[quote=“Muzha Man”]
Omni I will call you when we get on the bus to make sure you are ready.
Okay, we should be in Pinglin around 9:30-10. Rats and Feiren, meet us outside the Tea Museum at 10:00. That should give us time to get bikes and ride back or if the bus is late we will pass by around that time on the way to get bikes.[/quote]
Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you guys there.
[quote=“Muzha Man”]
Okay, we should be in Pinglin around 9:30-10. Rats and Feiren, meet us outside the Tea Museum at 10:00. That should give us time to get bikes and ride back or if the bus is late we will pass by around that time on the way to get bikes.[/quote]
Sorry, was a long week, and we still have a bunch of stuff on our list for the weekend. Seems like we won’t be able to make it tomorrow. If something changes, I will send out a text message, or be at the tea museum by 10 am. Have fun guys.
What a gorgeous morning!
I think I’ll ride my scooter rather than taking the bus, so I’ll meet everyone at Pinglin.
Well, I just got back from my own little river tracing adventure/swimming in Hsiao Wu Lai…If you had half the fun we did and the same broiling heat then you had a fantastic day.
Hope you all had a good time 
[quote=“MJB”]Well, I just got back from my own little river tracing adventure/swimming in Hsiao Wu Lai…If you had half the fun we did and the same broiling heat then you had a fantastic day.
Hope you all had a good time [/quote]
Indeed, we had the broiling heat, a very pleasant ride, and a refreshing dip at a lovely little spot in the Jingualiao Stream. And I was very glad to meet another star poster, Feiren, for the first time.
I’m glad to hear you also made the most of the summery weather in the best way possible.
We try… 
Shooting the water slide at our favorite dipping hole:
Well, our swimming hole was not that dramatic but it was charming and refreshing. I have no complaints. (But you do have to take the hiking club to your swimming hole one day.)
Ours:
This gorgeous looking one we will explore another day. Note the tree growing over the pool. If some crazy man (seeker4?) would climb out onto it we could secure a Tarzan rope and swing into the pool.
The biking route at the start:
Then it ran beside the road. Much of the frist few kilometres have a sidewalk of sorts. Good idea as the road is narrow. Very little traffic though. One car every few minutes for maybe half the route then almost none for the last half.
Sporty fellow one:
Sporty fellow two:
Sporty fellow three:
The route follows a river the whole time.
Cotton pickin’ tea pickers:
Well, another winner of a day. This is a great warm weather outing. Cycling followed by a refreshing dip. The way there is about 1.5-2 hours depending on how direct you go (I prefer going through the tea fields at the beginning). You don’t realize that you are goign up most of the time until you return and realize you can coast most of the way back. Makes for a nice end to the day not getting all sweaty again.
Great to see Omni and Kitty again, and to finally meet up with the intrepid Feiren. Hope you aren’t too exhausted after your ride back to Taipei.
Pinglin sure looks like a nice place. Glad everyone had a good time. What’s the scoop on renting bikes there?
We did some in-city riding. Always nice to get out, but felt a bit like sitting in a frying pan yesterday.
MM: That tree and pool combination looks great. No problem.
MJB: I agree that it would be nice to check out that water slide sometime.
Excellent pictures, MM! I can’t wait to check out that swimming hole with the tree across it, and one or two others along the way as well.
It was very easy and convenient. The place we rented from (合歡營地: Hehuan Camping Ground) is just a five-minute walk from the tea museum, and we later passed plenty of other places offering bikes for rent. We paid NT$250 each to rent a bike for the day. My bike was fine, though MM’s was a bit too small for his lanky frame. As a bonus, the girl renting out the bikes was an absolute charmer.
Were bike helmets and bike locks provided at the rental place?
[quote=“Muzha Man”]The way there is about 1.5-2 hours depending on how direct you go (I prefer going through the tea fields at the beginning).
[/quote]
The way from where to where?
How far did you hike (without the bikes) to reach the swimming hole? And the tree overhanging the pool place?
