Mahster.com - Eric Mah's Official Propaganda Site!

HS and I today (11/09) took my cousin to Wulai, a little town nestled in the mountains about a 30 minute drive south of Taipei. I've been to Wulai a couple of times to soak in some of the hotsprings in the area but never have I gone to see the waterfall there, the most famous attraction in the area.

The Wulai waterfall

The morning started out fairly nice, a bit overcast and cool. By the time we arrived at Wulai at around 11:00, it started drizzling but luckily we brought umbrellas with us and we started our excursion by walking through Wulai's main tourist street. Many of the vendors were just starting to set up shop as we walked down the street.

We crossed a bridge to head up towards the waterfall, which according to a direction sign was 6km up a hill. Usually, there is a little train that can ferry people up to the waterfall area but it turns out that the train service has been temporarily discontinued because workers are installing barriers alongside the tracks to catch rocks and boulders sliding down from an adjoing hill.

The cablecar

The walk to waterfall was faster than expected and it didn't seem like 6km. We speculated that the distance was purposefully exaggerated in order to get more people to ride the little train for a fee. We ate some pretty good tasting pork sausages from a little stand that was manned by an elderly woman at the end of the road and took some pictures in front of the waterfall before boarding a cablecar that would take us across the river and up above the waterfall. The cost of the cablecar ride and admission to the "Yun-hsien" park and resort above the waterfall was NT$150 per person.

View from the top

The cablecar ride lasted about two minutes, after which we found ourselves about 165m above the riverbed. The cablecar landing provided a spectacular view of Wuliai and the surrounding mountains shrouded in white mist.The air was cool and clean and refreshing to breathe.

The Yun-hsien park and resort is an amusement park and resort area above the head of the Wulai waterfalls that was opened in 1967. Most of the amusement rides and villas have closed and are now in a dilapidated state, though the hotel and some entertainment areas still play host mainly to families and people getting away from the ciities on the weekend. The area I enjoyed the most was the not inside the actual park or resort area but the long fight of stairs that ran up to it. The stairs ran along side a set of smaller waterfalls that cascaded through lush verdant vegetation and provided some spectacular views. The crisp, clean, cool air full of mist and the sound of crashing water and chirping song birds created a very relaxing and meditative atmosphere.

Prev - Next >>

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 November 2008 )

Next >

[ Back ]

Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.