Taiwan Adventures Mobile Guide for iPhone and iPod

Well it’s finally here!  Our mobile guide to Taiwan for the iPhone and iPod is available in the app store now.

The features include;

• More that 900 points of interest that cover everything from hotels to hot springs to hiking.
• More than 2000 photos, many of which you’ll only see in the app
• Online and offline maps to make finding you way around so much easier
• Street addresses with both in pinyin and Chinese
• Easy to use:  Search by district, category, distance, map or just browse through our photo albums.

One thing that we’ve really tried to push with the app is Taiwan’s superb outdoors.   You’ll find that may of the points of interest are waterfalls, hikes, forest recreation areas, swimming holes, beaches, wild hot springs etc. and with the online and offline maps, it’s so much easier to find these hidden gems.

The Taiwan Adventures app can be downloaded from the app store for free.  Inside you’ll find a free database containing information about Bali and Danshui and from the store, you can then make in app purchases for the other areas of Taiwan.

Hope you enjoy it!  And look out for updates coming in the very near future!

The entry for the Bishan Temple near Neihu

Entries all have info regarding prices, opening hours and the address in Chinese and Pinyin as well as links to websites

The map shows your location in red and all of the entries are in blue.

Zoomed in the map give enough detail to find your way around

The free database contains info about Bali and Danshui. The rest of Taiwan has been divided into 5 areas, Taipei, Northern, East, Southern and Central

I personally really like flicking through the photo gallery to look for interesting places

Available in Chinese and English

Yushan Info

A couple of bits of news from the Yushan National Park came out in the last week.   The Paiyun Cabin, which has been closed for sometime now, is set to open in the spring of next year.  It seems that the cabin will be divided into roughly 10 rooms of 8-12 people rather than the old barrack-style that it used to be.  That should mean getting some sleep will be easier when you don’t have to listen to 60+ people snoring!  The Cabin will also have a restaurant too and hopefully there will still be kitchen facilities for those who want to do their own cooking.

The only bad news is that the cleaning fee for staying at the cabin will rise to $700 for foreigners and will remain at $220 for Taiwanese.  Given how much bad English and infrequent updates there are on the website, it seems a little rich for the foreigners to be charged more than 3 times as much.   We’ll have to see what eventually happens.  Fingers crossed the park authority see sense before the cabin opens.

Also earlier this week the dates for the resting period for Yushan were announced.  Climbers will not be allowed to hike Yushan between Feb 1st and Feb 29th.

Group Hike to Snow Mountain

Snow Mountain, Taiwan

Next month Taiwan Adventures are organising a group hike to Snow Mountain, Taiwan’s second highest mountain.  We’ve already ran trips to Nenggao, Jialuo Lake and Songluo Lake and this will be our first group trip to the Sheipa National Park.  If you’re interesting in joining us, please sign up at our facebook page.

The plan is to leave Taipei on Friday 25th November at 7pm and return on Sunday 27th November 7pm.  The trip involves spending 2 nights in cabins on the mountainside.  Total cost for the trip is $4500NT and this includes transport, permits, insurance, food and guiding.  The trip is limited to 10 people so please sign up ASAP!

Itinerary

Friday – Meet 7pm, drive to Wuling Farm and then hike at night for an hour to arrive at the Qika Cabin.

Saturday – Up around 8am, breakfast and then hike up to the 369 Cabin passing by Snow Mountain’s East Peak. Sleep at the cabin.

Sunday – Up sharp (2/3am) and head to the main peak for sunrise. Hike back down to Wuling Farm and then drive back to Taipei. We expect to be back around 7pm.

Equipment

You will need;

– At least a 40L backpack
– Pack cover
– Sturdy hiking shoes or boots (Sneakers won’t cut it on this one)
– Fleece
– Raincoat
– Warm pants
– 3 pairs of socks
– Warm hat
– Gloves
– Sleeping bag (winter bag – it will be very cold  at night, possibly below zero)
– Rain gear
– 2L of water
– Flashlight (preferably a headlamp)
– Toiletries and personal items
– Sunscreen

If you have trouble getting anything, let us know and we’ll see if we can help you out. We’ll provide all the food with the exception of lunch on Saturday.

Notes

It’s important to note that although hiking Snow Mountain doesn’t involve any technical climbing, any high mountain hike where you are carrying your own gear is tough.  Please consider your fitness and ability before signing up.

We will require a deposit of $1000NT from anyone who wishes to come.  This is non-refundable unless we are forced to cancel because of the weather.

We must receive the deposit before 25th October otherwise it will be too late to apply for the permit.

The view from the East Peak as the sun comes up

Almost at the peak

Looking towards the Central Mountain Range

The Black Forest in winter

Taiwan Adventures – The Online Guide

It’s been a hectic and crazy year for us, but finally our comprehensive online guides to Taiwan are finally ready.  Myself, Neil Wade, Ross Tweedie and my brother, Phil Dawson have spent the last 8 months or so building the two guides.  There is one in English and one that we have had translated into Chinese.

It’s been hard work to say the least.  Working full time jobs and then spending the evenings writing and the weekends travelling and visiting places, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.  It gave me a real kick up the arse to get out there and visit some of the places that I had been meaning to go to for a long time but had never gotten round to.

Some of my personal highlights include Guguan which I knew nothing about but absolutely loved, especially the hiking, getting the car stuck in snow at the top of Hehuanshan,  and motorcycling up and down the east coast between Hualien and Taidong with Neil this summer.

Each guide is divided up into 5 main areas, Taipei, north, east, south and central and then each area is divided up into specific places, such as Kending, the North East Coast or Danshui/Bali.  You can use the site to search for what’s near you or to plan a trip to another part of Taiwan or simply browse through the categories for things that interest you.

