14 March 09, I arrived at Taoyuan International Airport at 2.20pm. My hiking friends were in Taipei a day earlier than me. I was told to meet them up at Taipei train station. So, I took the GuoKuang bus (国光客运) to Taipei Train Station (台北车站). Bus fare from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei Train Station is NTB 125. The bus is operated at 15-20 min frequency. The bus journey took
about 50 minutes. After I met up with Hai Poh, Man Tack, Ai Yen and Wan Ming at Taipei train station, we took the train(自强号) to YiLan(宜兰). At there, I met up with the rest of the friends which arrived earlier at YiLan. There were 11 of us that would be joining Mt Nanhu hiking trip. We stayed at Yilan Youth Hostel (宜兰救国团学苑).
15 March 09, we met up with our
trekking guide - Lim Wen Yi. He is already 50 years old, but looks younger than his age. He told us that we can call his nickname "YaZi"(鸭子) . Trekking permit of Mt Nanhu had been applied couple of months before with the help of a Taiwan friend - ChunChun (纯纯). 7.00am, we took bus from YiLan to SiYuanYaKou(思源埡口), the entrance of Mt Nanhu trekking trail. The bus journey was about 2 hours.
A week ago, it was snowing in the mountain. We waited at the entrance for other trekkers to come out to find out the snow situation in the mountain. Around 9.30am, we met some trekkers that came out from mountain. They told us there was still some snow left in the mountain but equipment like ice axe and crampons are not required. We were so glad to hear that as we could offload some weights. We started on the trek around 10.30am. It was 6.7km trek to reach the real starting point of Mt Nanhu trek. It took me 2.5 hours to reach this real starting point. To reach our destination of the day - YunLing Cabin (云稜山
庄) at 2580m, it's another 5km trek. You may think that the total 11.7km is short, but when carrying the heavy backpack and trek on the trail that consists of ascents and descents, the journey became very long (at least for me). For guys, their backpack were even heavier as they have to carry the all the foods. When we reached YunLing Cabin, it's already 5.15pm.
This mountain hut is new and nicely built. I heard there is an old mountain hut that located not far away. There is a water tank that filled with rain water. Trekkers will use the water from the tank for cooking and drinking. To keep the hut clean, trekkers are prohibited from leaving the garbage including the leftover food at the hut. There are 2 toilets not far away from the hut. One is built nicely with the door, but it's very smelly. Another one is open toilet which there is no door/wall, but it's less smelly.
16 March 09, Wan Ming falls sick yesterday. He rest at YunLing Cabin whereas 10 of us continue our journey to Nanhu Cabin at 8am. After 2.5 hours trekking, we had slowly left the forest behind and ShenMaZhen grassland (审马阵草原) came into sight. The weather was good. Clear blue sky and beautiful mountains scenery. About 11.30am, we had made it to summit of Mt ShenMaZhen (审马阵山) at 3141m. We spent about half an hour resting and taking photographs before continue our journey under the hot sun. We passed by ShenMaZhen mountain hut(审马阵山屋) and moving uphill. There is a pond beside the ShenMaZhen mountain hut. I went down to the pond and tried to shoot some pictures of Mt
Nanhu reflection but I was not successful. We reached at a junction, took the left trail and lead up to the north peak of Mt Nanhu. Mt Nanhu North Peak or NanhuBeiShan(南湖北山) at 3535m is one of the hundreds highest mountains in Taiwan (台湾百岳) . It offered 360-degree paranoma view, Mt Snow(雪山) ，Mt DaBaJian(大坝尖山) , Mt ZhongYangJian (中央尖山), ShengLinXian (圣陵线) or Holy Ridge can be clearly seen. It's windy at north peak. I felt very cold after awhile, quickly descended after took some pictures.
It was about 2.30pm when we left Mt Nanhu North Peak and moving towards WuYanFeng (五岩峰) or Five Rocky Peaks. As it named, there are 5 hills that we need to climb over. Both side of the path are the steep valley. I think WuYanFeng trail should be the most dangerous part of Mt Nanhu trekking, especially if there is snow or strong wind.
