The extremes

After the visit of Holidays Resort on the " Tian Qi ", we went back to see King apples trees,and reddish naple trees , back to Li Shan梨山 ( Pears village ) we stopped at a farm , had our lunch . Then we used a different car for mountain climbing ( a 4 wheel driven car ), the driver re also younger at abt 40 years old.
The previous team members also went back to their hotel , left us (two old peoples)only to challenge the highest top of He Huan Shan. 15,000 feets above sea level ,the temp was 1.2 deg C , at 3.00 pm ,it was freezing cold .. Wrapped ourself with the blanket and get ready for the drive . The young driver had a better skill in driving , he could see what we cant see in the front, after a while , he was talking through loudspeaker "come over now ! ", he was talking to the lorry that is coming our way ,
shockingly a 40 footer lorry was appearing through the mist slowing , it is like illustion magic show ..ooowa !
we screamed,then the driver formed me we will soon on the top of the hill, since it was very cold and wind re also very strong , let stop for a second to take a picture this is it . I agreed
Due to the extreme cold , I need to go down and use the toilet , when I get down my legs and mouth are shivering .. the driver help me to walk towards toilet ........

The King apple tree that has 50 types of


species on a single tree .



The most reddish naples tree .

The highest point of He Huan Shan

that car can reached

WU LIN in Winter

in recent few years, it is a routine that I has been visiting my son in Taiwan , I always like to take a few days off to travel around the Taiwan provinces for sighting and photography . This year 2008 , Michele Xiao Pei (daughter in law ) manage to arrange a short trip to a hilly tourist hot spot - Wu Lin 3 days inbound trip .though I went to this place in summer time before , but the scenery look in winter expect to be a totally amazingly, breath taking .
Before I went ,,I did have all concerns abt my kneel pains , mountains illness and winter flu made me sleepless for few nites to decide if I should go only with two of us. ( with my wife -Ling ) The pride in me is forcing me not to lose out in this small venture . I suddenly get encouraged, when I looked back in the memory the chances I have to allow to pass by .

A mild accident
武陵(wu lin )locates somewhere between E lan(宜兰)和Taichong (台中),it is on the high landed residence and huge fruit and vegetable farm area llke Camerlong in Malaysia ,but they re much higher and colder . It is in 20th of Nov now ，in Xingchu(新竹) the temp is at 20C。at that moment ,I would not like to ponder about how cold in Mt He Huan San(合欢山) at 3800 meters above sea level high , or close to 15,000 feet high , later , some one told me Mt He Huan San was as cold as below to ice frozen point at nite ....but, I was at the point of no return .
My son Aaron has sent us to Taipei Main Rail way Station East main gate(台北东大门车站)in the morning .he then went back , leaving us to wait for the tour bus there . There were 8 persons only include us in the team , at one glance, they are much younger than us, they re all typical taiwanese , tough , middle tall, with strong walking limbs .I whispered to my wife , they re much younger than us . Though Elin has a privilege to be born with a younger look , no one has noted that we re much senior until we re on the mountains.
The tour bus can take a 40 persons , but, they can afford to launch trip to Wu Lin at even 8 persons every day , it is unbelievable. Taiwanese buzz man are very daring , that must be the reason for them to stay rich in SE Asia 。Taiwan had a strong Taipon , and heavy rain disaster months ago , the rocky main road leading to WU Lin re not fully touched up ,the shaky and bumping bus has given me no chances to take steady pictures. Soon ,the surrounding temp has slipped to15degC and unpredictable mist has blurred the view most of the time . The" old" bus driver supposed to be expert in winding climbing road uphill, seemed to be able to view the mist and vistualize whatever traffics coming headway to us, Occasionally , they were talking loud ,as if they were very relaxed . .
Before we were about to reach Wu Lin Hotel , 20 mins drive away , we heard a knocking noise , the right head lamp of the bus has been smashed on the rocky hillside , the front door jammed up and unable to open . Ooop! so the winding ,misty uphill roads are tough to handle stay as dangerous job ,then the bus was stopped , the driver got down examining over on the right door and right lamp ,through the glass we could see that he cursed verbally with an unhappy look ,and finally he looked relieved , and continue to send us to the Hotel , God bless us and driver that we re okay , he will be able to handle the bus carefully on his way back to Taipei soon.

