldn’t very well miss that. Then there was a fairly long shoreline, with a river to cross. So, on this day I thought I’d just check out Nanao. The nature trail was nice, and not too challenging, which was good because it was about 35C and humid as hell. After the two km walk in the hills, I went through some pretty farmland towards the beach. Some of the views of the mountains in the distance, contrasted with the beautiful verdant farmland around me, were stunning. I found a dirt track towards the beach, passing some Aborigine families relaxing in a cold spring swimming hole, and a duck farm. I got to the beach, which was nice, but soon found that the river would be a bitch to cross. The problem was the risk of getting my cell phone and digital camera wet. The water was just a bit too fast and deep to be sure I wouldn’t wipe out. I found one place to cross that was OK, and proceeded down the beach, but then found, 1km later, that I had crossed the minor channel and that the main channel looked like it would be much tougher! I had to backtrack almost all of the day’s coastal progress, get to a road, cross a bridge, and then cut back to the ocean. Although the river channel was no more than 5 meters wide, I had to walk about 4 km to get to the other side! This was all just to save the electronic stuff, which was of course indispensable. (That’s when the idea of having a “dry keeping” device occurred to me.) I continued along the beach just south of Nanao, which had jeep access. It was really quite lovely, with nice cliffs, interesting colors in the rock, and tumbled boulders everywhere. I went about 1km, but then had to worry about time and trains. I hastened back to the train station, though a nice farming settlement. I had sweated so much on that day that, even after drinking 4L of water throughout the day, and an additional 1.5 L of water on the way to the station, I only urinated minimally. I actually started thinking I had some kind of problem, but then after drinking more and more water, things got back to normal.

Day 14 images

2008-05-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

A section of the old Suhua highway in Dongao

More old Suhua highway

More Day 14 images

2008-05-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

Normal looking guys, but who were they?

Views from on high

Do those look like bullet holes to you?

Even more Day 14 images

2008-05-09T05:45:00.001-07:00

Looks like a bullet hole to me

The first of many abandoned on the Suao-Hualien route

Looking back at Dongao

Nanao

Day 14 walk

2008-05-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

Day 14: Monday, July 2nd, Dongao to Nanao. 6.5hrs

This turned out to be one of the weirder days up till then. I set out fairly early, and first walked along the beach area in Dongao. It was the usual gray and gravelly Ilan beach. At the end of the beach, down the road a bit, was a small fish port, but no connection to the highway far above. So, back I went back and took the road, which climbed up through the green hills. The view was becoming more interesting and dramatic. I noticed a small waterfall on the hillside across from me, originating and disappearing in lush green forest. Soon there was a double tunnel for cars, but next to it, a small road with an open gate. I followed it, and soon surmised that it was an older version of the Suao-Hualien highway. It was still in use in some capacity, but weeds were encroaching on both sides. It went on and on, feeling a little odd to be in an isolated area that had car access. It felt vaguely dangerous. Well, as if to mock me for being paranoid, events conspired to make me even more so. A short time later, a Freeca SUV came down the road from further up the track. As it went by, I waved. About 100 meters past me, I heard the sound of a two-way radio squawking. Then, the van stopped, and started reversing towards me! About 30m away it stopped, and two guys got out, a short guy and a tall guy. There was also another guy inside the car who didn’t come out. The short guy was older and appeared to be in charge. They were dressed in casual clothes, but seemed very neat and well groomed. They approached me, and the shorter guy asked me if I could speak Chinese, and I said “only a little”. We conversed mainly in English. He asked the usual questions, “Where are you from?” etc. I asked him if they were police, but he said they were reporters. “We want to take a picture with you!” he said. They wanted to be in the picture too! It seemed strange, as then they obviously couldn’t print it. What was the use of it? Then the younger guy stood next to me for the picture. Then, they let me take a picture of them and their car. Then, thank you’s and bye-bye’s, and off they went. It all seemed very strange. I had seen a TV news crew in the area that morning, filming some harbour, but why would they stop and ask to be photographed with me on an isolated country road? It made me feel a bit vulnerable. Alice, you’re not in Tianmu any more! Anyway, I tromped on, along the road, and eventually came to a junction. To the right, the road became a proper mountain road leading up the hill, with mirrors at sharp turns, distance markers, and a yellow stripe in the middle. Ahead was a short, gated tunnel with a low gate that was easy to climb over. There was a path to the left of the tunnel. I tried the path, but it was overgrown with tall weeds, so I turned back. I went through the tunnel, and at the end of it found an older highway sign, apparently full of bullet holes! I had seen some kind of Aboriginal Police vehicle on the road earlier, so probably this was an Aboriginal area, and maybe some of the local bravos liked to take shots with their hunting rifles at the sign sometimes!
I walked along the old road, really hoping it would connect to the highway again. It was a pleasant environment, with lovely trees and ferns, and occasional peeks at the stunning coastline. Then, without warning, about 20 meters in front of me, the top of a tree on the cliff side of the road just exploded, and the pieces and what must have been a rock boomed down the side of the cliff. I had heard no noise, from what I assume was a falling rock, above the trail coming down. Hence, I assume that it was a rock that had bounced very high above me, come down at a steep angle silently and at high speed, and then smashed into the top of a tree. After this I was feeling a bit spooked, but I kept going on, until the track just ended in a mound of dirt. I marched back, and went a few clicks up the mountain road, but it just went up and up, and nowhere on my route, so I went all the way back to the starting point off the main highway, by the twin tunnels.
. I followed the road without adventure until I came to Nanao. It was a big area, a cultivated and inhabited area of about 40 sq km, obviously an alluvial fan created by mountain runoff carried by the small river that went through the town. It was a fertile and cheerful looking place. There was a turn-off for a fish port, so I took that small road, through green fields of pineapple and other crops. I went through the fishing village, and it seemed to be a very sleepy backwater indeed. I came to some kind of irrigation canal that had lovely clean cool water running in it, which I later learned was a cold spring. Some local teenagers were bathing in it. Then, there was a harbor, with a fine view. And, most importantly, a little shop that sold water and cold beer! Ahhh!

