A week after the trip to my grandparents' place, we went to "Pull-pull" Mountain for a one night trip. It's only about 2+hours from Taipei, and right in the middle of the mountain chains of northern Taiwan.
Why is it called "Pull-pull"? Well, "pull" isn't exactly the right translation. Here's how it goes:
In Chinese, it's "La-La-Mountain". The word "La" means pull. However, it also means holding hands, which is used in this case. Therefore, "La-La Mountain" is actually "Holding hands Mountain". Reason being, before this place was developed, in the past when the locals come here to gather food, they had to stay on the trail steep slopes by holding each others' hands. So this is how it was named.
The town is literally built on the ridge of the mountain, so either way, it's a long way down. The altitude of the town is about 1500m I guess, so it's not exactly the highest place around.
Here's a view of the town:
Here's the road(the only one anyways) that we took to get here.
Sun sets on the other side of the ridge, so here's a shot of the light creeping through the valley.
A bridge at the bottom of the valley.
So Pull-pull Mt is famous for its peaches, which is limited to the summer only, between June and July. We went there at the very end of the season, so most of the peach farms are closed to tourists. The venders do sell a lot of peaches on the streets. However, they aren't grown locally, which is what most people come here for.
We also made the decision for the trip too late. Most of the hotel rooms were already booked. We got our room because someone else decided to back out.
So that night, we drove even higher and deeper into the mountain to one of the farms that we wanted to visit, just to try our luck since there wasn't anything else to do up there, and it had an outdoor cafe opened for business!
From the cafe, we had an excellent view of the town, so i am guessing we must be about 1700m in altitude.
here's a view of the town. Notice that the town literally sits along the ridge of that mountain, and glows like a dragon with the lights in the clouds.
After the owner boasted to us how good his tea is(he researched and planted it himself), we headed back to the car when I noticed the stars. So here are 2 long exposure shots for you all!
The second shot was taken just a few hours after the sun went down. So after 10 minutes of exposure, you can catch the stars, the clouds and the sunset that really isn't there anymore.
Another thing that this place is famous for is, like most other high altitude tourist spots, really old trees. We visited a national park where a trail took us for a 2 hour hike, on which stands some 20+ really old and big trees. These trees are anywhere between 1500 to 2800 years old.
"Wrinkles"
The walk:
The Two Thousand Eight Hundred Years Old Tree
Another tree..... but I was actually more interested in that snail crawling on the railing.
The hike, was mentioned, was 2 hours long and was supposed to take us to a 1600m spot. Yes it did, but didn't lived up to my sister's hype, who thought it must be a high point where we can see the entire landscape. Nope, it was just a smelly little hut and a bad excuse to be a destination, so no pic for that.
Still, it was a rewarding morning hike!
Next, we went to a peach farm that still has one last peach tree to our abuse. My sister insisted that she wants to have picture of her stealing the peaches from the tree, so....
The owner began by explaining to us the difference between La-La Mt peach and Japanese and Chinese and blah blah. Apparently, the slightest difference in altitude, humidity, climate will result in different fragrance, taste, texture, juiciness blah blah... I just wanted the peach!
The entire farm is under a big net to protect the fruits from air borne pests as well as from rain and strong winds.
All of the fruits are wrapped in paper bags for protection until they are ready to be harvested. Precious!
PEEEEEEACH!!!
Other than peaches, the next fruit to be harvested is the pear... close, but not yet!
The farm has an awesome view too!
So we took a few peaches from the tree, with skill, and bought the rest that were already taken from the tree by the professionals professionally. I have to say we did just as good of a job to keep the peaches from being damaged.
At the exit were some cats, possibly a family, that probably are already sick of eating these expensive peaches.
and butterflies too
Lunch next....
we decided to have something simple, so we bought bamboo rice... (seasoned rice cooked in a bamboo section).
and the ants decided that they want a share too...
So that was the end of the trip..... but wait! Here's the time to admire my awesome mountain rallying skill. Zipping through the mountain pass that sits on steep cliffs with one hand video taping is no monkey business. It takes SKILLZ!
WATCH AND LEARN, KID! But DO NOT attempt this at home/on the road!
Through the town:
Nice scenery, but gotta keep your eyes on the road!
This is the kind of road I belong to!!!
My mom and sister saying how awesome my driving is.... no, not really.
Oh, and see how I handle traffic!
This is how you do it!
A stupid bus trying to get through. Vehicles like this really shouldn't be on roads like these. But hey, bus drivers like these deserves a thumbs up!
Before leaving this place, we visited that very bridge that we saw on top of the ridge. Here's a 360 for ya!
Last but not the least, this husky pup wants to show off...
Please do visit the photo and video gallery here!
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