Taiwan Day 3 (Part 1): Ruifang Train Station & Sandiaoling Waterfalls

Now on to our favorite day. We decided today to venture out a good 1.5 hours from the heart of Taipei and go into the mountains. Today we used every possible form of transportation: walk, train, taxi, subway.  Now living in Korea we are used to moving around the large expanse of the country, and usually the buses, trains and subways are always packed. The people are usually nice, and you never feel unsafe because their culture actually supports common respect. This was for sure the case on the train in Taipei other than we made the mistake of placing all our kids (and the Rust kids) into a sardine can! We stood for an hour and half with each one of the kids at some point getting mad or uncomfortable as they were crammed in, bumped, pushed or moved, picked on, tickled, annoyed, all making the Rusts and us realize that we did not choose the better part.

Eventually, we make it out to the outskirts of the city, and arrived at Ruifang station where we were hoping to do some hiking and see some waterfalls. It was here that we needed to let the kids refuel so we parked it in the common square and ate some lunch.

Today was also utilized something new: a hiking backpack. We borrowed this one from a friend just to see how little monster would do, and he was a champ. We hired a taxi driver to take us the additional 30 minutes to our destination: trails to Sandialoling Waterfalls. We asked him to come back in 3 hours and pick us up in the same location so we could avoid the train but he looked at us like "ya right buddy, you're not worth the fare." So he left us in the middle of nowhere, and we really had no idea how we were going to get back...more to come on that.

This little town was so spectacular. Old train tracks,

terraced walls,

and old mills.

it was something that you would want to take to your family to and do family pictures at.

Our kids do really well with the Rust kids, and each one of them would pair off with equal aged friend and hike together. It was really fun to see. So since Heather plans like a boss, she knew that the trail would lead us to two separate waterfalls: Hegu Waterfall and the Sandiaoling Waterfalls. We found the trailhead after a little walk, and started up what was a variety of inclined steps,

rope bridges,

and smooth trails all the way to the falls.

What I have noticed about both Korea and Taiwan, their hiking trails are very well done - steps that are solid, and easy to navigate.

Eventually we made it up the the Hegu waterfall. Easy hike and the kids did very well, each one of them finding their own walking sticks of power. This is the Rust family and us at Hegu Waterfall. 

After the Hegu Waterfall, the course got a little crazy, but very beautiful. Both Heather and I were amazed at how well our kids did: no complaining, crossing crazy bridges of rope, 

Passing by ponds (the kids of course had to throw rocks in),

and at some points crossing water and big rocks. They did so well!

Little Monster eventually fell asleep in the backpack.  He was past his nap time, but was such a champ!  After spitting on his blanket and hitting me on the back of the head, he finally found a comfortable spot and was out.

Eventually we made it to the second of the three Sandiaoling Waterfalls, the Motian Waterfall. 

It took us almost 2 hours to get there, and the falls were tall but not very robust as others we have seen. The kids loved it, and every time we finally got to a waterfall little Monster would yell "WATER-FALL!" 

The Sandiaoling Waterfalls has one more waterfall in this hike.  We had the option to continue forward to the next waterfall, or turn around and go back the way we came.  Since the way forward was a little more difficult then we thought the littles could handle and since we had already been hiking about 2 hours, we opted to go back the way we came.  

After huffing it around for 4 hours, little monsters face says it all... 

After the hike back we finally made back down in the town, and we were relieved that we could catch a train to our next stop: The Lantern festival!