The ascents and descents seem like never ending. I was very tired. 3.45pm, I had climbed up the 5th hills, saw a signboard indicate that Nanhu Cabin(南湖山庄) is 1km away. I can see the mountain hut down the deep slope. I thought I should be able to reach there very soon but I was wrong. The path down is more difficult than I thought. Slowly and carefully, I descended on the steep loose rocky slope. The cold wind blow strongly. Stress had been put on my knees and I started to felt pain. I was very cold and tiring, wondering why the 1km route was so far away. Finally, at 5.15pm, I checked in Nanhu Cabin.
Nanhu Cabin was located at the lower cirque glacier of Mt Nanhu (南湖下圈谷). At that day, it was fully occupied by 3 hiking teams including us. One of the team was the HuaLian(花莲) police team. The policeman is a nice guy. He gave us advice on our tour itinerary and offered his help if we plan to be in HuaLian. When we were at HuaLian 5 days later to take the train back to Taipei, he met us at the train station and bought us some local foods. All we can do is only say "thanks".
17 March 09, we started our trekking to Mt Nanhu main peak (南湖主峰) around 6.30am. Our guide purposely brought us to the trail that still has snow. Step by step, we were approaching Mt Nanhu main peak. 9.00am, I had reached the summit of Mt Nanhu main peak. There is a marker of 22.9km at the summit, indicate that we had trekked 22.9km to reach
the peak at 3742m above sea level. We are busy photographing with different jumping pose. Mt Nanhu East Peak can be seen here. That's our next destination.
40 minutes later, we left Mt Nanhu main peak, heading towards the East Peak. Just before we reached the mountain foot of East Peak, Peng Meng found that he lost his camera. He suspect
that he must be left it at the first resting point after we went down from the main peak. So, he went back to search for his camera while the rest of us wait for him there. Under the hot sun, we had waited for almost 1.5 hours. This place is shadeless. We felt the strong UV, at the same time, felt the cold air. That's why I had to wear the jacket, at the same time kept on apply the sun block. Peng Meng came back around 12.oopm, without his camera. He told us that he couldn't find it. He will follow us to hike up the East Peak, then go back once again to search the camera.
The summit of Mt Nanhu East Peak(南湖东峰) is different from the main peak. The summit of east peak is at the slope. The highest point of the slope stands a monument denotes an elevation of 3632m above sea level. Unlike at the main peak, we couldn't took the photos with the jumping pose. It will be too dangerous to do that. However, the rock formation at the east peak is very unique and pretty. After we
descended from the summit, Peng Meng and our guide went to search for the camera while the rest of us follow the trail from the upper circque glacier back to the Nanhu Cabin at lower circque glacier. I back to Nanhu Cabin around 2.15pm. Surprisingly, we saw Wan Ming's belongings at the Nanhu Cabin. So we knew that he had recovered and probably on his way up to the main peak.
Not bad, he recovered in 1 day and then able to cope with the journey. No wonder Hai Poh will say "he is as strong as an eagle". hehehe....:p
Finally, Peng Meng came back, with his camera on his hand. We were teasing him that he's the one that gain most from this trip - paid guide fee for 1 time, but went up to summit for 3 times, really worth for value. ;)
18 March 09, we were leaving Nanhu Cabin at 8.00am. Once again, we were on the steep rocky slope that rises up to the WuYanFeng(五岩峰). Bit by bit, step by step, we climbed up the slope. Suprisingly, all of us had climbed up the slope within 35 minutes. On this particular trail, ascent is actually easier than descent. We followed the same route, climbed up the five rocky peaks of WuYangFeng, reached the junction to Mt Nanhu North Peak. Our trekking pace became faster, we reached YunLing Cabin at 1.30pm. We rest and refill the water at YunLing Cabin before continue our journey to DuoJiaTun (多加屯) . Around 5pm, we reached DuoJiaTun.
