Christmas in Taiwan: Caoling Historical Trail & Tainan

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We arrived in Fulong in early afternoon and found our way to the beginning of the Caoling Historical Trail (after a close call with a guard dog guarding an abandoned house). The hike took a few hours and we travelled through a thick forest and ended on a grassy cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately we arrived at the cliff before it got dark, although our hike down into the town of Dali was a bit frightening in the pitch black. This trail was built in 1807 to connect two cities (Danshui and Ilan) and the section that remains today is one of the few historical roads that remains in Taiwan today. Once in Dali, we took a train back to Taipei then the High-Speed Rail train (which can reach speeds of 330 km/h) down the west coast to Tainan.

Tainan was an amazing city and the people were incredibley helpful and friendly (On the train from Dali to Taipei a middle school girl gave me a sandwich type pastry because she said I "looked so hungry and exhausted"). Tainan is said to house many of the ancient artifacts and temples in Taiwan, as well as some excellent traditional food (which we were able to sample in the "Traditional Food Alley"). Needless to say, we spent almost all of our time in Tainan visiting countless temples and historical relics. We visited the Altar of Heaven, Chikan Towers, Confucius Temple, Great South Gate, Koxinga's Temple, Lady Linshui's Temple, Matsu Temple, National Taiwan Museum of Literature, and the Wufei Temple to name a few. After a full day of sightseeing and being your typical tourist, we headed back to Taipei where we visited the small town of Beitou for some good fashioned Taiwan hot-spring action.

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Photos

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Beginning of the Caoling Historical Trail.

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Jeff walking along the misty trail.

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Fallen Horse Bridge. This horse was made with hundreds of drift-wood like pieces of wood.

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Jeff starting up the steps that took us deeper into the woods.

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Looking back at the Caoling historical trail from the lookout pavillion.

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The grassy bluff at the end of the trail.

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The Pacific Ocean and the town of Dali.

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Turtle Island and dozens of lit up fishing boats.

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Streets of Tainan.

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At some of the temples there were boards of these papers and sometimes tassles which were notes from students asking the Gods for help to pass exams.

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More pleas for good grades.

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A table filled with offerings and piles of yellow papers for ancestors and dead relatives. Every temple we went to was filled with tables like this.

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Koi pond.

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Large fig tree.

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Taiwan, the land of scooters.

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Confucius Temple, Tainan.

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An original stone scuplpture at the Confucius Temple in Tainan.

Comments

[Marlene]

Great photos! Your videos are amazing - truly an awe-inspiring ride. Good job with the scooter Jeff! What a great trip. Thanks for keeping up the blog you guys.

[PeterZ3000]

You guys are kind of inspiring!
Just moved here myself, and now I've already found all these great things to do. I know it must be strange having strangers see your adventures, but it's appreciated. Looks like you guys are having a blast.... and great photos!

[Norma York]

Christmas in Taiwan
Loved that horse! Wish I was young enough to be travelling with you. My last entry I put in telus.com instead of .net so it probably didn't work. One of the reasons I don't do finances on this thing- my typing is too eratic. Thanks, love, Grandma