Another Outing: Tai Ping Mountain, Part 1

We had another outing into the beauty of Taiwan's mountains recently and it was much needed. Coming out of my summer hibernation has drained me physically, mentally and spiritually and we both needed to get back into the flow of things. Well, that is my thinking anyway - Jo just wanted to get out of the damn house and go out (seeing how she hates to stay indoors for more than 30 minutes at a time....).

So we planned a trip (ok, JO planned it) to Tai Ping Mountain, which could be translated as Pacific Mountain, since the Pacific Ocean is Tai Ping Yang. I asked if we could see the Pacific Ocean from there and Jo responded: "No, you can't." I tried to argue that calling it Pacific Mountain was strange then, but Jo mentioned that it is just a name and had no meaning. I almost took the bait and started to argue more, but she quickly changed the subject: "Look out! There's a bus coming!" Normally, this would not be an earth shattering announcement, but when the curvy mountain road only fits about half of a bus on good sections, you find yourself taking emergency precautions, swearving out of the way while wiping the persperation that is lining your eyes.

But that is a WHOLE other story....(see below)

Anyway, we made it up to the mountain after a 6 hour drive (2 hours the way the crow flies) and it was great. Below are some pictures of the event with some commentary.

As usual, enjoy!

This is Jo's victory salute after the drive to our accomodation on Tai Ping Mountain. We have an agreement: she drives the mountain roads and I drive the highway sections and in this case it was about even driving time.

But I do have to admit, I really don't like the way Jo drives. I get antsy, nervous and impatient. Now, I know that is not cool, but before you say any more, I will say she drives too fast! Especially on the mountain roads. I feel so ashamed! I wanted to be a race car driver when I was about 8 years old, but I realize that I am so happy I am not. You see, she hates those boring flat spaces some of us mortals call highways and loves the sickening, cutback mountain-y, death-defying, oh-my-god-we-are-going-to-die, curves where you have to drive on the other lane (of a 1.5 lane path - I loath to use the term 'road') just to keep from turning the car 90 degrees on each turn.

I seriously had to close my eyes on some parts of this trip (and many others, unfortunately). I found that when I drive on a Taiwanese mountain road, I tend to think about little things that drive Jo crazy like: my life, her life, another car hurtling down on us, that bus that just ran us off the road, that fact that beyond a 2 foot high barrier there is a looooooong drop down....things like that.

But that is not what she (or many other Taiwanese drivers think about), oh no. She is too busy figuring out the more important details, like: calculating the centimeters from the edge of the cliff needed to make the turn neater, the amount of gas needed to gun her god awful lil' car past that oil tanker passing him when he doesn't seem to want anyone to pass, when to break with ample precision so that the back wheels don't lock up when that OTHER crazy driver who already wanted to make HIS turn neater comes onto our lane, or how to adjust the stereo to find a better song - which - you know, takes a little while, while looking up at the road once every - oh, 10-20 seconds....

You know, the important stuff.

I will casually hint at the 'discussions' that we have gotten into over her or my driving, which ultimately led us to declare our battle lines: Me - Ol' boring highway. Her - Anything windy and hilly or bumpy (and in the city as well, but that is another story). With these agreements, we have gotten along fine, but she still does not get it when she says, "Isn't it beautiful?" (when we are driving up these wonderful mountains) and I respond: "I hope so!" through closed eyes....

So, I heartily respect the race car driver of the family - Jo, and her lil' Herbie unmountainy car. Let's have another picture of the driver, shall we:

I was actually kissing the ground before I was forced to take this picture.....


This is right after I cleaned up my heaving mess and tearfully looked up and saw the temperature was a wee bit cooler than in the city: 23 degrees. It thankfully got down to 17 degrees at night and I was in heaven...but then I remembered we had to leave the next day and I got dry heaves again, knowing we had to go on the same road back with all those other crazies in the background.....but ah, I digress....


This is our view from our room. It may not be much to most of you who already live near woods, but to a city dweller like me now (sigh) I so miss seeing trees from my window. I used to have that at my old house in Connecticut, in my apartment in Northhampton, and in my apartment in Seattle, but it has been many years since I have seen open mountain air and trees from my window. This was indeed refreshing. While in the room to sleep, I went shirtless with shorts while Jo was bundled up in about 25 coats and 14 pants under the covers. Yes, our temperature tolerances are quite different as well, but yes, that is ANOTHER story.....



These are some pics after we started exploring around a bit in the area. I always say that Taiwan is so damn beautiful and it is true, even though the cities are super ugly and messy. It is such a strong dichotomy and I am pissed for not going out more, but I hope that some of you will sympathize with the ordeal it takes to get OUT of the city and INTO the beauty here. But Jo and I have agreed that when I am the passenger, I will keep my blindfold on and talk to her about nice things while at least 2 of my nine lives vanish along the mountain road....Geez! Am I a wuss or what!? Sigh! Anyway, so much beauty here....sometimes so hard to see....


These are of course the obligatory "us" shots.

Me looking more relaxed and Jo trying to take flight. At first, she put her arms out straight and I said: "Honey, you look like Jesus, maybe wave them a bit more....That's better..."


This was at the top of our climb to one of the main mountain paths (we had to walk up many stairs to get to this temple - where you give blessings that you actually made it up here in one piece and then put in an insence stick - please notice that only three had come up here in once piece recently - which keeps the mountain clinics and surgeons doing brisk business....).


After we put in our insence sticks we continued onto the main section path, which was not really a forest path, but a wooden walkway through the forest. This is for many people who do not really like walking around muddy and bumpy paths and while I was grumbling at the 'un-nature like' aspect of steps and walkways, I gave my moaning a break to actually get into the relaxing feeling here and appreciate the forest around us.

Although I kept thinking of one of my favorite (and first) science fiction stories I read about when I was a kid: "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury, where time traveler / hunters go back in time to the dinosaurs to shoot them just before they naturally die. The people have to walk on a special walkway so they do not disturb anything around them but one person does and kills a butterfly. This sets in motion a change of events so that when the travelers head home, their world has changed. Bradbury also helped popularize the phrase "butterfly effect" even though he did not come up wth the theory.

Anyway, as we walked around the short path (again, for most Taiwanese city dwellers anything over a 30 min forest walk is enough), I kept reverting back to that short story.



I was happy to find this unused path and mentioned to Jo that this type of path was much better (even though it went nowhere. Her eyebrow cocking suggested another response as well...



This is a cool sign that was actually poetry and I was impressed. In most parks and forests here, it is quite a scientific feeling, which while not negative at all, kinds of leaves you feeling a bit dry (I mean who really cares about the international names - Latin - of most trees and plants?). So most of the signs you see are telling you what it is in a very dry language (in English and Chinese). However, this park was different; there were various poems like this around as well as reminders to 'soak in the beauty of the forest' and 'just sit down and listen to the forest hum.'

The person translating had a flair for the poetic and philosophic (which is quite unique in such a practical place as Taiwan), but he or she had to translate it from the original Chinese, so that was comforting as well. The caretakers of this park did really care for their environment here, which was refreshing as well. Don't get me started on how many beautiful parks here are ruined by trash and ignorant or idiotic people doing stupid things. Thankfully, this park ranks high on the respect factor.

After our litlle walk, we had a wonderful dinner - much better than we were both expecting - which again, made this place go up in our ranking and then headed over to walk around more in the failing light. So this is the view of one of the guesthouses at night before the typhoon came.

Didn't mention that before, did I? Whoops! Well, there is a part 2 to continue...