For the record, we had it from experienced authority and 3 different sources that the Walami Trail, near Yuli, was a must-see destination. It broke up an otherwise long climb from south of Kenting north to Hualian nicely as well. But as for me and MY taste, I liked the Alishan hiking better.
For sleeping, we removed the Japanese-style tea setting and blew up our air mattress for
a bed for Q and myself. We put an extra pad we found in the room next to us for Kai.
Still, our digs in Yuli were almost worth their own stop, and I would have LOVED to stay and soak in the relaxation another day and WITHOUT kids. Our friends, whose blog inspired this trip, stayed at Wisdom Garden, and Lonely Planet lists it as THE BEST bed and breakfast on the island. Here was our room (their largest, fanciest one with the best views).
This was "the girls" room where Rachel shared a bed with Eloise, and EV shared with Arthur. It's directly across from the tea area in the picture above.
Here's the front house from outside. Both upstairs windows are ours. And there is the Buddhist nun who helped us, heading inside. The owners are also Buddhist. Perhaps hence the VERY RELAXING vibe?
This is where the guests enjoy breakfast
And THIS is the view from our window.
You may be wondering how cheap-skate travelers like us enjoy such luxury. The answer is pure luck. This location has a website, but I knew I couldn't haggle over the internet, and I didn't want to book multiple rooms OR be charged a bunch of extra money for extra people, considering our extra people are so small. Thankfully when I called, only the day of, the boss was on holiday in Taipei. She said we could have the best room in the place (usually about $116 for 4 people) for a mere $124 for 7, partly because the kids were small and partly because, since she was away, breakfast would NOT be included. (Otherwise this room would have been about $154 for all 7 of us, if you are thinking of coming with YOUR 7....)
I doubt it was a steal of a deal, but I figured IF we could find it, we would splurge. And surprisingly, we did find it in the darkness and rain! Lest you are too jealous of the apparent zen we were able to soak in, this is what US staying there looked like:
There's me, frantically trying to knock out a blog post. Then there are the immodest children trying to keep their burns cool, and Stew trying to egg Big Bro into a fight. Can ANYONE just say, "Ahohmmmmmmm!?!"
The OTHER blessing (aside from finding it, AND getting about $35 off of the room) was that they took credit! Sort of. The nun watching the place in the owners' absence had never used the credit card machine. But she called the daughter of the owners the evening we arrived and was coached through the process. When we went to pay in the morning, she and I made an interesting team. I couldn't read the Chinese prompts, and she was completely unfamiliar with the technology. Q, who might have been the best at the technical side, didn't have the language, but the nun and I worked together to make it work. Q just sat back, amused, watching the two of us. When the charge went through and we were able to KEEP the cash we had, I felt a surge of triumph. Q muttered to me under his breath, "Like two virgins on their wedding night."
So we were up and off the next morning about 9am after walking around the grounds of Wisdom Garden a bit. It was a lovely morning after a huge downpour around midnight. And blessedly, our destination was only about 15 minutes away. Which stretched longer, of course, because we had to FIND breakfast and then stop to eat it. But in hunting down a place for danbing, and older gentleman on the road insisted we eat xiaobing instead, and rather than giving us directions, led us on his scooter directly to the place he thought was best and told the boss what we needed. The boss was similarly kind. He gave us his last glass of soy milk for free and reduced our total for the breakfast by 1/3. He told us to come back often. I didn't have the heart to tell him we'd be gone by that evening.
But first, to the REASON we stopped in the first place. Behold, the Walami Trail!
We brought the umbrella along to keep burned skin out of the sun, but nearly 100% of the trail was shaded.
Our small portion of the trail included two suspension bridges, which was the selling point of this trail to the kids. Stew was delighted with them, and especially the bouncing of them as he ran their length, back and forth. This is Stew and Q at the second bridge.
It was after this second bridge that we stopped for a snack we'd picked up at Wisdom Garden. These fruits are like grapefruit, but larger, with a thicker skin, dryer, and blander. But yummy too. And we had rice crackers to fill our bellies. We turned around at this point, though the trail continues for quite a distance even before it goes even further for those with mountaineering passes.
I believe we crossed the bridge above this waterfall.
Rachel thought she heard a monkey, but none of us saw one. We DID see plenty of butterflies - they seem to be in abundance where ever we go. Much of this trail reminded me of hikes near home, except instead of forest, was through the jungle. (It must have been the climb, and the rocky path instead of stone steps or the raised board walks that have been quite popular here.) Check out the flora to the left! This leaf is as big as Weese!
Below is the first suspension bridge of the hike - the first one of our entire trip. No one expressed or appeared to feel any hesitation.
There they go!
I love this clip below because you really get a sense of the length of this particular bridge. Stew was running at his top speed, which is pretty fast.
And back we come!
This sweet moment of joy falsely portrays the reality of this hike from Stew's perspective: he was fed up with hiking and made poor Q carry him nearly all the way to this first bridge. The bridges cured him briefly of his griping that he didn't want to walk. Coming down, he and I pretended he was Curious George, me asking him questions about leaving the rest of his monkey family in the jungle, and him answering with monkey squeals I pretended to understand. Thankfully George was a walking, and not a carried monkey!
We saved this pit stop view for the way out. No hiking required. Perhaps THAT is the cause of Q's swell expression?....
Below is pictured the rice patty near our pit stop on the way IN. I LOVE this shot of all my kids in the fields of rice! (You can tell the sun, in it's jealous sky that we walked in fields of rice.....)
Finally, for all Stew's aggressive morning behavior, and insistence on being dead wait as we tried to maneuver adventuring in a foreign country, he feels the need to confirm from time to time, "Mommy, you still love me." And I always tell him, "Yes. I still love you so, so much!
After the hike we were back on the road north. I had a stomach issue, panic driven pit stop, and thought to try and get directions, while I'd held us all up. I had to interrupt the kind folks who were taking the time to talk to me about possible roads with another dash back to the toilet. Once again, 2 rounds at the bathroom at 7-11 seemed to be what we needed and we were off again, opting this time to SKIP the long way around and head straight for Hualien, after stopping for gas, and the first successful CASH stop in days (phew! Q had called the night before and confirmed we would not have further issue), and stopping again for the bathroom, and stopping off at a grocery store. (We may set some sort of record for least efficient traveling, or most annoying drivers to the powerless wee passengers in the back. As I like to remind them, "Their lives are SO hard!" :) )
A great shot of Weese outside the grocery store near Yuli.
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