Day 13 images

2008-05-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

Greg and Nanfangao Harbour

More Day 13 images

2008-05-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

Views of the Suao-Hualien coastline

Coming into Dongao

Day 13 walk

2008-05-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

Day 13: Sunday, April 10th, Suao to Dongao. 6hrs (With Greg)

We took the usual train down, the old Chu Kuang, and got to Suao about 12. We went for lunch at the same place Jerry and I had been last time. We then set off along the harbour road, and came to a pleasant area with a big bridge, Nanfangao. The bridge led to one side of a peninsula, allowing people access without stopping shipping from passing underneath. Following the road, we came to what was obviously the tourist restaurant street, then a small, lovely beach. Following the beach, and then the seaside road, we came to a small village at the end of it. Alas, there was no way onwards from this place that we could see. There was a rough path beside a small stream, but it looked slippery and uncertain. A mellow-looking foreigner that seemed to live there told us that is was also a bit snake-infested. We went back through the village and found some stairs that lead us up to the highway above. The rest of our walk was along this highway. It climbed up the seaside mountains, and then passed through green, hilly country a bit inland from the coast. Greg, being quite light on his feet, bounded ahead like Tigger. We passed one path down, which tempted us, but we passed it by. Later, we could see where the path had led, down the steep cliffs to the lip of the land, before the ocean! Too bad we hadn’t taken it, but later we noticed that, although it stretched for kilometers, going south about 40 meters above sea level, it stopped abruptly, never reconnecting to the main road. Greg and I arrived in sleepy little Dongao, grabbed some water and beer, and caught the train. Starting with Suao, there are a number of “ao’s”, namely Dongao and Nanao, and Aohua. They are all similar, in that they are areas of flat land facing onto the oceansurrounded by steep hills and mountains. They appear to have been formed by build-up of rock particles washed down by the river that each town has.

Day 12 images

2008-05-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Typical Ilan thingies

More Day 12 images

2008-05-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

The end of a long, long beach

Day 12 walk

2008-05-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

Day 12: Saturday, March 26, Donggang to Suao. 6.5hrs (With Big Jerry)

After taking the train to Luodong, we got a taxi and managed to explain where we wanted to go. After 10 minutes, we were back where we had emerged from the beach walk on Day 11. As usual, it was difficult to go directly to where we wanted, as there was no dry access to the river mouth without going a long way around So, we did just that, walking beside pleasant canals until we found a bridge to the beach, and then, slightly to Jerry’s annoyance, backtracking to the river mouth to continue my “continuity quest.” There was nothing new on this part of the journey: Grey sand, fisherman and their cars and bikes, the same estuary, although still an interesting environment. We marched on, and as before there was the strip of straight track “bicycle path” separated from the beach by a wall of brush. After a time, the track ended and we were on the beach sands. Not much to notice, really. We saw a number of fishermen who all seemed to like yellow boots, green pants and blue jackets. We saw a factory or utility plant smokestack in the distance, a solitary landmark, and then gradually passed it and left it behind. There were occasional, very vague views of the mountains. It drizzled for most of the day. Eventually, we saw a mountain wall ending the beach, and in time came to it. That was the end of a very, very long beach! There was a pleasant village area, then a tunnel, and then POP! We were in Suao. We found some OK seafood, at a restaurant downtown. It was a tiny little place, with a friendly, noisy loa ban niang. It wasn’t cheap but it was ok. Then we got a couple of beers, and took the train for Luodong to Jerry’s car.

Day 11 images

2008-05-09T05:08:00.000-07:00

My good friend Jerry

Near Wushe Gang

More Day 11 images

2008-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Seaside bike trail

Long, grey beach

Fishers' shelters near Longyang River estuary

Even more Day 11 images

2008-05-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

Lanyang River Estuary

Burning stuff on the farm, in Ergie

Day 11 walk

2008-05-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

Day 11: Toucheng to Donggang. Sunday March 10th. 7 hours.

This was another hike with my good friend Jerry. We drove from Taipei to Toucheng in the morning, going through the Shuehshan Tunnel, a big long one through Taipei County and Ilan. We parked near the Toucheng train station and took a cab to Wushe Port. It was a lovely sunny day. There were lots of fisherman and boat workers about, doing things with nets. We walked around the port area for a while, and then hit the beach, the one big huge beach in Ilan that stretches for about 30km. It’s a gray beach, completely undeveloped for tourism throughout most of it’s length, although there are some breakwaters, as well as pipes leading seawater into the many aquaculture establishments near the coast. The first bit of the walk was rocky, and then the true beach resumed. After checking out a little park by the sea, that Safani and I had actually found years ago, we walked along to the mouth of a largish river. Alas! When we got to the river mouth we found that there was no connection to the road corridor, as the land between the beach area and the road corridor was swampy and filled with canals! We had to backtrack about 4km. Shit! Oh well, Ilan’s coastline is quite flat in that area, allowing bizarre shapes for river flow. We trudged onwards and found our way to the other side. We then got back to the seaside, and found an interesting and convenient feature: A narrow paved lane, with signs saying bicycles only, but used by many locals as a scooter track. The origin of this track was probably military, as the beach would doubtless make a good invasion spot. Along this we walked, me struggling to keep up with Jerry frantic pace. In the four years I’ve known him, Jerry has morphed into a total exercise freak. We made good time. However, it did become a bit monotonous, as did the beach itself when we followed it. There were a few points of interest: fishermen, short breakwaters pointing out to sea made of rock, probably designed as sand traps; and one brave lonely surfer. There was also a military artillery range, not being used on that day. As we neared the mouth of the Donggang river, we came across a kind of “tent city” where the local fishers would store stuff or get out of the weather for a bit. These areas were usually a bit garbeachy.

