Beautiful Mt Hehuan

January 20 - 22, 2020

On day 6 of our stay in Taipei, our lovely daughter in law, Chia, took us on a journey to the middle of Taiwan.  It was a much needed respite from the ordeal of living in an apartment that turned out to be a "work in progress."  The work continued while we enjoyed the beauties of this island nation.

We started out early in the morning on the MRT from our place, to Taipei Main Station.  From there we took the High Speed Rail to Taichung.  At Taichung we transferred to a bus which took us to our hotel, Huis Ten Bosch. The bus ride was about 2 hours long, and up a very twisty road.  Our hotel was located about an hour away from our hike, which we would take the next day. 

It took most of the day to arrive at our destination.

The bus let us off across the road from our hotel, Huis Ten Bosch.

The theme of our mountain hotel was "owls."  Owls were everywhere, kind of like gnomes in the garden.

Since our rooms weren't ready yet, we hiked back down the road to the QingJing Veterans Farm, a huge tourist place where we were able to mingle with sheep.

Solomon fed the free roaming sheep.

We all walked on the Sky Walk, the white fenced board walk in the distance.

The Sky Walk

We ended our day, by walking across the street from the hotel to eat dinner.  The restaurant's main attraction is chicken, so we had chicken, and it was the best chicken I've every had.

Our meal came with one chicken (note: it came with head and feet still attached), 3 vegetable dishes and rice.  We didn't think we could finish, especially since David is a vegetarian, but it was all so delicious we finished everything.

We learned a new way to carve chicken:  rip it apart with your hands.  This was so quick and efficient.  The chicken was stuffed with local mountain leaves and marinated in secret herbs before being roasted in a brick oven.

The following day we did our big hike.  To get to the trail head, we took a smaller bus further up the winding road.  We arrived in about an hour.  The scenery on the drive became more and more spectacular.  We could see Yushan, the highest mountain in Taiwan, in the distance.

From the bus stop, we hiked back down the road to the trail head.

Walking down the highway to the trail head.  I wasn't happy with this situation since we encountered cars and trucks, but this is the way to do it.

Finally, we started the hike to Mt Hehuan.

As we trekked up hill, the trail became steeper, and the scenery became more and more gorgeous.

We stopped along the way for snacks, photos shoots, and catching our breath.

Beautiful Chia, our fearless leader

The mountain men.

I continued to be swept away by the views.

Finally, the top.

Of course, after catching our breath, admiring our athleticism, etc., we had to hike back down the trail. Then we had to hike on the highway again to catch the bus back to Huis Ten Bosch.  We did it!!!

Time for dinner, again.  There's only one restaurant, so we marched back to the chicken place. 

Our favorite chicken restaurant.

The staff, of course, remembered us.  They helped us order something different and equally delicious from the night before.  Since we were now regular customers, Chia got to sit with the cat and the chef gave Solomon a gift.

I'm not sure if Chia is a cat person, but she is a good sport.

What could it be?

Stitch!

This was definitely one of the most wonderful adventures we have had in all our visits to Taiwan.  It is especially special because we did it all using public transportation.  I find this amazing.  I thank Chia from the bottom of my heart for planning it.