Hualien

Hualien(III)

2009.7.7

In the early morning we came to Cisinhtan(seven-stars Lake) to see the sunrise. The lake(actually it is a bay) was beautiful, and it became more beautiful with the rosy clouds and sunlight. When the wave waned, the water made "ko-ko-ko..." sound with pebbles, making euphonious song. This was the first time that I saw the sunrise with accompaniment.

So many different colors from the sky to the sea!!

After seeing the sunrise, I was curious about a road going uphill. Curious as I was must take a visit. When we attended the top of the hill calls Chi-Lai-Bi(奇萊鼻), the whole lake(it actually not a lake but a bay)could be seen. It was amazingly beautiful. Stubborn as I was wanted to see where the road went, but its end was nothing. So we wasted some time and energy on walk.

Afterwards we started our journey on Suao-Hualien Highway. Taroko Bridge was the starting point.

Taroko Bridge

SuHua Highway was really horrible because there were full of trucks. We started our journey very early and the trucks were still lining up to load sand and stone. So it was lucky for us that we didn't meet too many trucks at the beginning. However, we sometimes stopped and took pictures, then we usually were chased by trucks in the tunnel. The horrible sound echoed in the tunnel just like a monster, so everytime we stopped at the exit of the tunnel to let "monsters" go first. No matter how dangerous the road was, the views on the Suao-Hualien Highway was gorgeous!!!

The highway's "civilized" history really begins with the decision of the Cing Dynasty in 1874(13th year of the Tong Jhih Reign清同治13年) to pay more attention to Taiwan. The Mudan Village Incident in which there was violence between indigenous people in southwestern Taiwan and shipwrecked Japanese sailors prompted this. Road construction was a major part of the new policy, and a man named Luo, Da-Chun(羅大春) led a team of engineers and workers to build the first "The North Route" which is now the route from Su-ao to Hualien.

During their occupation of Taiwan(1895-1945), the Japanese rebuilt the road, starting their work in 1916 and continuing through 1923. The road was designated as a highway in 1927 but was not opened to traffic until 1932. Known by the Japanese as "Suhua Coastal Road" (蘇花臨海道)it was a total of 119 kilometers in length. 

A series of earthquakes and typhoons kept the Taiwan government busy with repairs on the road after the Japanese withdrew from the country, and it was not until 1990 that the highway was finally opened to two-way traffic.

The road winds its way between precipitous cliffs and the Pacific Ocean. Changes in the human element in the area are reflected in the very different development stages of this transportation route. The first modern road was built by the Chinese Cing Dynasty government and it was known as the "The North Route".(北路) The Japanese rebuilt and expanded the road giving it various designations as part of their "Greater Nan-ao Trails"(大南澳)or the euphemistically named "Aborigine-Management Roads"(沿岸理番道路), later, the "Su-ao-Hualien Trail"(東海徒步道) and finally the "Suhua Coastal Road"(蘇花臨海道). After the nationalist Chinese government came to Taiwan in 1945 the Suhua Highway and the Northlink Railway Line(Taipei-Hualien) were built. The route has seen everything from gravel to cement and asphalt, from narrow footpaths to one-way roads to wide highways and two-track railway systems. These many manifestations of transportation routes are witness to the different ages and dominance of different people as the eastern part of Taiwan was developed.

The picture which was taken at the Chongde tunnel N. opening was the Cingshui Cliffs.

Chingshui Cliffs:

Designated as one of Taiwan's Eight Wonders in 1953, the Cingshui Cliffs follow the coast for 11 kilometers starting at Heren and ending up at Chongde. Just before the entrance to the Taroko Gorge. Geologcally, this area belongs to the easternmost flank of the Central Range. It is also the oldest part of Taiwan, its formation having been formed over 250 million years ago. The cliffs rise between 200 and 1300 meters above sea level and this section is primarily comprised of marble and gneiss. The compact rock accounts for the relative stability of the area, and its ability to withstand the eons of battering by the elements as well as the lifting of the earth's crust caused by the collision of tectonic plates. In geological time, the very steep cliffs(average 45 degrees) were created over a relatively short period, creating the unique Cingshui coastal scenery.

This was the scenery near Heren train station. The cliffs is part of the Chingsui Cliffs---Guguzi Cliffs(姑姑子斷崖)

The boundary of Yilan and Hualien is on the central of the Dajhuoshui Bridge(大濁水橋). We rode from southernmost in Hualien two and half days and finally got to the northernmost in Hualien. It made us feel a great fulfillment and we began to rode back.

