More Bad News Regarding Access to Taiwan’s Mountain Landscapes

The wonderful Stegosaurus Ridge trail is now closed, and hikers that attempt to start it from the main trailhead on the northeast coast road could face jail time or a huge fine.

UPDATE September 21st: In true Taiwanese fashion, a resourceful local hiking group has already found a way round the ominous sign that blocks entry to the Stegosaurus Ridge trail, with a new trail skirting around the perimeter of the disused copper plant. It starts a little further down the coast road at the 80.2 kilometer marker. A post on the group’s Facebook page (in Chinese but with a sketch map of the new route, which joins the original route behind the compound) is up here:  https://www.facebook.com/paul.lee.79827/media_set?set=a.1378880355474393.1073742720.100000573244989&type=3&hc_location=ufi

Yesterday I learned that the trailhead of a very popular Taipei-area trail, which I (and many others, no doubt) regard as one of the finest day hikes in Taiwan, has now been officially closed, and with warnings of jail-time, no less, for those caught trespassing. It’s just the latest event in an ongoing, but seemingly intensifying attempt to curb or limit access to Taiwan’s beautiful countryside, or to ‘tame’ it with the intention of making it ‘safer’ and more ‘accessible’.

A new threat to access to Taiwan’s greatest asset – its countryside

UPDATE: The proposed law has since thankfully been withdrawn (at least temporarily).

A piece was printed in Taiwan’s China Post newspaper this morning. Here’s the main thrust of the story:

China Post September 8th, 2016

Nantou’s county council passed a statute Wednesday that requires mountain hikers to equip themselves with GPS and basic communication devices, and to buy insurance before going hiking in the mountainous county in Central Taiwan. […]

Fair enough so far… most of this is what any sensible hiker would do on a trip into the deep mountains. But then it continues…

Under the new law, which will go into effect after being sent to the central government, people planning to engage in mountain activities must present their proposals in advance, including routes and destinations.

This looks bad – routes and proposals will now need to be sent to (and approved by??) the authorities before we can enjoy a hike in the mountains. It gets worse, though. The last part of the law, as reported by the newspaper, is the real knockout blow to responsible adult hikers everywhere:

Once in the mountains, they [the hikers] are required to stick to the planned routes, carry location and communication devices, and to hire professional guide with emergency rescue abilities, according to the text of the law.

What? When hiking in the mountains of Nantou County we’ll now have to engage a professional guide, just to hike??

Taiwan 101: The books are out!

WARNING: This blog entry includes an image of a bawdy traditional folk belief which might offend some readers!

After three years of writing, and a gaggle of delays and headaches, my latest (and probably last!) books are out. They finally emerged at the end of May, just a week before I jetted off for my summer holidays (which themselves didn’t turn out anything like I had planned, although that’s another story completely…).

Anyway I think Taiwan 101 is my best work (although I suppose I would say that), and I certainly learned more about the history and culture of this wonderful island than while writing anything else about it.

I’ll keep this brief, since I’ve got to get back to regular blogging, so if you’ve bought a copy, thanks, and of not, buy them! They’re available in Eslite and Caves books around Taiwan, and I can send them by mail if you don’t mind paying the postage.

 

Thanks,

Richard

Salt fields in Tainan City, a reminder of an ancient industry that’s been practiced in today’s ROC for eight centuries

Memorial at Checheng, Pingtung County, one of several places in the area associated with the Mudan Incident of 1871, one of the key defining incidents in Taiwan’s history

Here’s the advertising blag (and I’ve scattered a few photos around to keep things colorful too…):

Taiwan 101: Essential Sights, Hikes and Experiences on Ilha Formosa  

Taiwan is a perfect illustration of the saying that good things come in small packages. In comparison with more popular tourist destinations in the Far East, Taiwan is very modest in size, but despite its diminutive scale, the island has an astonishing amount to offer the curious explorer.

The boat burning ceremony at Donggang, Pingtung County…

…and Yanshui Beehive Firework Festival, two of Taiwan’s amazing, unique traditional festivals

The two volumes that make up Taiwan 101 are the perfect guide for exploring the very best of Taiwan: not only the island’s finest hikes, but also its best historic towns and cities, brightest traditional festivals, unique Chinese and aboriginal cultural riches, and its little-known natural wonders such as eternal flames, mud volcanoes and badlands.

The huge Lulin Tree in Chiayi County is ranked only fifth in Taiwan, meaning that there are at least four larger on the island, while other bigger ones could exist. [There have recently been reports that a tree has been found that might now be the largest in Taiwan]

More giants, and the outrageous phalli, placed at intervals around the Man Rock in Taitung County, one of Taiwan’s more unusual sights!