It had been a reasonable hike and, having reached our logical finishing point, we made out way to the road. However, unfortunately there were no 7-11s, bus stops, restaurants, gas stations or anything similar to be seen; nor was there any indication of how to get to the train station. There were just farmhouses and farms. After futilely wandering about various on roads for a while, we decided to follow the river along its anti-flooding embankment, which had a trail on top. Our strategy was to follow this straight route up past Highway 5 up to Highway 9, which ran next to the train route. There we would easily find a train station. This idea worked but took some time: it was maybe another 8km of walking to go to Ergie. Along the way, we enjoyed a fine view of Sangie, famous for it’s green onions, as well as its weird hut-shaped hay-drying piles. The flood zone next to the river was a rich green patchwork of farm plots growing different crops, and here and there, farmers tending them. It was a pleasant and healthy feeling. However, one bizarre thing that happened was when we came across some doghouses on the embankment, to which were chained three huge and highly aggressive Rotweilers. There were going crazy trying to get off their chains, and were extremely intimidating. They look like they would gladly have torn us to pieces. I have no idea what they were doing out there! After much trudging we came to Ergie. Beer and taxi were quickly obtained, and, were soon back in Toucheng. We drove back to Taipei in Jerry’s car, getting in around 7.30pm.

Day 10 images

2008-05-08T00:59:00.000-07:00

Gueisandao: Turtle Island

Ilan Coast near Dashi

More Day 10 images

2008-05-08T00:51:00.000-07:00

Above: Shihcheng fishport.
Below: Aquaculture

Below: Dashi fishport

Yet more Day 10 images

2008-05-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

Dashi fishport

And even more Day 10 images

2008-05-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Beiguan tidal park

She is a monkey!

Anomalous architecture

Day 10 walk

2008-05-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Day 10. Wed, Feb 7th. Shihcheng to Toucheng. 6 hrs.

This was another day of walking with a limited diet, and again I found the effects were only subjective. That is, I felt tired, but made good time. On the painfully slow local train, I ate three sweet potatoes, which were deliciously sticky. Good energy food, if a bit messy. It was a day of mixed sun and cloud, neither warm nor cool. I got to Shihcheng at noon, and spent half an hour checking it out to make up for having been through in the dark two days earlier. At the fish port, there was a funny pair of guys talking. One was repairing a boat, and was super friendly. The other guy, mouth dark red from binlang, was sitting nearby. I said “hi” to both of them, but the binlang guy made a motion of shooting a gun, and said something in Taiwanese. He seemed to be saying he wanted to shoot me! I laughed it off. Then, I started out along the coast: The first point of interest was Dali: I checked out the Tien Gong temple, and noted the entrance to the Ciaoling Historical Trail. Then, another trail head further on, which led to a temple in the hills that I had noticed many times while hiking the Taoyuan Valley trail. It always had very loud Buddhist music emanating from it, which could be heard from kilometers away. It was a peaceful effect from a distance, but what would it be like if you were actually there? Then, on to Dashi. I had been there quite a few times before, but only to go to the beach and train station, usually for a beach party or after hiking the Taoyuan Valley trail, which is a much longer offshoot of the Ciaoling trail and terminates in Dashi.
This time, though, I actually saw the town. Dashi has quite an active fishing port. And on this occasion, I seemed to have arrived at the perfect time: ships and boats were coming in, docking, and hoisting cargoes of chilled seafood onto the quay, where vendors where grabbing them and setting up stalls. Coast guard guys in their trademark orange jumpsuits watched very carefully. Every port I’ve been in, no matter how small, has a coast-guard presence. But the people just ignored them: Buyers bought, people watched, people pushed through; some slipped a bit on the slimy floor. Men and women called out. There was noise and purpose, and an interesting variety of wares, including sharks and shark fins, and some attractive kinds of fish I’d never seen before. Some seafood (squid and something I didn’t recognize) was cooked right away in big pots and sold. A huge ice machine poured ice into the back of a truck. Boats came and went. It was great.
On I went, to the “famous” beach, which is actually no big deal as the sand is gray. It was quite quiet on this cloudy Wednesday afternoon. Around the corner and along the road, after a few km, I came to the Beiguan Tidal Park. I almost didn’t bother going in, as, after about 120 km or shoreline, I’d seen quite enough rocks by the sea, thank you very much. But then I thought “What the hell!” It’s a very pleasant little park, and free. There are some cool rocks, different than others I’d seen on this trip, and some old cannon. It also offers some good views of Turtle Island. Then, onwards: Through the long, stretched-out town of Waiao, at the end of which is a nice gray-sand beach. It’s really a long, safe-looking beach, but is surprisingly undeveloped. At the north end is a mysterious building, with distinctly Muslim architecture. It seems to be some kind of private resort or rich man’s getaway. At the other is the port of Wushe. This is a pretty big port, but not an international one. There were many different kinds of boat in the harbor, including sightseeing and other kinds of commercial craft, as well as the ubiquitous fishing boats. It was getting dark, so I skipped doing a thorough reconnaissance of the area, which, according to my rules of the road, I’d have to do next time.
An interesting thing about this area is that it marks a geographical transition. From Wushe to near Suao, the land is flat, as the mountains recede inland for a bit. It looks like the entire fertile area of Ilan is some kind of alluvial fan. As spectacular as the mountains and rocky coastlines had been, I was actually grateful to see the flat lands ahead. It was something different for a change. After a quick zip through Wushe, I slogged up the road to Toucheng, which is the main town in the township area. After asking about a bit, I found the train station, which thankfully was an important one with fast trains. Soon I was zooming back to Taipei, having walked about 20km, virtually the entire scenic area within Toucheng township

