The Road Trip - Take I

What's up? As the title of this entry suggests, this blog is about the road trip we've just completed taking us almost all the way 'round the tiny yet beautiful island of Taiwan. So let's get right to it...

Day 1 - Sat.May.14.2005.

We picked up our rental car, a 2004 Toyota Corolla Altis, on Friday night to avoid any delays the next morning BUT due to the fact that we were all so excited only ended up sleeping around 4 hours. The plan was to leave @ 5:30 in the A.M, but we finally got out of Taipei around 9:30 instead...much more reasonable. Our goal for the day was to make it as far as Taroko gorge, the number 1 tourist destination in Taiwan. Along the way, we made many a stop as the east coast scenery is too terrific to pass up...stopped for lunch in Su'ao, which the Lonely Planet guide to Taiwan describes as "a scrubby, port-town with not much to see or do." Well, we happened upon a temple procession for the taoist goddess Matsu, who looks after the waters of the Earth so that was very interesting to watch. Also ate some incredible seafood, my fave being deep-fried crab still in the shell. Tasty! After filling ourselves, we continued our voyage south until we finally came to the entrance to Taroko National Park, but got there too late to register for camping. Not too big of a deal tho, as it had been raining almost the entire day so we drove on a bit further until we came to Tienxiang, in the heart of of Taroko and booked ourselves into a hostel for the night.

Day 2 - Sun.May.15.2005.

Got up early-ish this day as we were all keen to see Taroko in all it's natural splendor. We were a little dismayed as it had stopped raining, but was still very much overcast. Had a quick look around Tienxiang and the 9-storey pagoda it boasts, and then we were off again. Taroko has amazing scenery...lush greenery, winding, narrow roads, marble cliffs, and mountain rivers. Not too mention Formosan bears, macaques, and hundreds of different birds. It was a little scary driving through some of the roads as Taroko is prone to rock slides...actually, we were out taking a picture @ one point when some rocks fell down in front of the car and a piece hit me in the leg...needless to say we quickly got back in the car and kept on truckin'. Soon enough, we were out of the gorge on our way to the next stop...Sun Moon Lake. It didn't look too far on the map, but because all of the roads were mountain one's, it was nothing but winding paths, up and down, then down and up...very tiring. We had to settle on a community nearby Sun Moon lake by the name of Puli. It's essentially in the heart of Taiwan. Cranky, hot and tired we drowned our woes with lots of cheap Corona's @ the local pub and then stumbled back to our hotel room to find the front entrance locked. We were out there for at least a half an hour, banging away until finally the Lao ben (boss) opened the door and said "Sorry, I fell asleep." To which we answered "No shit."

Day 3 - Mon.May.16.2005.

Once again up and at 'em fairly early we got the hell out of Puli and made a beeline for Sun Moon Lake we life just got easy. The largest freshwater lake in Taiwan @ an elevation of 762 m above sea-level. Well, let's just say it's amazing. The first thing we did was find the campground and since it was the beginning of the week, we had the whole place to ourselves. Took the car around the lake for a look see and took a tour of the lake itself via a boat tour. It was so nice just to be out and around water again. Wished we would've had more time to spend, but our grueling mission to see as much of Taiwan as possible simply didn't allow it. So, after the day was almost over we went into the nearest town and had some curry, then to 7-11 for beers and snacks and that was the day. Tucked ourselves into our tent and new sleeping bags and got a full nights' sleep.

Day 4 - Tues.May.17.2005.

I shudder to even think about this day really. We got up early as one always does when camping...that sun hits the tent and the temp immediately goes up 10 C....everything started off cool...we were all chill and relaxed from our night in the great outdoors and made for our next stop, Yushan National Park. Yushan (or Jade Mountain) is the 2nd-largest mountain in Asia, second only to Mt.Everest....it stands at its' peak a staggering 3997m above sea-level. Now, you need special permits to go and see it and that takes time and planning, both of which we were short on, so we thought we would just drive through some of the mountain roads. We had good maps and high spirits so we thought no prob bob. 14 hours later, we were lost. We had lost the daylight, the fog was creeping in and worst of all no one spoke mandarin, only taiwanese. Eventually, we had this awesome couple come and show us the way out of the accursed mountain, taking us about 40 km out of their way. They have my eternal gratitude and although we offered them money for their trouble, they wouldn't accept but they did call us stupid for trying these roads out...and of course they're right. We tried a few other towns close to our next destination but were unable to find anything. The plan was to make for this other mountain to see this one-of-a-kind-above-the-clouds-sunrise. But, it there were no hotels closeby. We had to end up staying in Chiayi, which turned out to be a helluva vibrant town. Another hotel and we decided then and there to scrap the plan to see Alishan and the view as we were all wiped out.