The Danshui River System

[giddy-up]

Several major tributaries flow from the lush, mountainous areas surrounding the city of Taipei to form the Danshui river system. The river continues, frequently neglected and quite unnoticed it seems, on it's way through one of the most densely packed regions on earth before finally emptying into the Taiwan Straight, close to the northern tip of Taiwan.

We will begin at the mouth of the river, on the east side, and photograph it section by section until we return back to the mouth, but on the west side. This is a photograph of our ultimate destination, taken from the east side of the mouth of the Danshui..



It will take a few years to reach this destination and on the way there will of course be city sections and industrial sections, but I hope eventually to be able to focus on the jungle sections. The Zhakong segment, for example, will follow the Fu-ba trail 18KM through pristine tropical forests between the villages of Fushan and Lala Shan, with a significant gain in elevation, taking us from tropical to temperate rainforest. There is a chance of observing and photographing wild boar, monkeys, flying squirrels and a host of other creatures.

It is July as I write this however and not the best time to be tackling such an ambitious hike. Taiwan is a hot and humid place in the summer. It makes sense to start with the easy to access places, and that brings us back to the mouth of the Danshui, east side...

Old friends perhaps?



A fishing boat entering the river...



A couple of shots from the village of Danshui itself....





From the ferry to Yuren Matou (Fisherman's wharf)...



And finally, another shot taken at night. This one looks like a little acid may have dropped on it...

[giddy-up]

Today's adventure comes to us by way of the Gan Zhen Lin, a tributary of the JIlonG. It flows into the JIlonG just downstream from the village of Ling Jiao. You can get to Ling Jiao by road or by rail. From there it is a short bicycle ride to the Gan Zhen Lin.

Here is the Gan Zhen Lin from the main highway.


That photograph was taken from the exact same spot as this one...



You may recall that location from JIlonG post

I had no idea what I was going to find but on the Gan Zhen Lin but it looked interesting so I made a day of it and rode my bicycle up the road that runs alongside the river. Honestly it seemed a bit boring at first and I was wondering if I had not made a mistake in choosing to explore and photograph this particular river. I'm a bit like hunter on these little excursions and it really frustrates me if I sense that I'm not going to "get" anything.

It wasn't five minutes latter though and I bagged this baby...



Here he is again with his buddy...



A couple of minutes later the road comes back down to the river. It was certainly surprising to see this...



The river...


Open floor plan...


The forest opens up a bit...


And we come to the fish farm...




Kiss?



The fish farm of course explains the carp downstream. I have no idea whether this is good for the ecology of the stream or not. Probably not. I haven't seen carp in any other streams in Taiwan.

Anyway, the fish were certainly good fun to play with. They are so stupid that every time you approach the pond they think it is feeding time. You can turn away and approach them five seconds later and they'll come back again. Naturally that was only good for a few minutes entertainment so...

Back on the road.



Next thing up is an old rock house...


Likely quarried from the creek...


You can probably tell from the volume of water in the creek that we are approaching the source. We have made quite a substantial gain in elevation at this point actually. Another kilometer or so and we come to the end of the road...


The creek flows past that house. I followed it upstream a bit from there...




It gets a bit hard to follow from this point...



And the night?


It was approaching so I hopped on my bike and had a fun 15K or so ride back to the train station.

Gorgeous day. Absolutely magnificent. I'm sure that the photos don't begin to do justice to the place, to how remote it feels up there.

[giddy-up]

Today's adventure comes to us by way of the Gan Zhen Lin, a tributary of the JIlonG. It flows into the JIlonG just downstream from the village of Ling Jiao. You can get to Ling Jiao by road or by rail. From there it is a short bicycle ride to the Gan Zhen Lin.

Here is the Gan Zhen Lin from the main highway.


That photograph was taken from the exact same spot as this one...



