Leading off into the mist of the forest....
PingXi, a surreal sub-tropical wilderness nestled in the mountains outside of Taipei, is home to a wonderful network of trails. We had previously explored some of them...less than half apparently...and this weekend we returned to try to stomp our feet along more km's of this gloriously muddy, sloppy and beautiful chunk of the island.
Friday we hurried to Ruifang, returned to the hotel we stayed in last time, walked about in the town then hit the sack early. Waking up for a morning train to Pingxi, we guzzled coffee, chomped on porridge - the usual morning fare for the weekends - and walked over to the train station. Arriving early, quite a change for us as we are usually the ones running full throttle through a crowded station with bags hanging off our backs towards a train wanting to leave. Today it was nice and calm...we were able to wait!
Ticket to travel... packed and ready to go!
Ruifang night market with 'small food' (snack) stalls and some pretty lanterns. It was drizzly, but nothing that kept us or others off the street.
Pingxi rail line on the left, early section of the trail on the right.
More trail...
The Pingxi train took us to the Pingxi village, where I got to play with not one but two cats (one was not so happy to have me trying to play with it, but I consider chasing a cat around old traintracks playing, regardless...). We got some snacks - sweet gelatinous rice with dried beans inside...mmmm - and hit the trail.
Along the trail we saw a number of new critters, a few birds that eluded both our binoculars and our camera, but a few that were captured. Its such a rewarding experience to continue to see new things in the woods. Each time we go out, each place we explore, we find new birds, frogs, insects, everything. Always something to discover....ah, Taiwan!
Streak-Breasted Scimitar Babbler; __?__ frog.
Trail signs along the way, this one telling us that our day was over....and time to head down. At the same point I am taking a peanut break...and water...and more peanuts....and a few peanuts to wash down the peanuts. Then a few peanuts for the road...
After a hearty 7 hours on the trail, feet sloppy and muddy and our energy at a low, we came to the end of the section we wanted to explore. Actually, after a strong 7 hours moving through the woods we only covered less than a third (about?) of the possible trails. There are at least two more weekends of hiking - on new trails - in this area. Do we have the weekends left before we leave, that is the question!
We hiked down and eventually made it to a Buddhist temple, where a nice lady chatted with us for a while then gave us bus info. 5 Minutes. Go. Go! She gestured to us that we should run - we clarified that we could make it in time and when she said we could, we began down the hill further and scampered to an eventual bus station. Wait. Wait. Bus. Taipei.
...
Once in Taipei, a destination we did not really plan on (we intended to go back to Ilan or Fulong for the night...), we set out to find a hostel. Remember the 7hour hike....well in this trek to find a hotel we halved that again - 3 hours walking through Taipei looking for a place to stay. No rooms, anywhere. Except one place. A business hotel. I wont tell you the cost. Just know that a regular hotel we stay in anywhere in Taiwan runs us about $20CND for the whole night. This cost a tough more, but we stayed in luxury....after 7 hours in the forest, 3 hours on the streets and no food in 9 hours, we capitulated and took the business hotel room. Discounted, but still not our regular place!
Crystal in the wonderful morning sun on the left, the grounds of the memorial monument on the right. People come here to play Chinese violins, practice tai-qi, dance, sing, run, ..., do anything. An excellent public space that is both useful, and beautiful.
In the morning we set out to buy new hiking boots (this is why we came to Taipei) to cure our slippery existence while hiking as our boots now have less-than-no tread and are slowly dying. A gorgeous day, we made it to the large memorial for Chiang-Kai shek (the dude who tried to fight Mao in China, lost a bit, retreated to Taiwan and started his own country...basically...while planning a second war with China to retake the mainland. This battle continues today, but in the politics of the China/Taiwan issue, not with tanks and planes. Although, Taiwan's army is always at the ready for the inevitable...). Then to buy boots - I got some, Crystal couldn't find her size - and then home.
Falun Gong, doing their creepy child indoctrinating, in the space that is otherwise nice and blissful. The right to practice any religion in Taiwan gives everyone the right to believe and be open. This particular flavour of creepy religion is persecuted in China, so they always try to force on people in Taiwan hw bad they have it in China. In the chamber of weird religions - a chamber that holds all religions - Falun Gong ranks among the eerie, not creepy scientology style, not horrid catholic style, but a creepy style of their own. Note the kids...as if they know anything about religion or understand...or chose...to be a yellow-shirt-wearing falun freak. Not that this is different from other religions, but when they are colour coded and an invention of the last few decades, it makes it creepy and fake. A creepy fake sandwich. And creepy fake sandwiches give me heartburn.
