After checking-in and dropping off our bags, we set out to find a place to eat.  We ate at Taiya Po Po [泰雅婆婆美食店], which specializes in Atayal cuisine.  Luckily, I was able to get my fix of Wild Mountain Boar and Bamboo Tube Rice.

We stayed at the Full Moon Spa [明月溫泉會館].  We began our search for a resort about a month and a half in advance, but many resorts were already fully booked for New Year’s Eve.  The rate for the night was $4,200NT and included dinner, breakfast, and a ticket for their large spa.  The in-room spa was nice and the room was what we expected for the price we paid.

The resort has a nice view of the Nanshi River.  Here’s the scene that accompanied my breakfast:

New Year’s Day was unseasonably warm and dry.  We took a ride on the Log Cart for $50NT to the Wulai Falls and shopping street at the top.

The magnificent Wulai Falls are about 80 meters tall and definitely worth checking out if in the area:

Here’s a view of the whole waterfall:

By the time we were ready to leave Wulai, it was packed.  If you go on a weekend or holiday, make sure you go early to beat the crowds:

Getting there: Take the Wulai bus from the Xindian MRT station for $40NT or take a cab which will probably cost about $400NT on weekends.

For more pics from our Wulai Trip, check out my Flickr set.

Even though we didn’t go too high, we were still treated to great views of the city:

Located on the northeast coast of Taiwan, Jinguashi [金瓜石] was once a booming gold and copper mining town.  The once prosperous area took a major plunge after the mines exhausted.  However, in recent years the area has reinvented itself as a popular tourist destination.  Jinguashi is home to the Gold Ecological Park [黃金博物園區], which preserves Taiwan’s mining history and serves as a venue for environmental education.

Built during the Japanese colonial period in 1922, the Crown Price Chalet [above] is one of the area’s several Japanese-style buildings.  This was built in anticipation of a visit by the then crown prince.

The Benshan Fifth Tunnel provides visitors with a first-hand experience of tunnel working conditions.  The copper mines of Kinkaseki [the Japanese pronounciation of Jinguashi] were the most brutal of the POW camps in Taiwan.  Click here for more information about Japanese prisoner of war camps in Taiwan.:

A brief hike up will take you to all that’s left of an old Shinto temple:
Visitors can also tour the interior of a restored building once used by Japanese mine technicians and their families:

Despite the weather, the area gives spectacular views of Taiwan’s beautiful northeast coast.  Here is Keelung Mountain to the left and Teapot Mountain to the right:

No visit would be complete without viewing [and touching] the 220kg gold brick on display:

The park’s official website includes information on getting there.

A few more pics can be found on my flickr photoset.

I went out for a late breakfast and discovered a crowd of Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九] supporters lined up along the street. Turns out the Kuomintang election caravan of noise was scheduled to roar through Zhonghe City!

We took an afternoon bus to Jiufen [九份] on Saturday. Jiufen was once a prosperous gold mining town. When the goldmines were exhausted shortly after World War II, interest in the town took a dive. The town has reinvented itself as a tourist destination following the release of A City of Sadness [悲情城市], Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s [侯孝賢] 1989 film which was the first to depict the 228 Massacre and the Kuomintang’s era of White Terror.

It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived, so the crowds were rapidly thinning as we made our way through the area’s tourist streets. This was my second time visiting Jiufen, the first time was when I visited Taiwan for 2 weeks in 2004. Jiufen has a special charm and was the inspiration for the village in the movie Spirited Away.

5-Flavor Fish Ball Soup [五味綜合魚丸湯]:

Next up was dessert:

Taro-balls [阿柑姨芋圓]:

Somewhere along the streets a person handed me a Nikon D80 with a 35mm lens to take a picture of him and his significant other. The shot was in low-light and low-iso and their picture turned out incredibly sharp with absolutely gorgeous bokeh. I think a prime lens is on my wishlist.

