1400m up to Tienchih through stunning landscape
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2006
1
60
99
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Tienchih,
Taiwan
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Total Distance: 28 km
Altitude up: 1400m
Altitude down: 100m
Sleep gets worse. Wake up at 4:00am and leave at 5:30. We start at 1000m hight and road km 110 and have a long way to go up. The weather is finally and luckily nice with sunshine. As it is still very early sun the surrounding mountains have long shadows, so that we sometimes walk in the sun and sometimes in the shadow. The air is so fresh, crisp and cool. For tens of kilometers we can see where we have to go to - a beautiful mountain scenery with valleys, forest and streams. The road winds up in very large turns, such as a 7 km turn which would have been an easy one km direct line
Tienchih today's goal
. We take beaks at kilometers 120, 127 and 131. For 1.5 hours no car, then 3 small transporters bringing workers to the fruit fields. Then for another hour no car before a set of busses comes. A policeman in his duty car offers us a ride, which I naturally decline, but explain to him the reason. We see many birds which sing in many voices. Monkeys shout from the trees and are only sometimes briefly to be seen in the green crowns of the trees when they swing from branch to branch. Short before 12:00 we arrive at a rest place at km131. We eat a bit and get the company of a pretty fat squirrel, coming close but still keeping a safe distance. We put some nut there and our Litze, all of which the squirrel eats with gusto. At the rest place is also the starting point of a 3.5 km section of the old Japanese cross island trail ( it is one of a total of 14 such cross island trails in all of Taiwan ). One purpose of these trails was to control the strong resistance by the aboriginal tribes. The trail is basically parallel to the modern road on a higher elevation, so first we have to walk up about 350 meters. The trail, which is in a good condition ends in a clearing above Tienche.On the way we find explanations of former buildings like a police station, jail and ovens to make coal. Some old walls are still to be seen. The old trail is in a good condition and fun to walk. Arriving above Tienchih we reach a clearing - later we learn its from a fire and now under reforestation
View from the road
. After we have sat down for a few minutes in bright sunshine, clouds move in a split of a second we can't see anything. We are still in OK condition considering the many up-km we had made and the lack of sleep. Then we hear strange sounds, like singing, but totally unfamiliar. We walk towards it - we had no thought of ghosts - and see a group of taoist worshippers singing and dancing at a small pond. It's a bizzare sight. Tsi-Chin knows that the pond is a kind of holy place for Buddhists and Taoists. Often they release fishes and turtles, species not endemic to the environment.We reach the Memorial shrine built for the workers who died in the constuction of this highway. It is a serene and elegant view with a white temple on a white marple square- see also the opening photo of my blog. We then enter the Forest Station from the backside. We take a tong pu for 300 NTD each in a pretty wooden house. We can also secure dinner for 200 and breakfast for 70 NTD. Tienchih ( km 136 ) is made up only of this Forest Station, a Ranger Station, a Bus Station and a Public Toilet with parking lot.The dinner should have been at 6:00pm, but is delayed until 6:45 because the watch of the lady cook is broken and she does not get into town to fix it. The dinner is great, a real feast with fish, pork leg in bamboo, cabbage, bamboo, shrimp, chicken and soup.We sit with another visitor ( manager of the Chi Mei Museum ) and later the station manager and workers
Small stream
. It's a merry group and a lot of happy talking. They also have red wine. Now we know why the dinner is so great - the former boss of the station has come for a visit and we enjoy the windfall profit. Things talked:- Multilayer responsibility for the forest - Forst Bureau, National Park, County Government. Seems as confusing as in my previous company.
- Aboriginies have special rights for hunting. The time is limited to the indiginous holidays and to wild boar and deer, no fishing.They can have 3 rifles per household.
- The former boss of this branch of the Chiayi Forest Bureau says he plays Majong to build a house, which I took literally. I think he wants to win in order to win the money to build a house. I ask him where he wants to build the house he says: '" On the table". Now I understand ( with some explanation help and a good laugh on me ) that the term means a positive setup inMajong.
The dinner goes until 9:00 pm. Thereafter we go to our hut for sleeping. It is pretty cold. Tomorrow we will pass over the mountain pass, the highest point of the road.
