Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Foggy Rooftop

Alishan is almost 9,000 feet in elevation, so even though we were there in mid-March it was mighty cold; everyone was bundled up in heavy jackets and scarves, including us.  The clouds still enshrouded the mountain early in the day per the fog shot above.  Later in day it cleared somewhat per the pic below:

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Another Two-Generation Tree

 

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Three-Generation Tree

Many of the trees that stand so wide and tall are of younger generations.  In the pic above, the stump in the foreground is considered "first generation" and behind it a "second generation" offspring, as it grew from the same root system in place for the first.  Two generations can also be seen in the tree system that Chenjean is standing next to in yesterday's post.

The most famous of these is the "three generations tree", with signs everywhere pointing out how to get to it.  Thus it was almost always crowded, but I did manage to get a few people-less pics, including the two below:

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Humongous Trees

One of the things on our to-do list was visit Alishan.  A friend from church recommended it, and since we were close anyway it was easy to hop on a bus for the two-hour journey.

Alishan is famous for its huge trees, as can be seen here and in the pic below.  Thousands of these were exploited by the Japanese during the occupation, but there were enough left over for later generations to enjoy.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Tea House Entrance

This last post from the Northeast Coast is a two-shot panorama of a graffiti-covered entrance leading to a tea house.  Turned out a little better than expected considering they were handheld shots in low lighting conditions.

Next stop:  Alishan

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Hound with a Mission

The last of our stops along the Northeast Coast was this really awesome town way up in the mountains, about 7,000 feet in altitude.  This was close to the bottom of a long stairway that bisected the town.  There were so many tourists there that I didn't get many blogworthy posts.

But here was was one I couldn't miss, this dog wearing goggles that had a GoPro mounted on its back.  And what do the goggles say?

"I like Taiwanese girls"!

Wonder if this fellow was hoping the sign would serve as a chick magnet, the way sports cars are supposed to do here in the U.S...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Pristine Water

This is the only shot that captured the deep blues and turquoise of the water along the northeast coast of the island.  The foreground was so crappy that I just took it out...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Waterfall

There was much hullabaloo about one of our destinations, where we would see a waterfall like no other.  That it was, but the sun was out full and in the wrong place for a good shot of the entire falls; what you see above is just a tiny portion where the shade made it possible to capture a decent shot.  Whole thing below:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Colorful Cliffs

Being on the coast, there were plenty of places to pull over and have a look-see.  There is a species of eagle known to nest in the cracks and fissures of these cliffs, flying out over the water to fish for their chicks.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Graveyard

A fairly typical graveyard for Taiwan.  They apparently take the construction and upkeep of graves very seriously there.  There is a holiday designated to visit and tidy up the graves of one's ancestors.  Also, a great ceremony takes place once a year to honor the dead in the Buddhist tradition.

Closer, cropped-in view of the left side below:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Fishing Vessel

This view from the lookout provided an opportunity to demonstrate the zoom and pixel-grabbing power of the Bigger Cahoona's vacation lens and sensor.  Above we have a 28mm view; 300mm from the same position below:

Then I cropped in and sharpened to get more detail and see what's happening on the boat.  Not bad, considering the distance as captured per the top pick above:

Now try THAT with a camera phone!

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Sandiaojiao Lighthouse

We drove along up the coast, stopping for a while at the Sandiaojiao Lighthouse to look around.  View below is trailhead leading to the lookout in the distance:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Sculpted Cement Panel / A Real Earthquake

They do a lot of this over in Taiwan - intricate cement sculptures or panels with words and a drawing or two. (see this post of one captured in a temple)  According to the Google translator on my iPhone, the top line says "The beauty of Guishan Island", and underneath, "Leaning Tail and Mole Tail" (?).

_______________

Guishan Island happens to be Turtle Island.  This is because of its profile, which that day we could barely make out through the haze from the shore.  Just so happens, however, that we were among the last to be able to see the turtle shape of the island, because just a few days after we returned to our mountain home in Tzuqi a huge (7.4) earthquake tore through the region and a large portion of it collapsed into the ocean.  Two more days on the Northeast Coast and we would have witnessed the thick of the destruction, but where we were after returning to the village it was only about a 4.0.

We'd been through small earthquakes and tremors before in Taiwan...the kind where you're in a building and the light fixtures will sway but not much else.  So when, at 3:30 in the morning on April 3rd, I heard a text come in from the President (the President's Office sends these out whenever a disaster is potential or imminent) I didn't think much of it.  In my sleepiness I felt our bed sort of bounce around but thought that it was either my imagination or just another tremor that we regularly experience over there.  So I went back to sleep.

Later in the morning we'd just had breakfast and were getting ready for one of our daily hikes on the mountainside.  I was outside tying my shoes when, at 7:58 a.m., two things happened at once:  another text came in from the President, and a rumbling sound started.  It got louder and louder, and as the rumbling increased the ground started to shake.  The shaking got worse, and the ground even began to move not only up and down but also laterally a bit.  The doors across the street - the kind of roll-ups made for businesses - were closed and could be seen bowing in and out, making a loud racket as the ground and building surrounding them swayed by several inches in all directions.  Chenjean was in the shower and had to hold onto a towel rack so she wouldn't fall down.

Now THIS was different!  The whole episode lasted what seemed a long time, but was probably just a minute or so.  That is a LONG minute, however, when the very ground under your feet is suddenly unstable and bouncing around.  You stand or walk on the ground, and expect it to stay right where it is.  Not this day...

Not more than 30 seconds after it was over we went inside and saw the coverage had already started on national TV.  Turns out it was the biggest earthquake on the island in 25 years, and that's saying something.  We were fortunate to not be traveling to or from the Northeast Coast that day, because some of the very tunnels we went through just days before collapsed and trapped many people inside.

