tomb travel

taiwan's tomb sweeping day provided the 3rd 3-day weekend of the year. mitsy and i fantasized for months... visions of bamboo 林 and soaring 山 danced in our heads. in the end, the south cross island highway was the only option. and what a heavenly option it was.

to the left, our fearless heroines. to the right, a flower of guanshan and symbol of our trip's purest essence. in short, we traveled by train to taiwan's southeast coast, and the beautiful mountain-sandwiched town of guanshan. from there, we rode and hiked our way to wulu, lidao, and lisong.












the first stop on our trip, guanshan, is known as the home of taiwan's very first bike path. we rode it twice, and the legfuls of nastily itchy bugbites were worth it for the views of glowing rice paddies, aromatic strawberry patches, and water buffalo. we entered the south cross island highway via mountain mini-bus, and got out at wulu so that we could walk the rest of the 8 km to lidao. mountains of splintering shale surrounded us and amplified the stream's trickle, so that at times it seemed as though we were surrounded by gushing waterfalls. streaks of sulfur-yellow and iron-red splashed the canyon walls, and steam leaked from the earth. lidao, a bunun village, was pure plateau, down to the cliff bordering its southern face. traces of the region's sea of clouds hung in the air.













lisong hot springs are one of the most beautiful sights i have ever seen. they are about 2 kilometers straight down a mountain, and 2.5 days later, my muscles are still vividly aware of the effort. at the bottom of the mountain is a canyon-enclosed riverbed. just around the boulders, a series of colorful waterfalls. the springs tumble from the canyon walls, and they paint the rock with their mineral shades and textures. they are exquisite, wild, and deeply satisfying.












along the way, we made some friends: puppy friend on the left and her 2 sisters had just eaten rice for lunch. sika deer in the cave deserves an apology for being so thoroughly cornered. goose partners honk along from their tea plantation home. bunun pig takes a slop break from a cliff-side sty in lidao.