A nite in Wu Lin
When we unloaded our baggage from the bus, and all went up to a Hundai 7 seated car ,we had a new , tour guide to bring us around in the surrounding farms , and bushes,water falls, teas Supermarket , and mt climping , mountain camping spots There are apples farm ,Red Pears , flower farm, live World class rare fish species Those days I came here in Summer , the scenery was good , except it is uncolored portrait ,it is not that attracting .
Finally we were at the Dao Shan water falls start points ,every one of us need to walk to 4.3 km to see the marvelous winter water falls , normally it took 1.5 hours to reach the falls , to and fro. However for us , with my walking speed need 4.5 hours maybe more . Again , the pride in me again tell me , we have to pretend that we re ready to go , God bless us again,we walked in a distance of 1.5 km , we found that there is a mini waterfall, and suspension bridge , so ,that is the luck strike , we took many pictures , and come back to the starting point , the driver Mr Chuang is a nice man , he said he would send us back to Hotel , where we can do other things in Hotel like SPA, readings , and walk around in 200 meter to visit the tea supermarket . so we agreed . 。
Back to Hotel , we didnt go to room for rest ,we stay at gound floor and peep on every things in the surrounding , I took pictures on the mountains that surrounding the hotel, the temp is 11 degC at Noon. At Evening , we went back to room for a short break go down to 2nd floor for key chain gifts , wtih our pictures on .and went to the Cafe House for a buffet , the food were so good , I had to forget everythings and ate what ever I think is the best for the tastes .Forgive my sin one more times. amen, and we go back to room for a rest with warm air con , and we have a best nite sleep after so many years .

Old president Chiang Resort

The next day ,we packed to leave for next farm , Fu Shou Shan farm(富寿山农场), it is at 2000 meter sea level high ,the thick mist , and low oxygen content, and cold temp has made me a bit of discomfort .Tour guide brought us to Naples bushes,and then to Tian QI (天池), to visit the Lao Chiang Holiday resort .when we reached the car park, the mist is so strong, the mist has tranformed to tiny shower , itis so chilling. At one time ,I hesitated if I should go down , as Tour Guide told us , there was one old lady , suffered mountain illness, the face and hand had turned blackish like a dead body , it was so scaring .but, she recovered as healthy when she wasback to sea level . My inner pride forced me to go again , so ..........I walked along a slope side which was about 100 meter away ,
I breathed hard and walked slowly ,dragged my legs step by step ,I cant be worst in walking in my life ever before ..For few times , I have to stop and rest .
ho hooo, I have finally standing in front of the Holiday resort , which the President Chiang has once stayed here some 90 years ago, the building has faded in color and formed fungal here and there , but, the structure remain strong, and grand even now . President Chiang had defeated in the internal war with Communist parties and people army ,and retreated to this last ,only corner of the country deserted island "fomosa" ( beautiful island , which the Spanish named it )
In year 2007, Ah Bian when still in power as Taiwan president , he hated KMT Ma , also all the first founder of KMT , he disgraced Chiang Statute , his cementry,his co memory institutes , and change the name of any sign that can carry the links to the once founder man . The history of Chiang in Taiwan has displayed
the foundation effort of new economy in Taiwan societies , therefore , the critics for his ruling in Taiwan carries a more positive appraisal than the negative . The action of Ah Bian re pure political attack than anything .This particular resort that we have visited is one of the rare belongings that escaped
the crackdown due to her special location in the mountain . God bless the building .As a Chinese , I feel down , and disappointed to see the young generation today fail to learn and respect the first founder of today Taiwan .
　
　Note : Continued with next blog " the extremes"

香哥里拉--民宿

旅行的最后一晚，我们是下榻民宿，一般的民宿有的很简陋，但这家很不同，
他们的建材是桧木，没有暖气设备，但是他们给寒带的被单。这民宿高在
1100M海拔，风景好的很。最大的不同是他们工作人员很温馨。整个室内的布置
是美国风情化。认为是个情人消遣好的地方。

旅行的后感
每次旅行回来，我都很满意其旅行的一切，就算是重游，因为每次都有不同 的感受，我可在旅行中。认识最少十个人，来自不同的环境，和许多不同旅行过程，很多时侯，我出发前的担心的，冷天，伤风，七七八八，都没有构成大问题。就算有点难度的高山，爬梯，也都靠老伴的相助而应刃而解，所谓的“老来伴”，这是正解也。旅行的过程始终是最令怀恋，因为终点总是几张照片而已。

苦尽甘来

苦尽甘来
过后，我们再到梨山买红柿，看萍果王，五指枫叶树，在富贵农场用中餐，再作车登合欢山的挑战(海拔3，500M，下午3时， 温度是1。2 度C )。那时一起台北来的8个人中，只有我们两人要挑战高峰。他们都已先回去。在梨山，我们又换车，由一个较年轻的司机，是乎前路是更挑战性。这年青人，车开快，路更险，只见车都在爬岭，两边都县崖，十分可怕，我们身包了棉被，一路紧张，有时司机，用车上的对话机，向前来的大车喊话，“过来吧 ！”，果然前方冒出一辆大车，天晓得，他们也许有第六感吧，我们想笑可是笑不出。我们总算到了合欢山，
不久，我们又再上坡，到了台湾最高的公路点，不久我们下山，回到，清境农场，下榻精美民宿。住了一晚，隔天便下上回台北了。