Day 9 images

2008-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Near Aodi

Monument to resistance against Japan

4th Nuclear Power Plant, under construction

More Day 9 images

2008-05-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

Yenliao beach

Fulong temple

Even more Day 9 images

2008-05-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

Laolai Rocks: a wave-cut platform

Arrival in Ilan County

Day 9 walk

2008-05-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

Day 9. Mon, Feb 5th. Aodi to Shihcheng. 6 hrs.This was the first of my days walking while on the pre-fasting diet of strictly fruit and vegetables. I noticed very little difference in performance, although I seemed to feel like I had less energy. I think low and steady output activities like flat walking are not really affected by this diet. I set off from Aodi on a very sunny day. The beginning bit, getting out of town, was a bit weird, as there was no apparent clear route. So, I putzed around for a bit, then got back to the road. Now I could see where all those trucks had been going: I was walking right by the construction site of Taiwan’s 4th nuclear power station. At this point, it was just a grid of girders framed by huge angled cranes. Across from it was a traditional style building, which seemed to be the access point to a beach park. I paid my 60NT, and went through. Inside there was an interesting monument; a cenotaph dedicated to those brave few who fought against the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1895. Actually, Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonosheki after the 1894-1895 war, but many of the locals weren’t too happy about that. Below the monument was a lovely beach. It was golden sand, with a few little streams and rocky bits to give contrast. It was really a beautiful day, with a slight breeze and almost cloudless sky. I made my way happily down the beach to the adjacent, Fulong, beach. Between Yanliao and Fulong beach was a seldom-used part (except for fishermen) that was a bit garbeachy. At Fulong, there was nice view of the mountain across the bay, and a prominent ocean-side temple. I crossed the bridge over a small but deep river, and walked along the shore to the temple, splashing through a small stream on the way. The temple was beautiful, and filled with dragon sculptures. Along the coast further: I checked out the bus stops, and was slightly dismayed. Up to then, starting from Tanshui, there were always frequent intercity buses with well-marked stops very 500m or so. When I was done for the day, all I had to do was stop. Since Keelung, I had been using the Fulong to Keelung bus route, as the only other posted one, from Luodong to Taipei, seemed to be very infrequent, despite the promising-looking schedule on the sign. Now, after Fulong, there was no apparent regular middle-distance replacement bus. The danger was that I could get stranded on the road with no safe way home. Around this peninsula, the main east coast rail line met the coast, so if I could only make it to the first station, I’d be OK. Hmmm. I decided to go for it. I knew the peninsula walk would be a bit long, so I started to make time. I hoofed it along, enjoying the now-familiar view of mountain and ocean. To my right was Lingjou Mountain, to the left the sea. There were a few coves. One was in a place called Fulian, which was a small, traditional fishing village. It was clean and cheerful, and had preserved some old buildings well, near a wide easy walkway near the seawall. Next, I passed by the ***** rocks, which was overlooked by a big “God’s golf ball” radar array and the San Diego (?!) lighthouse, which was perched so high up on the surrounding hills that it could only be seen, and at that, partially, from a few angles. This is the most easterly spot on the island of Taiwan. The ocean rocks were OK, and as I passed through the fishing village I noticed what looked like an artist’s home and studio, with whimsical works of sculpture outside. Around the bend in the darkening evening: then, my first view on this trip of Turtle Island, which is much larger than Keelung Island. It is also further away from the mainland. In the sun-shadow of the eastward mountains, around 5pm, I passed the Lailai rocks, which compose, according to the sign, the largest wave-cut platform in Taiwan. Then, as it got darker and darker, I walked past sleepy, poor-looking villages with people having cookouts on the beach, and noisy dogs barking at me. Then, full darkness. Trucks zooming buy, with dusty gusts of wind behind. Headlights! The occasional scooter passed by, or nervous dog trotting along the shoulder, surprised at my presence. Then, a sign in the dark: Toucheng Township. I had made it to Ilan county. A few klicks down the road was Shicheng, a one-horse fishing village with a tiny train station. I waited at a promising looking bus stop, but a local woman on a scooter told me the train was better. An hour later, I was on the local. It stopped at every stop on the way to Taipei. An excellent way to increase one’s geographical knowledge!

