The Forgotten Beauty of Taiwan
Trip Start
Nov 17, 2006
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4
19
Trip End
May 09, 2007
Ilan,
Taiwan
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Taiwan is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire - earthquakes, volcanoes, and a real battering from the ocean have resulted in huge craggy mountains, hot springs, waterfalls, and the most amazing coastline. I live in the North West though, which is flatter, heavily industrialised and even more heavily populated, so none of these beautiful surroundings for me! However, this weekend I made my escape to Ilan on the east coast, to visit my friend Sara. Neili and Ilan aren't too far away as the crow flies - maybe 50 km apart, but the huge mountains that run down the island means the train has to take a huge detour almost to the northern point of the island before going south along the east coast
01 Sara and Lou at the waterfall
. It's not such a chore though - after turning south the train line hugs the coastline the whole way to Ilan. The shore really is battered by the ocean leaving it rugged, littered with huge jagged rocks, small islands, and great for surfing. But it looked a bit cold for that this week! It's not beautiful in the Caribbean white beach kind of way, but instead very powerful looking, which I find far more beautiful. Awesome in the real sense of the word. Ilan itself is a few kilometers inland, in the middle of a huge, flat coastal plain used as rice paddies. It's very odd, it looks like the isolated buildings are floating on the water in some eerie way. The city seems about the same size as Taoyuan, but there's far fewer people, which makes it seem much more laid back. Being able to walk around without choking on smog is definetly a bonus too!! There's a town close by called Jiaoci, with hot springs and a waterfall, which we headed out to with our other friends Nic and Louise. I really really had forgotten how beautiful Taiwan can be, and sitting on the back of Lou's scooter pootling up the mountain gave me a huuuuuge grin. It was like waking up after a week of rain to find the sun shining brightly! The quietness was so refreshing, it was wonderful to sit there and feast my eyes on GREEN!!! Actual trees! And wildlife! So many squirrels and birds and fish, I'd kind of forgotten about them too, all Neili has is stray dogs and bugs
02 Girl by Pagoda
.The waterfalls are part of the way up the local mountain. Surprise surprise, the guide book doesn't make any mention of them. It was a lovely afternoon, hiking (well, walking) up the trails to find tall tall tall waterfalls. There's a couple of them, hidden away in the hills. We went up one path that had been blocked off to find the really big one - not sure why it was shut, everything was ok. The water was at least 100m up, falling down into a huge rocky pool. The wind was blowing spray all around, and there was no one there but us. Fantastic! It's hard to imagine such peace sitting back here at my desk.
On Sunday Sara and I headed in the other direction, to a town named Loudong closer to the coast. There's a large area called Dongshan River Water Park, and close by is the National Centre for Traditional Arts. We spend a lazy hour or so wandering around the park - saw a lot of herons and cranes (or something like that!) and pretty pretty flowers. I never thought I'd get excited by wildlife and flowers, but I think never ever seeing any greenery is getting to me. The greenest I get here is walking past the scraggy allotments on the way to work under the cloud of goo. The Arts Centre was lovely - there's traditional buildings that have been moved there from around the county, including a temple or two and a couple of houses. There's a tourist 'handicraft street' which is pretty. Pretty much the same idea as in Yingge, just swap the pottery for random craft items. There was an exhibition of 'The Wonder of Metal in Taiwanese Art', which to be honest I didn't like too much. Lots of contemporary pieces, mainly consisting of various insects cast out of gold. I think it was the gold that put me off - it just looked too shiny and tacky to be taken seriously. Some of it really was intricate though, and quite impressive even if I didn't really care for it's form.
As far as my weekend explorations have gone, this definitely ranks the highest! It was so refreshing to be out doors somewhere it felt healthy to do so, and seeing so much beauty really made me happy.What I shame I had to crawl back here.... Another thing about this weekend is it's really made me look forward to getting a scooter - just the freedom to explore that it'll give me. I'm determined to find some nice places round here!
