Tinkerbell at DongPu/Hohuanshan
My
photos are in
Tinkerbell - at DongPu/HoHuanShan
www.flickr.com
shanlung's Tinkerbell - at DongPu/HoHuanShan photoset
Joy's
photos are more descriptive and in
http://public.fotki.com/shimmertje/eastern_taiwan/chiayi-dongpu-hehua/
http://public.fotki.com/shimmertje/eastern_taiwan/lishan_to_chiayi/
off his Emperor. Being deemed to be a rare
bureaucrat who thought more for his people than his pocket, folks got worried
that dragons might eat his body. So they
rowed their boats out to throw dumplings to appease
the dragons. Thus
thereby starting the tradition of dragon boat racing and eating of dumplings. But then, if he did not kill himself, the
Emperor would have more exciting plans such as boiling in oil or death by thousand
cuts or even an invitation to join him in feasting and dining and self enrichment
as we see in many present day governments.
Taking
2 days’ bridging leave to get me into the weekends, I look forward to a long
holiday with Joy and Tinkerbell up in the mountains.
When
a car is being rented here in Chiayi, they have this
custom of asking a deposit or holding your bike as surety. That isn’t as bad as it sounds as you are saved
parking fees and if they do not deliver my motorbike, I will not return their
car.
The
last time I had and drove my own car was long ago in
against riding on a small 125cc bike.
We
were on our way to Dong Pu, the hot spring village up
in the mountains that I described in that email where I got that inspiration to
redesign Tinkerbell’s
harness. That time, I made the gruelling journey
via winding narrow mountain roads. This
time, with the wonderful hindsight that works sporadically in me, we
will take the 8 lane freeway to the turnoff where we
can head to that village.
Tinkerbell was in her carrier lording over the
baggage in the back seat. And she was wearing that harness as if to complete
that full circle.
I
was in the driver’s seat able to keep my legs together instead of having to sit
bow legged on the scooter trying to keep luggage and Tink
from dropping out with
my knees and legs while Tink
giving my ankle and socks love nibbles.
Joy
was seating next to me plying me with cold drinks and fruit juices from the
insulating drink bag and responding attentively to me in ways she never did
when I was watching TV at home and asking
periodically for fresh drink refills.
This
part of my world is a very flat plain with mountain ranges rising abruptly to
4000 meters on the other side. Freeways
being freeways are elevated massive structures raised way above the
ground. As I drove, the lanes curled
gently around with me slowly tooling down at 100kmh at the slowest lane and the
other cars blasting by me at 120-140 kph.
My normal vision of countryside little farms suddenly expanded into visions
of many farms
juxtaposed together into geometric boxes of greens and yellows and blending into
counties after counties.
With
all the comforts of driving in a car, I felt robbed of the details that the new
vision replaced. Riding on the scooter,
I used to see the individual blades of rice and their nodding heads of grains
and the lotus flowers and the people going about with
their lives alongside of the road. I missed even the earthy smell that you do
get to breathe in. And if I needed a
closer look, it was easy to pull up by the side of the road to walk over if you
are on a motorbike.
Eventually
we got off the freeway onto the country road leading to Dong Pu. What were wide roads for a scooter became narrow roads
for a car.
Other
than hotsprings, Dong Pu is
the road head for tough hiking trails that lead up to Yu Shan or Jade mountain. My old
Taiwanese friend had arranged to lead a trek up Yu Shan 5 months ago and I wanted
to meet him and other old mountain climbing friends there. We first met 12 years ago when fate arranged
to cross our paths on a wild craggy track curling off a valley in the beautiful
Taroko Gorge, a strong friendship that
lasted to now.
(how we met in below URL)
http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9/taroko90dec.htm
This
trail required 2 days’ solid hiking to get to the summit and another day down
provided that you are a very fit man.
Most unfortunately, I was not fit enough to go on that trail with them
but I felt that will be a very sad reason not to meet up and introduce him to
my surrogate daughter. They would be here the next evening.
We
checked into a smaller hotel at the back of this hotspring
hamlet, quite different from the one we stayed earlier. This hotel was less
elegant than the one we stayed in before but the two nights here cost less than
the one night of that earlier hotel.
The quaintness of this hotel was much enhanced by the unusual shape of
the many flower pots. It took me a couple
of minutes before it dawned on me that those pots were the old toilet bowls
removed during renovations and given
another lease of life as flower
pots. Those
enchanting flower pots can be seen in my wife’s web pages.