They didn’t offer them and we didn’t ask for them. I doubt they were available, but maybe they were.
[quote=“seeker4”][quote=“Muzha Man”]The way there is about 1.5-2 hours depending on how direct you go (I prefer going through the tea fields at the beginning).
[/quote]
The way from where to where?[/quote]
From where we rented the bikes (i.e., the centre of Pinglin township) to the place where we parked them and went tracing up the Jingualiao Stream.
It wasn’t very far to where we swam – less than ten minutes. MM and I went exploring further upstream, but didn’t find any other swimmable places. However, we’d like to get there early one day to trace far up the stream and see what else is there.
The enticing pool that MM photgraphed from the road is, if I remember correctly, something like two-thirds or a bit more of the way from Pinglin to the end of the road.
That hole with the tree across it looks really nice…How tough is it to get down there?
I’d love to take the Hiking group on a river trace in Hsiao Wu lai…you could literally go for miles. But the swimming holes are no more than 300meters from the parking area, and the only reason that the upper water slide hole stays to itself is a tricky little section you have to traverse to get there. It’s short, but enough to keep everyone but the locals and hardiest fishermen out. Even on holiday summer weekends, odds are better than 80% that we have this hole to ourselves.
We did run into a bunch of nudists up there once though 
[quote=“MJB”]That hole with the tree across it looks really nice…How tough is it to get down there?
I’d love to take the Hiking group on a river trace in Hsiao Wu lai…you could literally go for miles. But the swimming holes are no more than 300meters from the parking area, and the only reason that the upper water slide hole stays to itself is a tricky little section you have to traverse to get there. It’s short, but enough to keep everyone but the locals and hardiest fishermen out. Even on holiday summer weekends, odds are better than 80% that we have this hole to ourselves.
[/quote]
It’s a date.
We don’t know yet, but we saw what looked like a path leading down toward it. I’ll be aiming to pop back there on my scooter to check it and a couple of other places out as soon as I have a few hours to spare and the weather is fine.
I had a swim there this morning, and enjoyed it immensely. I scouted out that section of river a bit, and it looks like there are lots of other very good places for swimming there. As it’s just 33 km from my door, and that last 8 km is such a pleasant ride along an almost car-free road, I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time there in the future.
Fantastic. How was it getting down to the pool? Does the water flow swiftly through there or was it nice and gentle? Can you dive in from the rocks? How about that tree? Could we get a rope across it?
It’s easy to get down to the water, though a little bit muddy and slippery in places.
Where the pool widens, the current is very gentle, and there’s plenty of room there for swimming around.
I didn’t dive, but there are a couple of places that I think are eminently divable.
The tree is quite high above the water. I think it would be extremely difficult and dangerous to climb up to put a rope over it.
Also, I don’t think the wardens would approve of anyone doing such a thing. I was pleased to note that there are a couple of uniformed rangers taking turns to ride up and down the road on their scooters to make sure no one is fishing or engaging in other illegal or inappropriate activities. I don’t know if they saw me swimming, but I didn’t see any notices forbidding it so I don’t suppose they’d raise any objection.
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]
Also, I don’t think the wardens would approve of anyone doing such a thing. I was pleased to note that there are a couple of uniformed rangers taking turns to ride up and down the road on their scooters to make sure no one is fishing or engaging in other illegal or inappropriate activities. [/quote]
Fair enough. And the presence of wardens is certainly a welcome change in Taiwan.
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]
Also, I don’t think the wardens would approve of anyone doing such a thing. I was pleased to note that there are a couple of uniformed rangers taking turns to ride up and down the road on their scooters to make sure no one is fishing or engaging in other illegal or inappropriate activities. [/quote]
Fair enough. And the presence of wardens is certainly a welcome change in Taiwan.
BTW, how the new car?
Very nice! I enjoyed driving her up to and around Pinglin on Saturday, though it’ll take me a while to get used to the horrors of the traffic in the city.
But I rode the scooter up to Pinglin for my swim there on Monday, which was a better option than driving on such a glorious May morning.