South Cross Island Highway Part II December 2013

Next morning we were up early since our fellow compatriots had partied until late at night and then resumed with an early breakfast at about 5 a.m.  Our tent was right next to their party/dining area so naturally our sleep wasn’t the best.  They had invited us to join their festivities the night before, but we weren’t in the drinking sort of mood.    Nonetheless, we rolled out of our sleeping bags and first things first, hit the hot spring for another blissful relaxation session.  It was pretty crowded this morning and when one of the grandparents brought their baby into the pool we decided that perhaps it was time to get moving.  I could just see the pleasant cleansing waters turning into a toilet bowl for this kiddo. We sure would miss this place though.

Blooming peach blossoms

So we packed our stuff and jumped back on the scootering meandering back down the mountain trail.  The scenery was much more magnificent during the day despite the morning fog.  We adjusted course and took detours all the way to Meishan National Park.  Here we found the end of the path for us at least.  The road was completely blocked off to all traffic due to more landslides.  There was even a guard shack prohibiting our advance.  So we took the opportunity to learn a bit about these Aboriginal lands and their history at the park tourist center.  It's difficult not to generate some sympathy for the Aboriginal peoples here as they’ve been kicked off their own land continuously throughout history just as many other indigenous peoples around the world.

A bit deterred by the interruption, we began our journey back in the direction we came.  Now I have a knack for turning off on random roads to see where they lead and after we saw a 4x4 club in the tourist center parking lot, I was curious to know where they intended to maneuver their baby beasts.  In the U.S., 4x4 club would consist of jeeps, trucks, and SUVs all of which would have big mud tires, modified suspension, and a lift kit.  Here they had big vans, stock family SUVs, a couple of Suzuki Jimnys, and not one truck.  So when I noticed a small paved road turning off the main road, I couldn’t resist the urge to explore. 

We hiked along the riverside

A quarter of the way down, the trail got a bit too rough for the scooter to continue so we hoofed the rest of the way on foot.  Along the way we saw peach blossoms (Daisy said), weeds that stick all over your clothes, and even more landslides.  We discovered a bridge ahead but once again the road had given out.  A bit of effort and we were able to cross anyway, but someone had put caution tape up to block the rest of the path.  With only 2 hours left until dark and no jackets, we decided to call it and turn around before we ventured into the unknown.  We finally made it back up the trail and pointed the scooter back to Taoyuan where we camped on a stage for the night.  Once again, we were in for more interruptions throughout the night as we were woken up by some freaky deaky noisy cats on three separate occasions.  This went on until I tromped out of the tent and chucked my shoe at them.  That seemed to be an effective noise control measure.

South Cross Island Highway Taiwan Dec 2013

This past weekend, Daisy and I traveled the South Cross Island Highway in Southern Taiwan.  Well, as much as we could rather since major parts of the road were gone due to landslides and one portion was completely blocked off.  We’d seen video of the drive but we weren’t sure of the treats that lay ahead.  Along the way we saw deep green rivers, stunning mountains, aboriginal tribal lands, forested valleys, hot springs, landslides, lots of construction, a couple of museums, and one remote waterfall.

We took off early Saturday morning on a rented scooter in typical fashion with Daisy as navigator and I as driver. After several hours, we made it through the pollution and congestion of the Taiwan west coast industrial wasteland into the real beauty of the central mountain range of Taiwan.  The first day was quite overcast so our view was a bit muddled but it didn’t stop us from continuing.  Our first stop was an Aboriginal village in Taoyouan.  We visited the heritage museum where we learned a few things about the local tribe’s clothing and tools.  We also asked about camping to which the curator welcomingly offered us the front of the museum as a camping refuge from the terrific weather.  It was quite small and thus probably didn’t see many visitors.

It was at this village we learned that the road ahead was cut off about halfway through and we would be unable to achieve our original goal of driving coast to coast ending in Taitung County.  Countless typhoons begot countless landslides begot total road destruction.  Entire mountainsides had disappeared and many have lost their lives over the years. Nevertheless we persevered.  Once you learn enough about travel, you come to realize that something always goes wrong and learn to expect and accept it.  Along the way there were parts of the road that had utterly disappeared, cast to the riverside like a wadded piece of paper to the waste bin (recycle bin).  As a result, there was a proliferation of road construction all along the route creating detours for traffic.  At one point, we paused to take in the enormity of the massive destruction.  It was here that a van of locals just happened to shout to us about a hot spring nearby.  We had been looking for a certain natural hot spring all day and the best answer we had gotten along the way was, “there used to be one a long way away from here but I don’t know if it’s still there anymore.” And “I’m not sure if you can get there on a scooter.”  Well I’ve been on four-wheelers, dirtbikes, and 4x4 vehicles my whole life so I felt confident enough to maneuver a scooter through any reasonable terrain.  So they told us it was nearby- just around the bend actually.

