Things to do in Fenglin before you're dead

Travel gurus, lend me an ear. So this Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning I’ll be doon sooth on lovely Highway 9, in the village of Fenglin, pretty much midway between Hualien and Taitung as far as I can tell. I’ll have no transport, but I’ll have a baby stroller and a motherfucker of a hardcore baby backpack coupled with a pair of Lowa Tibet GTX Treks – the Mercedes Benz of trekking boots. Is there ANYTHING of note I should be thinking about doing other than sitting in the shade with vast quantities of beer outside the village 7-11 (which I’ve already established is extant).
I know that just walking around down there and taking snapshots will be rather pleasant, but if anyone has any ideas I’d be most grateful. I’ll arrive there at around lunchtime Friday and will have the whole time thereafter pretty much to myself, as the wife has a three-day simultaneous interpretation gig there, so me and the brat will be left to our own devices.
I know this is bound to be very very long thread indeed, given the doubtless plethora of things to do there, but I’m a fast reader, so
(FEIREN, THIS MEANS

YOU!)
give it your best shot.

In the NAME of the WEE MAN! An hour and no responses about air-conditioned shopping malls selling Gucci and Coach in the teeming metropolis of Fenglin? What the HELL is the matter with the flob?

Well, the Fenghuang waterfalls (鳳凰瀑布) are nice on a hot day. Walk west out of town on Shuiyuan Rd (水源) for 2 or 3 km.
Then there’s the excitement of the Lintianshan Forestry Park 林田山, which has some stuff about logging cypress. Wanrong once had some of Taiwan’s biggest cypress forests.

Take the train one station south to Wanrong station and then head west on Wansen Rd. past the elementary school. An added bonus ois that you will have left Fenglin and visited the wilds of Wanrong Township, proudly one of Taiwan’s three townships distinguished by not having a single ATM! The Wanrong Forestry Rd begins near the Wanrong township government and leads to the trailhead for the trail to Qicai Lake at 2800 meters. There are a number of hotsprings in the river along the Forestry Road.

Back in Fenglin proper, there’s also a Hakka Musuem in the park and quite a few tobacco drying sheds like the ones you see in Meinong. You can also cross the river and wander around the little aboriginal hamlets along 193.

My downstairs neigbors are from Fenglin. They mainly sit around in the shade outside their shop and drink copious quantities of beer.

You, my friend, are a star! And I thank you. Truth be told, I was waiting for a response along the lines of: Of all the many quaint hamlets along route 9, Fenglin is the one that has cast off its bucolic image, preferring instead to concentrate on the profits available from its three naptha cracking plants, the largest in the country.
Embarrassingly, I’m also very interested in the timber industry for some unknown reason, so that’s also a plus – chats are conceivable as I know a great deal about the subject. Don’t ask.
The Wanrong information is pure fucking gold, too. I sincerely doubt I’ll be able to keep the kid quiet enough for a jaunt up to Qicai, although, damn! It’s a place I want to visit. Maybe I’ll treat brattisorius to a healthy slug or two of Taiwanese brandy and just FUCK IT! Head up there anyway.
Again, Feiren, thank you, because I would never have known about Wanrong without your info.
IOU.

Qicai Lake is a four day walk along an old pylon maintenanace road that has devolved into a rough path. I’m sure you don’t want to do that. Ha! Ha!

…but the old logging village (Shenrong?) where that route begins is about 2 kms inland from Wanrung and is absolutely recommended. Lots of old wooden houses, some exhibits and logging line paraphenalia.

I was at Lintianshan last CNY. There are a few pics of the place here

You’re dead on Monday? :astonished: :cry:

Those are really nice images. They have that Walker Evans feel that really fits these forgotten corners of Taiwan.

I was kidding about Qicai Lake. It’s way up there and a great adventure, but the wee one will have to wait a few years. Some of the hot springs might be a go though. I bet you could ask a local to drive you to one for a few hundred NT$. Bring beer.

:unamused: Dear LORD! As if it would be otherwise!

[quote]Strap them kids in
Give em a
Little bit of vodka
In a
Cherry Coke
We’re goin’ to Oklahoma
[/quote]

Hey that was a great movie. Oh wait, that was Denver, not Fenglin.

:unamused: Dear LORD! As if it would be otherwise![/quote]

Well, I figured that with all that milk and all those nappies that you might make foolish choices of economy and convenience.

:unamused: Dear LORD! As if it would be otherwise![/quote]

Well, I figured that with all that milk and all those nappies that you might make foolish choices of economy and convenience.[/quote]
I may be foolish but I’m not a complete nincompoop!

So, a travel report?

A very nice wee mini-break. Rural in the extreme. No hairy-legged stuff – a baby stroller, no matter how manly, is a bit of a limiter. However, The B&B we stayed at was actually right on that Shuiyuan Road you mentioned – and just a 15-minute walk from the 7-11, and Jojo’s interpretation gig was right at the top end of that road in the shadow of the hills, so the waterfall was nice, as well as the general surroundings. Met some very nice folks – peanut sellers, an old musician fellow – wandered around some gorgeous scenery, saw some birdlife, etc. No complaints.

B&B garden (yes, an actual landscaped garden).

Phoenix waterfall after a thunderplump.

Tears under the Tamarind trees

Hakka(?) musician in his shop (which was filled to bursting with the instruments he makes)

Dead shrew of some sort.

An overly-friendly duck in the garden who was intent on mating with me.

A bittern.

A quintessential view of rural Taiwan.

All in all, there are lots worse places to spend a weekend.