Saturday, December 07, 2013

taiwan/hk trip day5 - 太鲁阁,合欢山,清境

we are leaving hualien and heading to cingjing for today.
we literally have to 翻越山 to reach the other side for cingjing. zzzz.
though we made stops now and then but the journey is still killing..
i was thinking to myself, no more such road trips on car... 
so tiring on the body and fried the brains too.
and 山路is no joke. winding and not the safest to start with... @_@
but we were very lucky to make the trip in very good weather. i cant imagine travelling in pouring rain..

as tiffany was due to pick us at 8.30am, we were up early to bath and pack the luggage so we can have our breakfast at 7+am.
our minsu owners were very nice to accomodate our timing and prepared breakfast for us earlier. :)

equally yummy brekkie for the 2nd morning here @home minsu

we continue to explore some parts of taroko that we didnt manage to cover the day before.
after taroko, we started our long arduous journey to cross the mountain to get to cingjing.

@taroko, its definitely colder here in hualien as compared to taipei
temp was around 14-15 dc when we were there
and the temp continued to dip as we moved further up the mountain to cingjing...
not the most pleasant thing for someone like me who is afraid of cold...

one of the stops along the way - divine tree which is supposed to be 1000+ years old?
the position where we took the photo, it was the middle part of the tree only.
its base was way below from where we were in the mountain - pretty amazing

one of the attractions will be 合欢山 where we can get to see 云海 and locals will sometimes come here to catch sunrise.
the temperature here at sunrise at this time of the year is below 0dc and one may get to see snow if they are lucky! *brr*
for us, we were here close to noon time but the temperature was also low at around 8-9dc... *super brrr*

we are 3158m above sea level!
the crazy husband is only wearing 2 tees + a windbreaker here.
the warmest here will be the 2 boys all wrapped up like dumplings ha.

after another 2 hours, we were finally in cingjing!
our driver drove us directly to our cingjing minsu - starry night.
anyway, there was a stretch of road leading up to the minsu which is at the edge of the hill with only ropes at the side.
and the road is so narrow that whenever we drove on it, the car will filled up the whole road and you'll see the drop down the hill. *gulp*

our minsu is situated on the highest point of cingjing so we had a good view of the area.
but it also mean we were very far from the main attractions here.
the good thing is the minsu owner will ferry the guests to and from the main attractions a few times during the day.
so upon reaching and depositing our luggage, we requested for a ride down to one of the main attractions for cingjing - carton town.

many things can be made from carton - interesting!

we spent about 2 hours plus here before the minsu owner came to fetch us back for dinner!
yes, steamboat dinner was part of the accom package for this minsu and i must say the steamboat is really good.
having steamboat in cold weather is very shiok!

top: wonderful view from our room.
bottom: yummy spread for dinner!
the boys loved it so much that they ate more than usual!

seriously, this leg of the trip is more for the boys as alot of people recommended cingjing for kids for the farms here.
so for me, this is actually bleh for this has to be the coldest leg of the whole trip!
temperature averages around 7dc the time we were here. *sob*
and our minsu, despite boasting great view, has no heater but only electric blanket to help us fight the cold at night....

horsing around despite the cold

so this is how i make sure the boys did not fall sick due to the cold - 3 tops (of which 2 is thermal wear) and 2 bottoms + gloves for the night. LOL.
and the most amazing thing is i managed to survive bathing in this cold! *BRRRRR*

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