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A return to climb the big peak of Bei-Cha-Tien-Shan

Now, we are talking THREE previous attempts which all failed!

One, because we were too late starting!
Two, because I couldn't find it!
Three, because the group I was with were not up for the challenge!

This time we made it though....after an ELEVEN hour slog!!!

Chinese New Year 2013

Big Andy and his friend Bruce Richters NEVER hike, So I thought it would be fun to get them to tackle the 1700metre peak!!! Andy bitched a lot as he was dressed only in shorts and T-shirt...and as we climbed it got colder and colder. We made the peak in five hours and it was a chilly 8 degrees...the problem was it took SIX hours to get back down, three of them in the dark!!

The previous attempt was back in 2011...a bit of a disappointment

One of my old students told me, she and her friends were going to climb the big peak that had eluded me for so long...I jumped at the chance to go along.
Here we were setting off
Judging from this photo it seems I have put on a bit of weight...
...So time to munch down some, ahem, low calorie biscuits!
It turned out the girls were no way fit enough to do the hike and the furthest we got was this ancient tree...still several k/m away from the top....the mountain eludes me once more!
The range of high mountains, far in the distance!

A video of me staring wistfully at the mountains we didn't climb!
It was still a long hike though...about 6 hours!


If you are unable to see the embedded video please click here



Day trip out into the
wilds of Taoyuan County

Took the MRT out to the end of the line thinking it was fairly close to the starting point. Grabbed a taxi and 550nt and 40 mins later we arrived in Manyueyuan...We were not alone, this is a popular beauty spot.
Here I am, ready for for I thought would be a light stroll as we didn't arrive till 2.30pm
We had to register and pay 100nt to enter the area. There were hordes of people, mostly to visit the waterfalls and follow the family walks. We couldn't find the way in to the proper hikes and wasted an hour wandering around trying to escape...

Man Yue Yuan Mountain

Now, we were going to climb the mountain behind me but couldn't find the start! It took a lot of frustration before we finally found the proper hiking trails which were not signposted. When we found them there was a sign warning people not to enter! These paths led to the big mountains further in....

We were on the path to a 1700metre peak which is an 8 hour hike, so took a turn off to the right thinking this would be a much quicker option. NOT! It was a tough uphill and even came across an encouragement sign telling us "not far to go...keep it up!!"
Peaked Laka Shan which at 1195metres is no slouch as a worn out Naomi could testify! Problem was, at 5.30pm we didn't have too much daylight left and a long, long walk back to the entrance.
Luckily I bought some fresh batteries because they were soon to be in use. Naomi who had been racing ahead earlier on, started to slip behind and indeed started to slip on her ass! Walking in the dark isn't the easiest but I thought we were soon out when I heard the sound of a rubbish truck. Called the taxi to have it waiting for us when we ended the walk, but, er, the sound was totally misleading! We had to walk for another two hours which meant the taxi driver waited for well over an hour....oops!

A little video footage of the events


If you are unable to see the embedded video please click here