Scootering Around CingJing and Mt HeHuan

"Scootering" Around CingJing (清境) & Mt HeHuan (2~4 Apr 2014)

Day 1: From Puli to CingJing

It has been year since our last abandon trip to Cingjing last year (Apr-2013) due to the strong earthquake which struck Nantou county creating landslides that made us dropping the idea to riding up a rental scooter to Cingjing. We made last minute arrangements to remain at Taipei to burn off those few days and subsequently continuing our trip to Kenting. This round we finally managed to complete this part of our little adventure even though the weather wasn’t too kind to us.

After bidding with our friends at Chiayi HSR, we arrived at Taichung HSR station. The journey to Cingjing was quite simple. At the same HSR station, take the express bus to the town of Puli and from the same terminal, transfer for a bus that goes up to Cingjing.

When we reached the Taichung HSR, it was about 10:30am, and we had not taken our breakfast since coming down from Alishan. A quick check on the eateries at the HSR station landed us at “The Royal Host”. A casual restaurant that we had seen back in Japan years ago. And so we settled our late breakfast there ordering continental breakfast for ourselves after surviving the last few days of stir fry at Alishan. It was good to have a change of cuisine.   The HSR station bus terminal is located at the basement or ground floor, signs were clearly indicated and one wouldn’t have much difficulty getting there. Queues were forming and after buying our tickets we ended up in the wrong queue but luckily some asking around led us to the right bus bay with no queue as passengers had started boarding and the bus were about to drive off.

The town of Puli(埔里) is about 1hr plus away from the HSR station. A town well known for its proximity to many of Nantou tourist attractions like Sun-Moon-Lake, and the gateway to Cingjing and HeHuanShan (合歡山). It was raining slightly when we reached the Puli bus terminal around noon time. We have made booking with the scooter rental shop just opposite the bus terminal. The online reviews about the owner and shop was good and so we chose to them over others. After verifying all the documents, we got out scooter ready but the skies started to pour, as in really pouring cats and dogs. The owner gave us free raincoats for our ride but we came prepared with waterproof pants and jackets from our trekking clothing.  We wanted to wait for the rain to simmer down before riding up the mountain road to Cingjing which can be dangerous under bad weather condition. My worry was more on truck and lorry drivers unable to see us on our scooter. So we went over to the KFC and see how much more food we can shove into our stomach for lunch.  The rain didn’t lighten up and so with umbrellas we walked along the town center to the famous chocolate shop, the Feeling18 (18度C巧克力工房). With our phone GPS, we walked about 1.5km from the town center to the shop and of course we got to enjoy the free hot chocolate drink for visitors and bought some chocolates as snacks.

It was 3pm, when we were back at the scooter shop to collect our scooter. The rain has stopped , with some light drizzle only, good enough to have clear visibility of the road. And off we went taking the small back alley roads that leads to the highway 14 that will lead us all the way from the town of Puli to CingJing. There were little traffic on the road in the afternoon with few big trucks overtaking me. Maybe it was after the rain or it was meant to be of lesser traffic in the afternoon. Weekends will be heavy as the locals would mostly drive up to Cingjing to escape the warmer summer months.

Rest stop at 7-Eleven just out town of Puli

Strapping on helmet for the ride up to CingJing

After a 30mins ride from Puli, we made a short rest stop at a 7-eleven store to shop around. Kinda feel like a local on a scooter going to convenient store to buy beverages. A quick rest and off we went up the highway 14 to CingJing.  

Our reliable rental scooter that brought us up to CingJing

At 4:30pm, we reached our hotel/minus/ farmhouse whichever fitted the description of the place. They are advertised as Minsu, but standard and room décor fits the bill of hotels, but the their name uses that of a farmhouse. Minus away these confusing definitions, it was really a beautiful and satisfying place that we have booked.  We stayed at the 明琴清境山莊, an estate consisting of 4 blocks to choose from. Each located walking distance away from each other, and the block A being the restaurant and administrative office and check-in counter. The place is located quite far from the main road and for guest coming on public transport would need to give the minus a call to fetch them from the tourist center where the Starbuck, Mos Burger and 7-eleven are all located. I rode our scooter all the way to the admin office. When we reached the minus, we were greeted with the bright afternoon sun, with clear blue skies above us. It was a totally different feeling from the wetness down at the town of Puli.  The surroundings were still wet as the rain had just left CingJing as well. After we got our keys to our room, we did not left the Block A check-in counter, the garden outside the building was beautiful, with lots of flowers, plants and overlooking the lake below us. Both me and my wife were snacking pictures of the garden and the surroundings. It was really a very beautiful and nice place to stay in CingJing.

Beautiful outdoor garden with the sun out

Looking down at the clouds below

Outdoor patio just outside Block A of the farmhouse

Check-in Block A (our scooter in foreground)

Cute, pretty full size figurine on a bicycle

Knowing there are limited places to eat and that night we didn’t have much appetite for 7-eleven food and so we pre-booked with the minus during check-in for our table at their restaurants . You need to inform the staff in advance if you intend to have dinner at their restaurant.

