Exhausting yet exciting trail restoring days

Hi guys,

On the 1^st August typhoon Saola hit Taiwan, so we were evacuated from Aowanda. We went to Nantou and lived in B&B close to Nantou Forest District Office. We were given a free day on the 2^nd August (because of the typhoon) and we helped in the office on the 3^rd August. We spent next two days cleaning and fixing the trails in Changhua county, which is part of Nantou Forest District. On the 4^th August we went to Erzhanping Trail (one of four Qingshuiyan trails) and spent the morning cleaning the damage done by the typhoon.

Ready to work! 

Working hard

Brrrrrr

Done!

In the afternoon we visited the Qingshuiyan Temple. It was really interesting. I actually commited a minor faux pas: I went there first and, not knowing the customs, walked out the same door that I entered. Wei told me later on that the right door is represented by the Dragon, which is a symbol of good in Chinese culture, so we are supposed to enter the temple via the right door. Left door is represented by tiger, symbol of danger and we are supposed to leave the temple through the left door. I noticed drawings of dragon and tiger hung close to their respective doors after Wei's explanation.

After that we had lunch and went to Kengneikeng Forest Trail, one of the Ershui Nature Trails. 

The slogan says: Don't feed the monkeys!

That was really awesome, I saw monkeys for the first time in my life (ZOO doesn't count). I spent a lot of time just watching them jump around, eat, play with each other.

On the way back we were picking up the trash. I briefly hated people, there was a lot of trash everywhere. I still can't believe how inconsiderate some people are. Unfortunately we only had one bag, that got filled up really quickly.

Disgusting and disapointing

That was it for the day.
The next day we went to Taoyuanli Forest Trail, and fixed the holes in the road. It was really a hard work.

It took us roughly 30 minutes to restore this damaged piece of trail

In the afternoon we visited Eight Trigram Mountains Buddha Landscape Association, really cool Buddhist complex with a temple in the center.

Cool Buddha in the background!

After that we went home and soon enough we got back to Aowanda.

See you guys soon,

Sam