So was it over on April 3rd?  Hardly.  A day later we traveled to Chiayi, which was much harder hit by the quake, and spent the night in a hotel.  Now Chiayi is a fair-sized city so the buildings in town ranged anywhere from three to twenty floors in height.  Our hotel happened to have fourteen, but we were on the twelfth floor close to the top.  A little after 2:00 a.m. an aftershock struck and swayed the building so badly that things were falling off the shelf in the bathroom, and my roommate (DeQuan) thought we'd topple over like some of the buildings we'd seen on television over on the East Coast.  I slept through it all, probably even better because of the swaying motion, like I do on cruise ships.

So there you have it - our first real earthquake, and it was a doozy.  Thanking God that we weren't literally thrown into the worst of it on those days.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Objects of Worship (?)

Not entirely sure what this was about, but am guessing that it's tied to religion in some way.  Didn't look closely, but if those pages are the fake money they use to burn for the use of one's ancestors, then it must be a similar "sacrifice", perhaps to the ocean or another god.  Plausible, since it was weighed down so the paper wouldn't scatter, and since no one bothered it since it was placed there.

Found another one a short distance away:

 

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Fellow Wildlife Seeker

Seems we weren't the only ones hunting for the wildlife!  Pregnant female, looks like.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Brittle Stars

This was, to me, an astonishing find.  When DeQuan said he saw a brittle star I flat didn't believe him until seeing it with my own eyes.  Aren't brittle stars found way deep in the ocean, living off what drifts down from above?  These amazing starfish must be incredibly adaptable.  And they were fairly ubiquitous, seen wherever the water was deep enough during low tide.  This I will count among our most memorable wildlife finds anywhere.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Sea Slug

...and this sea slug is but one example.  Perfectly camouflaged among the rocky formations, this guy is one of several that we saw.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Rocky Shore with Tide Pools

Water and sand through the eons, plus considerable daily tide level changes, has created some really unique formations.  It may look like there might not be much room for life in the little tide pools below, but there's plenty there...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, A Little Help Along the Way

Now that we were ground level on the beach there was plenty to explore.  As we shall see later, there was plenty of life in those tidal pools, which is what the "kids" were looking for.  But first they had to get there...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Focus-Shifted Shots through Shrubbery at Beach

On our way down to the beach level a good opportunity arose to snap a pair of focus-shifted pictures through this shrubbery.  The effect would probably only be noticeable on a larger screen, such as a laptop or bigger.

 

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Fishermen at Ground Level

Our friends again once we climbed down to the bottom of the hill...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Fishermen from the Top of a Hill

As stated earlier, most of the beaches in Taiwan aren't exactly inviting to the everyday beach-goer due to the rocky nature of its shores.  This is a prime example.

Decided to zoom all the way in with the Bigger Cahoona for a comparison shot  The full frame censor coupled with the 300mm possible with my vacation lens is a combination that's hard to beat:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, American Flag

Found it interesting that, this being in Taiwan, an American flag was draped (sort of) over this privacy wall leading into the bathroom.  A favorite shot from our northeast coast tour...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Lookout Tower Perspectives

...a view from the ground floor looking up.  Unbeknownst to me, DeQuan took a picture of me doing this, which turned out to be perfectly compositioned.  Thus, for the first time in the long history of this blog I'm including a picture taken by someone else with their own (in this case phone) camera:

Interesting also that DeQuan captured my wife's shadow just as she was entering the structure...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Beach Lookout Tower

Our daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law both love the beach, so we built some time in at one up on the northeast coast of the island.  What passes for a beach in Taiwan is very different from what we think of in most other parts of the world, however.  Generally they are not places where you can freely swim or grab a board and surf; they are usually rocky and pretty dangerous.  But it was nice for them to be able to actually be at a beach where there is (that day very strong) wind in your face with a view of lapping waves against the rocks.  The building above was evidently built to do just that - provide a good view of the ocean and surf.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Pastel Housing

Probably a bookmark somewhere in this pic, which was snapped looking out of our hotel window.  Original below:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Rice Paddy Heron

Driving through the rural roads, both between and within the small towns along the East Coast, we saw scenes like this many times - a heron or other wading bird walking slowly through the rice patties in search of food.  Finally got the chance to snap one that I had in mind.

Much wider composition of same photo below:

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Stardream Statue

When I saw this thing I could hardly believe my eyes - indeed, I was shocked.  What is it...a bench, an art installation, a slam on America?  Still don't know what to make of it, but it sure grabs your attention.  Wish I knew its origins and purpose.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Stardream Zoo Animals

Animals - yes, this is a zoo so there are animals.  These are a few that caught our eye for one reason or another.  Since the sun was shining bright overhead it was hard to get decent shots but here they are:

Below is the only halfway-decent shot of the animal that most fascinated our daughter Allison - the capybaras.  These giant rodents were wondering freely amongst the zoo goers, and would approach for a handout just like deer or a dog.  We concluded that they might even make decent pets.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Stardream Zoo Greeting Piece

Debated about this one since the sunshine made it uneven right-to-left, but the colors were there so decided to keep it for the blog.  This was what greeted visitors upon entering the main part of the "zoo", which underscores that fact that the place was designed for small kids.

Yet the concept of "kids" is a little different in Taiwan.  While American grownups our age would balk at patronizing such a place (unless they had small kids), this kind of venue is equally enjoyed by Taiwanese "kids" up to age 30 or so.  Indeed, in that country a person is still considered a kid if not married no matter how old they are.  And "kids" of even that age continue to live with their parents.  By contrast, the typical American leaves the nest as soon as practically possible to seek independence, and leaves this kind of stuff far behind once in his or her teen years.  I, for one, was forced to make very adult decisions at that age and never looked back as of my first day of college.