Hallasan: South Korea’s Highest Peak

The crater at the summit of Hallasan

The island of Jeju, Korea’s southernmost territory,  is a pretty interesting place. It gained a great deal of publicity a few months back when  it became (provisionally) one of the  ‘New 7Wonders of Nature’ in November 2011. The second in a continuing series (the ‘Seven Man-made Wonders’ were confirmed in 2007, and we have the ‘New Seven Wonders Cities’ to look forward to later this year), the official website for this harmless bagatelle amusingly states that the voting process will take “democracy to a new, global level.”  I think the choice of Wonders in both categories so far selected tells us more about national pride (or lack of it) and the power of the telephone vote than anything else. There’s no doubt though that Jeju (or at least its amazing volcanic landforms) is an extraordinary place.

The impressive cone of Sanbangsan, in the southwest corner of the island, rises above fields of canola flowers

  

Taiwan’s Top Ten Day Trips

I’ve just written this piece for a Korean magazine, and while most of the places here have already been put on the Blog, it’s probably worth putting the whole thing up here  - Taiwan really is an extraordinary place!

This list is only a start, and on another day I might have come up with a completely different ’top 10,’ but these are wonderful places, and all are great personal favorites. I’ve uploaded new photos and expanded the write-up on the spectacular Taiji Canyon, which is not covered elsewhere here.

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The secret’s finally out: more and more tourists are discovering that Taiwan is an island of quite extraordinary natural beauty. But whatever you do, don’t limit yourself to the big tourist draw cards such as Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and Kenting. The island’s popular sights are great of course, but be sure to make time for at least a couple of the countless little-known gems that lie scattered around the island and on the outlying islets.

   There are enough enchanting spots to keep a weekend explorer going for decades, and any ‘top ten’ list is bound to be highly subjective, but here’s a personal list of ten places – all feasible day trips from one or other of the island’s big cities – that may well prove to leave more lasting memories than lying on the beach in Kenting or zooming through Taroko Gorge in a bus. 

1.  Loyal Son Mountain and

2. Sandiaoling Waterfall Walk, Taipei County

Descending Loving Mother Mountain

The 12 kilometer-long Pingxi Branch Railway Line, an hour’s ride from Taipei city center, is one of the most beautiful train rides in northern Taiwan, but the real attraction of coming here is the host of natural and cultural attractions easily accessible from the tracks. The area is dotted with atmospheric reminders of the area’s coal mining past, and the valley (which boasts the wettest place in Taiwan) features well over twenty waterfalls. The most famous (and touristy) of these is forty meter-broad Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布), the widest waterfall in Taiwan, but waterfall lovers can’t do better than take the stunningly scenic, 3-hour Sandiaoling Waterfall (三貂嶺瀑布) Walk nearby. Named for an impressive 30-meter high fall which plunges over a huge overhang behind which hikers can stand, the walk also features a further two beautiful waterfalls, and several exciting but safe climbs up cliff faces on chunky rope ladders.

Niya Waterfall, on the Sandiaoling Waterfall Walk

  

Xiao Liuqiu

On the maze of paths in Beauty Cave Scenic Area

 

It’s only two-and-a-half years since my first visit to the little island of Xiao Liuqiu, fifteen kilometers off the west coast of Taiwan in the far southern county of Pingdong, but what a difference that short time has made!  Our first trip there in April 2009 (with my pet Golden Retriever, Gem, in tow) revealed a quiet and enchanted landscape  of uplifted coral formations, almost unique in Taiwan (only the interior of Kenting National Park and a few places in nearby Kaohsiung County have anything like this).

The Penghu Archipelago

Stone fish trap on Jibei Island

   I dunno…. After two trips (seperated by a decade), I’m not sure how much I really like Penghu.  

   I still have a love-hate relationship with Taiwan’s largest set of offshore islands. For sure, Penghu looks wonderful in photos (as I hope my attempts here go some way to showing), and there’s no doubt about it, Penghu is an amazing place. I just wish

Back to Matsu

 

Beihai Tunnel. Nangan Island

   In my experience, it’s rarely a good idea to return to place a second time, especially if the first visit was memorable.  An ongoing project, however meant I needed to go back to one of my favorite corners of Taiwan, the Matsu islands mid October, but this time  I needn’t have worried. Despite less than pleasent weather, a long overnight journey out there from Keelung, sitting in the restaurant on the Taima ferry, and an equally long, bunkless  trip back, after our flight was cancelled due to ‘bad’ weather, the return visit proved to be just as wonderful.

Return to Keelung Island

   Keelung Island is an old friend, and we’ve made many visits there over the past decade or so since it was fully opened to visitors, so it’s sad to see it’s recently become a bit harder to reach than before. The company which once ran regular yachts out to the island every weekend from Bisha Harbour is no more, and now boats make the interesting but longer voyage there from a company operating out of Keelung Harbour (directly opposite the train station).

Kinmen Island

Watch out! The strange and beautiful honeycomb rock formations of Lesser Kinmen's northern coast are in an area where unexploded mines still lay

Last weekend, at the scorching-hot tail-end of August, I took my second trip to Kinmen, and, just like after my first (eight years ago), I’m still strangely conflicted about the place, even though I’d recommend a visit to anyone. 

Mt Banping and Teapot Mountain (A return visit)

The descent from Mt Banping, with Teapot Mountain and Mt Keelung in the background

The last time I did this hike, on a blisteringly hot day back in June, I already felt it was one of the finest hikes in the Taipei area. Returning here again on the first weekend of fine weather to bless these parts in over two months, I’m absolutely certain there’s no finer hike within easy day-trip reach of the capital. Now’s the time to see it: it’s wonderful in summer, but when the ocean of silver grass that covers the steep slopes come into bloom in October and November, it’s absolutely breathtaking.

Paradise Valley

 Yesterday’s weather promised so little hiking fun that if I wasn’t so far behind on my hike-revising schedule, I’d have stayed at home with a good book, practiced the piano, or gone out to see Paranormal Activity II at the movies. In the end however, a grim determination to get this book revision finished and done with asap (so I can get back to exploring some new places, and, just maybe, a few more high mountain trips)  saw me and David heading out to Ilan to tackle a hike I haven’t done for nearly a decade: Paradise Valley.

Xiaotzukeng Old Trail: a back-door on Jeofen

 

The continuing huge popularity of Jiufen (九份) as a tourist destination has long been a bit of a mystery to me: much of the quaint old character it probably once had seems to have seeped away over the last couple of decades, and certainly it’s even more developed and less ‘authentic’ than on my first visits here a decade or so ago.  However the village sits at the end or beginning of several fine hikes, so I’ve passed through quite a bit. I’ve never enjoyed it nearly as much, though as on my last visit a couple of weeks ago, the day before Typhoon Fanapi rolled ashore, when the unstable weather kept the  usual crowds away. A lot has been done to the town in the last few years; the horrible blot caused by a landslide in the center of town a few years back has been softened and healed, and more of the town’s structures have been tastefully gentrified. It’s a tourist-friendly idea of an old mining town, but on the blustery, typhoon day we visited, it looked better than I remember ever seeing it.