Day 8 images

2008-05-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Day 8 begins: Left: Noel, Right: me

Looking north towards Keelung Mountain from Bitoujiao

More Day 8 images

2008-05-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

Looking north from Bitoujiao

Funky "trail" in Lungdung"

Lungdung cliffs

Day 8 walk

2008-05-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

Day 8. Fri, Feb 2nd. Bitoujiao to Aodi. 5 hrs.

This hike was with Noel, ny friend from Oz. We got the bus from Keelung, after a bit of a wait at the bus stop, but fortunately we had a good chat. Started from Bitoujiao, on a windy day. The waves were really smashing up on the rocks. We checked out Bitoujiao for a while, and hiked onto the hill and cliff trails, which had lovely views. We passed by a coastguard radar station, a small lighthouse, and then along the beach rocks to the Longdong side. Along the coast, around the bay, and to the rocky part of Longdung, famous for its climbing. There was some slight confusion about the trail, so we set off around the rocky beach, thinking this was the main trail. We were soon more or less bouldering, as the trail got more and more hypothetical and the landscape more vertical. At one point, it seemed like we needed to get a bit technical to actually make it. We crossed a dodgy transition from one rock to another, only to discover that the way ahead was getting even more technical, and was even roped. There were two horizontal cracks in a sheer wall, one for feet and one for hands, with the hands crack being roped. I thought that was a bit much, for a long distance hiking trip with no guide, ropes, or knowledge of the trail ahead, so we opted to go back. Oops! Getting across the dodgy bit was much dodgier on the return! We would have to do it, for the beginning bit, backwards, so we couldn’t see what we were doing. Below was a 4-metre drop to shallow, rocky water. Probably a survivable fall or jump, but very easy to break a leg, or even something else… What to do? I started to go back, as Noel looked on. “Christ!” he said, with a look of extreme worry. “Noel! Don’t say that!” I chickened out. Hmmm… Then, we found another way, over a side boulder that was challenging but much simpler and safer. Ahhh!! Relief. We went back to the parking lot and found the correct trail, gaining, at the top, some excellent views of the cliffs. After following this path, we followed various beach tracks, and at times the road, until we arrived in Aodi. I remembered a good restaurant in Aodi, (Hsingang Seafood) which we were able to find, and were soon enjoying a delicious seafood meal. Ahhh! A fine end to an interesting day.

Day 7 images

2008-05-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

More Day 7 images

2008-05-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

Day 7 walk

2008-05-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Day 7: Wed, Jan 31. Shenao to Bitoujiao. 4 hrs.
I had a bit of a rough time getting the right bus to my starting point. I had eyeballed a promising looking bus stop on the way back on day 6, but none of the busses that stopped were going the right way. Finally, I took one that I thought might be going the right way, but after being on it for five minutes it clearly was not. I had to get off, and take a taxi to the coast road, then wait a good 30 minutes for the right bus. But, eventually it came, and I got to my starting place about 1.30pm. Starting at Shenao was not terribly impressive, although there were some nice views of Keelung Mountain. The road at this point was usually the only reasonable option and it was obviously a busy truck route: and not small trucks either, but really big flatbeds and container trailers that zoomed along, often verging onto the shoulder. I passed a big oil storage facility, probably for the power plant, and then the road started hugging the NE side of Keelung Mountain, where it sloped down to the sea. The view of the sea was nice, but hardly a novelty at this point. The first point of interest was the outflow point for the massive drain the Taiwanese government has built to avoid flooding at Shijhih and other points along the Keelung River during typhoons. The drain goes from the Keelung River in the mountains not far from Keelung itself, and diverts a portion of the river underground to the ocean. The outflow point is big, but not huge. The next point of interest was the old Lile copper smelting facility at Chinkuashih, which really is a fascinating sight. The first interesting thing I noticed is the bay, which was discolored with a strong brown tint, which I could see from kilometers away. This tint got redder as I got closer. This strange area of water, with the brightly-tinted water contrasting with the dark blue of the Pacific, is often called the "Yinyang Sea". As I turned the corner into the bay, I saw strangely shaped mountaintops forming a near horizon, their tops twisted and deformed. There was a clear south view of Keelung Mountain, which I’d just come around; and on the slope leading down from the strange peaks to the reddish-brown bay was a huge old mine building. The building was seemingly covered in a thin layer of moss, so it was almost exactly the same gray-green color of the hillside. The land around was barren. The entire effect was quite striking, and had a slightly dream-like feeling. Onwards, after the bay, the twisting road became sandwiched between rocky cliffs and the stony seashore. From time to time, there were concrete shelters over the road, to protect it from falling rocks from the cliffs above. These were similar to avalanche shelters I’d seen in alpine areas of Canada. There were a few small parks and fish ports along this rugged route, ending in a very pretty one, Bitou Jiao, or “Nosehead Cape.” This is a quaint harbor, with a big hill protecting it from the ocean on one side. I climbed up the hill, then down to the shore, which was a wave-cut platform of exposed rock next to the sea. A sign said that this was some of the hardest limestone in Taiwan. I enjoyed walking along the simple fisherman’s trail along the platform, visible only because it was scuffed a bit whiter than the surrounding rock. Then, as always a long wait and return bus journey home.

Day 6 images

2008-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

More Day 6 images

2008-05-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yet more Day 6 images

2008-05-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Day 6 walk

2008-05-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Tue, Jan 30th. Keelung to Shenao. 5.5 hrs.

