Amber and friends in the Central Mountains of Taiwan
After all the rainfall of the prior week, it was with some surprise to awake to a hot and sunny morning. Shu-E drove us into the Xitun District 西屯區 where we picked up our rental Nissan Tiida and began our journey shortly before noon:
Taiwan's convenience stores certainly live up to their moniker. We stopped for lunch at a FamilyMart halfway between Puli 埔里 and Wushe 霧社, where I tucked into a typical Taiwanese boxed lunch (biàndang 便當):
The small mountainous community of Wushe was the site of the last large-scale uprising against Taiwan's Japanese rulers. On October 27, 1930 Mona Rudao led members of the local Seediq tribe on an attack that resulted in the deaths of 134 Japanese (including women and children). The Japanese response was swift and brutal - 2000 troops plus aboriginal warriors hostile to the Seediq were able to quickly put down the revolt, with Mona Rudao and 290 members of his tribe committing suicide rather than be captured (and executed). There aren't many reminders of the bloodshed in Wushe today, with the notable exception of the Wushe Incident Memorial Park 霧社事件紀念公園 (which includes Mona Rudao's tomb), located along Highway 14 just before the main part of the town (if coming from the west, as we were):
Soon after Wushe we arrived in Cingjing 清境 and checked into the CingJing Mone Garden Resort 莫內花園山莊, at an elevation of 2050 meters (6725 feet). The view from our third-floor room - it had been sunny on the drive up Highway 14 but the fog soon started rolling in:
My daughter quickly claimed the loft:
It wasn't obvious at first, but the pictures on the walls made it clear that the "Mone" in the hotel's name referred to Claude Monet, the French impressionist. A number of places in the Cingjing area have been built to resemble small European castles or English villas:
Garden at Sainte-Adresse hangs over the TV set
Cingjing was once a cattle ranch for the Seediq, but in the 1960's KMT veterans from the Chinese Civil War started arriving in the area and turned it into farmland. These days, it's the grasslands and sheep (yes, sheep) of Qingjing Farm 清境農場 that bring in the crowds from China, Singapore and Taiwan. The farm is only a 15-minute walk downhill from our hotel:
The hotel provided us with a pair of complimentary tickets to the Qingjing Skywalk, which meant we weren't too disappointed that the fog obscured a lot of what must normally be great views of the surrounding mountains:
Buying a grilled sausage. Another Taiwanese treat, best eaten along with a clove of garlic:
Amber was here for the sheep, and the ovine beasts didn't disappoint:
At the end of the day, the animals were herded like, well, sheep and led across Highway 14 to pens on the other side of the road. And because here is Taiwan, instead of a sheepdog, the herding was done by a person riding on a scooter:
Even though we showed up in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, Cingjing was still groaning under the weight of all the tour buses. Here, a couple of them block traffic while disgorging their passengers in front of a seafood restaurant:
The two of us settled for beef noodles at a place across the road from the tourist restaurant 清境牛肉麵:
"Yes, I know it's Taiwan Beer, but it's all they have and I need a drink. C'mon, give me a break!" The sheep remained less than convinced:
Walking back to the hotel after dinner and a quick stop at a 7-Eleven:
Before retiring to our room, we took a stroll in the garden, checking out the sights and sounds of nature (if the latter also includes the hotel's five resident housecats):
Somewhere far out to sea in the east, a large typhoon is making its way toward northern Taiwan. The immediate forecast, though, calls for another sunny day tomorrow; let's hope that holds up as we make our up to Hehuanshan 合歡山, and then down to Taroko Gorge 太魯閣 and Hualien 花蓮.
To be continued...
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