Our unit to the extreme right

Taking a picture with a smartphone

Beautiful view of the lake and mountains from our room

Sunset over the mountain peak (from our room view)

Our rooms were located at Block C, the block located at the lower slope of the estate but offer unblock view of the lake below and the hot spring town of Wushe . At night we could see the little headlights of cars winding up the road to Cingjing from Puli.  We walked around the farm itself to kill time while waiting for dinner. We had a relaxed and enjoyable dinner from about 630pm to 8pm. After dinner, we took the scooter to the nearby tourist center to stock up on snacks from 7-eleven. The area was lighted up and even the Little Swiss Garden has its lights turned on. There was a live singing session by a duo and they sang really well, at the same time promoting their songs which can be purchased from their CDs. Being a weekday, the place at night was quiet and peaceful and the place where most people congregate was the 7-eleven.  Well, that was the only thing to keep visitors occupied at night.

At the tourist centre near the Little Swiss Garden

Windmil structure at the tourist centre

Day 2: Riding Around Cingjing

Today’s original plan was to bike up HehuanShan and climb the few summits that can be completed within a few hours, with some just 20mins hike from the main road. But weather did not seem to be good to bike up the 14A highway up the mountain road to HeHuanShan.  We tried to ride our scooter up to the highest altitude 7-eleven in the entire Taiwan before seeking shelter from the rain that got heavier over there. There were thick dark clouds blanketing the mountain peaks and we couldn’t see beyond those dark clouds. With another day to spend at CIngJing before returning back to Taipei, we left HehuanShan for the next day hoping weather would be better. But seriously we did check on the weather forecast and it would be just the same.

Inside the Little Swiss Garden

Sitting on the wooden bench by the pond

When  the rain has reduced to a drizzle, we rode our scooter down to the tourist center and visited the Little Swiss Garden with the complimentary pass that we got from our dinner meal at our farmhouse accommodation. I would say if without the free tickets,  it wouldn’t be worth paying to visit the garden as it is just a square size garden about the size of one soccer field. Maybe it could be the season I was visiting, maybe there could be some flower season for tulips or lavender that may worth the money to visit. For lunch we settled it at MOS Burger, the only fast food restaurant at the tourist center. We tried to waste more time by having a drink at Starbucks over some cheese cakes. It was very relaxing to the extent that I found myself bored as we have nothing much to do in this bad weather. Maybe we should ride the scooter down to Wushe and do some hot spring bath.

We spent the rest of the remaining afternoon back in our room watching TV I think; and for dinner, it was a late hour ride to the nearest convenient store to get some instant bowl noodles, plus tidbits and beverages to enjoy them in the comfort of our room.

Day 3: Riding up to HeHuanShan and Back

To my disappointment, we woke up to grey skies again. Although the rain has stopped and the small little road next to our block seemed dried up, but the mountain peaks are covered by some thick dark clouds. Since this was our last day before leaving Cingjing, we made our attempt to ride up to HeHuanShan hoping it will be better weather once we went above the clouds, that is provided the clouds would be lower than where we were going.

We had our covered breakfast after checking out and leaving our bags at the counter before hitting the road up the mountain route of 14A to HeHuanShan. It was about 830am when left the farmhouse. Since it was still early, traffic up the mountain route was light. In this kind of lousy weather I doubt there would be visitors like us making our way up to HeHuanShan, but surprisingly there were quite a number of cars heading the same way. Well they are in the comfort of their cars while we were braving the wet weather . But we were well clothed with waterproofing pants and jackets so all was still good.  Riding up the mountain route can be dangerous as there are some sharp bends and there were times when visibility is just about 50m, so the key is going slow and horn your way around bends and when fog was thick. 

Reaching 3070m at park entrance

At the entrance of Taroko National Park by the highway 14A

A parked car with no one in sight

The temperature dropped as we rode higher in altitude from our farmhouse of 1600m to our first stop point at KunYang(昆陽,3070m) around 9:10am. It was here just next to the Taroko National Park entrance structure. There wasn’t much rain but we were inside the cloud and everything was cold and wet. Someone park their car near there but no people were in sight. Maybe they decided to do some short hiking in this weather.  Well, for us, we also intend to do some short hike, even knowing that there wouldn’t be much see in this weather.  And so this hike would be just to make it to the summit and back.

Mountain peaks information board

Just beside the entrance structure, there is a mountain range information board that shows the different mountains that we could see on a fine day.  The board includes the Qilai Main and North Peak which I managed to climb a year ago.  The weather today at least from weather forecast was better than the day before and so that was why we delayed till today to do some hikes. At least it wasn’t raining any more.  From Kunyang with an altitude of more than 3000m, it should be too far to reach the car park area of HeHuanShan, but we couldn’t see anything distant in this kind of weather. Certain parts of the road are more windy as some of them are paths where the clouds cross over mountain ranges.  