Our plan was to rode to the boundary first and visited each scenery when we went back. Thus, we didn't stop too often when we rode on the northward direction on Suhua Highway.

The scenery at the Heren tunnel S. opening---the mouth of Heren river. The place I stood was Guguzi Cliffs and the cliffs in the opposite direction was Kanagang Cliffs(also a part of the Chingsui Cliffs).

The Gravel Beach at Heren

The ocean shore at Heren is a slope sediment shoreline, a short distance from the upper reaches of the Liangli River. The sharp drop in elevation over such a short distance accounts for the river's rapid and powerful rush to the sea, as it carries boulders from the mountains to deposit along the coast. As the time span is so short, these stones have no opportunity for transformation to small grains of sand that we might otherwise see on the beach. The beach's colors are primarily gray, black and white marble, and yellow and brown gneiss.

The rock at the right lower corner is the screen rock which is the only one still left on Suhua Highway. That road is Suhua Coastal Road which was built by Japanese. I took this picture on our scooter, so it slanted a little. When Japanese built the Suhua Coastal Road and  Su-ao-Hualien Trail, sometimes they would keep some bigger rock bodies outside the road to use it as a screen rock. This screen rock was bigger than the others. The cliffs at the right side is the Kanagang cliffs.

Why did the Suhua Highway have traffic jams? Because there were a lot of falling stones in those few days, the blocked the road and cleaned the stones on the road. We waited about 30 minutes, and the car line was amazingly long!!

The monuments locate at about 174 kilometers on Suhua Highway. The one at the right side is to memorialize Wu Jin-Wen, who was the official in charge of maintaining this section of the highway. He was killed in a landslide on 7 June 1950. This monument honors the engineering feats of Wu and his colleagues. Other tributes these brave engineers include the naming after Wu of a bridge on the Cross island Highway and a tunnel on this Suhua Highway. The one at the left side is to memorialize the 51 workers who were killed by the landslide in the Japanese Occupied period. The original one was built in November 1922, but this one was rebuilt later.

The Deqili Cliffs(得其黎斷崖)(one part of the Chingsui Cliffs)

The Chingsui Cliff

This gorgeous blue sea and sky made me feel extremly cheerful. The peak point far away was the mouth of Liwu river.

We were at the Deqili Cliffs(得其黎斷崖)(the Chongde Tunnel N. opening)

If you are interested in Suhua Highway, I strongly suggest you click on the website below (Chinese). These two people were really good. They took risks to find the abandoned Suhua Coastal Road. I have heard that the road they went was ruined more serious by the typhoons, or I am really want to take the risk to see the beautiful old road!!
http://forum.gfes.tpc.edu.tw/blog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=128&blogId=39

Afterwards we went to the travel center of Taroko National Park and took pictures at the entrance of the park. All my impression about Hwalien was Taroko National Park and because it would take several days if going to every beautiful trails in the park. Therefore, I didn't include the park in my plan. I wanted to see the sceneries other than the Taroko National Park.

The road which must be taken if you went on the southward direction from Taroko to Shincheng.

Asia Cement Peacock Flower Road. Riding on this road was very comfortable. When the peacock flowers are full blossom, I think the road will be more beautiful.

At that time, only few of the flowers were blossom.

While arriving at Shincheng, we found a restaurant which had many people in it to eat lunch and the noodles tasted really good. After lunch we went to a pavilien at the seashore to take a nap. Getting up early to see the sunrise was too tired, we must take a rest at noon. Then we visited some historical buildings when our energy recovered a little.

Shincheng photo studio. It was a view of the movie---Enternal Summer, which described the love story between gays. I have never seen the movie and I knew it later. The photo studio has been built for 130 years.

(If you are interested in the other historical buildings, please go to see the albums. I will not list every building here.)

When we came back to Hualien City, we first went to visit the Hualien Harbor. Then going to Cikasoan park to take some pictures of strange flowers and military camp which was left in Japanese Occupied Period.

The railway at Harbor

Huge cargo ship at Hualien Harbor.

Very funny plant calls Agave Schidigera(I can only find its formal name)

Cikasoan park was the base of air force in Japanese Occupied Period. I didn't know this building was the house to put air planes or the ammunition depot?