I started off alone at Keelung at about noon. It was a fine sunny day, not too cold or hot. I walked along the eastern side of the harbor, and after passing by naval ships, came again to container terminals. These gave way to fishing villages, and lesser harbors; often full of older ships being repaired, or at least badly in need of it! Then, I went over a small bridge to Heping Island. This is a smallish island on the edge of town, just before the National Taiwan Maritime University. About one third of the island is residential, another third is a big shipbuilding facility, and the last third is a big recreational park. Just over the bridge to the right as you go to the island there is an area of seafood restaurants. Beyond that, there is a small Taiwan Aboriginal village, which is quite poor and squalid looking.

I wandered through the main residential area on the left, which is a normal, bustling blue-collar neighborhood, passed the shipbuilding facility, until I got to the park, which turned out to be very nice. There was a great view of the mouth of Keelung harbour, and the seacoast north of Keelung; I could also see Keelung Island, with its high white cliffs and green scrub, standing out in contrast to the blue sea. The rock park had many unusual rock formations: smooth, tan-colored, twisted shapes, with knobs and blisters of other kinds of rocks poking though. There were bizarre and silly shapes, like shit from a Dr. Seuss world, or fossilized aliens. There were also some narrow channels right by the sea, where waves would rush in at great speed, creating powerful surges that would penetrate narrow crevices under your feet, making strange noises. After being mesmerized in this zone for a while, I followed the trail by the sea, past green algae-coated rocks, until I’d come around to the south side of the island. I was returning to the area near the bridge. I went past the seafood restaurants, skirting the channel separating Heping Island from the mainland, then went back across the bridge. Then, I wandered about in an area of apartment blocks, trying to find the best way onward. Suddenly, I heard a boy ask me “Hello! How are you?” I looked around but couldn’t see anybody. Finally, I spotted two grinning and giggling boys on a high rooftop above me!

By process of elimination, I found that seaside progress was not a good option, so I found a road past the Formosan Aboriginal Hall. There were some paintings on a wall outside, an outside dance or assembly area, and an inside stage. Then, the road came to a tunnel, which curved into the hill. But, on the other side of the tunnel was…a twisting maze of small alleys that had so many clothes hanging out to dry and household items in them that I almost felt like I was walking through someone’s house! The alleys eventually led to a small street, which led directly to the main highway, which was again close to the sea.

The first thing along this road was the Taiwan National Maritime University, a nicely located campus. After this was Bisha fish port. This is a big port, and definitely a tourist place. Inside there is a wonderful abundance and variety of fresh seafood, all at high prices. Tthe other side of the main building has seafood restaurants. There’s a sense of money-grubbing in the air, but probably the vendors have to pay high rent) to get a space. I settled for some small steamed squid and a big bottle of Taiwan Gold Medal beer. Ahhh!

Then, I kept going, away from the touristy part and into the local part. I went through the village, and went along the far side of the harbour, to the end where there was a path up onto a nice big hill. The lookout point up halfway up the hill offered a great view in all directions. To the south, there were some cliffs: one path went up along the top of them, while another went down to the shore. I followed this one down, and along some rocky beaches to a storm-proofed seawall, with massive concrete jacks lying at its base. Around the corner was a wonderful view of Keelung Mountain and Jiufen. In fact, I had arrived at the home of a friend, although she was out, where we’d all had a great barbecue a few months back. The name of the place is “Badouzu”. I kept going down the road, as the day slowly faded, and a few kilometers down, came to a big thermal power station in a small town called Shenao. And there I stopped.

Day 5 images

2008-05-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

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2008-05-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

Day 5

2008-05-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

Day 5: Sun, Jan 21. Fetsuiwan to Keelung. 5 hrs.
This day was spent with my buddy Don. We bussed in and got started at about 12.30pm. Our first act was to cut through a cemetery on the way to the beach, arriving at the futuristic “bubble homes” which are part of the Howard Resort, but are now in a sorry state, looking quite neglected and moldy. We got onto the beach, followed it along for a bit, and then had to come back onto the road. We trudged past a few failed-looking beach recreation set-ups, a small fish port, and then a striking rock formation right next to the water. It was a black wave-cut platform, running along the coast. A wave-cut platform is when all the soil and sand is stripped off the land by wave action, exposing the underlying bedrock. They are of course usually right next to the sea and are often tidal. Along Taiwan’s coast they are fairly common, but this one had unusually straight ridges running from the shore out to sea. It almost looked as if the whole area had been sculpted by humans. Next, we noticed that the main road to Keelung went inland, so we nipped under a bridge to get to a smaller, sea-hugging road. Then, a sign announced that we had arrived in Keelung township. Shortly thereafter, we came across a cute, tidy little beach, tucked in right next to a fish port, which was quaintly named, “The Only Beach in Keelung.” Climbing up a hill just after the beach, there was an artistic representation of a boat made out beer bottles! The road carried on, and soon the scenery became more industrial. We were approaching the important port of Keelung. There were huge oil storage tanks on the hills, and the stacks of the power plant loomed impressively ahead. We came to a fish port in the middle of this, and then the road took us away from the sea. There was no way to go forward along the coast, as the power plant lands were off limits. The road took us into the dingy, mossy outskirts of Keelung, which looked even dingier on this gray day. It really seemed like a town that is always gray and wet. We kept going along through town, passing several tunnels into the hill that now separated us from the sea, unsure if we could or should follow them. Very near the harbor, we found a tunnel with walkways. We followed it to the main port area, which was lined with massive container terminals. And then we made an unexpected discovery. Walking up the west side of Keelung port, we came across the Siandong Temple, which is in a natural cave. Outside the temple is a large gold Buddha, and inside there are Buddhist and traditional Chinese idols. But the really interesting thing about the temple is its odd internal structure. It’s quite strange and beautiful inside, due to the curving, sea-carved walls. There is a side-cave that narrows until it seems almost impassable. My friend Don is smaller than me and he managed to shove himself through. I am a bit claustrophobic, so I went half way but then chickened out on my first attempt. Then, ashamed, I went back and did it. I had to crawl the last seven meters on my hands and knees. At the end, it opens up into an small, airless, incense filled room, with a small shrine to Buddha. [Near this cave-temple there is another place of interest, the Buddha Palm-print cave, but we didn’t notice it that time.]
Moving on, we followed the portside road to a hill, upon which is an old Ching dynasty battery. It offered a nice view of the way we had come earlier, which was great because I want to have continuity of vision of the coast as much as possible on this trip. Then, we walked through Keelung to the night market, and enjoyed the fine food. Getting back to Taipei was easy of course, and we headed off to enjoy the Tavern’s happy hour with friends.