Car park area besides the HeHuanShan Visitor Centre

Another 15mins on the mountain road, we reached the HeHuanShan car park area, just besides the HeHuanShan visitor center. This is a new building after the previous 合歡山山莊 was closed down and renovated to become a visitor center. In the past you could actually stay at this minus, but now the only one left up there is the SongSyue Lodge (松雪樓) which offers food and accommodation. A good place for hikers that wanted to stay close to the HeHuanShan mountain peaks to do day hikes and not wanting to cover all summits within a day trip. The downside of it, there is nothing to do at night unlike CingJing which is the closest civilization of Starbucks and 7-elevens.


At 9:30am, we were at the car park area we parked our scooter before going into the visitor center to warm up little. There were a lot of cars at the car park as compared to the quiet mountain road that we came from. Didn’t expect so many visitors who brave the bad weather to be up there. We were just in time to watch the a video screening of the mountain ranges of Taiwan and the beautiful HeHuanShan in different seasons. 

Mt HeHuan Visitor Centre

Mt HeHuan Point trailhead

A quick 15mins rest and off we went to the trail head of our 1^st mountain summit for the day, the HeHuanJianShan (合歡尖山). The trail head is just next to the visitor center by the road. There is another trail head further down the roads towards the direction of Hualian. We took the one besides the visitor center. It was much steeper and need to go on fours to climb certain segment, compared to the other route which is longer or gentle on the inclination. Another quick 15mins, we were at the summit of the HeHuanJianShan (3217m), which is one of the most easily attainable Hundred Peaks (百岳). This climb is family friendly and when we were at the summit, there was a family group there as well and helped us to take pictures for both of us. 

Mt HeHuan Point Summit

Making our way down to the main road of Mt HeHuan Point

Mt HeHuan Point trail information board

We took the other way down to the trailhead which looks more like the actual trailhead as there have big sign boards depicting the climb and the information about the route. The trailhead there joins the main road and from there it was a uphill walk about 10mins back to the visitor center car park. We went into the visitor center again to warm up a bit and used the restrooms before going back to our cold and wet scooter to proceed to our next climb, the HeHuanShan Main Peak, 合歡山主峰, standing at 3417m. The trailhead to the Main peak is about 3km away from the car park area, located at the 30.8km marker of the mountain route 14A.

Mt HeHuan Main Peak entrance

A few minutes on the scooter and we reached the trailhead of the HeHuanShan Main Peak.  We actually overshot the trailhead as visibility wasn’t that good. There were a few cars park outside the trailhead and we just slot our scooter and park besides the gate.  I wouldn’t call the hiking trail a trail as it is a dirt road use by the telecom company to service their big antenna drums located near the summit.  The road can fit any 4 wheel vehicle and walking on this wide open path was quite enjoyable, even in such gloomy weather. The trail inclines gradually in a zig zag manner and actually cutting across may give good savings on distance but need more leg power to scale the slope. We started from the trailhead at 11:00am, and reached the summit at 11:40am, a 40mins hike in total for one way leisurely. We didn’t know if we have reached the summit until we saw the summit marker. This is the first Taiwan summit that is maintained and done up very well. There is a big viewing gallery made of timber and steel and is actually higher than the summit marker to give visitor a better view of the surroundings.

Viewing gallery at the summit of Mt HeHuan Main Peak

Mt HeHuan Main Peak Summit Marker

Altitude marker at the summit

Back at the entrance with our scooter heading back to CingJing

We took some photographs around the summit marker and left the summit around 11:50am. Getting back to the trailhead was faster and it was downhill all the way and less of a strain on the cardio at such altitude. We were back at the trailhead at 12:20pm, a mere 30mins descend. We were supposed to return our scooter back to the shop at Puli by 3pm, and not wanting to pay extra at the expense of climbing another peak in such poor weather, we decided to end our visit at HeHuanShan. From there, it was a nonstop ride down the foggy mountain road back to the farmhouse at CingJing, a total of 30km of road from wet and cold to wet and less cold. As we got closer to Cingjing, the rain seems to be heavier and along the way, there were cars and scooters heading up to where we came from.

We went back to the farmhouse (minsu) to collect our bag to load onto the front of the scooter, rest a while just outside the check-in office before making our way back to Puli. The rain has stopped and we took off our warm fleece knowing that we would be descending and the temperature would start to warm up. And so up the scooter, we throttle our way down the mountain road to head back to Puli. We reached the bike shop around 3:30pm, a little overtime but the owner’s son managing the counter at that time said it was okay they give so allowance on the return time. After returning the bike, we just cross the little alley road to the bus terminal for the next bus back to Taichung HSR station. An hour on the bus and it was almost dinner time. To save time, we brought our food at the HSR station and intend to have it inside the train on our way from Taichung to Taipei. When we reached Taipei, it was still earlier and we even had time to go to one of the night markets that after so many trips to Taiwan, it was out first time to this market.

Back at Taipei's night market

Off to snacking around, again