"Daisy, I think we have a problem"

So we hopped back on the scooter and plowed through the mountain roads (all other drivers were in 4x4 vehicles as we mockingly scooted by on a 125cc road motorbike).  We finally arrived after dark had fallen and as we drove up the mountain side to a nearby shelter, we were greeted by a slew of elderly people and the caretaker (an elderly gentleman wearing a hot spring polo shirt) who told us we could camp and have unlimited access to the hot spring for 200 NT.  Lo and behold we had found the mythical hotspring.  Mythical indeed because, as we soon learned, this hot spring is extremely vulnerable to every major storm in the area and in fact, had been buried four times already this year alone.  I’ll give props to the caretakers continuing to dig it up, considering it’s no easy task due to the enormity of the project.  So after a bit of debate, we decided to settle down for the night, pitching our tent in a wooden open-air shelter.

Cold spring

That night, after a joyous dinner with several fellow Kaohsiungers visiting for the weekend, we visited the hot spring and it was incredible.  After stumbling around in the dark for a while searching for it, we finally found this incredibly welcoming oasis.  As we sunk down into the thermal waters, I was eternally grateful that at last, after months of searching (I had missed all the hot springs in Japan) I had finally found a totally natural oasis.  Filled with boisterous, chatty Taiwanryen (Taiwanese people) though it was, it certainly reflected tranquility.  With 3 separate pools running the gamut of spa temperatures, it was a heavenly experience.  Daisy and I soaked in the sulfur and chatted for hours.

Rock Climbing Wawa, Montalban/Rodriguez, Philippines October 2013 Part 1 -Travel and Directions

So we’ve been back from the Philippines for a couple of weeks now. It’s nice to be back and have power, water, a washing machine, and hot water again.  It’s also super nice to have peace and quiet in the mornings instead of barking dogs, loud tagolog conversations, screaming babies, squealing pigs, cooing chickens, roaring motorcycles, and playing children.

Somewhere over Luzon

At the end of October my gal Daisy and I packed our bags, prepared a light itinerary with a minimal amount of research, jumped on a night bus for Taipei, and took off.  It took around 5 hours to arrive to Taipei.  Fast forward through all the flights and we found ourselves on a bus from Manila airport to Cubao in Quezon city which took around 2 ½ hours.  Finding the right bus was not easy however.  We probably asked 5 people for directions to the bus pick-up point before we successfully navigated our way around all the “Taxi, Taxi, Taxi? Where are you going sir?” drivers trying to make their daily tourist rip-off quota.  I’ve played that game many a time before and wasn’t going to be fooled again.

We finally got those directions from a couple of people in a café to the left of the airport exit doors in Manila.  They told us to head down to the far left past the café all the way across the street to a parking lot where the buses pick up passengers. With the help of a local, we communicated our destination (Cubao) to the bus attendant.  With an “OK!” and a wave of his hand, he dismissed us to our seats.  A few minutes into the ride, tickets in hand, we realized we had no idea how long the bus ride would take and were totally passengers of our hope and assumption the attendant would hook us up at our destination.  Finally after 2 ½ hours of confusion and my friendly interrogation of every poor soul that decided to sit next to me, the attendant shouted “Cubao!” and pointed at us.  “We’re up,” I nodded to Daisy and we were dumped at the Cubao farmer’s market. 

Long trip

After another 2 hours of wandering up and down the streets for our bus stop and a restroom (walk into the market to find a paid yet seemingly flooded and unkept “comfort room” in the back as soon as you are dropped at the farmer’s market), we were able to sort through another swath of misinformation from fellow streetwalkers to discover we needed to head back to the farmer’s market and find an SUV or a Jeepney to take us to Montalban.  What they failed to tell us was that actually Montalban is no longer “Montalban.” The town has since been renamed “Rodriguez.” Unfortunately none of the information I found online for Wawa had mentioned this little timesaving piece of information.  The few blogs out there seemed to be a bit outdated, hence the purpose of this updated post.  So after waiting on the street for 30 minutes, we were finally able to run down a white SUV or “FX” that said Montalban in parentheses on the side next to the bold-lettered “Rodriguez.”  The driver explained this oversight to us and I shook my head as I realized how many Jeepneys we had passed up with “Rodriguez” painted on the side.

The SUV ride took about 45 minutes into Rodriguez/Montalban in the town of San Rafael where we we learned we’d need to get a tricycle into the rural, outlying village of Wawa.  After a bit of intense bargaining with different tricycle drivers due to my skepticism of their “No jeepney, no bus,” declarations, we haggled the price down to 35 PHP for two people (plus another passenger who was already on the bike).  I found the best way to get a good price is to pit them against one another since they normally try to charge 60 PHP (30 PHP each) for two passengers.  A little friendly competition never hurt anyone.  I have little doubt the locals pay anywhere near this price. There is also supposedly a Jeepney that runs up until 8 p.m. but we got there too late.  You’d just have to tell the driver where you want to get off.