The mountain hut of DuoJiaTun is very small, can only fit in 6 persons. Man Tack and Wan Ying helped to clean the dirty floor. DuoJiaTun is at 2795m. It's still very cold at night. 11 of us need to fit ourselves inside this mountain hut to spend the night. Each of us can only lie down in 1 pose and not able to move. I only slept for 2 hours and couldn't sleep again after that. I kept on watching my watch, counting down the time for the sunrise. At that time, I felt that the time was crawling like snails. I was so glad that finally it's 5am, time to wake up.
19 March 09, we packed our things and left DuoJiaTun around 6.30am. We had to rush for the bus at 9.30am, thus there was no time for us to take the leisure walk. By 9am, we had reached SiYuanYaKou, marked the completion of the Mt Nanhu hiking trip.
Below is our hiking route:
SiYuanYaKou,1930m (思源埡口) -> Main Entrance, 2300m(登山口) -> YunLing Cabin, 2580m(云稜山庄) -> Mt ShenMaZhen, 3141m(审马阵山) -> Mt Nanhu North Peak,3535m (南湖北山) -> Nanhu Cabin, 3592m (南湖山庄) -> Mt Nanhu Main Peak, 3742m(南湖主峰)-> Mt Nanhu East Peak, 3632m(南湖东峰)-> TuoJiaTun,2795m (多加屯) -> SiYuanYaKou(思源埡口).
Other Info:
1) In taiwan, trekking permit has to be applied at least 3 weeks in advance. With the trekking permit that obtained from national park, go to the police station to apply for the mountain entrance permit. For Mt Nanhu trekking permit application, refer to the website
http://permits2.taroko.gov.tw/welcome/index.aspx.
2) For train info, refer
http://www.railway.gov.tw/index/index.aspx3) Yilan Youth Hostel (宜兰救国团学苑), refer
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/yilanstudenthostel4) To reach SiYuanYaKou (思源埡口), take the GuoGuang bus (国光客运) of route Yilan(宜兰)-LiShan(梨山), take off from Yilan at 7am and 12.40pm daily.
For bus info, refer to
http://www.kingbus.com.tw/time&price.php
