Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 24: Nantou 南投 (He Huan Mountain 合歡山, Small Swiss Garden in the Day 小瑞士花園), Taipei (Dingxi MRT area)
Today I purposely woke up at around 6am to catch the sunrise. Initially I headed downstairs to get a better view, but changed my mind and headed back to the comfort of my own room when it started freezing. I thought I wouldn't get a nice view of the sunrise, but surprise, the view is just outside my window pane!
Alas, the sunrise was not the most brilliant one. I was expecting the sky to change colours from bright orange to deep orange but all I got was a blob of glowing ball rising from the mountains and the sky remained blue throughout. Haha. I really do not have luck with sunrises after missing the one at Alishan as well.
I then headed downstairs to the coffee house to grab some quick breakfast before starting my He Huan Mountain (合歡山) half day tour! As mentioned in my previous post, my hotel's receptionist was kind enough to enquire the availability of a tour to visit He Huan Mountain. He Huan Mountain is actually another scenic spot located further up the mountain after Green Green Grassland. Despite the very low season, a tour was available! There were two options: the sunrise tour, or a half day. I figured out it would be freaking cold to catch the sun rise again and I am really quite exhausted to wake up so early again, hence I opted for the more relaxing half day trip, which cost NTD 700.
At about 7.45am, my driver of the day arrived at my hotel's doorstep with a minivan. The other passengers in the van was a couple from China haha. The first thing that our driver asked was whether anybody has high altitude sickness. It is quite a common issue once you go past 2,400 metres. If any of us started to feel unwell he would have no choice but to turn back, and this has happened in the past. Three of us shook our heads. At the back of my head I prayed hard I wouldn't have any issues with my body. This was actually the first time I am going such a high altitude.
The journey up the mountain was quite okay, compared to the winding arounds of Alishan. The driver stopped by the road for awhile to check our conditions. We then took this opportunity to come out of the van and take in the view. The mountain view was absolutely breathtaking, not literally though. The weather today was excellent again, with the sun shining really bright and clear blue skies with minimal clouds. Even though I am at a much higher altitude than Alishan I don't feel the cold at all thanks to the sun. Sadly, a big bright sun also means that the temperature was not low enough to form snow. No snow at Wuling and no snow at He Huan Mountain lol.
To make up for my disappointment, my driver brought us to see ice formations instead lol. As the illustrated photo above, these icicles were formed when leaked water from a broken pipe was sprayed all over the mountain walls. The temperature drop throughout the night was cold enough to freeze the waters.
Technically the He Huan Mountain tour was not about hiking or touring about He Huan Shan but it's actually about looking at the mountain from another mountain. Our driver dropped us off next to a hill which is actually a platform to watch the view of He Huan Mountain which is located on the opposite side. There were actually two routes to get up to the 'observation' platform. Somehow the driver underestimated our hiking capabilities and dropped us off the easier and shorter route haha. No complaints there though.
So after 10 minutes of climbing, we finally reached the platform. Over here you get a 360 degree view of the entire mountain range. At one side you get to Mt. Hehuan, and the other side would be Mt Cilai. Though I must say that the view on a normal day is quite normal without the sun rise or sun set. Nevertheless for those who are more adventurous, you can always hike the actual He Huan Mountain itself. Based on Google maps, there seems to be a dedicated hiking path up the peaks.
After taking a tonne of photos we then made our way down where our driver was waiting for us. The hike down was pretty simple as there were already proper steps in place. Hope to come back one day when it is snowing. Unfortunately it all depends on your luck of the day.
Also tried to shoot some photos using my transition spectacles which acted like a polariser. Cool effects.
We then moved back to the main area where there is a cafe and a hotel for guests to stay.
 |
| Supposed to be super cold but I didn't feel it. |
Special mention to the highest toilet of all Taiwan:
Yes you did not see it wrongly. This area is also a part of Taroko National Park. If you continued driving all the way to the east, you will eventually reach Hualien. It is at this intersection where Taichung, Nantou and Hualien county overlap each other. Quite a significant spot huh.
Our last spot of the day was at Wuling peak. This is also another observatory site to view the mountains and of course to take a photo with the huge sign board. Note that this Wuling is entirely different from Wuling Veteran's Farm. There seem to be too many overlapping names all over Taiwan, whether the names of places or name of roads. It was really quite a refreshing half day tour, seeing the exquisite mountain range.
Back at Cingjing, I headed back to the Little Swiss Garden to check out the view in the day. Expectedly, the view was not as surreal and mysterious anymore as everything was in plain sight. Then again, I finally got to see all the flowers that were in full bloom at that time.
I think the most beautiful part would be this pathway which was fully covered in plum/apricot (李花) blossoms! Again thanking my lucky stars that my favourite flowers happen to be in full bloom.
With that, I then reluctantly headed back to the hotel and checked out. I then waited for about 20 minutes at the bus stop for the next bus that would bring me back to Taichung HSR. In those 20 minutes there were at least 3 taxies trying to convince me to let them fetch me back to Taichung but I held on to my principles (and wallet). From the HSR I took a bus which brought me back to Taichung Train station. And alas, I bought a ticket which brought me all the way back to Taipei. So after 24 days I have successfully completed one whole round around Taiwan island (despite not covering many places)! I SURVIVED! *pat myself on the back*
It has been a relatively long journey and I am really quite proud of myself achieving this feat haha. Maybe I wouldn't have been that impressed if I didn't injure myself on my 5th day or so.
Since I have not tried Air B&B before so I decided to give it a try on my remaining nights in Taipei. I chose one of the cheapest rooms available, which was a capsule located slightly out of town, nearby Dingxi MRT station. Well, for US$ 12 a night, what you see is what you get lol. A small tiny room with enough size a for a single bed. That would suffice for the next few nights.
-Day 24 end -
Comments