Jeepney: You'll want to jump on one these bad boys in Cubao.
Make sure it says "Rodriguez" on the side. (Not my photo.)

So we jumped on the trike and he drove us ~15 min into Wawa, dropping us off on a dark street in this completely unfamiliar foreign village we’ve never visited. Thereafter, we paid and thus our walk began.  Fortunately we didn’t go far before the first dark, mysterious figure of another person came into view.  “Aling Norma’s Eatery?” we asked as we had read on existing blogs this was the place to be for climbers visiting the area about on existing blogs.  They pointed us in the right direction and we found Norma’s place without hassle.

Directions I found online

We finally met the famous Norma and asked her if she had any of her 2 rooms for rent. “No, they are all booked tonight,” came the soft-spoken reply.  One group of foreign climbers and one local family had grabbed them already. Being prepared for this, we asked if there was any place we could pitch a tent.  She took us across the street to where an outpost has been set up by the local government for a local neighborhood watch station.  It’s just a small building for town meetings and such.  She told us we could park our tent on the grass next to the building and the men who run the station all night would watch our tent to “keep us safe.”  We thanked her and after a bit of introductory chit chat with the other patrons of the eatery, we set up camp and crashed out after a long day of travel.  From Taipei to Wawa only took us around 12-14 hours though it could have been quicker if we’d been a bit more informed about where the heck we were going.  That’s part of the adventure though I suppose.  This was to be the beginning of one of the most adventurous climbing trips I’ve ever taken.

Maybe consider a company-wide name change.  @ The Manila Airport

Airline Quackery event #1 Manila, Luzon, Philippines November 2013

After another night of crashing on the beach in La Union, we were up at 4 a.m. to catch a bus back to Manila for our flight to Coron.  After a 20-minute ride to the nearest bus station, we were able to catch a 6 a.m. bus.  Inevitably we slept most of the way.

After a 7 hour trip, we arrived at the airport with just enough time to make our flight since the bus ends up taking an hour longer than we were told due to traffic.  We rushed to get checked in for our flight and paid the 50-peso baggage fee since we were well overweight with all my climbing gear.

Ummm...We were supposed to
be there an hour ago. 

Everything went fairly smoothly, despite being incredibly rushed, until we got to security.  The Manila airport security x-rayed my bag, seeing my climbing rope inside and informed me that I was not allowed to take the rope on the flight according to their "no sporting goods" policy. When I asked why it was forbidden to bring it on the flight, the response I received was “because you could die sir” which seemed to be a common theme in our trip.  Everything’s too dangerous.  So Daisy grabbed my climbing rope to go check it while I went ahead to our gate. 

Problem was, however, when I got to our boarding gate, they were doing final boarding call for missing passengers- Daisy and I.  I informed them we weren't missing, we were just having a hard time with security but Daisy was taking forever.  What could possibly be taking so long?  Finally I asked how long before the final closing of the boarding door and they said I had 4 minutes.  That’s all I needed.  

I sprinted across the airport back to security only to find Daisy with the rope bag in her hand arguing with security about what to do with it.  Apparently, the airline had told her it was too late to check the bag and we’d either have to give up the rope or miss the flight.  Now there’s a phrase in the local language besides Mandarin in Taiwan- Taiwanese.  That phrase I often find my self saying is “Zuhgga Bunsuo,” which means “This is such garbage!” And this, my friends was VERY much “bunsuo.”  There seemed to be some dispute between the security and airline employees though and I decided to exploit this tension by being even more persistent rather than backing down and getting run over.  So after a bit more persistence, the airline convinced the head security member to sign a waiver for us as he escorted us (sprinting all the way) on to the boarding gate.  Fortunately, he had a radio and thus informed the boarding gate we would be arriving.  We hastened onto the plane, fully acknowledging all the confused and annoyed stares of our fellow passengers.  I looked at Daisy and with a quick smile announced "Welcome to the Philippines!"

Paragliding Taiwan Summer 2013 PingTung

I forgot to mention, a while back, Daisy and I had the opportunity to go paragliding.  We knew a Latvian guy a little older than I who got most of his paragliding experience in Nepal.  He offered to take us out paragliding for a day down in beautiful Ping Tung in Southern Taiwan.  So we got up early, rented scooters with a couple of our friends and jumped on the bikes for the next couple of hours.

Daisy gearing up and getting her pre-flight
safety briefing.

When we arrived, our friend and one of his buddies had been gliding all morning so they knew the conditions were ripe for a fantastic day soaring over the coastline.  We met them on the beach and with a quick acknowledgment, they jumped in their van and took off up to the mountain.  What followed was pure bliss.

