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I knew almost nothing about Taiwan and I never expected to do a bunch of Hiking and Nature walks while I was there. But my Niece had fallen in love with hiking. I had not done this sort of thing since college days, but I got into it to. Her bible (actually Bibles) are a group of 3 books by an expat Brit. He has published the definitive English language visitors guides to day trips and hiking in northern Taiwan.

(More about him further down)

Within living memory this was a coal mining area (They also mined Gold in a nearby area). A railroad line was built specifically to serve that industry. The coal mines have closed but the old railroad line still operates carrying throngs of tourists from Taipei, other parts of Taiwan, Asian countries and very rarely a westerner like me. The old line is called the Pingxi (Ping-she) Branch, after the name of one of the little towns it serves. You have to transfer to a diesel powered train to get there, other parts of the Taiwan rail system are all electric.

There are displays in Houtong that illustrate the coal mining past. Here is an old mining car tug.

I have always been keen to check out old building and “Urban Ruins”, even more so after my visit to Beelitz Heilstätten in Germany. I did get a few limited chances to indulge my interest while in Taiwan, Mostly it was very tame. Certainly nothing so exciting as Beelitz but a few small treats did come along.

This is a disused coal processing building in Houtong on the Pingxi line. It's fenced off (just as well, it looks pretty dangerous) but tourists are afforded a good look as it decays. It's won't be long before it's a pile of rust and stones.

Much later on one of my solo hikes in this area I was kept company by the nicest dog. She reminded me of a dog Lisa used to have, Gini 1. The same bold but easy personality. What an adventurer, she was a great climber of steep hills getting up many spots I thought impossible for her. She made it almost to the top of the “Stone Bamboo Shoot” stopping only at a vertical wall that was climbed like a ladder. She was waiting for me when I came back down.

I will take a final moment here to mention the guide books that make this sort of thing doable. The writer is Richard Saunders. I was going to put up a link to where you can buy his books online but was astounded to discover that neither Amazon nor Barns and Noble carry any trace of them.

These are “The Books” to have for Taiwan day trips. There is nothing else like them in English. Talk about undiscovered country! It's not just my imagination, very few people outside Taiwan have any idea what a great place it is for this type activity.

I'll post more info about Saunders books on a subsequent page.

A look Forward - MORE TO COME

Don't think this is the end, in fact it's just the beginning. I consolidated all my GPS tracks (the blue lines) onto one map and present it below with a few labels. As you can see we did a lot in my month and a half. I'll be putting up many more Taiwan Pages as I get 'round to it.

UPDATE: There were a total of 16 postings, or "dispatches" as I called them then, to cover my 1-1/2 month visit. It was an incredible time and breakneck pace, every day a new exploration.

About Picasaweb

UPDATE: There was a long text block here about Picasaweb, which, at the time, was Googles Photo sharing utility. Since then they have retired Picasaweb in favor of Google Photos. Since I often linked to Picasaweb albums in my Stixy days, one of the hurdle I had to deal with is to repost and relink those photos using the Google Photos system.

A few words about Google Photos

Google Photos works pretty well. One nice thing is the ability to insert text blocks among the photos although this is very limited. There is only one small font and no formatting of such things as Font Size, underline, boldface, italic or Text Color. It is quite limiting.

Google Photos also has a slideshow feature which is quite nice but text block don't show up at all during a "slideshow". To access the slideshow click the three vertical dots (called a kebab) in the upper right of the screen and select "Slideshow". It's really nice, try it.

Here is a Google Photo Album of some of the Waterfalls and Hikes I did, Some with my Niece and others solo. Try the Slideshow.

WEB ALBUM: Taiwan, Waterfalls and Pingxi Area

And heck Why not throw in a Video as well...

So here is a simple video, nothing but 4 Minutes of Waterfalls large and small in Taiwan

UPDATED: I spent a month and a half in Taiwan visiting my young Niece who was doing the "Live abroad and learn a foreign language" thing. (Mandarin Chinese).

I returned via New York on Halloween, Oct 31, 2013, right after Hurricane Sandy passed through. None of the Taiwan Stixy pages were published during my trip. The first "Dispatch" (This one) was published 2 -1/2 months after I got back while I was back in Ft. Lauderdale taking a sailing class at Broward College.