January 19th, 2021.
The one where the man falls out of the tree.
Today’s walk was exciting in two respects, firstly, we didn’t start from DaDaoCheng and secondly, we were heading to one of our ‘must visit’ destinations. We were also fortunate to have all three of us together and to be joined once again by Freya.
Another first today, was being chauffeured out to BaiShaWan by Ryan (One of Elaine’s twin sons) and both RS and RMN were impressed with his choice of music in the car. Ryan was equally impressed by the speed at which both Richs were able to name the songs, some from just the first note. RS explained that on his many travels, he and his friends would play ‘name that tune’, hence the expediency of his song recognition, which really was fascinating.
We were back at the beautiful BaiShaWan beach and unusually, the beach was almost deserted, which may have been due to the harsh, bracing wind bearing down the coast. Luckily for us, as we needed someone to take our photo, we spotted a lone kite boarder setting up and he graciously obliged to take our picture outside Dazzler’s fish and chips, the end point of our walk on Day 5.
We headed north from the beach along the seaside path towards Fuji harbor. The sun was shining and we appreciated the blue skies and puffy white clouds. Not far from BaiShaWan Bay, we passed a very rundown block of flats, situated on prime real estate and enjoying a beautiful view across the Taiwan Strait. Sadly, almost deserted now, it looks as though someone has unsuccessfully tried to tear and burn it down and currently it’s just an eyesore awaiting the inevitable redevelopment.
The harbour buildings at Fuji reminded us of chess or solitaire pieces, but are actually restaurants, where one can buy the day’s catch and have it cooked up in various local styles. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for lunch and headed off towards the northern most tip of Taiwan and the first of our “must visit’ stops – Fuguei Cape Lighthouse.
Apart from being beautifully coloured itself, the lighthouse also has a coloured history. It was built by the Japanese in 1897, stands 14.3 meters tall and is visible 19 nautical miles away, making it a prominent navigational landmark, as well as being the point where the South China Sea ends and the East China Sea begins. During the Qing dynasty, 1644 to 1914, a Dutch missionary referred to the site as a “hoek”, Dutch for cape and the name FuGuei was chosen because Fu – 富, in Taiwanese is pronounced ‘Hok”, which sounds like “hoek”. We reflected on the many peoples who had visited this site over the centuries and how things are so blended here in Taiwan; just like the two parts of the ocean smashing up against the rocks below.
In addition to the lighthouse, the cape is home to an anti-ballistic missile facility and is one of the reasons the grounds and paths surrounding the cape are so well maintained. China still has thousands of missiles pointing at Taiwan and the military installations are a grim reminder of this reality.
We headed eastwards along the path following the coast, watching the waves crash against the numerous grey/black Ventifacts (Windkanter). Taiwan is a relatively young landmass, having formed approximately 4-5 million years ago, at a convergent boundary between the Philippine and Eurasian Sea Plates. Ventifacts are composed of andesite, which is coagulated volcanic lava and when this lava breaks away from the rock face, it forms large lumps of the grey/black rock. The Northeastern monsoon winds carry sand and the constant blasting of the rock face causes some facias to become smooth and others more angular, depending on the direction of the wind.
Unfortunately for us, we were walking into this wind and as we approached LaoMei beach, with its famous lime-green limestone reefs, it became quite an effort to make headway. These limestone reefs are formed by the buildup of successive layers of algae on volcanic rock and when these algae die, their limestone skeletons form foundation layers for the growth of new generations of alga and the visible algal reef. The best time to witness the beauty of these reefs is February to May and during those months the beach can become teeming with eager photographers. Today however, we had the entire sandy stretch to ourselves and were thankful for the peace and tranquility as we continued eastwards towards ShiMen.
We passed the Kite park, which historically hosted international kite flying competitions and then made our way past a number of quirky coffee shops/ eateries: a polar bear café, a hotel built to resemble an ocean liner, and even a replica of the Statue of liberty. We were still downwind and were reminded of this by the stench being blown off a nearby rubbish tip. Fortunately, as soon as we had passed this, the smell subsided and we soon arrived at ShiMen. ShiMen 石門 , literally means stone gate and this village is named after the stone arch which has formed in the stony hill next to the shore. Other than the arch, there’s didn’t seem to be anything remarkable about this area, although we did pass a derelict café named 飄向北方 (Northern Drifter) and were reminded of the song 漂向北方 sung by Namewee and WangLee Hom.
