My hiking diary: Taiwan Trip 2016 - Zhuilu Old Road (锥麓古道)

This is definitely the highlight of my 2015 Taiwan trip. For those who likes outdoors, nature and adventures; this is a Must-go!

This old trail is actually located in Taroko Gorge national park, which is also a must visit in Hualien City of Taiwan. Taroko Gorge is very accessible from Hualien City, there are buses from Hualien bus station (next to train station with 1 to 2 mins walking distance). It's advisable to get one-day ticket(TWD250 per pax)/two days ticket (TWD400 per pax) as there are many stops in Taroko Gorge and it's more convenient and cheaper. Bus condition is good, only thing to take note is the bus schedule, the last bus from TianXiang is at 5pm. For more information, click here.

Apparently, Zhuilu Old Road (or some call it - Jhuilu Old Trail) is not that widely known to foreigners; including me. I started to do research on this after my first trip to Taroko Gorge and found out there's this suspension bridge at Yanzikou Trail which is locked with a signboard stating "permit required". From Taroko National Park website, I've finally came across this name "錐麓古道".

With certain level of efforts and research, due to limited information/blogs about this trail for foreigners; I've finally made it! Got all the permits (it isn't that troublesome to get the permit, only certain points to take note of) and we started our adventure!

The entrance is locked, so after alighting from bus; spot a hut with officers sitting there. REMEMBER to bring along a copy of the permits (both park and forestry permit) and passports for verification purpose. Another point to take note of (which is written on the park permit), visitors must enter the trail in between 7am to 10am. Please make sure you won't miss the timing, else your effort will be all wasted!!

After verification, officer lead us to the entrance and tada! We're on the suspension bridge! There were visitors at Yanzhikou trail who were wondering why are we allowed to get on the suspension bridge; I guess I looked exactly the same when I first visited last year, the stare of jealousy.

Entrance of Zhuilu Old Road (confusing. Taroko website calls it Zhuilu Old Road, but signboard says Jhuilu Road)

Us with the suspension bridge at entrance. Oh, it's not necessary to wear safety helmet for this trail, but compulsory for Yanzhikou trail. Although I still see quite many people not wearing it, well, better be safe than regret right? For those who are taking public transport, I think it's a better idea to borrow the helmet from Taroko park visitor centre/management office, it's FOC cause from what I understand from the officer, there are three places where you can borrow/return the helmet: (1)park visitor centre/management office (2)somewhere near YanZhikou which bus is not alighting (3)Tianxiang visitor centre

We took the bus from Hualien bus station at 8am, and by the time we reached YanZhikou was already 9am. We were in a rush to catch the bus at 8am, so we had our packed breakfast in the jungle. Nom Nom Nom! and let's start trekking!

Trail condition is good. The route is clear, don't really need a guide and unlikely to get lost in the jungle, just follow the stairs. Although it's not that steep, it's a non-stop uphill trekking for 3km which can be tiring for beginners.

Reached 1km of the trail. We were there during winter, and yes, I was just wearing t-shirt and shorts, and I'm glad I did. So much sweat!

Not long after the 1st KM, we've reached the first post - Badagang. This place was used to be a small community for travelers during Japanese occupation but now only some pillars and ruins remained.

Amazing view overlooking some mountains at Badagang post

Trek continues to another suspension bridge - Badagang bridge no.2

After that, it's just more stairs and stairs and stairs to climb. 

A very slow progress of 500m from Badagang post. 

View at approximately 1.5km of the trail

A mysterious cave and unknown bone found at 2K of the trail. If I was a kid, this would probably freak me out, imagining some cavemen or monster will chase and eat me. 

 

Trail starts to get more interesting after 2K. With tunnel..

another bridge

stone wall

When you see this signboard, please give a clap to yourself and be amazed! The climax is here!

My amazed and excited face. 

Ladies and gentlemen... so this is it! The cliff!!

