We wake up to the sound of rain on the roof of our room, so no need to get up yet and we all close our eyes again. At 6.30 the rain has stopped and Tim goes for a quick photo trip in the area. He shoots some waterfalls and a huge abandoned iron smelter built by the Japanese some hundred years ago.
There is no breakfast on offer at the B&B, so no need to prolong our stay and we get in the car at 8.30 on our way to our first destination of the day. A two hours hike through the jungle to a waterfall.
It’s a short ride through the mountains to the starting point of the hike. We have to cross a rail road bridge to get to the other side of the river and from there the first part is straight up the mountain. Once we have covered the climbing carrying our children, we have a great view of the mountains and the jungle. We are surrounded by the calls of birds and apes and are all alone on this trail. After an hour we reach the destination of the hike, the Hegu waterfall. All the rain of last night and this morning assured a powerful display of rushing water. We take some pictures, drink some water and ready ourselves for the return. We are slightly tempted by the next waterfall on the path, just 25 minutes away, but we won’t want to add another hour to the hike.
The other hikes in the area are steep mountain climbs, beautiful but sadly not for us in this composition. So we ride to Shifen to admire the waterfall there. It’s also famous for the train which rides through the central street and all the Chinese lanterns, lit and flying away from the track. We had decided to skip the place beforehand since it’s not an environmentally friendly practice but succumbed to the pleas of Cleo. But first we have lunch in a private room of a busy restaurant, we enjoy the privacy for a change, very welcome when eating with young children.
Then we let Cleo and Zeno paint a lantern, it’s huge and has four sides so they have a lot of fun with the brushes. Most people write inspiring slogans on theirs, we have children’s drawings. This makes the next part a bit ridiculous as we have to pose with all four sides of the lantern and make funny gestures. Then they light the lantern and away it flies, into the mountainous jungle 🫣
The big waterfall is just a kilometre out of town but for efficiency we drive to the parking there. It’s free for 30 minutes, and it started raining, so Tim goes alone while Olga and the kids stay dry in the car. It’s a grand Chinese slalom as tour buses pour out their passengers and the way to the waterfall leads pass restaurants and souvenir shops. With 15 minutes on the clock Tim has taken his pictures and hurries back, with 4 minutes to spare we get everyone in their seat and leave to parking for free, 3 Euro saved!
The next stop is a snorkelling spot along the East coast. It’s the spot for which we carry our snorkelling gear for the past 7 weeks. But since it’s raining and windy we fear that it won’t be great for snorkelling today. When we see the sea and the big waves we are thankful for not booking the whaling tour we also planned for today.
When we arrive at the Bei Guan tidal park it’s clear that we won’t get in the water here, there are big rocks and even bigger waves crashing into them. The children are sleeping in the back of the car and this time Olga goes for a walk in the park while Tim watches the children.
It’s a nice walk together with many senior but very fit Taiwanese tourists who also want to take pictures with Olga. So it takes a while until she reaches the scenic viewpoint, but there Tim’s drone is already waiting for her to also take her picture.
Our onsen hotel is just 20 minutes away, so we arrive just past the earliest check in time of 16.00 to fully enjoy our spa room. Cleo has a call with her classmates at 17.00 and she proudly tells the names of all the different leaves she can determinate: palm tree, banana tree, bamboo and fern.
We did not plan anything tonight to fully enjoy our SPA hotel, but we have a busy evening programme in the end: we do our laundry in the laundry-mate next door.
We eat a fully vegan dinner at a vegan restaurant across the road. Then Olga goes and pick up the laundry while Cleo gets an ice cream and enjoys a public foot bath.
Back in the hotel room Tim fills our spa bath and Olga and the children go to a fish foot bath to get their feet cleaned and afterwards enjoy the public foot baths some more. We end the day together in our big spa bath and go to bed rosy from the heat.
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