Day 4

Wednesday February 13, 2013

11:30 a.m. Taichung

 

As you can see from my byline above, I did make it to Taichung. I made it here and I am currently writing on the sofa in a friend’s living room. We were up until nearly five in the morning, so she is still upstairs sleeping. I have never been able to sleep in no matter how late I stay up, so I’ve already been up and about for a while. I would normally go out to a coffee shop, but I don’t have keys for her apartment and I wouldn’t be able to get back in. I’m having coffee here in her apartment instead, with her puppy  sleeping on the sofa beside me.

Packing up and strapping my backpack to my scooter went fairly easily at the temple complex, and I was soon zooming down the winding mountain roads. It was still misty but not as cold as on previous days. Still, the wind cut right through even my thick coat and chilled me. I was hoping for warm sun to break through soon.

I drove steadily for the first little while simply enjoying the scenery. It’s a beautiful area and when the sun finally did make an appearance, I slowed right down and absorbed the mountains and the rivers and the forests around me. It’s a very popular tourist area and I passed a seemingly endless series of things to see and places to stay as well as restaurants and ecology centers and enticing hiking trails. I could easily spend an entire week just there, and I was sorely tempted to do so. However, I didn’t want to cancel on my friend, and I kept driving.

I made one big stop during that day and that was at Sian Shan Ling-Dung Temple. At the time, I thought I was in the village of Shihtan, but this temple and mountain were on the road above Shihtan, still up in the high mountains. As I approached this temple, the road climbed up above the cloud line and I was greeted with a fabulous view of a sea of clouds below me stretching right to the horizon with mountain tops poking above. I was very glad to be that high up and able to enjoy the sunshine.

After parking my scooter, I went to a large covered market across from the temple itself. I walked through and checked out everything that was on offer. One stall was handing out samples of a kind of snack like a pancake. I tried one and then I bought a box of about ten of these pancake sandwiches each with a different filling. It was a surprise biting into each one and seeing what was inside. A couple of them even had a peanut butter spread, and I really liked that. I hadn’t tasted peanut butter in years.

From the market I went over to the temple and walked around and took a few pictures. I had just spent two days exploring temples, so I wasn’t full of energy for this one. Nevertheless, it was quite interesting.

To the side of the temple I came across a wide set of steps. Without knowing where they went, I started to climb. And that turned out to be the beginning of a major hike right to the top of Sian Shan (Sian Mountain). Had I known how long and difficult the climb would be, I probably would not have started it. But I did it almost by accident. I started up the steps and found that they went much higher than I expected. I ended up at a sub-temple up on the side of the mountain. It seemed to be dedicated to the art of healing. I assume the deity inside the temple was the deity of health or something like that. There were a few volunteers in yellow uniforms waving bunches of incense over the bodies of people. People stood in long lines in front of the women with the incense. As each got to the front, they whispered in the woman’s ear. I assume they were telling her what was wrong with them. And then the woman would conduct the ceremony while waving the incense over first the front of their bodies and then over their backs. Every fifteen or twenty minutes, a man came out and started to beat on a drum and a bell. Then a small procession would emerge from the temple accompanied by a loud series of firecrackers.

From this temple, I found another set of steps leading up through a beautiful evergreen forest. It felt like walking through a forest in Canada. A long climb took me to the top of a ridge. From there, I walked along the ridge until I got to the base of the very last peak. Getting up to the peak involved a fairly long and difficult climb straight up some rock cliffs. Climbers had strung up rope over the years to help them get up. So many ropes had been added that it had become a confusing spiderweb. At times, the ropes were so numerous that they were more of a hindrance than a help to a climber like me.

The climb was much longer and harder than I’d hoped, but the reward was well worth it. At the top, I was presented with a 360 degree view of the sea of clouds and the mountain tops poking skywards. It was beautiful up there and I took a lot of picture to make sure that I at least got one good one. The trail continued on the other side of the peak along a mountain ridge, and I would have loved to keep going. However, that would require several more hours and I wasn’t set up for that. Besides, I had places to go and people to see.

Climbing back down was equally long and when I got to the bottom, I rewarded myself first with two delicious sausages from a roadside stand – a type of snack that I find everywhere in Taiwan. Then on impulse I sat down for a large meal inside the market. I found a restaurant that had a small buffet. I could take a plate and fill it with whatever I wanted and then pay for the plate of food plus rice and soup all at once. My meal came to NT$80 or about $2.50.

I was surprised at how much the road descended after this temple. I hadn’t realized that I’d gained so much altitude while driving. I passed through a beautiful area and then eventually rejoined Route 3, the road that I’d taken to exit Taipei. I ran into big traffic jams on Route 3 as I passed through a strawberry-growing region. The strawberries were ready to pick and people had come from the big cities from miles around to pick their own strawberries. There was almost a carnival atmosphere. Luckily, I could thread the needle on my scooter and zip through the traffic jams. I was sorely tempted to call and cancel my plans for Taichung. I wanted to stay out in the mountains and keep exploring. I saw all kinds of mountains and intriguing roads heading into them.

Getting into Taichung City was exhausting and very difficult. It’s a city of nearly three million people, and even though it is a friendly and relaxed place, it still wasn’t easy to drive into it. I got lost several times and had to constantly check my maps while battling the traffic and noise and police whistles. After much effort, I finally found my way to the train station. From there, I could get oriented.

My friend and I drove out late at night to meet up with other friends and then returned to Taichung. Considering the day I had, I should have been exhausted, but I wasn’t. I stayed up chatting until nearly five in the morning before I finally went to sleep – on a mattress with my sleeping pad, sleeping sheet, and sleeping bag. I tried to sleep in, but I couldn’t make it much past 9 in the morning even with earplugs and an eyeshade.

My friend got up later in the morning and we chatted for a while and then went out to a local café run by a foreigner. They made some delicious food. Then we met some friends at a wonderful park full of hundreds of people enjoying the sunshine with their dogs and children. It was really nice. Taichung is a much smaller place than Taipei and with the nicer weather has a more friendly and laid-back vibe. It would be a good place to live. Taipei is much more cosmopolitan and interesting, but it isn’t as friendly and warm as Taichung.

It’s now 6 in the afternoon. My friend is at her office and bookstore doing some work. I am on my own for the moment, and I’ve taken some time to write this little bit in this journal. It’s been an interesting quick visit, and I’m glad I came. There is an invitation out there to meet some people at a bar for a drink tonight, and I’m invited, but I don’t really want to go. I want to hit the road tomorrow morning early and go back into the mountains, so I don’t want to be up late.

Tags: CNY Scooter Trip Taiwan 2013, incense, scooter, Taipei, temple