And of course, a picture in front of the steps [sure, everyone takes a picture there, but this one turned out great and was by far the best of both of us from the evening]:

On Tuesday, I took a train to Fulong Station [福隆車站] to enjoy a walk along the Caoling Trail [草嶺古道]. The Caoling Trail once served as an important link between Danshui and Yilan. The area I hiked is the only surviving section of this historic trail. I learned of this trail from a post by David Reid a while back. I had been determined to go ever since reading about it. Luckily, due to recent events, I don’t have to work on Tuesdays until I move next month, so I have a little extra free time on my hands.

There are a couple of sculptures outside Fulong Station. They were created by the Taipei Railway Workshop of the Taiwan Railway Administration using discarded parts from diesel-electric locomotives. They were installed at Fulong Station when it was reconstructed in 2005.

Across the street from the station there is a visitor center complete with a few brochures, some displays on the history of the area [Chinese only], and a room of carved driftwood art. Needless to say, I didn’t spend long there. I walked to the nearby 7-11 for some food and water to take on the trip and was on my way.

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The path to the trail has a lot of small farms and nice scenery to enjoy. The weather was cool that day and there was a gentle breeze [which ultimately turned into a much stronger wind at the higher points of the trail].

There were a few butterflies along the lower elevations of the trail. This gorgeous one is the only one that stuck around long enough for me to photograph. A big thanks to one of my Flickr contacts and fellow Nikon-shooter Frederic D., who identified the creature as Symbrenthia hypselis scatinia [姬黃三線蝶].

Before long I made it to Yuanwangkeng Riverside Park [遠望坑親水公園] which is where the real trail begins. At the park I found a restroom and a vending machine, which was wonderful because I was going through my 7-11 purchases a little faster than expected.

Being a weekday, the trail was almost deserted. I only passed by a dozen people on the whole route.

The trail is made up of cut-stones like those found on most of the popular recreational walking trails around Taiwan.

Also along the trail are a few smaller trails which aren’t marked on the map. I assume the majority lead to the area’s private farms.

“Boldly Quell the Wild Mists” Inscription [雄鎮蠻煙]:

The Northeast Coast National Scenic Area Administration is kind enough to have installed plenty of Chinese and English information plaques along the way…

The four Chinese characters on this tablet were inscribed by Taiwan Regional Commander Liu Ming-deng, who, when traveling to Yilan along the winding stone pavement of the old Danshuei-Lanyang Trail in 1867, encountered stinging rain and thick mist. This made him conscious of the difficulties faced by the brave men and women who opened up this part of Taiwan, and he inscribed “Boldly Quell the Wild Mists” on a huge stone lying on the flank of Caoling Mountain. This is the largest stone inscription in Taiwan.

Tiger Inscription [虎字碑]:

The Northeast Coast National Scenic Area Administration:

When Taiwan Regional Commander Liu Ming-deng arrived at the Caoling Pass during an inspection tour of northern Taiwan in 1867, he was buffeted by such strong wind and thick fog that he could not tell his directions. In accordance with the ancient Chinese saying. “Clouds obey the dragon, winds obey the tiger” he inscribed the Chinese character, “Tiger” to suppress the wind. Legend has it that Liu Ming-deng loved to write the character for tiger, and that his calligraphy indicated differences of gender. The “Tiger” inscription written by him in a Boai Road military compound in Taipei is male, while the “Tiger” on this stone is female.

On the way to Dali [大里], hikers are rewarded with a spectacular view. It is around here that the trail splits, with the option of heading down towards Dali or taking a longer route to Daxi [大溪] via the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷]. I was told by some hikers that the longer path takes 5 hours. Given that it was already early afternoon, I opted to take the shorter path to Dali.