Now many may consider paragliding to be an extreme sport.  But as we casually drifted through the taiwan sky, riding the updrafts and flowing out of one turn into the next, I couldn't help but think otherwise.  I have little doubt that when the winds pick up, our gentle gliding could turn into a chaotic maelstrom, but this day no such disaster ever came about.  It was quite relaxing actually.  As a passenger of course, your only experience is that of floating through the sky gently riding the breeze.  You dip and climb, bank and accelerate, all the while calmly taking in the awe-inspiring scenery all around you.  No, this wasn't an adrenaline-soaked maniacal sport, it was pure enjoyment, as could be scene from the never-ending smile upon my face during the entire flight.

Waiting for wind

As I was receiving a lesson in meteorology, during my flight, I couldn't help but reflect on all the cool things I've gotten to do in the past and be grateful for them.  I would certainly recommend paragliding to anyone whose never tried it.  On a calm day, there's nothing to fear.  No stress.  Just run, jump, and float -quite different from my turbulent but amazing hang gliding experience over the Appalachian Mountains a few years ago. A good friend of mine told me a while ago after we got back from Afghanistan that "Sometimes life is just like that.  Sometimes you have to just take a deep breath and jump."  So get out there and jump!


Paraglide Taiwan has a Youtube channel and Facebook page.  You can find other videos on his Youtube channel here.

My flight!

Live another day. Surfing San Juan, La Union, Luzon, Philippines. November 2013

So this time, I find myself surfing during a 2 week trip to the Philippines for climbing, surfing, diving, and kayaking.  I was traveling with my gal Daisy and we had quite an incredible trip.  A few days into the trip, we hopped on a bus and headed to San Juan, La Union in Luzon so we could brush up on our surfing skills and see what the Philippines had to offer.

Daisy and I on the back of a Jeepney in La Union

So after surfing a couple of days in San Juan, La Union in the Philippines, I had improved my surfing ability tenfold.  I'd surfed all morning and a few hours into it, I decided I was ready for a challenge and after a severe battle thrashing through the inside breaks, I paddled outside to the overheads. These were clearly above my ability but I still wanted to give it a whack.

While I was out there, a local asked me in plain, perfect English, “if you wipe out and your leash breaks, are you going to be able to swim in?” “yeah, I think so. I’ve been swimming my whole life so I think I’ll be alright,” I meekly responded. “Because if your leash breaks you’re going to have to go in.  A lot of people wouldn’t be able to make the swim and if you can’t, you shouldn’t really be out here.” He reissued the warning.  I reassured him thanking him for his advice. He apologized for bothering me and swam off to catch the next behemoth.

The first day's waves

These waves were ripping- hard.  But I had fought tooth and nail to get outside the break and make it here.  I heeded the guy’s warning carefully and realized he was probably right.  I’d never given thought to a wave being strong enough to break my leash.  That was quite a daunting thought.  But nevertheless I paddled with all my might for the next break when I was ready.  It rose and rose and rose and I paddled ever the harder and faster despite my exhaustion. I prepped to stand up and waited for the wave to carry me.  But something wasn’t right.  I wasn’t being pushed forward.  Then I heard the thunderous crashing of the barrels breaking behind me and realized I was in the wrong spot.  Too late to do anything about it now.  The wave had already broken and I was soon to be at its mercy.  I gripped my board with what I thought was the appropriate force and made a meager attempt to standup.  But it was a wasted effort.  WHAM! I was slammed with the full, unadultered, yet beautiful force of mother nature as the wave slammed into my board and body tossing me into a washing machine on spin cycle.  Surfboard-totally out of my hands.  Leash-not broken so far.  Head- underwater. Feet-not touching bottom.  Feet-now in the air.  Hands- trashing wildly trying to stay above water.  Brain-AHHHH! DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC! Head-above water a split second. TAKE A BREATH! Breath taken- too late., Mouth full of water as I plunge back into the turbulence.  This went on for about 7 seconds which is a lifetime in near-drowning adrenaline induced seconds.  I fortunately made it out of the first break and jumped on my board as fast as I could when WHAM! I got slammed again, surfboard zipped right out of my hand. Wash, rinse, repeat.  There was no swimming out of this maelstrom. 

Third time around I was determined to make it out this madness.  Mounted the board again and committed a death grip to the rails.  I was barely able to hang on as I got slammed a 3^rd time, then a 4^th,then a 5^th.  This went on over and over until the waves took me in close enough that I could walk (on the reef filled with sea urchins which I fortunately dodged) back to the shore.  That was it, no more going back out.  Were it not for sleep deprivation and sheer exhaustion from fighting for my life, I might’ve stuck to the small waves for a while, but I conceded to return the board and call it a day on the surfing.  Too rough for now.  Live another day.