Then we rode on the south direction to Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine(慶修院) where I came last time but it closed when I was sent to be trained in the military in Hualien City. We also wanted to visit some other old Shrines in Ji-an but they were hard to find, even though I asked many local people and they didn't know where they were. Therefore, we gave up to find the others.

Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine. Legend has it that this stone could cure diseases. Although I can pronouce the words on the stone, I can't know what do they exactly mean. So I don't know how to translate them in English.

For providing a place to comfort the immigrants from Japan and for preaching, an old man called Kawabata decided to build "Yoshino Preaching Shrine"(吉野布教所) which was now the Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine(慶修院). Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine was not only the worship center for Japanese but also had many functions like hospital, school and service of death ceremonies.

The facade of the building use the style of traditional Japanese temple. The stairs, roof, and balusters were delicate. The style is like the buildings in Edo Period(Japan).

Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine worships Acalanatha(不動明王) mainly. The shrine followed the last words of the famous Kobo-Daishi master in Shikoku to went to 88 temples in Shikoku and took back 88 stone statues of deities. It's a tradition for the worshipers of Shingon Sect to go on a pilgrimage to the 88 temples on the island of Shikoku. The journey lasts for1300 kilometers. In the early 20th century, to save the troubles of people who could not worship the temples because of inconvenience, a miniature version of the 88 temples with the stone statues of their deities was built in the temple.

One of the 88 dieties, and the wood plates and red paper in front of each deity represented the visitors' various hopes.

(I was very crazy to take pictures of 88 dieties XD Each one was different but all looked very beautiful.

After visiting the Ching-Xiu Shinto Shrine, we started off to go to the place we lived that night---Carp Lake(鯉魚潭). We were very lucky to find a nice B&B which the price was lower than the introduction on the brochure. Though inexpensive, the equipments of the B&B were very nice and clean. We were very happy to live there. The happier thing was that we saw aboriginal people rehearsing the dance and songs with water dance at the Carp Lake. I was going to prepare GRE on the day they performed formaly few week in the future. I was really lucky to see their rehearsal. Moreover, the performing area just in front of our B&B and I could see it from our room. Therefore, once I heard the music beginning, I ran out. In the end I watched their performance twice. TOO AMAZING!!!

Gentle moon light, mountains, amazing water dance and dulcet aboriginal songs made the night so beautiful and lively.

Do you still remember I saw Ou Han Sheng(歐漢聲) on Green Island!? That night we watched his program about Green Island in hotel when Chun-Bo did channel surfing.XD

The beautiful sceneries I saw and good luck today made me smile in my dream.^^

If you want to see more pictures about Hualien,
Click on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141921&id=697191847&l=242162c370
 

Hualien

Hualien(II)
2009.7.6

That day we slept in till 7 o'clock. After breakfast we started our journey at 8 o'clock. For not traveling on the same way two times, we first went to see Sha Lau culture(aboriginal culture) on the County Highway 193.

380 years ago, Sha Lau was a wild place. Da Du Yi(噠渡伊), who was the leader of aboriginal peoples' ancester, led his people to develope this place. In that period, they dug many wells at different places. To memory their ancensters' spirit, people set up a memorial. And this is the best saved well.

The people in the village made some decorations beside the road. Moreover, they also decorated their post box, and the drawings of each family were different.

There is a prison which is called Hualien Tzu Chiang prison(自強外役監獄) on County Highway 193. I saw many prisoners cleaned the road and set up the garden. This prison is for the prisoners who commited minor sins, helping them to learn some skills to service our society. Moreover, learnig new skills can help them not to commit sins after going out the prison.

After visiting Sha Lau culture, we rode to the coast on Guangfeng Highway. While we were on the Guangfeng Highway, we saw an eagle rushing down in front of us. It was very special, as if it showed its skill of hunting for us(Or does it want to hunt us? haha). When we arrived the coast, we ate at 7-11 to avoid the situation of finding no restaurants along the coastline.

The river at Fengbin township

Afterwards we rode on the northwards direction along the coast. The first scene we saw was Qinbuzhizi Cliffs(親不知子斷崖)

Before the Huatong Highway was built, the cliffs between Jici to Xinshe were the main road to connet the village nearby to the others. Because the road was narrow on the steep cliffs, it was dangerous to walk on it. Legend has it that a Yami mother had her child on her back and walked on the road. She was too nervous to walk on it and found her child was lost when she passed the cliff. Thus, people call this cliff "Qinbuzhizi Cliffs"(親不知子斷崖) by the story, means the cliff was very dangerous, though parent and children could not help each other on the cliff.