The
lack of elegance did not matter much when you closed your eyes in bed waking up
early next morning to start off on the trek.
We
were getting to be experts in rearranging bathrooms to being walk-in aviaries
for Tinkerbell.
All towels and other chewables were removed,
toilet lids shut and wires stuffed where they cannot be bitten.
Along
the trip, Tink was always taken out of her cage when we
stopped for lunch and other breaks. Her
harness was always worn so that removing her from her travel
cage was always fast and easy. With Tink’s drink
and food dishes filled, her harness was removed for her to have a good flap.
Unlike
the first hotel where you can stay within and be distracted by their built in
grottos and hotspring complex, this hotel just begs
you to explore the small town and the mountain paths around if you are not having
an eye-shut or starting off on long treks.
We
stunned everyone the moment we left our room with Tink
in her harness on my shoulder. Outside
the hotel, there was this Chinese family who could not believe their eyes that
an African Grey can be on the shoulder without tearing off half the head.. They told me of their parrot which kept lashing out at
them.
While
nodding politely at the right places, all my sympathies were with their poor
misunderstood grey. I asked Tink to step up and their eyes popped at such a
little act. I then told Tink
to step onto one of their outstretched hand.
I watched Tink carefully to see
that she was getting
tired of their admirations to give the recall cue knowing that if I do not
offer my arm, Tink will fly back to my shoulder.
With
that little demonstration over, I told them as much of the basics of keeping a
parrot in ten minutes. It was less for them and more for the grey that they
kept. Hopefully, that
encounter with Tink improve the life of that
grey.
Down
the road was one of the many restaurants.
The lady owner came out intrigued by Tinkerbell. I was more intrigued by the little wild pig
that followed her about like a dog. Her
talking with us attracted a small crowd of the locals. In the course of the
conversations, I asked Tink to step up from my shoulder to my hand. Tink never liked
being stroked or touched by others. The
only contact she accept is to step over to them. After a while I cued “come here” to Tink, and she flew back to me immediately. That seemed like a revelation to the others
who thought
“Come
here” was a mantra which must work for them as well. We left them to go into the restaurant with
their shouts of “Come here!” with Tink wondering what
the hell they were trying to do. There are a couple of shots of that piglet
in my wife’s photo web pages together with other shots of this trip and
more.
The
next morning, we decided to walk up a track to one of their waterfalls. I wondered how the vista of mountains and
forest was doing to Tink’s head. Without the harness,
she would have been left in the cage at home and some birds might have grown
and died thinking the visible universe is the size of the apartment. In the mountain hikes, different perspectives
must have formed with them seeing the
mountains staggering off to the distance with
trees in more shades of green than what they can see in their food dishes.
Tink stayed on my shoulders making soft
vocalizations as we slowly walked up the tracks. I liked those moments of quietness with
her. Especially when she now and then
utter piercing calls just next to my ear almost enough to make my head
spin. I do not use ear plugs. I thought about it, and my sweet wife even bought
some for me. Ear plugs left in the ear
and a Tink on the shoulder inquisitive about just
everything
just did not seem to me as a good mix.
I
had a cap to keep off the strong sun.
From time to
time, Tink hopped to my
head and stayed there. I wondered why
people on the list took
exceptions to their charges hopping on the head to the point they
debated on the ways to keep them off.
The soothing feel of Tink’s feet on my head
reassured me she can see all around without periodically screaming her delight
straight into a ear drum. The only drawback was that I
had to pay close attention to the tree branches after a couple of times when Tink was swept off my head to her sqwarking
protests.
Eventually
we crossed a suspension bridge painted in bright red arriving at the
waterfall. Though not a huge waterfall,
it was a delightful beautiful waterfall in an opening in thick forest canopy. Wooden walkways with thoughtfully placed
seats were on one side so you could rest and look at the water falling and the
plants and ferns that follow the water falling down. Looking at the waterfall, all was well. But
there was no stream at the bottom of the waterfall. That’s when I realized the
water fell and died. There were dozens of
big buckets with hoses buried at the bottom that captured and directed the
water along plastic pipes down the mountain to that town and the hotels. The stream
after the fall remained bone dry.
I
can hardly criticize the hotels for the death of the stream. We as visitors to such lovely places created
the need for hotels and their need of water. I am thankful
enough for little things like they left the water alone until it fell
down before siphoning it off to run the bathtubs and swimming pools down down below.