还记得两年前，我贪新鲜，想也不多想就应朋友的约报名参加槟威大桥马拉松的Fun Run 组，因此而开始接触跑步。2007 那年，我又陆续参加了Adidas King Of The Road (10km) 及Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon (10km)。2008年，我只参加了Ambank KL Marathon (10km). 2009年， 槟威大桥马拉松赛前，我参加了Standard Chartered KL Marathon (10km), Putrajaya Night Run (10km) 和 Mizuno Run (10km)。我并没有很频密的跑步，所以一直以来，我只敢报名10公里项目。可是这一次的Penang Bridge International Marathon(PBIM),我竟然去报名 21km half marathon，原因是10公里Fun Run没有纪念奖牌。报了名后，才觉得自己有点冲动，21公里啊，我疯了吗？算了，我就跑个11公里，再走10公里吧！预设好了后，心里就踏实许多了。工作忙碌，日子一晃，11月22日就近在眼睫了。而我的训练大概就只有Mizuno Run 的那10 公里。心里有点怕，于是临时抱佛脚，在周六与周日跑跑步，却也只是训练大约4公里而已。这一次一起北上槟城的朋友有Lai, Chak, Keen Yee, Huay Meia 和 Sew Yong。除了Sew Yong，我们都是参加半马拉松的。而这是我，KeeYee， HuayMeia 和 Chak 的第一个半马拉松。
11月22日，凌晨1点半，感觉才刚睡着，又要起床了。我们每一个人都没有睡好，可是我相信心情却是紧张与兴奋的。从公寓的窗口往外看，已经有人往Queensbay Mall走去了。全马拉松在两点半就开跑。半马拉松则在三点半才开跑。大约两点半，我们出发往Queensbay Mall走去。Queensbay Mall前的户外停车场早已热闹非常。好多人来赴这一场马拉松盛会，其中不乏来自外国的朋友，听说这次有50多个国家参赛。3点30分，男子组半马拉松先开跑。15分钟后，女子组跟着开跑了。Lai 连续上了好几次厕所，不过还好在开跑前赶回来了。我们已事先将大会给的晶片绑在鞋子上，一经过起跑点，时间自动被记录。我迈开脚，用自己的速度跑了起来。虽然不快，我知道只要我持续的跑，应该可以在限定的3个小时半跑完。
凌晨的空气很清新，让人精神爽朗。我跑了没多久，Lai就在我旁边出现，叫了我一声，然后超越我。我们从Queensbay Mall 出发，往槟威大桥的方向去。跑步的时候，我会习惯性的以前方某个点作为目标。如我会告诉自己，先跑到桥再说。到了桥以后，我又会说先跑了前方告示牌的地方再说。抵达后，感觉可以的话，我就不停下来，一次一次的以前方的目标前进。天气还不错，没有下雨，凉风习习。能一边吹吹风，欣赏夜景，一边跑步，感觉很棒。这次的赛事，水站很充足，一支支的矿泉水分发到参赛者手中。只是我觉得分发一支矿泉水真的很浪费，因为很多人都喝不完一整支水，又不愿带着一支水跑步，喝了一半都把它丢到地上。我觉得若可以倒入纸杯里，就不会浪费那么多支水了。我一直跑到大桥的中央才停下喝水。半马拉松的第一个转弯处是在桥的2.8处。喝了水后，2.8就成了我的下个目标了。经过4.4，4.3，4.2，4.1。。。。。终于到了转弯处，看看手表，大约4.45am。脚有点累，速度明显放慢，但还是坚持不停下。往桥中央的路是上斜的，有点吃力，回到桥中央时，我在水站停下喝了两杯冰凉的100Plus。除了水站外，大会也在路上提供湿海绵。我没拿，因为不知道那湿海绵的真正用处是什么。我看见许多人把海绵往头顶上放，然后挤出水，把头弄湿。是为了降温吗？不晓得。
第三次停下喝水的时候，我已经离开大桥，抵达第二个转弯处了。身上的背心早已被汗水湿透，脚也开始觉得痛了。有一个男生刚超越我不久，突然就抱着一只脚倒在地上痛苦的叫着：“抽筋！脚抽筋！”。周围的人都帮忙大喊救护人员及救护车。我稍稍休息了一会，继续跑下去，然后在下一个水站停下，喝杯100Plus。有水站的地方，纸杯总是满地，这已经是马拉松赛必有的景观。我知道终点大约只有不到5公里的距离，深呼吸了一下，决定将它跑完。终于，我看见Queensbay Mall 了。经过一个小交通圈，我的心情开始兴奋，我知道我即将完成我的第一次半马拉松，对我来说，那是一件不可思议的事。我到了，到了终点。看看时间，大约用了2个半小时完成，虽然这时间不算好，我却已经很开心了。我拿了寄放的背包，看见了Lai 和 Keen Yee. 他们俩的状态是对比的。Lai 有如生龙活虎，Keen Yee 却力尽筋疲。听说是因为Lai 在后方追着Keen Yee 跑导致的，哈哈！Chak 和 Huay Meia在随后的半小时内一一抵达终点。真好，我们全都完成目标了。Sew Yong 在我们返回公寓前就抵达起点，因为Fun Run也将于不久后开跑。
回返公寓途中，Chak, Keen Yee, Huay Meia 纷纷述说那段辛苦的跑步路程。他们虽直嚷着脚痛，累死了，可是语气却是开心愉快的。大家的模样都是疲惫的，可是眼神却是神采飞扬的。所以当Huay Mei说这是最后一次，Keen Yee说再也不上当时，我会心一笑，不认为那会是真的。我相信待些日子，只要再找个吃喝玩乐的理由，大家的身影又不知会出现在哪一个跑步的盛会上了。
