Waterfalls and gold Mazu in Ilan county 宜蘭

The northeastern county of Ilan (pronounced yi-lan) in Taiwan used to be thought of as a remote and rural area, and it probably is still rural compared to Taipei, but it's a lot easier and faster to get there now.

There are some beautiful parks and trails here, places I hadn't been before. I wanted to go visit this time because my friend Sherry sent me a link to this wonderful web site http://forestlife.info (it's in Chinese), which has lots of great photos of places all over Taiwan!

太平山國家森林遊樂區, inspired by photos
五峰旗瀑布 WuFengChi waterfall photos inspirations <-- we went here
國立傳統藝中心
林美石磐步道  inspried by photos <--- we went here
松羅國家步道
新寮瀑布

Ilan (pronounced yi-lan) is the next city north of Hualien. We got a ride to the train station courtesy of the hotel I stayed at. Bought tickets for the 9 o'clock train (with seats this time) and headed for Jiaosi (just north of Ilan). The train went along the coast, but through many tunnels, so we didn't get to see the cliffs. It was a good idea to drive up yesterday to see the cliffs and beaches. On the train, they were selling the famous Sun Cakes from Taichung!  When I came back with my husband Kevin and David and Eric many years ago, we got some Sun Cakes on the train near Taichung. It was one of the favorites for Kevin, something which never tasted as good in the US. So I got a box to take home. (I can report that they still tasted good after getting home, and Kevin is very happy about it!)

We arrived at Jiaosi about 10:30am. The hotel I booked was just within a block from the train station, so we dumped the luggage and headed out. First we stopped at the Tourist Information office to see if they have any information on hostels for Deats. They didn't. But gave us a photo lab where he could burn photos to CD so he can take more photos today. We kept our eyes open for cheap lodging, but since Jiaosi was a hot springs resort, cheap hostels were not available. They had "rest" rates, for people who just want to spend a few hours in the hot bath, but that wouldn't do. After buring the CD, we went to see our first sight today.

Wufengchi (五峰旗瀑布) was about a 10 minute taxi ride away, I wanted to preserve my energy for the climb, otherwise Deats wanted to walk. We also were going to meet Ann in the afternoon, so not too much time to waste. As we entered Wufenchi area, surprise, surprise, I ran into 2 familiar faces! Really this is not something that had happened to me before, but in less than 24 hours, I have run into 4 people I knew from the US or Canada! Deats might have thought I knew everybody in Taiwan, but I was just as surprised as he was.

The waterfall trail started with a small river, then up the hill to the 2nd level waterfall, which was very pretty, and then even further up to the top  where the 1st level waterfall could be seen. You couldn't really go to the top of the waterfall, which was perhaps another few hundred feet up a cliff. But you could go below, where there were rocks in the river. And Deats went exploring for more photo opportunities! Luckily he didn't really break his foot while walking on those slippery rocks.

I got talked into walking back into town. We had a snack sitting on a bench by the road to count as lunch. Ann called my cell phone and we arranged to be picked up by her. She drove us back to Ilan where she worked, a very resort like office complex for the county. We had a cup of coffee and she had to deal with some work matters. Then Ann took some time off and we headed to Sinliao waterfall for a quick hike before it got dark!

We next went to Nanfang-oa harbor, and stopped at the Mazu temple. This turned out to be a special temple because of the jade Mazu statue on the 2nd floor and a 200 kilo gold Mazu on the 3rd floor. Not only that, the statues were quite beautiful. Even though Deats was "templed out" before this, he found them to be very nice, and I agree that this is a more unusual one worh a visit. From the 3rd floor balcony, you could see the roofs of the entrance looking like waves, and then the fishing boats in the harbor. Mazu is a commonly worshipped goddess and protector in the coastal parts of China. She was originally a real person from the 10th century. Born to a fisherman's family as the 7th daughter. She did not cry when she was born and was named the "silent girl". The legend had her saving her brother and father during a storm when they were at sea, and she at home. After her death or ascension into a goddess, she was worshipped and became the protector of the fishermen.

We had dinner at a seafood restaurant owned by one of Ann's friends. Fresh fish, beer and conversation with the owner and his sister. After dinner, Ann dropped me back off at the hotel, and Deats got a free room at Ann's!