Walking with the cloud

View from the cliff

 

There are some parts with railing and some part don't. Overall it's safe, if you're afraid of height then you might have a hardtime crossing the cliff. But believe me, it's stunning to overlook Taroko from the cliff at high level. Just beware of fallen rock, we almost got hit by a fist size fallen rock when we were crossing the cliff. Luckily we were briefed by some very kind Taiwanese we met along the trail, which is to stay close to the wall, to minimize the chance of getting hit by fallen rock.

Finally, 3.1K! Which is also the end of the trail, at Cliff outpost. This trail is supposed to be a 10km trail, unfortunately, it's been damaged by natural disaster and only the first 3km is accessible.

 

We took a break here and had our packed lunch before we returned to Yanzhikou. Total distance for the trek is about 6.2km and we finished it in 5 to 6 hours. I would say it's a very enjoyable trek, cooling weather, stunning view, not required to climb; just a bit long and many stairs to walk for beginners. 

I personally love it. It kinda inspire me to do more research on other trails and to explore more of the beauty of Taiwan!

Now.. how to get the permits? To be continued...

There's something about the left handers

Why those guys who I find them attractive are mostly left handers? 

Maybe it's me being a very logical person, tends to be attracted by people who do things differently or at least behave differently from me? Maybe just a coincident. Well, can't explain, just attractive.

Left handers Rock! 

To my special friend.

Things can change so easily, isn't it. I still remember how you helped me to overcome my downturn, helped me in my soul searching. But now, I feel helpless because I can't do the same for you, when you're in trouble.

I hate it when I can't do anything for you; I hate it when I no longer can give advices to you and make you feel better; and what I hate he most is, I've become one of your troubles. 

I really miss those days when we both cracked into laughters with the lame jokes we shared. Talking bout stupid things in our boring life, as simple as what we had for lunch and how my tummy is feeling warm and round from good dinners. 

I really miss this special friend, who is always there for me. During my ups, and my downs. I wish I can be there too for you. But, if time is what you need, I shall give you that. 

I don't really pray, but this time from the deepest of my heart, I wish you can be strong, you can find your happiness and smile again. Just like you always do! *hugs*

How would you remember me?

A question to this pool of close friends:

KJ: I'll remember you as a very nice person, impatient, very family oriented.

JT: My most lovely gf

KJ: A very fun person to hang out with no matter what the occasion is. A very capable singer and a fun loving person.

AR: A lively girl. Has a nice voice. Joyful and sociable most of the time. (Add on, pretty, cute sometimes, and attractive)

JL: Capable, smart, intuitive

EL: Someone i can talk to. Good listener. Hear me san. Sometimes can give good advice. Ok most of the time. Haha. Have matured thinking yet there are times quite sampat

CH: Happiness is important to u and ur family orientated, generally ur a nice girl

Whenever I'm down, whenever I fall, I'm glad that I've always been beautiful and great in your eyes.

My hiking diary #2 - Chiling Waterfall... Again? 29 Aug 2015

Overall rating: 7/10

Difficulty: 1/10

Time required: 3/10 (trek in one hour, same route to trek out)

Scenic: 7/10

Accessibility: 7/10 (one hour drive from KL, road condition is good. Sedan car is good to go)

Parking: Open car park or can park at roadside

Cleanliness: 8/10 (except for the public toilets, manage your expectation)

Guide: Not required

Fee: RM1 per entrance. Require to pay deposit depending on how much food/plastics/bottles/cans you're bringing in; this is a control to ensure you won't litter. Refundable when you leave.

Opening hours: Fri - Sat 8.00am to 6.00pm

What's better than having a short road trip to celebrate a long weekend?! Again, organizer, YAR managed to pull bunch of awesome ppl to organize this trip to Chiling Waterfall on this lovely saturday morning. There was another meaningful event which I wish I could go, wish I can contribute to the country by supporting the hope for a better future. I love my country, but i love my parents too; I can't afford to see them got worried of me. Maybe next time, when I'm able to give confidence to them that I'll be fine! Love you Malaysia! Happy independence day! Sun will shine again after the darkest storm. Strongly believe in it.