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The Lu House [Reed House] was once an important stopping place for people making the journey along the Caoling Trail. Its ruins are all that remain:

Walking along the beach on the way to the train station, to the left of this photo is Dali Tian-Gong Temple [大里天公廟]:

And finally, the journey came to an end at Dali Train Station:

Waiting, waiting, and waiting…

Two workers were busy building a wheelchair accessible ramp when I arrived:

Maybe next time I’ll take the hiking path from Dali to Daxi along the Taoyuan Valley… I still have a few Tuesdays left before I move to Nantou…

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First, a couple pans taken in Danshui a couple weeks ago. I haven’t been out much to explore the functions of my camera on account of running into a bit of a health problem recently, so here goes:

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This pan tastes great! But you really don’t want to know how it was made… I went to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and attempted to capture no less than 15 panoramas of the building. This was sadly the only one that came out remotely presentable. I learned a lot about what not to do when making pans of large buildings. If attempting to make a pan while facing the broadside of a building stand centered to that side otherwise your auto-stitching software will spew something awful out at you. Also, as a simple rule, shoot the same pan more than once, it stinks thinking you captured something wonderful in the field only to find when you get home that once pan-i-fied your new pan is completely unworkable (ghost images, tops of buildings cut off, ect).

I left this morning (the first time I left my apartment since Friday evening) to see if there was any damage. Thankfully, the only damage I saw was a few downed trees and branches as I walked through Zhonghe No. 4 Park [中和四號公園]. The sidewalk had mostly been cleared by the time I went out for breakfast at the civilized hour of 10 am.

Originally, I had prepared for the worst: I had a flashlight with extra batteries, a stack of food in the event of 7-11 being closed, extra water, and a fully charged Gameboy Advance SP. Here in Zhonghe we had periods of moderate to high wind and heavy rains followed by longer periods of relative calm.

Post-storm reports are also available from David, T.C., and Franc

Seems lately a big portion of the Taiwan Blogsphere is upgrading or contemplating upgrading their digital cameras: Michael [Turton] purchased a Canon Powershot S5 IS, Holly bought a Canon EOS 400D, Andres is contemplating between Canon and Nikon, and it seems Carrie is thinking about going DSLR.

As a reward to myself for taking on extra teaching hours over the summer, I finally broke down and purchased a Nikon D40.

The D40′s target audience are people just like me, people who want to go SLR but are put off by the price and the learning curve. I purchased the D40 kit which includes the Nikon 18-55 II kit lens, strap, software, ect. I also purchased the usual slew of accessories: a 1 gig memory card, an extra battery, a camera bag, and a cleaning kit for under $19,000 NT (I stopped myself from purchasing an external flash). I’m not a camera expert, so here is list of reviews that I found helpful:

• Digital Photography Review
• DCRP Review
• The Imaging Resource
• Nikon D40 and D40x Review by Thom Hogan
• Digital Photography Journal
• Ken Rockwell’s Review

There are also a handful of Flickr groups devoted to this model:

• Nikon D40/x 18-55mm Users (kit lens)
• Nikon D40/x Club
• Nikon D40/x Users

I haven’t had time to check out the instruction manual yet. Partly because the copy in my kit box was the Japanese version and the salesperson at eWhat gave me a photocopy of the Chinese version.

Yesterday I went to Danshui [淡水] and walked down the river towards the mangrove swamps of Hongshulin [紅樹林]. My shooting began at Qiyan Station [奇岩站] as I waited to transfer for the train to Danshui:

Unfortunately, this was the only critter shot I took, my walk was pretty rushed on account of having to be at work soon:

This individual’s work is in a handful of other places along the trail:

Guanyin Mountain [觀音山] found itself in the background of several pictures taken during the walk:

Such a beautiful path, I was quite surprised that these bicyclists were the only other people I saw along the way:

I would have loved to stay at this spot and wait for a train to pass by, but the sun was pretty intense and the last thing my students wanted to see was a sunburned and sweaty teacher at the beginning of class:

And the final one for today:

Oh and if anyone walks along this path and spots a third-party LCD screen protector… chances are it’s the one that fell off my camera.