You may recall that location from JIlonG post

I had no idea what I was going to find but on the Gan Zhen Lin but it looked interesting so I made a day of it and rode my bicycle up the road that runs alongside the river. Honestly it seemed a bit boring at first and I was wondering if I had not made a mistake in choosing to explore and photograph this particular river. I'm a bit like hunter on these little excursions and it really frustrates me if I sense that I'm not going to "get" anything.

It wasn't five minutes latter though and I bagged this baby...



Here he is again with his buddy...



A couple of minutes later the road comes back down to the river. It was certainly surprising to see this...



The river...


Open floor plan...


The forest opens up a bit...


And we come to the fish farm...




Kiss?



The fish farm of course explains the carp downstream. I have no idea whether this is good for the ecology of the stream or not. Probably not. I haven't seen carp in any other streams in Taiwan.

Anyway, the fish were certainly good fun to play with. They are so stupid that every time you approach the pond they think it is feeding time. You can turn away and approach them five seconds later and they'll come back again. Naturally that was only good for a few minutes entertainment so...

Back on the road.



Next thing up is an old rock house...


Likely quarried from the creek...


You can probably tell from the volume of water in the creek that we are approaching the source. We have made quite a substantial gain in elevation at this point actually. Another kilometer or so and we come to the end of the road...


The creek flows past that house. I followed it upstream a bit from there...




It gets a bit hard to follow from this point...



And the night?


It was approaching so I hopped on my bike and had a fun 15K or so ride back to the train station.

Gorgeous day. Absolutely magnificent. I'm sure that the photos don't begin to do justice to the place, to how remote it feels up there.

[giddy-up]

Today's adventure comes to us by way of the Gan Zhen Lin, a tributary of the JIlonG. It flows into the JIlonG just downstream from the village of Ling Jiao. You can get to Ling Jiao by road or by rail. From there it is a short bicycle ride to the Gan Zhen Lin.

Here is the Gan Zhen Lin from the main highway.


That photograph was taken from the exact same spot as this one...



You may recall that location from JIlonG post

I had no idea what I was going to find but on the Gan Zhen Lin but it looked interesting so I made a day of it and rode my bicycle up the road that runs alongside the river. Honestly it seemed a bit boring at first and I was wondering if I had not made a mistake in choosing to explore and photograph this particular river. I'm a bit like hunter on these little excursions and it really frustrates me if I sense that I'm not going to "get" anything.

It wasn't five minutes latter though and I bagged this baby...



Here he is again with his buddy...



A couple of minutes later the road comes back down to the river. It was certainly surprising to see this...



The river...


Open floor plan...


The forest opens up a bit...


And we come to the fish farm...




Kiss?



The fish farm of course explains the carp downstream. I have no idea whether this is good for the ecology of the stream or not. Probably not. I haven't seen carp in any other streams in Taiwan.

Anyway, the fish were certainly good fun to play with. They are so stupid that every time you approach the pond they think it is feeding time. You can turn away and approach them five seconds later and they'll come back again. Naturally that was only good for a few minutes entertainment so...

Back on the road.



Next thing up is an old rock house...


Likely quarried from the creek...


You can probably tell from the volume of water in the creek that we are approaching the source. We have made quite a substantial gain in elevation at this point actually. Another kilometer or so and we come to the end of the road...


The creek flows past that house. I followed it upstream a bit from there...




It gets a bit hard to follow from this point...



And the night?


It was approaching so I hopped on my bike and had a fun 15K or so ride back to the train station.

Gorgeous day. Absolutely magnificent. I'm sure that the photos don't begin to do justice to the place, to how remote it feels up there.

[giddy-up]

Today's adventure takes us past the volacano on Qixingshan. Word on the street is that it is about to erupt and bury us all in molten magma. Anyway, here it is...



We travel around the volcano to the other side. From here it looks pretty docile.



There is a little valley that starts off down the mountain from there...



We follow it down...



First water...




Looking back already. (Honestly you do a lot of looking back in this particular location because the place is home to quite a few water buffalo. You've run into them a few times while hiking around in other locations. It's not a lot like seeing them on television or from the window of a car. Nothing at all.) Anyway, here's looking back..




