29.05.2023 – The day after …

Once again we woke up with a hangover. The party the evening before was to limit Andreas in particular several more times today. Either the last beer had been “bad” or the betel nut was now showing its full effect.

We took a small regional train through a number of beautiful villages towards the Sandialong Trail, our first destination of the day. We started our hike to the 3 waterfalls in light rain, but it was still extremely humid and Andreas complained about his condition today. The path wasn’t actually particularly challenging at first, but in places it became steeper and extremely slippery due to the moisture, and in other places we had to climb over narrow suspension bridges or up steep ladders. Most of the time we were traveling alone, only occasionally did we meet other people, for example, a couple of people from the city. another tourist with a penchant for yoga exercises in the great outdoors, or a group of older locals who were again very interested in us.

Before we took the next train to Pingxi to get to the Pingxi Crags Hiking Trails, Andreas really needed a cold, sugary drink and a break. Mel passed the time with a taro ball red bean soup.

The Pingxi Crags Hiking Trails are seven trails, each of which leads up a different mountain. Probably the most popular trails are those to the summit of the Xiaozi Mountain, Cimu Mountain and Putuo Mountain. To reach the summits, you have to conquer steep steps and ladders and occasionally climb a short distance. At some point, Andreas was just moaning – it was now incredibly hot, the sun was burning and he was just exhausted and didn’t want to go any further. It was steep downhill everywhere and every step had to be taken precisely, sweat was pouring into our eyes and it was a miracle that we reached all 3 mountain peaks. Each ascent was followed by a descent back to a central spot between the 3 mountain peaks and Andreas took the opportunity each time to use a jungle shower – a small waterfall directly on a rock.

After about 3 hours we were back at Pingxi station. Unfortunately, the ticket office was closed and so we had to travel back to Shifen without a ticket. There was another waterfall in Shifen that Mel really wanted to visit. At least Shifen station wasn’t our cup of tea – too many people. There were only narrow paths right next to the tracks, which were lined with stalls, so we had to squeeze through the crowds. Many sky lanterns were launched directly from the tracks – a local custom.

Unfortunately, after about 45 minutes of walking, we couldn’t get directly to the waterfall as it is in a kind of park and the section with the waterfall had already closed (we arrived at the waterfall around 16:50). So the only special event on the way to the waterfall was a young couple who had a small accident with their scooter, crashed twice in a row and we looked after both of them.

We actually wanted to get back to our start, but Mel really wanted to make a stop in Houtong. Despite the fact that Andreas wasn’t feeling well and almost threw up several times, we stopped in Houtong – apart from the thousands of cats, there wasn’t much to see here. Houtong is just a small village and everything was already closed. At least our stop had one good thing: we caught an express train back to Ruifang, where we very quickly collected our luggage and sneaked off to a bus to avoid falling into the clutches of our party hosts from the previous evening.

The bus ride to Jiufen was very special – our bus driver must have been in a hurry and so it was another miracle that everyone survived the journey. After we had moved into our fully digitalized accommodation (downloading the app, letting them know to open the doors, paying by video …), Andreas just wanted to go to bed after a shower. But Mel managed to persuade him to take a stroll through the beautiful old town, enjoy a delicious meal and another beer.