11 of us, went in 4 cars. I was car pooling with YAR and SKJ, my closest friends from KPMG. It has been years since we last met each other. Although our body sizes changed, our face sagged; they are still cool and fun as usual. That's friendship isn't it? It doesn't matter how often you contact each other or meeting each other, you'll still share the happiness and joy whenever we meet up.

After dim sum breakfast at Aman Suria, we departed at around 8.15am. SKJ, the sleepyhead, has been sleeping non-stop in the car. Me, keeping YAR, the driver entertained throughout the whole journey to Chiling and helping with the map and direction. It took us one hour plus to reach Chiling.

The sun was already hot, we immediately 'let go' using the public toilet to make sure we won't pollute the spring water later. The trek took us another hour to reach level 2 waterfall. The journey was memorable, and so much dramas:

Drama 1: SKJ's slipper that attempted to do waterfall diving. It was accidentally dropped into the stream and the current was so strong, washing it away to the cliff. All of us were stunned, looking at it and thinking it's gonna be flushed away and SKJ gonna walk home with only one slipper later. At this critical moment, an unknown Malay stranger, the HERO ran and jumped into the stream, swam and trying his very best to save this slipper of SKJ. We got so worried because the stream is not deep enough for swimming and there are lots of sharp rocks at river bed. I do not know what gave him the courage and the will to do this, but he made it and we gave him a big round of applause from the deepest of our heart. Again, I can't stop feeling sentimental and relates this to politics and our country. SO MANY friends or strangers I've met from different races, they are all helpful disregards of what skin color that we're having. We all live in harmony and we care, we help. That makes us, true Malaysians. Why let the bad people to divide us!

Drama 2: Chiling waterfall, the slipper murderer, ko-ed AS's slipper as well. With no extra shoes/slippers, AS survived to trek down with bare and injured feet. Salute! Remind me of my first tabur west hike, when WK also hiked the whole trip with bare feet cause his shoes spoiled at the starting point of the hike. Jinx?

Drama 3: NC, the brave. Met him during tabur hike, my impression to him is fit, brave and outgoing person, a macho guy. But now I only know his bravery shrink drastically when he's dealing with water. First, he asked us to lead and walk first when we were playing in the pool, he was afraid that the river bed will suddenly goes very deep. Then, he took more than 5 mins just to prepare himself to jump off from a low cliff (which we've already jumped and assured him that it's safe and the water is not deep). That was pretty epic when he was repeating the action of taking deep breathe, getting ready to jump and backing out. It was looping for five minutes with all the eyes on him and encouraging him to jump. Of course, he didn't let us down and finally he jumped off from the cliff and when he landed into the pool, the water level was just at his chest. He laughed on himself and immediately he started to ask around, "come, let's do it again". What a funny guy! You're still cool and fun even after we get to see this side of you! =D

Drama 4: Persuading AS to take off his top. He was shivering ever since he went into the pool. With a small part of good intention, we advised him to take off of his wet shirt so that he can get warm faster; it also comes with a big part of selfish intention to check out his naked upper body (to clarify, it's the guys' idea! of course, benefiting me as well =P). And after hesitating for a while, he did. I didn't really get to check him out as.. I'm shy la. I just got to know him on the first day, must act like a lady a bit. hahaha. Instead of checking out his abs and body, we 'studied' his tattoo on his arm and shoulder. It's something that he's proud of, a piece of macho art done by his favourite tattoo artist. But we all burst into laughter when NC asked, "why is the samurai sniffing the sakura"? NC just nailed it, from a piece of cool and macho art, he made it sound so sissified.

Drama 5: SKJ, the big eater. He basically finished all of our food! No wonder his tummy grow so much bigger from the last time i saw him.

I had so so so so much fun with this bunch of people. It's a moment when I don't need to get worried of how people will judge or worried of what to say next to keep the conversation going. I can't ask for more. That's why, I'm writing this down. A memory to keep. A blog entry that will make me laugh again in the future. Goodnight!

