See that guy fishing?
Dangerous road
Near Heren Railway Station
Friday, May 9, 2008
Day 18 walk
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.
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 walk
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.
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.
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