Together, Taiwan 101 Volumes 1 and 2 present Taiwan’s finest attractions to anyone who wishes to get to know this island of kaleidoscopic charms, and comes with detailed information on getting around by public transport, and accurate GPS coordinates of nearly 800 fascinating places.

The Crescent Pillar at Taitung City, part of a huge prehistoric site that includes the largest known prehistoric graveyard in the Pacific Rim area

Liukou Hot Spring, one of many wild, untapped hot springs that can still be found around the island.

 

Taiwan 101: Part 1. The North

The Candleholder Rocks, Jinshan, New Taipei City

Disused logging railway tracks at Taipingshan, Yilan County

The Buddha’s Tongue, Stegosaurus Ridge, New Taipei City

Cave of Foreign Words, Keelung

I’ve started exploring new places again, and should start getting back to regular blog posts in the next couple of week. Meanwhile, I thought I’d make a few posts giving a short overview (in photos) of my latest book, Taiwan 101, which aims to show the incredible variety of sights around Taiwan (and the ROC-controlled islands). It really is an amazing place, and I’ve come to realize this even more during the several years I’ve spent researching and writing the new books (there are two volumes), during which I’ve seen loads of places, attended a number of amazing festivals, and done quite a few things that I’ve never done here before. Hopefully I’ll get out six posts, one for each of the six main sections into which the two volumes of the book are dvivided.

 

First up: the north: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Keelung City and Yilan County. Here’s a taste of the many, many places to

Save The Sanctuary!

Sean McCormack’s inspirational venture, a shelter for abandoned dogs and other animals on the north coast of Taiwan, is facing closure after the authorities declared their structures on their new location illegal yesterday (November 20th), despite assurances in the past on the contrary. In Sean’s words: Public Works came this morning. They said we have to destroy the kennels, even though they advised us we could remove the roofs and lower everything to legal height, which we have spent a lot of time and money doing instead of finding a new place. Judy will be calling Mr. Kao, the official overseeing our case, to find out why this is happening.

Sanctuary residents get a walk

The Sanctuary is a not-for-profit organization established in 2010 and run by expat and local animal lovers to give a home to abandoned, injured and unwanted animals. Its mission, in its own words, is ‘To relieve the suffering of animals in the Taipei City and Taipei County areas, through rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming…‘ Presently over 200 dogs, plus various other animals, including cats, birds, squirrels, and even pigs, call The Sanctuary home. Unfortunately, through reasons beyond its control The Sanctuary is suddenly facing eviction from its present location, and with a long and wet winter coming up soon, a new home for The Sanctuary’s many animal residents is urgently needed. 

Jiufenershan: A sobering reminder of the Power of the 921 Earthquake

The famous collapsed temple at Jiji, near the epicentre of the quake

The Grand Canyon at Zhuolan

The sloping house at Jiufenershan

 

Photo in the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan, showing tea fields on the line of the Chelongpu Fault, which ruptured during the eartlquake

At 1:47 am on September 21^st, 1999, the most powerful earthquake to hit Taiwan in over a century (measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale) struck the center of the island, killing 2,415 people. Over 11,000 were seriously injured, and damage to property (many of the buildings that fell were shoddily constructed or designed to inadequate safety standards) was estimated at NT$300 billion.

The quake has become part of the national conscience (most people still usually refer to it as simply “921”, after the date on which it struck) and although the island has well and truly moved on, plenty of memories of that awful night remain to this day. Like Jiufenershan, a place guaranteed to bring home the primeval power of the catastrophe.

Taipei’s National Palace Museum: What on EARTH are they thinking…?

(click here for the full story)

First they tried to charge hikers to use the new Paiyun Hut on Yushan (Taiwan’s highest mountain; which is fair enough), but then decided to charge foreign climbers way over twice the price paid by local and expat resident hikers to use the same facilities. Now, according to a news story that appeared on March 17th, the local authorities have come up with the bright idea of increasing entrance fees (by between 56% and a staggering 150%!) to possibly Taiwan’s greatest single tourist attraction, the National Palace Museum, but only for foreigners – apparently tax paying expats as well as visitors. Meanwhile Taiwanese visitors will actually enjoy a 6.2% decrease in the ticket price when the proposed new measures come into effect.

I’m not even gonna try to work out the logic or reasoning behind the daft and potentially extremely harmful plan as described if this tier pricing system does actually come into effect.

