Taiwan Adventures VI

Monday

Indeed, my quads were still sore after my GEP experience—my first hike in almost a year. I decided, adding to the fact that it was drizzling outside, that this would be a perfect day to go soak in the hot springs. The plan was to go to this 5-star resort an hour out of Taipei & soak in their various pools, some of which were hot-springs, while others were filled with random fluids like tea, wine and/or other herbal concoctions. How could I resist the chance of sitting in a pool of steaming wine? I mean, really? How many people to _you_ know who could say they’ve done such a thing?

Following a mixture of both the Lonely Planet & the resort’s website, I grabbed an MRT train up to some station outside of a university, where I was supposed to wait for a green bus that would take me up to the town, Jishan, where the resort was located. No mention, however, was made of the bus’ number, so I stood there… waiting for a green bus to show.

A green bus did eventually show up, and it read “Taipei Main Station à Yangmingshan National Park,” and seeing as the park was on the way to the town—and that the vehicle was green—I hopped on. It was a nice ride; it was a pleasant ride. In fact, it was so great that I didn’t even have to pay until I reached the end of the line, unfortunately, right smack-dab in the centre of Yangmingshan National Park.

“That’s alright,” I thought to myself, “I’m sure the other green bus will run through here, I mean it really is the only highway through the park to that town… now, just to find out where the bus stop would be… … …”

Fortunately for me, a nice, elderly Taiwanese lady spotted me as I was thumbing through my various literatures. She asked me where I was going, and I told her, “Jishan.” She informed me that I needed to take the green bus, and that it ran every 30 minutes or so. I asked her what the bus looked like, or what the bus number was, and she told me that there was no bus number: the bus was bigger than a normal metro mass-transit bus, “Just like that one,” she said, pointing to the nice green bus chugging up the mountain highway. *sigh* I thanked her for her help, and asked where I could catch the next bus. She directed me to wait at the bus stop in front of the 7-11. I thanked her, and went in my way.

7-11 arrived—or I did, rather—and there I waited for the next bus. 10 minutes... 20 minutes…... 30 minutes……... 40 minutes. I now was getting antsy. It was getting late in the day, and the hour bus ride there/back was becoming disconcerting. I had seen the International Hotel, another high-class hot spring destination over here, in Yangmingshan Park on the way up in my bus, and although it’s 3-hour price tag was 190 NTD more than my original tea-pool resort, Tienlai’s full-day price, the bus fare & time lost might easily make up for the discrepancy. My decision was to wait 5 more minutes for the bus to arrive & whisk me off to pools of heaven, but it never did materialise. Resolved to my decision, I grabbed my backpack & went hiking down the road, looking for the International Hotel.

Not 20 metres into my hike, as I turned the first bend in the road, did I stumble upon my destination: I was surprised to find how close the International actually was! Within 5 minutes from the bus stop, I was now in my own private hotel room with its own private hot spring bath, whose water was pumped in on demand from the spring outside. It was glorious. A wonderful 3 hours. But, perhaps, not wonderful enough for $30. Nonetheless, it was worth the experience—and my muscles thanked me for it.


Tuesday

I decided, after getting back from the hot spring hotel last night, that I would awake early & grab a train south along the eastern coast to go and see “the eco-tourist destination in Taiwan: Taroko National Park.” 6 am came very early, but I was okay with the short sleep, knowing what was in store. Hopping off the MRT at Taipei Main Station, I purchased my 1st class ticket to Hualien (pronounced hwa-lee-en) & jumped on the train. This time, I actually got a seat! Yes!!!

My train ride was spent mostly sleeping until we arrived at Sincheng, the train station at the entrance to Taroko Park. For a moment, I considered getting off at this station & just grabbing a bus from there to the park, but I had already purchased my ticket all the way to Hualien, _and_ Lonely Planet said that not all busses to the park stopped at the station… so I sat tight until my final destination.

The final destination vomited me out of its train station & within minutes, I was on a bus to the park… that would take 2 hours to reach the end of Taroko Gorge, the feature I’d targeted for this day’s hike—and purportedly the main feature of the park. All was made better when, after an hour of travel, we arrived at the park’s entrance & picked up a couple of boorish Slavic girls that had been on the train with me. I’d lost _no_ time! Hooray!