Chiling 29082015

My hiking diary #1 - Tabur west 22 Aug 2015

Overall rating: 8/10
Difficulty: 7/10
Time required: 5/10 (3 to 4 hours)
Scenic: 8/10
Accessibility: 8/10 (I think there's no public transport to here, but for locals, it's easy to drive in)
Parking: No open carpark. Park at roadside.
Cleanliness: 8/10
Guide: Not required. However, there's no signboard, suggest to go with experienced hikers.
Fee: FOC


On this normal, boring, typical working day of mine, I've been complaining to an old friend of mine about how much I would like to do something crazier to spice up my life such as a night hike to catch sunrise; camping or whatever crazy hardcore shit. I'm glad that I actually complained to him, and YES! We made it happened!

We managed to ask for another 3 more friends and a mother, one of his, two friends and fitmama of mine. Waking up at 3.25am on a saturday morning and there it goes, our first night walk on this dangerous hill which killed several hikers who missed their steps. (It's really saddening and may them rest in peace).

Met up at 4.30am at this mamak which is very near to the entrance (About 5 mins drive), had some light breakfast, geared up ourselves with headlamps and ready to rock at 5.10am.

@photo credits to yar

It was still pitch dark at this hour, by lacking of two headlamps in our team, we slowed down our hike to make sure everyone is safe. Plus, one of our friends had a not-so-light breakfast (two packets of maggie goreng), she started to feel sick.

The beginning part of the trail was quite steep but not that dangerous. Just crossing the wood but I had a hard time catching the speed and I started to sweat like a cow. Luckily it wasn't that long, probably 10 mins non-stop hike to reach an open space which we can catch a breath and enjoy the night sky. It was probably the first time I saw that many stars in this light polluted city. By the time we reached, there were already two hikers lying down on the rocks enjoying the cool breeze and night sky.

With the kiasu-ness in our mind, we continued to hike up worrying that we'll miss the sunrise. Being slow and steady, we've reached the spot where we believed it's the spot where all the tabur sunrise photos were taken based on our google results. We reached at 6.10am, clearly, we underestimated ourselves and for that, we had to sit and wait for an hour for the sunrise (based on weather forecast, sunrise is at 7.10am). The spot is easy to spot, basically it's the place where you first encounter lots of boulders after crossing the woods.

This photo was probably taken at around 6.30am

Selfie with my mum. It wasn't that cold, hence, don't worry about the accessories. Headlamp is enough. Or maybe can consider gloves if you have silky smooth skin to protect your palms during rock climbing. For me, I think it was ok even without gloves.

Over viewing Klang Gates Dam

So here it is! Breaking dawn, with Klang gates dam on your left and Tabur East on the right.

*Big shout out* BEAUTIFULLLLLLLLLLLL! @photo credit to yar

Couldn't believe that such a beautiful view is that accessible to all the KL-ians and Selangor-ians. Located right in the middle of one of the busiest areas at Wangsa Maju, SO BLESSED!

Unfortunately, it was abit cloudy, we missed the 'egg yolk'; else it would be perfect! Then, we continued the remaining 70% of the hike. The fun part has just started after we enjoyed the cool morning breeze and romantic sunrise (not so romantic for me, cause first, i need to get myself a bf to share the lovey-dovey)

This photo was taken during my first hike at Tabur west back in July'15. Just to show the fun part of this trail, a mini rock climbing.

Sun is finally out! There are several spots with nice views as we climbed higher

 @photo credit to yar

Err... okay, just to prove that we're here. Wefie with these awesome gang of friends and family. Special thanks to NC and YAR for leading the way and keeping us safe!

I'm so in love with the moss! (i think they are moss..right?) So cute! I'm a mossy girl, one of the reasons why I desperately wanna try gunung Irau and mossy forest. It must be so beautiful to see the whole forest is covered with moss.

Good news is, you don't need to climb down the same route to get back to your cars. There's an easier way to walk down through the jungle. We managed to get down by 9.30am, which was about 5 hours hike including the 1.5 hours which we just sat down and chillax while waiting for the sunrise. Else, the whole trails should be able to finish in 3 to 4 hours for beginner to average hikers.

