Yuemeikeng Waterfall in Jiaoxi

On Friday night at Damien and Leia's Birthday Party/Dinner, we found out from Dale and Company that they planned on hiking to a waterfall in Jiaoxi on Sunday.  There were 2 other Expat events going on that day (Beach day at Toulong Beach close by Jioaxi, and a mountain hike up to Tea Pot Mountain near Jiufen).  All of the events sounded great but we picked the Waterfall hike becuase it was shorter and we were a bit tired from Yangmingshan, and it was blazing hot so a day on the beach sounded a bit too hot.

Anyhoo, we met up with Matthew, Shana, and Leia at Technology Building MRT station to catch a bus from Taipei to Jiaoxi on the east coast.  The bus was $3 per person and it was pretty luxurious inside.  It took about 1.5 hours to drive through the mountain and to arrive at our destination (some bad traffic at the start of the drive).

Little Beatrice was happily sitting underneath a gazebo getting fanned by her owner

I don't know what these are but I thought they were made out of pork floss. lol

praying mantis!

After a short taxi ride to where the trail started we found a stream with lots of people mucking about in

There's Eliza, Leia, Fifi, Dan, Shana, and Matthew

After a short hike up the stairs we reached the first waterfall.  There were lots of people bathing at the bottom and while it was beautiful, if this was "it" then it was a little disappointing because the hike was so short and there were tons of people.  Luckily there was more to come :D

We left this area and followed the cement stairs up for another 400 gruelling meters.  The main reason it was tough was because it was probably close to 36 C and when you're in the jungle cover it can get crazy sweaty!

We'd reached the top!  there was a really cool mist in the air and it was shining down this shaft of light.  Looked pretty awesome.  Tried to capture it in a picture but not sure if it's communicated well enough

This waterfall was much bigger and the pool at the bottom was empty.  Just for us!  There were a few other people around but no one was venturing in.  That was an invitation!

The water beats down on the head pretty hard but it's sort of like a mini massage.  The cool water after the oven-hot jungle heat was incredible.

Group picture!  Left to right: Shana, Matthew, Dan, Leia, Fifi, Eliza, Justin, Dale

I can't help but wonder what Dale is doing in the background...

Fifi and Dale.  It was quite difficult to capture the entire waterfall.  In the background you're only seeing about 1/3rd  of it's height

Back into the jungle to head up the other fork in the road to the monastery

There's Jiaoxi City down below.

After exploring the monastery we headed back down to the trail head where there's lots of vendors selling snacks.  Dale and Fifi treated me to the Yilan invention of icecream filled burittos with Cilantro.  I'd had it before and it was as good as ever. 

The woman scrapes a large peanut/sugar block and then adds those peanut scrapings onto 2 blops of icecream which are garnished with cilantro.  Very refreshing!

I believe these are century eggs covered with rice husks.  The guy said it was delicious but no one was in the mood after the hike.

escaping under the scooter!

crazy looking tree engulfing the fern

the Taiwanese public mock the sign.  It's too hot!

We followed the river downstream to the main parking lot and park area.

It started pouring rain intermittently although the sun was still shining.  Very refreshing.

the dog show

Beautiful clouds today

little rat dog at the bus stop!  So far over the ugly side of the spectrum it starts to become cute...

We took a shuttle bus back into Jiaoxi city.  I wandered into a 7-11 for some AC and found our Mohzy cable in the 7-11.  They bought a whole bunch of pieces but required special 7-11 packaging.

Crazy scooter that was pimped out with tons of little trinkets!

The longer you stare at it, the more you see

Yilan's mineral hot springs allow their "heartless" vegetable to grow very large.  These were in a garlic sauce

Vegetables with egg, and a sort of soup with tofu skin in it.

The most unusual dish for me was the fried chicken pudding blocks.  Inside each of these little pillows is.. a block of pudding with "chicken essence"!

Hot and sour spare ribs!  Yum

3 cup sauce with frog legs.  This was my first time with the frog legs.  The 3 cup sauce is quite famous.  The 3 cups is for rice wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  It's then topped with garlic and basil leaves.  Very good!

The style of food is called Quai Ciao.  Which means to cook very fast with high heat (or something like that).

After dinner we were considering going to the famous hot springs but everyone was wiped out from the heat so we stumbled back on the bus to go back to Taipei.  Another fantastic jam packed weekend with new friends!