Sunday September 11, 2011

9:45 am.

I’m not sure exactly where I am. I was driving through the mountains, and I came across a wonderful roadside stop. These sorts of places are few and far between in Taiwan, so I have to take advantage of them when I can. The attraction at this stop is a massive fir tree that is sacred to the local aboriginal tribe. Some enterprising person built a beautiful coffee shop and rest area beside it. This area in the mountains is famous for peaches and honey, and they serve hot coffee with peach flavored honey. It’s very good. When I walked up to the place, a man was handing out toothpicks with honey on them as a sample. It was very tasty, so I had to try some in my coffee.

There is no way I can catch up on all my adventures from yesterday. It would take too long, and my fingers are nearly frozen from riding my scooter at this altitude. I’m currently at 2,000 meters, and I think the next town on the road is at 4,000 meters. It is getting colder and colder.

I was quite tired last night and I went to bed early after a dinner of beef noodle soup. I slept really well and woke up around 6 in the morning fully rested. The skies were clear again, and the sunlight was just starting to peak around the mountains around me. On all of my trips in the past, I had the habit of getting up earlier and earlier until I started hitting the road even before dawn. I can feel that happening now even though this is only my third day. It’s astonishing how full of energy and how good I feel, and it’s only been two and a half days.

My room at the Catholic Church hostel wasn’t that great, but it served its purpose. The bed was comfortable, and the air conditioner kept the room comfortable. There was no hot water to speak of, but that’s okay. A cold shower felt good. I picked up some instant coffee at a local shop and I had some delicious coffee with the hot water from the dispenser. It would have been wonderful to have more time and be able to ride my bike on this route. It would mean climbing almost the entire time from sea level right up to 4,000 meters, but that would be awesome.

A lot of Taiwanese were camping at the church. The Taiwanese love to hike, and these people were obviously here to do some hiking on the long weekend. I have my tent with me, but when there is a relatively cheap room available, I prefer to stay in a room. The tent sites are always very crowded. It isn’t like camping in Canada, and when you are alone, it is as expensive as a room. They charge for the site, and the Taiwanese will put as many people on that one site as possible. To stay with just one person is more expensive.

I was eager to hit the road this morning, and after a quick shave and a brushing of the teeth, I was on my way. The morning was beautiful and cool and in no time at all, I was surrounded by gorgeous mountains. The problem is that I take so many pictures, it takes me a long time to cover any distance. I stopped again and again to take pictures. From this point, the scenery is going to get better and better, so I’ll probably end up going slower and slower.

I was a bit worried about my scooter, but it seems to be holding up fine. There is nothing wrong with it to be worried about, but I’ve had it so long and I’ve driven it so much that it seems due for a breakdown of some kind. It seems impossible that it can be so reliable for so long. No problems so far, though. It zips along just fine. Perhaps it is because of the 150cc engine. I’m definitely the slowest thing on the road. I practically go at cycling speed, I’m so hypnotized by the scenery. The Taiwanese are dangerous drivers, and on this curvy mountain road, they are especially dangerous, so I drive very defensively. I stay far to the right at all times, and I monitor my rear view mirror all the time. When I see someone coming up behind me, I hit my turn signal and go over to the side even farther and let them pass. I really keep my eyes open on the blind corners. The Taiwanese race around them at high speed, and if I were out in the middle of the lane, chances are I’d get hit. The problem with my style is that by riding on the right side, I’m right in line with all the rocks that fall off the mountains and lie there. This road is carved right through solid rock the entire way, and rock slides are very common. I would have to be very unlucky to be hit by an actual rock slide. However, there are lots of rocks just sitting on the road. These are large rocks, and I have to be very careful not to hit them. I can’t really take my eyes off the road for very long. It would be too risky. I don’t know how the Taiwanese dare to drive as fast as they do considering these rocks all over the road. I also have to go through lots of tunnels, and these are very dangerous. They are extremely dark inside and they are very wet. It’s very slippery and there could be all kinds of rocks and potholes in there. I drive like a turtle through those tunnels.

From here, it’s not totally clear where I will go. There is a junction town up ahead called Dayuling. From there, I can go north to Lishan or south to some other areas. I’ve been to Lishan before, so I’m thinking I might head south to check out this place called Chingqing Farm. It is supposed to be very beautiful. Eventually I’ll have to turn around and head north again to head back to Taipei. We shall see how it goes.

5:00 p.m.