We have some 900 places listed including hotels, hikes, hot springs, transport etc.  Each place is listed on a google map and the address is in Chinese and English to make it easier to find.

Hopefully next week the mobile app version will be released in the itunes store and each area will be available for download to your iphone, ipad, or ipod. The app version will have online and offline maps so getting directions will be even easier and there are some 2000 photographs included.  We will continuously update the app and so, unlike a guide book, you won’t have to wait 3 years to pay for a new version., the update be available for free!

We hope that people find these guides useful and we’d love to hear some feedback about how we can improve them – info at taiwan-adventures dot com

 

Nenggao Historic Trail 2

A view of Nenggao Mountain on the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan

Neil and I revisited the Nenggao Historic Trail this weekend taking a group of 7 people with us.  This was a first go at guiding people on an over-nighter and we were lucky enough to have great company, weather and some fabulous views near the top of the Cilai South Peak.  It was a great weekend out away from the cities and into nature.

The Baiyang Waterfall, Taroko Gorge – 白楊瀑布

The Baiyang Waterfall and suspension bridge

The fantastic Baiyang Waterfall trail in Taroko Gorge was once an easy walk along a flat wide road, but since the mountain above the first tunnel collapsed, it’s now a much harder and longer climb to get there.  The trail began it’s life back in 1984 when the Taipower Company built the road to explore the valley’s potential for hydroelectric power.  Outrage at the planned damming and diversion of water led to the project being shelved and finally abandoned in 1986 when Taroko Gorge regained its national park status.  The road was then opened up to the public as a hiking trail.

An Eagle’s Eye View

Checking out the view from Eagle's Head Mountain

A short post for a short hike.  I was in Yilan this weekend to take part in a 3km swim.  The weather was unusually kind given how notoriously bad it can be in this part of Taiwan and so afterwards with the afternoon free, we went in search of a mountain called 鷹尖石 or Eagle’s Head Mountain in English

If you drive up to the top it’s a very short 15 minute hike to the peak, though with the heat we’ve been experiencing recently, even a 15 minute hike can feel like an act of masochism!  The actual mountain itself has nothing of interest but if you stay on the main trail instead (it’s very obvious), you’ll come to a cliff with unimpeded views of Honeymoon Bay and Turtle Island.

Mao Kong 貓空 – Cycling

The tea growing area of Maokong makes for a great place to cycle.  Plenty of hills and different routes, loads of cafes and tea houses with awesome views and there’s really not that much traffic, at least not during the week!

A beautfiul sunset over the Maokong Cable Car

The Holy Ridge – 聖稜線

The Holy Ridge is a razor thin ridge of mountains in the Sheipa National Park that runs from north to south connecting Snow Mountain to Dabajianshan.  This was definitely the toughest hike any of us have done, made all the more difficult given the poor weather we encountered on the most hardest day.

The Holy Ridge

A section of the ridge that we traversed

There are several routes that can be taken when doing the Holy Ridge, Barking Deer have some info here.  We chose to do the ‘O’ route in reverse purely because this was the only way we could get permit!

Summer Swimming

Sun moon lake

It doesn’t quite feel like it, but summer is almost here. Every year there are a number of open water swim events and swimming competitions held so here’s a list and some information about each one.

Wisdom Action Cup
First up is the Wisdom Action Cup. Held every year in Taipei, the location is always different and this year it’s at the Science and Technology University 科技大學 on Keelung Road. The competition is runs over two days with the adults competing in the morning and kids in the afternoon. You can take part in 2 races and one relay. Deadline for entries is April 8th. More info here (in English).

Kending
The first open water swim is on April 24th in Nanwan 南灣 just a bit north of Kending 墾丁. It’s supposed to be 3km but I’d say it’s more like 2. Swimmers head directly out to sea and, at the end of a string of boats, turn around and come back on the other side. More info here (Chinese only). Applications need to be in by April 8th so get your skates on!

Lanyang
Next in the north of Taiwan is the Lanyang Swim. This one is held on the beach by Wushigang 烏石港, near Toucheng 頭成 in Yilan 宜蘭. Unlike the Nanwan swim, you follow the coastline along and this one actually is 3km long. Though most people start to get out a few hundreds short of the finish as the surfers are usually in the water by mid-morning. More info here (Chinese only). Applications must be in by April 30th and the event is held on June 12th.

Shimen Reservoir
Normally around July there is a swim held in the Shimen Reservoir but it would appear that complaints about swimmers affecting the cleanliness of the water seem to have led to the event being cancelled. Apparently no-one is bothered about the dozens of boats that cruise around the reservoir daily. If anything changes, I’ll add it here.

Jinmen
On July 30th there’s a swim held on Jiinmen 金門. It’s the only one I haven’t done and so I don’t much about it, other than it’s also a 3km swim. The info for the swim can be found here

Sun Moon Lake
The final open water swim of the summer is the Sun Moon Lake Swim 日月潭and this year it will be held on September 4th. It’s the most popular swim and last year attracted over 27,000 participants. It’s a gorgeous place to swim, but with that many people entering, it’s impossible to really get going in the water. It’s also reported to be 3km but is more like 1.5. UPDATE – The swim can be found here

For all of the open water swims, you need to take with you a torpedo buoy with you. It’s annoying to swim with but there are a lot of people who take part in these events despite being unable to swim so the organisers deem it necessary. They are usually available at the event for around 600NT or alternatively a lot of swimming shops/hiking shops sell them too.

You need to get insurance before entering the open water swims and that is a real pain in the arse. Get a Taiwanese friend to help out. You just need the basic travel insurance and it shouldn’t cost much more than $100.

Enjoy!