Taiwan Day 4 (Part 2) – He Huan Shan and Bilu Sacred Tree

16 December 2011

This is a photo of the “sea of cloud” which I have been hoping to capture when I came to Cingjing. I managed to get this magnificent views as we left Cingjing and headed towards He Huan Shan. Part of the town of Cingjing where we came from could be seen in this photo.

We made the stop at the west entrance to the Taroko National Park.

From here, we could see the winding mountain road (Highway 14) that took us here.

In this panoramic photo (stitched from a series of photos), the whole town of Cingjing could be seen.

Soon after shooting the photos above, clouds started to roll in from our left and would cover the beautiful view. 

We then proceeded to the next stop which was the highest point accessible by car in the Central Mountains of Taiwan. This is at 3278 metres above sea level.

We could see the clouds rolling in at the distance and would soon cover the west entrance of Taroko National Park, where we were about 5 minutes ago. I doubt anyone there would be able to get a good clear view of Cingjing and the sea of cloud in the distance at this moment. 

On top of the world feelings. Almost.

We could barely see a group of hikers on a mountain peak in the distance. This gave a sense of how small we are, in comparison to the mountain ranges that were before us.

Mr Li, our taxi driver, is a good guide and give us a lot of interesting information. For example, the red buildings in the picture below is an army base, used by the Taiwanese armed forces to train their national servicemen in mountain survival during winter. He told us about their training methods and the kind of hardship the men had to endure.

We then proceeded on, this time downhill and stopped at a lookout point near He Huan Shan. This was the start point of trails for those interested to hike up the mountains.

We stopped to take the “mandatory” photos at this location, showing the date, time and temperature. Mr Li is so familiar which this electronic signboard that he could tell us exactly when the date, time and temperature would next appear so we could get the “perfect shot”.

Temperature was 4.5 degrees C. We were comfortably dressed for the occasion, despite the wind, and were able to appreciate the view from the lookout point.

The clouds in the valley seen at this location (picture above) is Taroko Gorge, our next destination. 

Mountain peaks (peeks) peeking through the thick clouds as we descended towards Taroko Gorge. 

Mr Li pointed out a small police post along the way. This is the He Huan Police post, manned by 6 policemen. These guys were posted here because of disciplinary issues back in the cities. Sort of “solitary confinement” for them as there is practically nothing here to do when off duty, except the mountains and forest. We were joking that they are here mainly to guard the petrol kiosk located just opposite the police station. These guys have so much leisure time that they have a small vegetable plot next to the station for them to “farm”.

Highest police post in Taiwan.

Petrol kiosk located just opposite the police station

Going past the petrol station, the road started to become foggy. It was like flying into a sea of cloud on a jet plane, but actually, we were entering a sea of cloud in a moving taxi.

From the high mountain road that we were previously on, we were now travelling on a road that was carved out from the side of the mountain. Steep mountain on the left side, and the river and gorge on the right.  And many road tunnels as well.

Man on the motorbike – part of the road maintenance crew tasked to remove rocks that has fallen onto the roads from the steep cliffs above.

Our next stop is the Bilu Sacred Tree, which is a 3000 years old Fir. The fog actually made the tree appear more mysterious.

Bilu Sacred Tree in mist at Taroko National Park.

Despite the foggy conditions, we were in the good hands of Mr Li, who is a very experienced and careful driver. He told us he had been driving this route for many, many years and had witnessed several horrendous accidents. We almost witnessed one ourselves. A car was travelling fast and sped past our taxi. A moment later, it jammed its brakes suddenly and had to reverse out of this narrow tunnel. Almost a head-on collision with a tour bus.

After passing by a hairpin turn along the highway, known in Chinese as the Hui Tou Wan, we met up with Mr Li Te Ming’s wife, Tiffany Chang who is also a taxi driver. Tiffany would be our guide to show us the scenic spots in Taroko Gorge and also drive us the rest of way to Hua Lien. Mr Li will drive another group back up to Cingjing.