Anyway, back in early November, we went on a hike to Caoling Historic Trail, on the northeast coast of Taiwan. It had been about three years since I had been there. The weather was beautiful. Robert drove us there, and Sunny came along.
On the way we stopped by a newly restored sanheyuan, a kind of traditional country estate. (Is that a Hawaiian ti plant, Cordyline fruticosa, that I see peeking out at the bottom right?)
The owners of this house have spent fortunes fixing up this place, restoring it to its former glory. Houses like this, once common throughout Taiwan, are falling apart and fast disappearing because the materials and skills to maintain them are no longer readily available, and as such they're are very expensive to maintain. A real pity because of their historic value. Thankfully some, like this, are being preserved.
A closeup of the front door. Oh, look: bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus):
We drove to the trailhead only to find that half of Taiwan had the same idea of coming here to hike. I'd never seen so many people at Caoling Trail, and the first stretch, the jungly part, was like a traffic jam of people. But finally we arrived at the first pavilions, where we commenced onto the grassy part of the hike.
There are some spectacular views from atop the bluffs. You can see Turtle Island and the Dali harbor.
One famous feature of Caoling trail is the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) that live here. They are the descendants of domestic buffalo, but now live in the wild. Far away in the background you can see the yellow sands of Fulong Beach.
Kate and Sunny
The vegetation here is mostly grasses and canes, with the occasional flower.
Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)
Passing through a stile.
Up, up, up!
But then it started getting late. Instead of walking all the way to the end and going down to Daxi, we took a shortcut at Taoyuan Valley in order to avoid making our way down in the dark.
When we got to Daxi, Trailhacker showed us the back entrance to the Daxi Fish Market, where from amid a wide selection of groupers, tilefish, parrotfish, conger eels, bigeyes and many others, we selected, with Trailhacker's expert help, a fresh 3-kilogram Indo-Pacific King Mackerel (Scomberomorus guttatus).
We took it to the local seafood restaurant where it became our dinner.
In fact, the mackerel sushi was perhaps the best sushi I'd ever eaten. (If only there were hand-ground wasabi, then it would have been perfect!) The fish was so good that Sunny, who up to that point had an aversion to seafood, actually enjoyed it.
A successful hike and a memorable day!
An interesting beetle: Eusilpha bicolor. I don't know the English name, but the Chinese name translates to "red-breasted carrion beetle."