冬季的武陵游

几年来，每次到台湾去小住，我们仅两人，总会拿出几天时间到台湾的县市，看看风景，和拍照，今年，又得媳妇小佩安排到武陵去玩。留在我的记忆中的武陵农场和瀑布印象不深，和光磊去过，那是在夏天罢。
由于怕高山，和退化的关节，痛苦的步行，我避开原先的花莲太鲁阁游，结果呢，经过查询，武陵和花莲太鲁阁 从高山和寒冷气温的情形来看，两者不见有多大的不同，台湾的美景都是在高地上似的。有时我暗中自责，如果怕山，怕高，怕缺氧，就别去爬山，干脆在家，看台湾风景录影好了，可是我又会不负气想，做人好多时相当矛盾，如果样样怕而不出门，我怕我以后，就没有什么可做的事，我总要有点挑战，要向阻力的方向走吧。那到这里，你已知道我非去冒险不可了。

(上图为梨山，种梨山，和山下卖果摊)

路上的小车祸
武陵是在宜兰和台中的山区，时正是十一月20日，新竹气温已是20C。当时不敢想合欢山有多冷。后来才知，时现夜间温度已零度C下了。。。
我们是大儿开车送到台北东大门车站，再上团巴上武陵，巴上是仅有8人，四对老夫妇，车子坐位大多是空的。我又注意到我们是最年长的，他们看来，健康，笑容。健步，身结实，而我们的身手差的远，每个上下车都是一个个的挑战，我低声对内子说我们又是队中最老的，可是内子的年龄，常被误为比真年龄少十来岁，我的年龄也相对的少了，他们还以为我们和他们同年龄呢。
我常觉得台湾地形是山地多，屋也顺地形盖，上领下领是人们的日常的训练，练的他们双手脚力过人。台湾人样样很打拼，台湾的内陆团队旅游都是如此经营的，不管有多少人，天天出发。车上还是有领队，沿路说明 路名，景点，特产， 敬业乐业也是台湾富有的原因吗。
台湾在前几个月有了大风暴雨，从台北到武陵农场，经过著名的雪山隧道，和许多高山，路况不很好，雾气多，手中的相机都不能有所斩获。不久，我注意到气温已开始下降到15C，一路上无法预知的浓雾开始，尤其是像蛇形的山路，据说老司机好能判断前路的虚实，尽管，我们眼盯着车前，雾杀杀的前路，担心得很呢，他们却一点都不紧张，还在大声说话。可是到近武陵农场时，还有约20分钟路程时，车前发出碰的一声，右车灯给撞上山壁。顿时，让我更加相信，老手也会失手的，究竟浓雾开车上山路是危险吗。车夫下车看东，看西，口中不断有所抱怨，但是他还是认为无大问题，就照常开行了。我们就在一个有惊无险的车程先到了武陵度假村下榻。下午便到附近的景点看和照相。

舒服的武陵度假村

在武陵，上一辆韩国造7人座车，到处看看风景，有许多的萍果园，红柿子园，各种培花园，和台湾国宝鱼，世上罕见寒带鱼种“樱花金句吻鲑鱼”，和桃山瀑布，和许多的枫树林。
前些时，我们来的都是春夏季的日子吗，枫叶还是青青绿，不很美，如今枫已是黄红一片，很好看。到了桃山瀑布的展览馆前，大家都像飞似的往 4。3 KM 远的桃山走去， 因为来回全程是 8。6 KM，需时 1。5 小时，
我们的行速，可能会是 三，四小时或更久，到时是天黑了。还好老天很公平，很体谅我们二老，在 1。3 KM 有个小小瀑布，给我们拍照，聊以自慰。张司机看我们先回了，先送我们回到在度假村，我们没上楼休息，到处看看，环境很好，四面围高山树林，海拔1100公尺，十分安静，中午间气温是11 度C，当晚的晚餐很丰富，一时忘了在健康食疗中的戒条，开怀大吃一顿。不久在大厅有音乐会，和包竹筒饭DIY等节目，还不错。客房都有暖气，也忘了夜间的酷寒。一觉通宵。

回忆老蒋的行馆

隔日我们便离开武陵往梨山去，再登高处的富寿山农场，浓雾和低气温令人不太舒服，
到了一叫天池的地方，观看国老蒋的行馆(海拔2000公尺)，冷雾气化为露点，飞过来，成了小雨阵，好冷啊，回想刚才，张司机说，有一个老人曾在这里，得了高山症，让我有点怕怕，犹疑了一下，终于下车去。我们像老牛一步一步爬行，气呼呼的沿斜坡，终于见到行馆的面目。据说去年阿扁在台北时当老总，大力去蒋化的时候，这所老行馆，位在山高山区，难去寻找，而免了被毁。这可大幸。现时我们见到的行馆已是建筑灰水颜色灰黑，缺乏光彩，但是构造还有几分庄严雄伟。不管老蒋的生前的功过如何，台湾人对他有不同的历史评价，有爱有恨，究竟台湾是在那时经济大起飞，一个台湾老功臣，曾在台湾国家风光一两代，如今落得如此的下场，去名，毁誉，侮辱，不免令人感到感叹不已。

过后，我们再到梨山买红柿，看萍果王，五指枫叶树，在富贵农场用中餐，再登合欢山的挑战(海拔3，500M，下午3时， 温度是1。2 度C )。那时一起台北来的8个人中，只有我们两人要挑战高峰。他们都已先回去。