Leaving ShiMen, we had to walk along the main road, which was also unusually quiet, yet not as arduous as we had thought it would be. We were heading to our final destination for the day, the Eighteen Wan Gong (Lords) temple 十八王公廟, via Taiwan’s first nuclear power plant, which is in the process of being decommissioned. There has been serious controversy surrounding the subject of nuclear energy in Taiwan and the high chain rail fences and signs for no drones serve as a reminder of the sensitivity of the site, yet the presence of large wind turbines is also a reminder of the changes which are occurring with the recent move towards more sustainable and greener energy sources.
We arrived at the temple and were somewhat confused. Where was the huge statue of the dog? This temple bore the same name, yet wasn’t exactly the same? and we all joked about the fact it could be a ShanZhaiBan 山寨版, aka replica and not the real thing, or maybe where we were heading was the fake? As it transpires, this was the original temple and the one we were heading towards was the newer one.
There were a number of vendors selling rice dumplings and groups of ladies selling bags of paper money and incense sticks, none of which we bought, much to their disappointment and resignation of us being “foreigners” and possibly not worshiping the same Gods.
On consultation with Google Maps, we realized the temple we were looking for was another couple of Kilometers, nestled up in the valley, so on we walked, over the Eighteen Lords Bridge, which is faithfully guarded by two dog statues and crosses the rushing waters leaving the power plant. There were actually fishermen braving the winds at the mouth of the outflow and we all wondered if their catches would glow in the dark as a result of the radiation in the water? Needless to say, we didn’t get to find out.
As soon as we turned right onto the winding mountain road, we realized how fierce the coastal winds had been and it was relaxing to take in the silence and enjoy the surrounding green of nature. Rounding a sharp bend, our eyes became focused on the massive dog statue, standing 15 meters tall, next to the red and gold temple nestled at the head of the valley.
By now, we had been walking for almost 3 hours, so it was very welcoming to come across a small local restaurant where we stopped to have a quick drink. The owner thought we were English teachers from the nearby English Wonderland School and seemed somewhat perplexed when we said we were from Taipei and were walking to the temple. Little did we know we would soon meet him again on our descent on our way home?
The origins of the two temples arise from a legend regarding an 18th century Chinese merchant ship, with seventeen merchants onboard, foundering on the local rocks and one of the merchant’s dogs trying to rescue his master. Unfortunately, they all drowned, but accounts of the dog’s loyalty, led locals to enshrine it, together with the seventeen departed merchants, thus making eighteen and the grave became a shrine called the 18 Kings/Lords Temple.
Supposedly, these merchants were all smokers and as such, folks coming to pray at the temple would light cigarettes as offerings, thus making the temple very popular with other imbibers, such as taxi drivers, nightclub girls and gangsters. From the numerous name cards, which have been left in the temple, it would appear these businesses are still thriving, quite possibly as a result of all the cigarettes and prayers!
The descent from the newer Temple was very picturesque and reminiscent of a past time, when Taiwan was basically an agrarian society, with small red bricked and tiled roof dwellings, built next to terraced rice paddies. A number of the surrounding trees were decorated with huge paper wasps’ nests and we also saw several birds of prey circling overhead, as well as a Crested Serpent Eagle perched on a telegraph pole, silently observing our escapades.
We had called Ryan to pick us up at the local restaurant and on our return approach, were surprised to meet the owner, up a ladder, on the side of the road pulling a rope, attached to a large tree branch. He had sawn the branch off, as it was supposedly blocking the sunlight to his vegetable patch below and was trying to pull the branch onto the road, in order to saw it into smaller pieces. This was a difficult and dangerous task and ended with the owner falling down the bank and nearly being crushed by the branch. Luckily, we were on hand to rescue him and avoid a serious accident. Exhausted and somewhat shaken by the branch incident, we finally returned to the restaurant, had another drink and at just under 15K, called it a day.
End of Day 6. Elaine.