After another hour of travel through the windy roads of Taroko Gorge, we finally arrived at Tsingshang, the town at the end of the gorge. Quickly, I strapped of my backpack & began my 20 km hike down the highway, tracing the river toward the ocean. The views were spectacular: reminiscent of drives through Banff National Park, except instead of bare rock, lush green & instead of mountains, one continual cliff. The sides of the gorge were literally vertical in some locations, and poking through the greenery (or where life wasn’t conducive) were some marvelous specimens of virgin marble. Spectacular.

However, after you see a kilometer of huge cliffs that blend into the clouds overhead in such a manner as they look as though they could be the very foundations of heaven, the rest all begins to look the same. At the beginning of my hike, I was surprised why there wasn’t more space for walkers along the side of the highway or in the numerous mountain tunnels, but after the 5th km, it became pretty apparent: not many people, I think, would bother to walk all the way out. It was a good hike, nonetheless, and the only thing I’d change would be to have had about another week or 2 in the park to explore the copious side-trails that the gorge had. To hike in any of Taiwan’s mountainous national parks, you need to create a hiking plan & submit it to the park authorities in triplicate before taking the routes. Before actually walking through the gorge, I didn’t really have any idea what the park had to offer, but now that I have, I’d love to come back. This hike to me felt very much like a reconnaissance hike, as I raced through the first 18 km in 3 hours, racing the clock to catch the last train at Sincheng station, which left at 6:14 pm.

At km 18, in the slight drizzle, a Taiwanese pick-up truck passed me along the highway, stopped, geared into reverse & halted beside me. The man driving, poked his head out of the window & asked if I wanted a ride. I asked him where he was going; he pointed along the road ahead, and I gratefully accepted the lift, for my legs were rather tired at this point. We motored along for 1.5 km until the truck reached a fork in one of the mountain tunnels. He stopped, turned to me and said, “I go to Taipei. You want to go?” Politely, I declined, hoping to see more of the features in the park, and hopped out of the truck with a great “thank you” before resuming my trek to the train station.

Lonely Planet’s map of Sincheng shows the train station to be a mere 2 km directly down the same road on which Taroko National Park’s entrance lies. I was counting on this as I planned my schedule, and by the time I reached the park’s gate, it was about 5:35. Plenty enough time to hike the 2 km (20 minutes), but a ticket and hop on the 6:14 train, right? Well, technically, yes it was enough time… if the train station was only 2 km (or even 3 km) away. I hiked 2 km & followed the highway, looking in vain for the train station as the road began to veer to the right—a feature not detailed on the map. After km 3, I checked my watch & noticed that it was 6 pm. Poo. No train station in sight & no confirmation that I was even going the right direction. Saying a quick prayer, I hoped that I was going the right way & began to quicken my pace as much as my tired legs would allow.

At 6:05, I reached a second community & saw the train tracks pass under a bridge for the road. Looking out from the bridge, I couldn’t see a station in either direction. Depressing. A bit further up the road, however, a sign pointed ahead for the train station. Yes! I was on the right track, but would I make it in time? Encouraged, I quickly walked forward, saw another sign a little later, which directed me to my right. It was now 6:10. I had no idea how much farther up the road that train station was going to be, but I knew that I only had 4 minutes before the train would leave. I prayed for God’s favour, asking that I wouldn’t miss the train & began to run. I ran for as long as I could before losing my breath (which was like only a couple minutes after the 23 km walked so far), but I knew that timing was essential: I could rest either after 6:14 & the train station was out of reach, or after I had bought my ticked & was sitting in a chair on the train. This ultimatum (and the knowledge that this was the last train leaving this area for the day) propelled my legs forward with as much urgency as they could muster. After clearing the next block, I saw it: the train station was right in front of me!

6:12 pm. I huff & puff up to the ticket counter, ask for a ticket to Taipei, pay & was urged by the man behind the window to hurry to platform #2. I pass the ticket-taker, fly down the first flight of stars, jog along the hallway, climb the last flight of stairs & arrive on the platform just in time for the train to stop. 30 seconds later, I was on the train & it was on the move. I had made it. Thank the Lord, I had made it! Come to think of it, had that truck driver not given me a ride for those 1.5 km, I would never have made the train in time. Talk about divine providence, eh?


Wednesday

And that leads us to today. Thanks to my resistive stretching on the 3 hour train ride back, my legs aren’t sore at all today. The downside, however, was that it rained rained rained all day, which made for a bunch of chillin’ here at the hostel & reading some books. Tomorrow’s my last day here & then I fly back to Thailand at 11pm for 2.5 days before heading back to North America.