Day 4 images

2008-05-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

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2008-05-05T07:12:00.001-07:00

Gar-beach

Day 4 walk

2008-05-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Day 4: Sun Jan 4th. Chinsan to Fetsuiwan. 4.5hrs

I set off about noon, on a gray and windy day. Arriving in downtown Chinsan, I soon found my way to the Old Street, which I was interested to see is also a flourishing day market, with lots of hustle and bustle, food and traditional stuff. Behind the market, I found a road to the coast, which soon led to a scenic area, comprised of Huanggang fish port and a nearby park on a large hill overlooking the ocean. I first checked out the port, which had some rather good sights of big waves smashing on the breakwater. Then, it was a mild hike up the hill to where there was a fine view of the Candlestick Rocks, two large rocks jutting out of the waves about 300 meters out to sea.
After hiking around the area until I felt I had done it justice, I moved on, following roads through various small fishing villages until I found a bridge over a stream that took me to another beach. This was a garbage beach, or gar-beach! It was a sad example of environmental neglect, as the otherwise attractive beach was totally covered in trash. After a while, my path led nearer the roadside, but still there were many beach tracks or boardwalks that limited my exposure to the traffic. At times, however, on the road, there is no escape from the noisy rush of motorists. It becomes a blur of vehicles zooming by one meter away, and at every moment you have to be ready to leap out of the way in case a scooter tries to cut inside of a car, or some guy takes a corner too wide.

From Chinsan to Yeliou, the scenery was nice but not spectacular. There were a few small settlements. As I approached Yeliou, I could begin to see an interesting layering in the rocks of the cliffs and hills on the south side of the road. The entrance to Yeliou from the north side is a tunnel through a bit of a hill. It is interesting because it is just road, hill and rocky beach on one side of the tunnel, but when you come out the other side, “boom!” you’re in a crowded, thriving village. I chose, however, to go around the hill by the seashore, skirting around the (dogs-barking) edge of some kind of aquaculture facility to climb onto the main seawall protecting Yeliou harbor. From there, I was treated to a great view of the fishing boats, and some men very carefully packing a huge net. I made my way through the charming sea town, not bothering to stop for the rock park, which I’d seen several times before. Farther on, past the town and through a small gap in the lovely “butterscotch ripple” rocks, lay the road to Fetsuiwan. Right after the butterscotch gap, there were some beautiful rocks on the shore. There was also a small beach with some baby waves where some people were learning to surf. This position also provided me with my first view (on this trip) of Keelung Island, a small, mountainous island just a few kilometers off the coast, opposite Keelung harbor. I followed the road, getting a great view of the bay, until I got to Fetsuiwan, and its deserted looking beach at the Howard Hotel Resort. At this point, as it was getting a bit late, and I was a little uncertain of the road ahead, I opted to grab a bus homeward, and so ended the 4th day.

Day 3 images

2008-04-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

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2008-04-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Not much surf today mate

Chinsan Old Street

Day 3 walk

2008-04-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

Day 3: Dec 10. Fuji to Chinsan: 6 hrs
This was my first day walking with companions, who were in this case Jerry (Taiwanese) and Noel, (Australian). We started at Fuji fish port for a seafood lunch, went to the lighthouse, where there is a plaque saying that it’s the most northerly point in Taiwan. Then, past the point the lighthouse was on, there was a new bay with a big beach, undeveloped. As always, making progress along the sand was bit of a trudge. Then, we came across a water hazard – a small river flowing into the sea with a deep channel in it. After checking it out for a while, I tried it. I just barely managed to make it across, but the others declined. Noel is shorter than me, so it would have meant a crotch soaking for him. Jerry didn’t want to do it as he was wearing long pants! So, they went around, and I met them at the main road 20 minutes later. Back at the main road, we endured zooming cars, with occasional relief along beach trails. There were some picturesque areas of rocky coast, including one area that had a rock arch on the shore, and some rocky islets in the water with footbridges connecting them. A bit farther on, we passed a county wedding with some drunken teenagers staggering about. Then, we were on a long boring stretch of highway approaching Chinsan. There were lots of little cafes and restos along the way, obviously for Taipei tourists out on a scenic drive. A few hours of highway trudging later and we finally approached the beach. Just before the beach, though, we came across a madness of fishing boats converged on one area, although to a landlubber it wasn’t clear what they were after. Chinsan beach itself is quite a famous one for surfers and beach parties, and the water near the shore was dotted with guys in wetsuits, either surfing or waiting for the next good wave. There was a hill near the shore past the beach, and a great view of Yangmingshan’s north side, with a large valley running inland between steep hills for quite a distance, which looked grand in the orange sunlight at the end of the day. Beyond, in the distance down the coast, we could see rock formations and the jutting peninsula at Yeliou. We took a small road behind the beach, which connected to a bicycle path that led through some old farmland. The sun went down, and in the growing dark our route was beautifully peaceful, especially after the noisy road. This farm area was well irrigated, and water swooshed and blooped by in small channels. We got into the town proper, and found our way to the Old Street. It was the usual lively night market, but with one difference: people were walking down the street holding steaming plates of food! It was something that would have been totally normal at a banquet or restaurant, but this was neither. Of different ages and styles of dress, the people didn’t seem to waiters. There were only about four or five different kinds of dish, steaming hot and heaped like a restaurant platter. What was the deal? Soon we found out. They had a weird system there, where you buy one kind of dish at a stall that only does that dish, and then you have to find a seat in one of many restaurants! Tired and hungry, we did so ourselves, and enjoyed the excellent duck, which is rightly famous! Then, we took the bus home. Another good day!