So.. is the trail really dangerous and challenging? Yes and no? 

YES because there are certain parts which you really need to watch your steps, make sure both hands and feet to have firm grips before you move your next step. Don't JUMP! Even if it's not that high, it can easily sprain our ankles (TQ NC for highlighting to me when I tried to jump down from a boulder). For beginner, maybe it's a bit challenging as this is not just trekking, but it requires courage and strength to climb rocks, walking by the cliffs and getting down by rope.

NO because even I can do it! Haha.. okay. It's not that difficult as the trail is not too long and there are several spots where you can rest. Also, it's a popular trail where you can meet a lot of cool and friendly hikers there. Just ask for help if you need! People are friendly. Once I was stuck on this slanted boulder where my shoes were too slippery to climb up on my own; without even asking for help, there's this friendly hiker who offered his hand and pulled me up. *thumbs up*

What do you need to bring?

1. Plenty of water, keep yourself hydrated. I don't drink much, and i'm a lazy bum, don't want to carry heavy bag, 500ml was enough for me.

2. Strong grip shoes. I've climbed twice with my running shoes, managed to survive but I do strongly recommend to get a proper hiking shoes for this trail because the rocks can be very slippery.

3. Cap or hat? Try not to start the hike after 8am, it can be really hot! Not much shades at the later part of the trail

4. Gloves. As mentioned earlier, optional. To protect your palms.

5. Long pants. Optional, to protect your pretty legs from scratches by sharp rocks

6. Last but not least, your SMART PHONE/CAMERA! Instant sharing/show off of the beautiful sceneries.

I really enjoyed the hike and good luck to those who would like to give it a try. Here's a short clip I've recorded during the hike (first time using yi camera, fogging on the casing was bad! and battery drained up super fast). Apologies for not having enough time to edit the video yet. Will get back with a better version soon.. i hope. Enjoy!

 

Saying goodbye to our memories, our past and our promises

Saying goodbye to our memories, our past and our promises

Yesterday, I've finally braved up myself and asked my ex on this question; "Are you seeing anyone now? Is she Amanda?"

This question has been in my mind ever since we broke up in more than a year ago. Amanda is this 'good friend' of him who he has been caring alot even when we were together. He has never admitted that he has a crush on her or anything. But for what I felt was, they both care about each other, it's just that they are both attached, out of responsibility, they called themselves 'good friends'.

Not long ago, probably 3 to 4 months back, I heard the news that Amanda had broke up with her bf. Somehow, my intuition is telling me, that's it. That's the time when he will appear by her side, and he will finally move on and fall in love. I know this is absolutely fine, we are both single, he's a nice guy, he does deserve to be loved.

I really appreciate his honesty. He said, "yes, we've been hanging out a lot, but nothing is going on yet"; "Are we still friends, hmm.. I'm sorry". Don't know why, it felt like a sharp knife to me. Although I know this will happen eventually, it's still hard for me to listen to this kinda confession. An officially goodbye to all the strings between us. An official moving on.

I took a long night to 'mourn' for our relationship; cried as much as i can when I recall the memories of us, from the beginning till the end. After an emotional night, I finally understand what's my emotion is about, it's not that I'm still not over him, but it's more to I'm saying goodbye to our memories, our past and our promises. Time to keep them into a different zone in my brain. A zone to keep them as beautiful memory with a guy who i used to love. 

I replied to him, "sure, we are still friends, there's no need to say sorry to me, you've done nothing wrong". "We both know we will move on eventually, it's just who will move on first, and the other person would probably be sad for the one last time and move on too". And the latter, is me.

I have to thank this friend of mine, who brought me out for a movie on this terrible night. We didn't have any deep talk on this, although he knows what happened and he knows i was feeling emotional. Thank you for accompanying and letting me know, it's time to be good, be strong again.

I can do it. And from deep down of my heart, I wish both of us to be happy with our own lives, best wishes to my ex, a great guy who I used to loved.