BowAng Village

One of the best days ever. After I had my coffee with peach honey, the scenery simply got better and better and better. It was hard to cover any distance as I stopped again and again to take pictures. Everything went perfectly. I found a gas station way up in the mountains. It was the exact same gas station I stopped at many years ago on this same route. I even recognized the same electric bowl full of tea eggs. On that trip, however, it was cloudy and foggy and cold, and I didn’t see very much of the mountains. It was also so cold that I bought a pair of gloves at that gas station. I remember it so clearly. This time, it was sunny and relatively warm. I could see for miles in all directions, and I didn’t need gloves. If I did need them, I had a pair in my knapsack, so I was all set.

I eventually reached the crossroads town of Dayuling. I made the snap decision to head south when I reached the intersection. It was a spectacular decision. The road kept climbing until I got above the tree line. Then the mountains were covered in green grasses instead of trees. It was very beautiful and I took a lot of pictures. That route took me past a famous mountain called Hehuanshan. I had passed it once before on my visa run, but it was also very poor weather back then. This time, the weather was perfect, and I couldn’t drink in enough of the mountains and the hills. There were many Taiwanese out enjoying the nice weather. Most, I think, I had driven up from the western side of Taiwan– from Taichung and places nearby. There was a festive atmosphere up there at Hehuanshan as everyone posed for pictures. A lot of cyclists were up there, and I can only imagine how tough it was to get up there. It would have been a long and hard climb. That they felt it was an accomplishment was apparent – they all posed for a picture while holding their bicycles over their heads in triumph. There was a platform at the top of a series of steps, and these cyclists even went so far as to carry their bikes up the steps to pose with them up there. Many people had parked in the nearby parking lot and fired up a portable barbecue. It was all quite fun. The last time I was there, it had been snowing. Hehuanshan is famous as one of the few places in Taiwan that is high enough to get snow in the winter.

I was getting a bit hungry by then, and I was very pleased to find a set of food stalls in another parking area just a short distance down from the main peak. I pulled in there and got some local sausages and a bowl of noodle soup. It was delicious.

The weather took a turn for the worse at that point as clouds moved in. It’s fun to be that high up when clouds appear. On the ground, you just see the clouds drifting through the sky above you. When you are in the high mountains, the clouds are more like drifting fog. You are right inside the clouds as they arrive and move past. It’s very spooky.

I wasn’t too upset about the clouds. I had gotten more nice weather than I could have dreamed of, and a bit of fog just added some romance to the scene as I scootered down and down and down. I was thinking about staying at this place called the Cingqing Veteran’s Farm. It was the only place that I knew of. I figured if it was full, I could stay in my tent. However, Taiwan surprised me again. I arrived in the area near Cingqing Veteran’s Farm, and I saw a big archway over a small road. There were many signs beside the archway, and I figured there had to be something interesting down that road. At the end of it, I found a beautiful and historic village called Bow Ang. Some Taiwanese tourists were wandering around and I stopped to ask them if they knew of any small hotels in the area. I didn’t have my hopes up, since I have so much trouble finding hotels in Taiwan. These people didn’t seem to know how to help me, but a woman running a little shop right there spoke up and said that I could stay in a little room at her place if I wanted. I stepped through some cloth curtains at the front of her shop and found she had a small restaurant and coffee shop inside. And just to the left was a simple room with a bed on the floor and a small table. It was nicely decorated and looked perfect. She said she charged NT$600 a night for it and I said that was fine. That’s about $20 Canadian.

The woman said she had to change the sheets and clean the room, so I could walk around the village and explore for a few minutes. I continued up the street and guess what I found? Hotels. Lots of them. There were hotels everywhere. They called them Home Stays, but they looked just like small hotels to me. They were very nice and were all probably much more expensive than my room, so I was glad to have found it. I walked around there, and then I turned around and walked back out to the main road. Down the road a bit, I saw a whole bunch of fancy buildings that also looked like hotels. I thought there might be a coffee shop or something there and I walked in that direction. I was amazed to find hotel after hotel after hotel. They were everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it in Taiwan. The hotels were very fancy and many of them called themselves spas. I went into one place just to confirm that they were expensive. This place was about $100 a night. So I didn’t have to feel bad that I had agreed to take the room at this little place. I wouldn’t want to spend $100 on one of those places. They are generally that expensive because you get saunas and hot spring water and other luxuries, and I never like those things much anyway. I prefer these homey places.

It was still pretty cloudy, but occasionally the clouds broke and I could see that my village overlooked a huge and gorgeous valley. I’m hoping the skies will be clear tomorrow, and I will be able to get the full views. I plan to go to bed early tonight and get on the road early again to take advantage of the early morning light.

Tags: Cingqing Veteran, Moon Festival Trip, scooter, Taiwan, tent