Day 2 images

2008-04-30T05:28:00.001-07:00

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2008-04-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 walk

2008-04-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Nov. 26: Sanzhih to Fuji fishport: 4hrs

As usual for this entire Danshui to Keelung route, I took the MRT to Danshui and got a bus along the main road. I found my last ending point no problem. I started walking at around 2pm this time, still a tad later than I had hoped, though it was a fine day. Along the highway I plodded, occasionally bursting into a slow jog, coming into the a little town after less than an hour. The waterfront of the town was surprisingly nice, touristy but tasteful. The beach, Cienshuiwan, was nice but unfortunately, swimming was prohibited. [I believe it is allowed now.] Soon I made a pleasant discovery: a proper bicycle path! The path led down past a working aquaculture area: a couple of ponds separated from the sea by concrete walls, a few corrugated aluminum buildings from which machine noises emerged, and some purposeful but vaguely mysterious human activity. Past the blue truck and some snarling dogs [chained, but at other times I’ve passed by there and they weren’t] was a nice boardwalk path by a rocky beach. A few guys were fishing in the ocean. The path wasn’t too long though, and soon it wound back through a small group of farm and residential buildings. Coming out of that, I was suddenly on a beautiful little country road, running past fields and old farmhouses. The road was crossed occasionally by others like it, but luckily my route onwards was marked by a big white stripe denoting the bike path. This bike route guided me throughout the day, occasionally turning down side streets that seemed like dead-ends but were actually the optimal onward route. For hours I wandered through lovely countryside, until I came once more to the seaside. There was a sandy beach, but the ocean there was full of flat slabs of rock, sometimes with sharp edges, and the water was shallow and full of seaweed. This is the area right next to the Baishawan Sailing Cooperative (PSC) and the property where the Canada D’eh party is usually held. Along this little stretch of coastline there was another excellent boardwalk trail leading to a small fish port. On the other side of this was the western end of the trail that led around Linsanbi Cape to Baishawan beach. It’s a cute little trail, with some interesting rock formations. Soon I was at Baishawan, which is a fine-looking kilometer long arc of white sand, just as the sun was starting to approach the horizon. I crossed the beach, admiring the big waves, and watching groups of teenagers fooling around and having fun. I could see a point of land past the beach, with a radar station on it, and a lighthouse at the tip. After the beach, there was a bit of a stretch where I had to walk along the road. I took an overpass and ended up at Fuji fish port, which was near the lighthouse. I grabbed a beer and found the path to the lighthouse, which is past all the seafood restaurants. I got there just in time to enjoy my beer in the sunset, watching small fishing boats setting out along the coast. Ahhh!

[As with Day 1, I missed some of the coast, but I did make up for it. See Related rambles]

Day 1 images

2008-04-30T04:28:00.000-07:00

Day 1 walk

2008-04-30T04:27:00.001-07:00

Day 1: Nov 19 /06: Tanshui to Sanzhih; 3.25 hrsDun-ta-dun-ta-daaa! Charge! My crazy (but not too crazy) quest had begun. A few weeks later than expected, at the crack of 3 PM on a lovely autumn day, on Tanshui Fisherman’s Wharf, I started walking. It was weird but good. Onwards to the horizon and all that! I was very excited, but soon settled down to the simple business of, well, walking! It didn’t take me long to get out of the wharf and beach area. I took the roadway east. It took only 45 minutes to clear town, and on the eastern edge I found a weird grid of large roads, most of then closed off, dicing up a large, flattish area. Obviously, the huge vacant squares will sprout high-rise apartment blocks at some point in the future. Past this, I found an offshoot part of Highway 2, a small, winding country road. It was a pleasant place to walk. After meandering about for an hour, the road led me back to the highway. Traffic was fairly heavy, and the shoulder of the road was a bit narrow. If I had needed to light a safety match off the side of a passing car I probably could have. Facing into the traffic, I plodded along towards San Zhih in the fading light. Soon it was dark, and the traffic became more irritating, with scooters buzzing by a few centimeters from my shoulder, and oncoming headlights dazzling me. At six I called it quits, the first day of my island trek. On the bus back to the MRT, hanging on with grim determination, as the driver veered and bounced along the road, I felt great.

Only later - much later - did I realize that I had missed the coast by kilometers! But not to worry, I made up for it later. See: Related rambles.