KOREA: SPARKLING III 봄, 여름, 가을, 겨울 ... 그리고 봄

After a bitterly cold Korean winter where I had to boil water to wash myself and huddling in the only warm room in my house, spring finally starting appearing. Not only did this mean not having to wear tights under my pants anymore, it meant adventure - of the backpacking variety. In college, during my philosophy class, I watched this fantastic Korean film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" that I fell in love with. In fact, one of my goals in coming to Korea was to see the location where it was filmed.

The shrine was built for the movie, it no longer exists. :(

                  The film takes place entirely in Juwangsan National Park. Captain and I did about 20 miles over two days, beginning in Daejeonsa temple and ending up at Jusangji, the lake immortalized in the film. Juwangsan NP is by far one of my favorite NP in Korea, it is a hidden secret. Its allure comes from steep cliffs surrounding the trails, tall peaks with an excess of view, fabulous cherry and plum trees blossoming, and a myriad of waterfalls with crystal clear water.

The canyon trail was filled with people, but as soon as you got off that trail, the numbers fell off considerably.

Captain in front of a hermitage and waterfall.

Captain exploring a cave. The surrounding stone was made by volcanic eruptions and turned into tuff, thus rendering it easily carved by wind and rain.

More of the numerous waterways.

Crystal clear water. People tried catching the minnows.

You can see the cherry trees in bloom dotting the hillsides. This is looking down from Gamebom Moutain.

We followed a river's course, crossing over it many times. No bridges.

Nearing the end of our journey.

Springtime is the best time to go, unless you want fall colors.

                After emerging from the trail onto open road, we turned left and headed up the hill to Jusangji, a man-made lake that was dammed up over two-hundred years ago. When they flooded the lake, the King Willows survived even though being at least two feet underwater. The vibrant green of their new leaves show their persistence in clinging to life.

Jusangji

Newly-leaved King Willow, flooded by the lake.

View to the north.

A truly beautiful place.

                  Juwangsan NP is, by far, my favorite national park in Korea. Not only do they have epic waterfalls and beautiful scenes easily accessible, they also have a good variety of hikes and gorgeous vistas. Highly recommended!

XIN NIAN KUAI LE! in Taiwan

新年快樂 means Happy New Year! For my two-week vacation I decided to return to my childhood haunt - Taiwan. Taiwan is an island east of China. This island was the original jumping point for most of the Pacific Island people. The ones who stayed became various indigenous tribes. Over time, Chinese from across the Strait migrated to Taiwan, causing tensions between the indigenous tribes and newly-settled Chinese. When the Dutch arrived, they called the island Formosa, which means "Beautiful Island," a name well-deserved.

       I lived in Taiwan for two years when I was 5 to 7 years old.  For me, this trip was a long-awaited homecoming. Here are some pictures of the neighborhood I lived in.

Yang Ming Shan - we used to call it "Butt Mountain".

The Banyan Tree that I used to play in.

 I lived north of Taipei, which is in the northern part of the country. Taipei is a great city, with loads of night markets, hot springs, shopping, a great elevated train, and an awesome skyline. Taipei 101 is the tallest building in Taiwan, with, you guessed it, 101 floors. The elevators are the fastest in the world, and it is very much prepared for an earthquake with its Super Balancing Ball!

The Millenium Hot Springs - amazing!

The original Japanese Bathhouse

This is INSIDE the train car!

THE SUPER BIG WIND DAMPER! Basically, a giant ball.

The highest art gallery in the world is in Taipei 101, here is one of my favorite pieces: a dragon made of red corral.

              The next day, I headed off to Taroko Gorge via train. I highly recommend this method, due to the beautiful scenery along the way. Taroko Gorge is breathtaking, awe-inspiring, massive, poetic, sinister, and absolutely, gosh-darned beautiful. My camera doesn't do the size and scope of the place justice, but here are some of my pics.

Derp!

See those white pillars? That's the road.

The beautiful pavilion and bridge.

The weather was luckily beautiful.

Thin, long, waterfalls are abundant here.

For serious hikes, serious bridges.

Ommmmmmm.

A pagoda in the heart of Taroko Gorge.

The Eternal Spring Shrine, dedicated to those who died building the road.

The Golden Buddha Temple

Note the marbling of the rock. The color of the water is made from the minerals from the rock. The streams of the east coast are all this deep aqua color.

This is how big banyan trees get!

I hitchhiked from here into town, the sounds of rocks falling and the imposing cliffs are pretty intimidating.

         After Taroko Gorge, I headed down the coast, stopping by Hualien City and a couple hot springs. Along the south-eastern coast, I met some really nice people who invited me to a New Year's Feast - the food was delicious! A couple guys took me around town and are in a band. We enjoyed some drinks next to the Tropic of Cancer while playing guitar. The rest of the train ride was filled with gorgeous scenery.  I ended up with my friend Stephanie, who lives in Xinying, on the west coast.

The night market in Hualien. Yum!

My friend Belle in Hualien City's night market.

Soooo good!

Taiwanese food is the best!

My two friends doing the mandatory karaoke during the New Year's feast.

Finally meeting up with Stephanie, we went on a tour of the cool places nearby. There was an amazing spring that had fire and water sprouting out from it, temples galore, tons of good food, and the old capital of Taiwan - Tainan.

A guardian lion.

Fire and Water spring.

A shrine in the heart of the city.

The Xinying Night Market. Nom nom nom!

In Tainan, banyan trees have taken over this house.

Well, my aesthetics are pleased.

Stephanie on a threshold.

The wild monkeys of Kaohsiung.

Ceiling in a shrine.

My favorite photo of Taiwan.

          For the day of visiting friends and family during the New Year, I headed up to Lugang. The shrine there was so crowded and the streets were filled with people and stalls selling everything from cakes to statues. I bought a Guanying statue, she's now guarding my rock collection. ^^

                       Finally, Stephanie, Stephanie's friend Pearl, and I headed to Sun Moon Lake. After touring the lake for awhile, we realized that in order for me to catch my bus, we would need to leave soon, and the line was through the door. Sooo, using my innate touristy-look, Pearl pretended to not speak Taiwanese/Chinese so that we could get on the boat without waiting in line. When the guy asked, in Chinese, "Do you speak Chinese?", Pearl said no, in Chinese. The game was up, but the boat pulled in right then and we jumped on, faces red and trying not to bust out laughing.  After that, it was back to Taipei and Korea.

Sun Moon Lake

Pearl and Stephanie on the boat.

The water was sooo blue!

                 And thus ended my awesome adventure in Taiwan. I most definitely return there, if only for the food. And company. And sights. And mountains. And ocean. Ok, I'll stop now. ^^