#dakeng

Today, Eva and I took advantage of the glorious weather to hike up Trails No. 8 and No. 7 in the Dakeng area of Greater Taichung.  Having already done the No. 9,10 and half of No.2 (the steepest, longest and most arduous - we ran out of time), we decided to get away from the maddening crowds and try the quieter trails.  We were rewarded with less hikers, great scenery, awesome weather and a trail that provided good exercise. The road to the trail starts in a cemetery and then winds quietly up past orchards and farms to the entrance.  I love little country roads like this.  Here's what I think is a banana tree by the side of the road.

You're never far from a temple in Taiwan. Eva particularly liked this one because it was small, neat and had such a peaceful vibe.

If you are new to Taiwan, one thing you may not be aware of is that Taiwan is THE butterfly nation.  Here's the best shot I could achieve using my phone camera of a brown winged specimen.  The hike featured quite a few of these as well as numerous black and white winged varieties.

And of course there were the flowers so I could satisfy my petal pr0n cravings ...

The No.8 trail is basically one steep long climb up a series of logs as steps.  I am always in awe of the people who actually carved out these trails and laid the steps.  The ascent is quick but the views of Taichung are spectacular.  This camera doesn't do it justice but here the city glimmers in the distance.

This tree seemed to have a precarious life and death relationship with the boulders and the mountain slope.

Another glorious resting place with great view over north Taichung and part of the science park near the airport.

This is trail No.7 - a very gentle sloping winding descent down to Trail no. 6 and back round to No.8.

Damn the wind ... this would have been in focus otherwise.

Cycles of life starkly highlighted against a wispy blue sky.  We wrapped up for the cold and ended up sweating all the way up and down.

For the adventurous there are side pathways off, mostly from and for farmers.  Myself, I wouldn't recommend these without boots with metal grips and a sturdy walking stick and even then with extreme caution.

On the walk back to the bike Eva spotted these papayas.

This small bridge celebrates the bamboo tree.  One of the first and eerie sounds we heard when we started the hike was the bamboo trees creaking as the leafy tops swayed in the wind.  Stuff of scary film tracks indeed.

Another attempt rendered almost unusable owing to the tiniest of breezes.  Must save up for a good camera one of these days.  Any recommendations for someone who wants to do both majestic scenery shots as well as close ups on flowers and animals?

Banana's ripening by the side of the road.

And the money shot - the infamous beetle nut tree.  This young crop was far from ready for harvest.

Finally, a week or two previously Eva and I rode up through Xinshe and most of the way towards Lavender Cottage when we spotted another similar mountainside cafe development (sadly ringed by beetle nut covered slopes).  Called Xanadu it features steep hiking trails at rear including a network of small pathways around the gardens to the rear of the cafe.  Minimum purchase is NT$100 per person but on a sunny day the extensive outdoor seating is quite pleasant.  As we were walking around the gardens I managed to get this shot of these white flowers, half way through unwrapping and fully unwrapped.  It was only later that I saw the raindrop just about to fall from the bottom of the petals on the second picture below.