TheFarFlungFool

Xueshan Panoramas

This week I had Thursday and Friday off work for moon festival. Unfortunately I still had to work Saturday in Taipei so I couldn't take a trip to a different city. I decided instead to spend the whole weekend in Taipei.

It ended up being quite eventful, with a morning trip to the hot springs in Yangmingshan and an evening spent in Tamsui.

Chishang, Taitung

Dulan Mountain, Taitung

This part of Taitung is quite famous in Taiwan because of an EVA airlines commercial. The town sits in a valley between the central Taiwan mountain range that runs the length of the whole island and it's smaller twin that runs along the east coast. The mountains thus surround it in almost every direction, excepting the two "exits" to the north and south. The valley is practically covered in rice fields that create a blanket of bright green. The valley is almost surreal, with the clouds dipping low between the mountain peaks and often hiding them. The mountains average about 1km to 2km and the valley itself is almost at sea level but the low clouds make you feel like everything is so much higher.

I didn't expect to be as impressed by the scenery as I was. I was expecting some good photo opportunities but not like what I found. It's hard to keep walking when every few hundred meters a slightly different angle or change in the clouds presents a stunning new view of the landscape.

Once I got to Brown Avenue and Paradise road there were quite a few tourists but even a few hundred meters off of this track there was almost no-one.

A beautiful but challenging 6 hour hike from the coast to the summit of Dulanshan and back. Great pictures and sore legs.