In Taiwan of the most popular sports is hiking. There are many blogs devoted to this topic, like this one for example http://hikingtaiwan.wordpress.com/
Nearby Taipei there are some not very high mountains (top peak 1120m). The trails are easy to reach by metro and/or bus. It is good enough to escape from the city for few hours. During these months we have already visited Yangmingshan National Park and some of the trails close to Neihu area.
The serious hiking and big mountains are located at the center of the island. The tallest mountain in Taiwan is Yushan/Jade Mountain with an elevation of 3952m, slightly higher than Teide (3718m) in Tenerife island.
A small group of people from ADB office arranged a trip to the Neng Gao Historic Trail to reach the Mt.Cilai South Peak(3358m). Anna and I decided to join the adventure.
Two small details that surprised us when comparing the preparation for the trip in Asia vs. Europe:
The trips are usually organized with the help of an agent (K2 in our case) who will take care of all the arrangements (transportation, accommodation, food, etc.). To go to some of the parks and mountains, such as Jade Mountain, you actually need to apply for a permit that is not easy to get therefore the help of an agent is kind of mandatory. In Europe you usually just go to the mountain on your own :)
People from ADB office organizing the trip mentioned to me couple of times that the group would be only with ADB people and the rest of the group would be somehow closely related to these ADB employees (husbands, brothers, former work colleagues, etc.). In general the Chinese culture try to limit the extend of the “group”. On the contrary in Europe, in general, we welcome people that you don’t know (the friend of a friend of a friend) to join the adventure, the party, etc.
Friday evening we gathered at Taipei Main station and took a bus (~3/4 hours) to a small hotel in the mountains area. We were the only foreigners in the group so we drove a lot of attention (and pictures!). We were also a little bit worried to see how well equiped everybody was compared to us.
24-Sep-2010 19:27, Canon Canon IXY DIGITAL 82, 3.2, 6.6mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 250
On Saturday we woke up early (~06:00 am), and after a quick breakfast and short bus ride to the entrance of the mountain trail we were ready to start hiking according to the plan outlined below.
We spent around 6 and a half hours to complete the 13 km to reach the Tianchin hostel (at ~2740 m). It was actually the last weekend that this hostel was open to the public before closing for improvement works for almost one year. On the way up we had lunch. As normal European people, Anna and I had cold sandwiches and some dry fruits… but most of the Taiwanese managed to cook noodles in the middle of the mountain! Just amazing :). After arriving at the hostel we had an early dinner, few songs, some kaoliang liquor and went to bed really early.
Cobertura a certs punts del recorregut / Mobile phone coverage at specific points of the trail25-Sep-2010 11:08, CASIO COMPUTER CO.,L EX-Z60 , 4.4, 6.3mm, 0.004 sec
Going early to bed is important when you need to wake up at 02:00 am! As the plan included to see the sunrise from the Mt.Cilai Sotu Peak we had to start hiking at 03:15 am. We reached the peak a little bit before 05:30am. After pictures and coffee at the first peak we went to a second one (Mt.Nenggao, 3184m) and finally to a special landmark (“Spread Light Over the Land” monument) before going back to the hostel (around 9 km and 6 hours later). Quick lunch (at 10:30 am!) and all the way down to the entry of the trial (13 more km!). People arrived to the bus really destroyed as you can see at the end on the last pictures.
Apunt per marxar (ens haviem llevat una hora abans)
Ready to go (we woke up one hour before)26-Sep-2010 03:16, CASIO COMPUTER CO.,L EX-Z60 , 4.4, 6.3mm, 0.017 sec
A tot arreu els agrada fer-se fotos amb guiris
Everywhere they love to take pictures with foreigners26-Sep-2010 06:18, CASIO COMPUTER CO.,L EX-Z60 , 3.1, 6.3mm, 0.01 sec
Per anar a l'altre cim primer cal baixar
To reach the other peak we must descend first26-Sep-2010 06:26, CASIO COMPUTER CO.,L EX-Z60 , 3.1, 6.3mm, 0.004 sec
Al segon cim, seguint amb la tradició de fer-se fotos sense samarreta
T-shirt less pictures at the second peak26-Sep-2010 08:12, CASIO COMPUTER CO.,L EX-Z60 , 4.4, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec
As usual in Taiwan you can not go back home without a proper dinner! :)
Although we ended up quite tired it was good fun and a cool experience. Thank you to Linda and the màn màn zou (translated: slowly) hiking group for organizing the trip.
What’s next? :)
Written by Albert
3 Comments
Susan
Oct 25, 2010, 4:04
WOW! Cool, this is a super record for hiking 2010 ~^O^
Tommy (Linda's Bro)
Oct 25, 2010, 16:05
cool, I saw my face in the video enjoying the song…actually that was also my first time climbing on that high and I was really supprised that you and Anna finished such an “easy” job there without any stick, haha…
tell me the truth, you two play extreme sports, right?
Albert
Oct 30, 2010, 14:23
Hi Tommy,
No extreme sports but we enjoy walking a lot (as we don’t own any mean of transportation)… actually walking in Taipei city can be considered extreme sport from time to time
WOW! Cool, this is a super record for hiking 2010 ~^O^
cool, I saw my face in the video enjoying the song…actually that was also my first time climbing on that high and I was really supprised that you and Anna finished such an “easy” job there without any stick, haha…
tell me the truth, you two play extreme sports, right?
Hi Tommy,
No extreme sports but we enjoy walking a lot (as we don’t own any mean of transportation)… actually walking in Taipei city can be considered extreme sport from time to time