More creek in the water..



Wet water.



Leafy water.



Where we are headed..



Zoom in..




We reach the forest..



Confluence.



Little little falls..



The tree likes the rock..



More monet..



The gate is locked..



It really is..



The world's greatest living photograoph..



The signs are easy to read.



Bamboo.



Getting dark.



Lost again.



Flowers.



Cliff..



Oops..



You had just been hoping it would be an overcast night so that the lights of the city would illuminate the way like it did on the other occassions.



Thinking of fish..



Still thinking...



The long commute...




I've wanted to photograph this stream for a long time but is quite a ways up the mountain and often overcast so it has been difficult to find the right time. I'm not really satisfied with some of these pictures either and even considered not posting them. However, there are so many streams I want to follow and photograph that a choice needed to be made. Post these now and move on, or wait for an indeterminate amount of time and photograph and post it again. I decided to do both actually. I am posting it now and if I have a chance to photograph it again in a year or so we can revisit this place.

Also, I don't know if anyone is keeping up with the notion I had originally to follow the system around in a massive circle, beginning at the mouth of the Danshui and photographing the system systematically, huanGXI, SHUANGXI, JIlonG etc. but if anybody is keeping up they will notice that we are back tracking quite a bit here. Unknown creak I'm quite certain is a tributary of the SHUANGXI. I'll be sure to let people know when we are back on track, either with tributaries of the JIlonG or beginning at the head water of the jingmei, the next system in sequence.

For now I'm going to explore yangmingshan a little more. It is, after all, pretty much right outside my back door.

[giddy-up]

Past the volcano again...



..to another peak just to the north. There is a road to the top of this one...



Looking across the valley...



The peak...



Telecommunications tower..



Misty mountain shot...



The road down...



There is a creek that flows from here so I decided to follow it down.

Fellow labourer..



Sun..



Hello..



Odd juxstaposition..



Closer up.



Surrounded by supper..



Civilization....



Flower..



Homestead..



Refurbished homestead..



I love the fact that they re-used the traditional materials.

Looking back..



Water..



As you can tell we more or less lost the thread on this one. The creek turned out
to be really hard to follow and emptied into the ocean and not the Danshui.

If all goes well we will be back on track tomorrow with a quick trip down the
length of the jingmei.

[giddy-up]

Today's adventure takes us the length of the jingmei by bicycle. From the top..



The sun was trying..



We waited but the jungle didn't...



It's inevitable..



Tunnel..



Oh, the river..



With diet and exercise you too can be a buddha beauty..



Looking down on bird...



Farm..



A major tributary. Will have to explore this one day soon. Maybe tomorrow.



A bend in the road..



The temple of traffic and minor accidents..



Darkness approaching..



Oh, and the river..



More loveliness..



It's uphill sometimes..



Recycling..



Cycle path..



Reflections...



And this brings us close to the confluence of the jingmei and the XINDian.

As it happens there is a driving range at this location..



There is that delightful looking tributary up beside the "bend in the road" pictured above. I don't know if I will photograph that tributary or head over to the XINDIAN, the next major river system, and one that I hope to explore and photograph from the major headwaters down to it's confluence with the JIlonG. It looks as though the bus to pingling follows the tributary mentioned above for awhile. It must cross over quite high at some point before dropping into the next system. Should be quite a ride.

[giddy-up]

I decided to follow this tributary of the jingmei up a bit..



It was getting a bit late as I arrived at the small village of Shiding.




The BONGSHAN XI and the WUtU XI come together in the town of Shiding.

Looking upstream on the BONGSHAN XI..



A bit depressing, yes. Downstream is a little brighter...



The next day I grabbed the 666 (you can catch it at jingmei MRT station) and took it past Shiding again and up the BONGSHAN XI to the Huafan university.

Pulling out of Shiding...



Lanterns...



Pagoda?



