Liyu Mountain, Bishanyan Temple- 鯉魚山, 碧山巖開漳聖王廟

(This happened the day before Daxi to Dali on Saturday, but I didn't know if I was going to ever finish this, so I wrote up that entry first.)

I was supposed to be doing a completely different hike today, one closer to home.  Even though the hike is within my county, none of the buses I needed to take stopped at the bus stops where I live.  As in, yes, I checked multiple bus stops to see if I was missing something obvious, or if living in Taiwan is just that much of a catch-22.

Fuck it, I guess I'll be going back to the hike I did two weeks ago.  Can't go wrong with a breezy jaunt to a beautiful waterfall, and I won't even have to write a blog article about it!  This time I'd swing around and take the loop back through unexplored Liyu Mountain.  Other people, however, have the same idea, because I'm  dodging hikers left and right on what had been a more than ample path last visit.  Oh yeah, last visit was kinda right before a typhoon...

Everyone's rushing to get a few hikes in before the rainy season descends upon Taiwan.  I can't blame them, but I sure as shit don't want to put up with crawling septuagenarians and heedless brats walking right down the middle of the path.  Luckily, before I even have to pull any side-road maneuvers, the fork towards Liyu Mountain appears, and no one seems intent on straying from their forward push.

Surprise!

This is for good reason, as the fork climbs up a great many flight of steps.  I'll grant this concession though, if I can just go at my own pace.  After some climbing, the trees clear enough that I get a bird's eye view of Yuanjue Falls opposite the valley, its twin streams threading down rock so smooth as to look man-made.  The placid lake above beckons with its rich blue color, and the beautiful orange moss carpeting nearby boulders completes that sort of enchanting postcard view I find impossible to capture at this distance.

Not long past this vista, I see something that gives me pause.  Miniature models of famous locales start to sprout up on both sides.  This is what giants must feel like.

Mt. Fuji

Somewhere in Rome?

The Presidential Office Building in Taipei

These pieces weren't some piecemeal effort by the public though.  Mr. Liu, a retired man, while volunteering for mountain management, spent the next fifteen years of his life painting and molding over fifty 'views' into rocks dug out to facilitate forest growth.  Starting with stretches of highway, the subject matter ranges from remote temples to sacred mountains, branching out beyond Taiwan.  Some of the works stem purely from his imagination, or else my knowledge of Chinese geography is lacking.  The characters underneath one model, freshly done-up in a bright red, read '世外桃源' or 'beautiful retreat away from the world'.  Tall pillars of rocks enclose some sort of settlement, the cars of supplicants parked nearby.  What draws my eye is a smooth slab of rock planted within the side of the model.  I bend down for a closer look.  Is that a geode slice?

Evidently, the man liked to add a little bling to his pieces.  I imagine what it would be like to climb up a mountain towards a towering mirror of blinding jade, impossibly smooth to the touch, but cracked in several places by the vicissitudes of time.  Such a place would surely be famous throughout the world.  Ah, to live purely in the imagination, and give rise to works that can never be!

I admire the pieces as the trail starts to weave down, but by far the most impressive, and monumental, is the miniature Great Wall, winding around tree trunks, rising and falling with the 'mountains' beneath.  All that's missing is some heavy mist (or smog, depending on where you are) and the scene would be complete, though perhaps this Great Wall is more audacious for being built through a heavy jungle.

I eventually make my way off of Liyu Mountain and take the left branch up to Bishanyan Temple (the right goes back towards Yuanjue Falls).  The temple is nice enough, but I'm more interested in the view.  Off towards Danshui, the sunset is a gorgeous orange-pink, and I join the crowds of people taking some to bask in its radiance.  Danshui always gets the prettiest sunsets.

I realize I have maybe a half-hour at this point to do some further exploring, so I hurry up some steps towards a peak.  Signs tell me I'm on top of something, but with the trees crowding in, all I can see is the smiling face of Chiang Kai Shek, his monument plopped squarely in the center of this mountain park, lacking any aesthetic charm.  I make my way back down.

I'm a little concerned how I'm going to get down in the dark, but a chatty, older gentleman points me down the road.  I take a left fork off into the forest, down some lit steps.  When I emerge, he comes up on his scooter and offers me a ride.  What is it with kindly guys showing up on scooters to lend a hand?  Hell yes I'll take a ride!  As he's talking to me, sparks from his cigarette keep flying into my face, a cigarette he dangles from his mouth while chewing a hefty wad of betel nut.  With so many addictions, one must be judicious in finding time to enjoy them all.  I love you, random old Taiwanese man.

He lets me out at the Neihu MRT, waves, and takes off.  God damn, what is it, six?  And it's this dark already?  I guess winter really is coming.