Then we went to Baci Gazebo(芭崎瞭望台). We saw a mountain(Mt. Dashihbi) on the way to Baci Gazebo, which I didn't know while planning travel. I'd like to climb the mountain because it looked not so high. However, my friend felt so tired to climb the mountain, so I climbed it along. In addition to seeing the gorgeous view of the coast and the ocean, I saw human-face spider hunting a snapping beetle on the mountain and a lot of beautiful swallowtails.

The way we rode on.

The hill, which we were heading to later, is called Baci Gazebo.

The beautiful human-face spider in Mt. Dashihbi.

She was eating Snapping Beetle. I also found there were two red and small spiders on the web though I didn't take pictures of them. Afterwards, I saw someone said they were male spider and Argyrodes miniaceu(red-abdomen spider) on the website.

Broken wing Swallowtail

Then we got to the Baci Gazebo.

The view was looking from Baci Gazebo. The small hill at the outermost is Mt. Da Shih Bi.

Next stop was Fanshuliao Park. I couldn't use the internet so I could not figure out  why the legend there was called "Yi Yung Cheng Lin"(遺勇成林).

Fanshuliao Park. It was pity that I didn't take a picture of bamboo forest in the legend. Legend has it that in the past, the Amis (an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan),which worship the heros, made a rule: man who could vault over the gorge by bamboo would be chosen as the leader of Amis. Therefore, many strong Amis young men tried to vault over the gorge one after another, hoping to be the leader. The bamboo left after the pole vault grew into bamboo forest several years ago and the legend spread. The name of the legend was called "Yi Yung Cheng Lin"(遺勇成林)

Afterwards we went to Nioushan(cow mountain). I didn't have a computer in the military while planing the travel, so I didn't know there was a pebble beach. Thus, we didn't know how to get there then.

The beach in the center is called Nioushan(cow mountain) Huting. I heard that there was very beautiful later. We didn't know that time so we didn't go down to the beach.

If you want to see the beautiful scenes there, you can click on
http://forestlife.info/Onair/097.htm

Next stop in the north was Farglory Ocean Park. This man-made amusement park was not the purpose of our trip, so we just looked around outside the amusement park. We also went to the hotel they built on the peak of the mountain. The views on the Hetain mountain was quite nice because the coast line and the East Rift Valley could be seen there.

Farglory Hotel. It locates on the top of Mt. Hetain, so it can be seen in the other side also.(Ji An town)

Clear blue Pacific Ocean

The time was about 13:00. We were exhausted for playing half a day under the burning hot sun, so we took a nap and cooled our body at the traveling center nearby. I also looked the introduction of Hualien there.

After taking a nap we started to ride to Hualien city. We came in Hualien city and then came out soon on the southwards direction to Dong Hwa University which I had heard that it is a beautiful university for a long time in Shoufong township. We walked on round-the-campus road, visiting their beautiful lake and elegnat dorms.

Then we went to Promised Land. It is a very high class hotel and the introduction of the hotel in brochure was amazingly beautiful. Taking a visit there should pay some money, so we didn't go in.

On the road to Promised Land(理想大地), I saw the sunlight glittered from the leak of clouds, and it looked like the God will appear soon. Ha~

Hualien River under the Yuemei Bridge.

The river was so clear, let me leave there reluctantly.

The stone under the water could be seen clearly.

That day we lived at the youth hostal in Hualien City. Seemed like the youth hostal must be inexpensive, but I didn't think so. We spent 450 TWD for one night. The room put a lot of bunk beds just like the ones in the military and we felt it was not so clear. We didn't think it was worth 450 TWD in youth hostal. Chun-Bo was very hungry that night, so we went to a fondue restaurant. Though I told him there was a very famous Tzu Chiang night market nearby, we still decide to eat fondue because the small portion of meal in night market could not let us full. After dinner I took him to visit the night market and told him what foods were delicious(I had been there when I was sent training in military in Hualien before.)

Tomorrow we were going to see the sunrise again, so we went to sleep early.

If you want to see more pictures about Hualien,
click on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141727&id=697191847&l=29e5957910