Honestly the BONGSHAN XI isn't the best place to go on a foggy day.

A few days later it seemed to clear up so I took a stab at the WUtU XI.

First "sight" along the way...



Frog futures...



Safety first..



Temple interior..



Almost impossible..



A plan for ditches..



Pathos..



Not long after this I crossed the divide between the jingmei and XINDIAN river systems. The XINDIAN is even more lush than the jingmei.





Wow..



That was a crazy tough day. The divide between river systems was a lot higer than I thought it would be. A pack of dogs attacked me and I had to do that kick em in the head while trying to ride your bike thing. It was raining. It was dark towards th end and the road was narrow and packed with betel nutted crazed construction workers in big trucks.

Getting a bit old for this.

[giddy-up]

On to the XINDian. Technically speaking the XINDian is that part of the Danshui that extends from confluence of the Danshui and the Dahan to where the the XINDian divides into the beiShiXI and naNshIXI systems.

It is January as we cover sections so it's all a little grey.

Confluence of the DaHan and Danshui.



That is part of an absolutley massive wetland and marsh system. Home to several species of birds and fishes.

Fisherman..



Fish..







The jingmei enters the XINDian.



Group photo...



Hungry...



Rocks..



Flower..



Lunch?



The ol red white n blue..



Gangstaz



XINDian..







Bend in the river..



A man needs a boat..



At last..



A little peace..



Lovely..



Bridges..



The XinDian divides to become the beiShiXI and the naNshIXI...



The beiShiXI is to the left and the naNshIXI to the right. We will look at the beiShiXI over the winter and by spring be ready for the naNshIXI and the very real adventures that will entail. I can't wait.

[giddy-up]

Next spot up the beiShiXI from it's confluence with the naNshIXI is feiCui shuiKU (the feiCui reservoir).

You can see it below. It is the body of water just left from the centre of the image...



There is a ridge that runs along the north side of lake and from there the road drops relentlessly down for what seems forever. It's almost scary. Finally you get a glimpse of the lake..



And another..



The road continues along for awhile through a small oolong tea farming community and finally you arrive here...



What it's like...



Sun..



Stairway to heaven (guarded by cat) ..





A man needs a boat..



The road back...






Now THAT is a cool place. It is the city's water supply so there is almost no development along the shore of the lake, very few roads, and almost no people. No swimming allowed of course so if you wanted to swim you'd have to learn the trails around the lake well enough to hike them at night and find a spot (there must be a million of them) where nobody would see you go in. It's easy to imagine floating around out there on a hot summer night, under a tropical night sky filled so thick with stars, thunder storms rolling in the distance...

(though this would be completely illegal, of course, and therefore not recommended...)

[giddy-up]

I made my way up to the top end of feiCui shuiKu and down to the shore at wantan.

From up on the highway...



One from beside the shore..



When I got down to the little community by the lake there was an old man with a pig. The man assured me that the pig wouldn't hurt me, and then left. I was soon to discover that a pig is a surprisingly amorous creatre and it wasn't long before he had chased me up onto a picnic table.

.

It occured to me that this would later make for a graet story but honestly as the pig had now taken to "chewing" the table it wasn't all that funny at the time.


Thankfully I was rescued a little later by a kind woman with a stick...


The next day I made it to pinGliN...



If you want to trace the beiShi XI upstream from pinGliN "DON'T" cross the river and follow the little road that runs down from the mountains on that side. It's a lovely road but it's not the beiShi XI.

In fact the road dead ends at an oolong tea farm just bellow the saddle of the mountain...



Nice spot to take pictures..





We (myself and the kind old couple that gave me a ride up the hill) were invited in for tea..



Old people and kids are all that's left in the mountains for the most part...



I managed to describe my river project to the people who gave me a ride up the hill and it wasn't long before I had them just as enthusiastic about tracing the river as I was. We took another stab at the beiShiXI and made it as far as the temple.



Looking upstream...



It will be quite a challenge to get up there.

Over the hills and far away...