What to do on a rainy day? Well, drive up to the tea gardens in the mountains, of course!
An entry full of pictures and very little words today. If it’s a rainy day in your neck of the woods like it has been for weeks here in central Taiwan, we’d like to cheer you up and show you how overcast days are probably the best moments to visit high mountain tea gardens here in Taiwan, as well as put a bit of colour in your day. We invite you to follow us as we move up into the central mountains to visit Lugu, the tea gardens of the Dalun and Longfengxia ridges of Shanlinxi and move back down the mountain into Zhushan Township and its “sea of bamboo”. We promise it will be breathtaking, and we will end out trip with a very rare sighting that’s well worth the peak. All you need for the full 3D effect is a good cup of high mountain oolong to enjoy the ride. Hop in!
Here in central Taiwan, we’ve certainly had our share of wet weather recently. There hasn’t been a day in the last month(s) or so where we didn’t have at least a drizzle, if not a good soaking. This is in sharp contrast to the dry winter and spring we’ve had. (yes, spring is mentioned in the past tense as it is summer here according to the lunar calendar). Farmers are now complaining of watery melon crops and mildewy vegetables. Mildew is also a problem in our closets these days, the dryer simply can’t do its job properly. But enough said about the miserable aspect of “weather”.
In the last few weeks, as the summer is becoming increasingly warmer there is a pattern that seems to settle in. We get a reprieve of rain in the afternoon as air masses seem to battle it out over our heads. The most remarkable aspect of this phenomenon is how the hazy soup in which we most often bathe seems to disappear for a few hours. The majestic beauty of the central ridge appears before us and tempts us with its beauty. Last week, we answered the call, jumped in the car just before 3 pm and headed into the mountains. We had no set itinerary or game plan. We simply followed the road to where it would lead us. If it meant getting lost that was part of the adventure. Sure enough, yet again, we had proof that living on the spur of the moment has more than its fair share of rewards.
We invite you to click on any picture to activate a panoramic slide presentation.
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- Lugu valley, home of the famous Dong Ding Oolong, as seen from the back of the Lugu Farmer’s Association Building on Road 151 going up to Shanlinxi.
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- We couldn’t help but notice this happy couple and some of their friends due to the noise they made.
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- Our usual first stop in Shanlinxi is the lower ridge of Dalun where many gardens are also set-up with restaurant facilities to enjoy the view. No hot-pot today as it is the middle of the week… we’ll have to come back with the crowds on the weekend, I guess.
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- This picture, and the following one, prove my point. Here we are on a cloudy and rainy day and yet we have the best views and can see the farthest. The dark mound you can see in the far background is the Baguashan where Taiwan Tea Crafts is based; on the highest tip to the left of the ridge.
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- This is a similar vantage point from the preceding pic. taken on a sunny day last January. Despite the colder air mass, a humid haze is nearly always omnipresent in the high mountains. The Baguashan is there but it’s presence can only be guessed at.
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- Further up and towards the spine of the island we find the Longfengxia ridge; the highest tea growing terroir of the Shanlinxi region. We can already notice the sharp inclines of many of the gardens. Let’s cross the bamboo forest and explore further!
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- We’ve moved up a notch and are now above the 2000 m mark on the Longfengxia ridge looking down towards our starting point: the Baguashan ridge, some 30 bird’s eye kilometres away.
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- Just for the beauty of it, a view from another angle taken from the same vantage point looking towards more gardens further south with waves of Longfengxia bushes in the foreground.
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- Time to pursue our route down into the valley on Township Road 49 (on your right). This is about as wide as this road gets! Barely enough for one vehicle. Notice the tea factory in the middle of the picture and move on to the next pic…
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- As we move around to the other side of the ridge, we are horrified at the sight of the devastation left by the long weeks of torrential rain we’ve been having this Spring. The same factory you saw in the preceding pic. is now without a tea garden. And another tea factory on the left is clinging for its life. Some of you may also be intrigued by the brownish colour of the tea bushes on the right. They’ve simply been cut down after the spring picking to generate a new, fuller picking table.
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- The devastation affects many gardens on this side of the ridge. What seems to be electrical wires appear to hold this pile from blocking the whole of the road.
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- A peak down the ravine in front of the landslide shows that much more damage has happened above and below our heads. The steep tea garden on the other side seems miraculously unaffected by the landslides.
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- We’ve left the higher altitude tea gardens to penetrate a dense bamboo forest as we make our way down to the coastal plain. A sign welcomes us in “the sea of bamboo of Zhushan Township”. We see many little rail cars like this one along the road that lead inside the eerie forests of bamboo on each side of the road.
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- Here and there, the bamboo forest gives way to other enchanting shrubbery. This time the rail car goes up a tea garden, for a change.
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- It doesn’t appear to us as if we are getting closer to civilization at all! The more we go down the hill the denser the forest becomes to the point of invading the road. We have the strange feeling of being the only one to have taken this road in years.
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- It is less troubling to be looking at landslide paths from above them than from below. There was no tarmac left on the road where we took this picture. Time to move along!
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- Suddenly a ray of light seems to be guiding us out of the dense forest. The road becomes wider.
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- Just as we follow the ray of light, spots of bright red and white on a coat of deep shiny black moves slowly in front of us. A very unique looking bird slowly makes his way into the dense forest.
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- We knew we had seen something uncommon but didn’t know exactly what at that time. It’s only after the fact that we found out that we were a few meters away from the bird emblem of Taiwan: a Swinhoe’s Pheasant who is reported to be extremely rare and hard to spot. What a beautiful and majestic bird! My companion who is Taiwanese had never seen one before, nor does she know anyone who ever did!
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- This is our final view of our beloved Baguashan before we ascend its gentle rolling slope to make it back home on the very tip you see on your left.
Wonderful photos. Thanks for allowing us to see them!