On
the way back, there was a small restaurant that we had our lunch. At the urging of the old lady running this
place, we went behind to find a lovely open air hot spring with bamboos growing
on one side. We spent a lazy afternoon
there allowing Tink to have a bath in a cooler pool.
All
too soon, it was evening and we had to go back to the hotel. In the night, my friends came. It was good to see my good friend Cheng Hung
again even if I was not to join him as he led the others on their 3-day hike up
Jade mountain.
The
rest of that evening was spent with me being an ornament together with Tinkerbell as we watched them energetically organising and
distributing supplies.
Early
next morning, we watched and waved them off.
We then continued on our way towards HoHuanShan
mountains.
HoHuanShan was another part of
I
recalled a glorious walk from Tayuling to Wushe passing by vast mountain
meadows with curving trails and sheer drops
where you were walking on top of the world.
My only company that time were the sun, a few clouds and wind. I walked and walked, so mesmerised by the
beautiful scenery that I was in a trance much of the time. I slaked my thirst from streams of cold clear
water flowing swiftly. I remember the poignant regret when after a day, I saw Wushe in the distance, tired but
yet charged with an energy beyond myself.
Then
on
Lishan and Taichong. To connect Lishan
with Taichong, they hurriedly constructed a road
using that foot trail that I used to walk on from Tayuling
to HoHuanshan and Wushe.
I
could hardly believe the changes that came with that road. The quiet pristine meadows and forests just before
Wushe were replaced by restuarants,
coffee
houses and hotels.
As I drove on the road, I saw bundles of plastic pipes on the side of
the road (in my photos). I knew that
somewhere, waterfalls and streams that enchanted me 12 years ago had died that people
could have their pools, dinners and baths. Part of me died too. The meadows that I had dreamed of flying Tinkerbell on had gone and turned into tourist farms.
Clouds
above sporadically opened up. I tried to
cheer myself thinking of my poor friends trudging up their trail in the rain
while we were in a car.
From
time to time, we had breaks in the weather.
We stopped for a break to stretch our legs. It was a kind of slightly elevated carpark platform perched on the side of a sloping mountain
with what I thought as a grassy slope alongside of the platform. Tinkerbell in her
harness and reelable dog leash was taken out of her
cage. After a few recalls of 5 meters, I
had this wonderful bright idea of getting her to fly to Joy.
I
knew that Tink was unable to lift the dog leash reel so
I left it on the ground between me and Joy.
I thought at worst that she would drag it, giving me time enough to
retrieve her. I cued her to fly to Joy,
giving her a little assist. She took off
nicely heading to Joy. Then Tink glanced lazily to the side and veered off to
the grassy slope.
I wasn’t too excited thinking I would be able to get to her. Then Tinkerbell disappeared
from sight to my utter horror.
I
stepped off the carpark and found what I thought was a
field of grass was a slope of tightly packed plants over 7-8 feet high. The sinking feeling I got in dropping into
them was less than that sinking feeling when I saw Tink
disappearing.
Photo
p6050096 showed the start of this nightmarish sequence. Joy swore I was in the
middle of p6050106.
I was groping in the plants shouting away to indicate my position while Joy
above was squealing which direction I had to go to that last seen position of Tinkerbell. Somehow,
it worked. I eventually caught sight of Tinkerbell to my great relief and brought her up.
To
show the gods were sometimes on my side, the rain resumed after that. When the rained stopped, the heavy mist
resumed. Sometimes the sun smiled on us for
a while before hiding again behind the mist or rain. It was a comfortable car. But I got tired and exhausted just driving. I
tried to reconcile that to the memories of 13 years ago when I trekked up and down
that same trail so full of drive and energy and feeling top of the world. I recalled it also rained and misted over
that time too. And my backpack was about
15+ kg. And in the car, I just wondered how I had the energy that time to hiked up and down on that foot path that I was now driving
on.
With
the mist and rain, we decided not to stay at HoHuanShan
and thought we would try Lishan town hoping for
better weather.
Lishan is another of
the time.
The
next day it was still raining. With
sadness, we decided to head back to Chiayi instead of
staying another night there.
My
photos are in
Tinkerbell - at DongPu/HoHuanShan
www.flickr.com
|
Joy's
photos are more descriptive and in
http://public.fotki.com/shimmertje/eastern_taiwan/chiayi-dongpu-hehua/
http://public.fotki.com/shimmertje/eastern_taiwan/lishan_to_chiayi/
Warmest
regards,
Shanlung