Sunday, June 3, 2012

Our trip to Wulai

Despite the rain, fog and Maxime's jet lag, today we set out on a day trip to the village of Wulai. It is an aboriginal village best known for a large waterfall. 

Today we had partners in crime - our new neighbors who recently moved from Texas and have two little daughters. After suckering them into leading our two-car caravan (trying to navigate here can be quite challenging) we set out on the 35 kilometer trek that took over an hour due to the lack of direct highway access (they never once got us lost! Beginners luck...) 

In Wulai you are treated to an "Old Street" that is packed with touristy shops and food carts. if you have a weak stomach like me you look around cautiously since you are bound to see a whole boiled chicken with a twisted neck and his head still on, eyes staring blindly...  (I'm easily scandalized...) 

Then you cross a bridge and scale a treacherous staircase (treacherous due to having a stroller in one hand, the diaper bag in the other, slick from the rain, etc.) to catch the log cart - a very small train that takes you to the falls. This was fun, had great views, and it definitely beat walking.  

The falls were beautiful. Of course my opinion of waterfalls is skewed due to visiting Niagra Falls as a kid - this was a more tropical version... Much smaller, not nearly as much mist...   

There were more shops up there as well as a group of young ladies dressed in some kind of traditional garb who were extremely excited to meet our kids. After getting our fill of pictures of the falls and attention from the locals we then scaled even more treacherous stairs to jump on the gondola that took us over the waterfall and into a resort and park that we really didn't get to explore very well due to the kiddos getting tired. The first thing we happened upon there, which was really random, was an old fashioned haunted house ride (which we obviously jumped on immediately). 

On our way back down the steps we stopped for a coffee - while we waited, nearby a young boy was holding a huge butterfly that had just hatched and couldn't fly yet. A small thing but it was cool, I had never seen a brand new butterfly before. 

My neighbor Jenny had the foresight to take a camera so between her great shots and our phone, here are some images from the trip. 

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