Taiwan Day 4 (Part 1) – Sunrise at Misty Villa Minsu in Cingjing

16 December 2011

Once again, I was the first to wake up in the morning. As I saw the light streaming in through the curtains, I knew this was going to be a good day ahead for our journey across the Central Mountains to Hua Lien, through He Huan San and Taroko National Park.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and was rewarded with these shots of the clouds pouring down the mountain range, backlit by the morning sun.

 

It was interesting to see how the landscape and mood changes rapidly as the sun rose. It was misty at dawn and then as the sun rose, the mist cleared. From the balcony of our room in Misty Villa Minsu, the 499 Steps trail that we walked and lookout point could be seen (photo below).

The windmill near Green Green Grassland and the start of the Forest Trail we had taken yesterday could also be seen in the distance.

View from our bedroom in Misty Villa, Cingjing.

View from the dining room where we had breakfast.

As our pickup today was at 8.30 AM, we were the first down for breakfast at 8 AM. Mr Li Te Ming, our driver for today, was waiting for us in his yellow Toyota Wish taxi when we finished our breakfast. We loaded up our luggage and were soon heading up towards He Huan San along the Highway 14.

We passed by Green Green Grassland and then later got a glimpse of Starry Minsu (another popular minsu in Cingjing that I was considering before booking Misty). Starry is located at almost the highest point in Cingjing, about 2000m above sea level according to Mr Li.  I think the view here would be even better at the higher elevation. In any case, we are now heading for He Huan San and I am looking forward to photographing the beautiful mountain landscape, especially the “sea of cloud”. Weather-wise, it is almost perfect. No rain, with some patches of cloud in the sky.

Next post: He Huan San and the Bilu Sacred Tree on the way to Taroko Gorge.