I, and I’m sure many other foreign visitors, find it offensive that on the evidence of this, the Museum authorities seem to think the Taiwanese people have priority to see and enjoy the magnificent contents of this museum. Especially odd is the decision to increase the price of group tickets (the majority of groups visiting the Museum being of Mainland Chinese tourists) by a mighty 150%. Is the sublime irony lost on them?  The custodians of the collection, the Taiwanese (many of whom are at great pains to distance themselves from their Chinese heritage these days) technically stole the collection from its original owners in Beijing, and will now charge the Chinese a great deal over the odds to view one of their own country’s great treasures.

In any event it might not bode well at all for Taiwan’s hopes to have places such as the basalt formations of Penghu, the historic battlefields of Kinmen, and the unique aboriginal culture of Lanyu (Orchid Island) added to the UNESCO World Heritage list if they think they can get away with welcoming foreign tourists to visit another of the island’s world-class attractions, but then charge them way more than the Taiwanese for the pleasure of seeing another piece of world heritage lying within its borders. Another one that, in the spirit of UNESCO, should be preserved for the good of the ‘entire world citizenry’ .

(photo from Wikipedia.org)

Twenty Favorite Taiwan Waterfalls

The Golden Grotto in Hualien County

The Yuanyang Waterfall on the Xiaonian Stream in Kaohsiung County

Longgong Waterfall, Chiayi County

Taiwan is paradise for a waterfall lover like myself. It’s a bit of a joke among friends and family, but I’ve loved these things since I was a kid and used to scan guidebooks back home in England, reading about stunning cascades with rich and evocative-sounding names such as Cauldron Snout, Pistyll Rhaeadr, Falls of Glomach and Sgwd y Eira. When I finally passed my driving test (em…on the fourth try…) and got my first car, a Datsun Violet, there was no stopping me  – in a series of weekend trips and longer holidays I started methodically touring first Wales and then England, exploring all those waterfalls I’d read and dreamt about in books. Within a year or two the interest had become almost an obsession, resulting in me writing a book (sadly never published) covering the complete waterfalls of England (totalling some 370… named examples).

It would probably be near-impossible to see all the waterfalls in Taiwan even if I made it my full-time job, since they are just too numerous and many are simply very remote or otherwise difficult to reach, so it’s just as well I’ve at least partly grown out of my youthful obsession. Waterfalls are still an irresistible magnet  however, and I’m never happier on a hike then when it includes at least one (but preferably more than one) waterfall.

SOLO Wilderness First Aid Course

One of my less successful attempts at wilderness first aid, on Day One of the course

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By Day Two things were getting more interesting, with more elaborate (and realistic) scenarios and lots of surprises. Here Ross models an open fracture.

[The 2-day wilderness course I took last weekend is a far cry from the kind of thing I normally write about in my blog, but since this enormously fun yet also thought-provoking weekend is something I’ll want to remember in years to come I’m recording it here with all my hikes and explorations. ]

Whether it’s by accident (so to speak) or  by design, good sense or pure luck, after twelve years of leading hikes with what I now call the Taipei Hikers, the worst accidents we had were a mildly twisted ankle (on the stone stepped paths of  Yangmingshan of all places) and a chipped tooth, plus countless harmless silver grass scratches, leech bites and similar diversions. I’m not (quite) so naïve though to believe that our relatively spotless safety record to date can be expected to last another twelve years, so when those resourceful guys at Taiwan Adventures announced that they’d be scheduling a two-day Wilderness First  Aid course on the third weekend in November, I put myself down for some WFA education.

Paiyun Hut on Yushan: FINALLY open again!

The summit of Yushan (3,952 meters)

Stu over at Taiwan Adventures pointed out the other day that Paiyun Hut, the usual overnighting spot for hikers doing Yushan (the highest peak in Taiwan and in all NE Asia too!) is finally open again after several years of first rebuilding and then, presumably, arguing over the legality of the rebuild and whether or not to charge foreigners vastly more than locals for the privilege of staying there.  I ran a petition last year protesting the idea as suicidal for public relations in a country that desperately needs foreign tourists. I’m not sure if that had any effect on the National Park when I sent it, but anyway they’ve finally seen the light and now everyone will pay the same price (albeit locals now have to pay substantially more than originally stated), and now everyone can enjoy this fabulous mountain on an even pegging, as it should be!!

Details are up on the blog section of Taiwan Adventures’ very nice new website , and they can also help you plan a trip up. If I get my act together, I’m hoping to go back again myself to bag a few more of the 10 peaks in the group later this year.