Day 6 - Sankeng Old Street And Shihmen Reservoir, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Day 6 - Sankeng Old Street And Shihmen Reservoir, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
The forecast this morning called for another rainy day.
I don’t mind walking in the rain, because at least it means that the intense heat lifts a bit.
We ate breakfast in our hotel, surrounded by two busloads of people.
It seems that most people travel around Taiwan in comfortable air conditioned buses.
Most people we saw traveling were Taiwanese; we saw almost no foreigners from other countries around.
When I planned the route of our walk, I didn’t just choose the shortest way down the country.
I wanted to visit some of the old towns along the way, and visit any sites that were worth seeing as we walked.
My other reason for visiting all the old towns along the way was to get us adjusted to walking again, before we started walking longer distances per day.
But with the intense heat, we have not been adjusting so fast.
Today we only walked 14 km, but it felt like a hard day of walking.
For breakfast, I ate a leek pancake, which is a famous Taiwanese breakfast dish.
It is not really a pancake, but more of a flat bread with leeks.
Then I ate some local creamy tofu topped with two kinds of century egg, a translucent black one and an orange one.
Century eggs are popular in Taiwan and in China.
It is an alkalized or preserved egg, than is sometimes made by preserving an egg with clay, ash, rice hulls, and quicklime for several months.
The result is a creamy and wonderful tasting boiled egg.
The scenery today was beautiful.
We walked through rolling hills, rice fields and many fields growing leeks.
We didn’t even have to look to see the white leek flowers, as we could smell the leeks in the heat of the day.
We stopped at a small temple that had some stone benches in the shade, to drink our tea and rest our feet.
Just taking off our backpacks felt like a nice break.
Then we walked to the scenic Sankeng ecological park.
There were paths and a lake with covered pagodas to picnic in.
Weekend visitors walked around with umbrellas.
It was rainy and my shoes got soaked.
From there, we walked to the small and rural Sankeng Old Street, just as the rain intensified.
The small road only has a few eateries and stalls selling local vegetables and produce.
We bought some roasted sweet potatoes and they were so creamy and sweet, that every time we eat them in this season, we keep wondering if they were injected with sugar, because they were so sweet.
But of course we know that they are not.
In a small eatery, we took off our backpacks and sat on the tiny stools to eat a light lunch.
We shared a dish of boiled tofu, mushrooms and boiled daikon topped with soy sauce and leeks.
From there, we walked towards Shihmen Reservoir, where our hotel is located.
After more than an hour, the rain turned into a downpour and the road we walked on felt slippery.
It seemed like a good idea to stop somewhere with the hope that the rain would lighten up a bit.
I checked the map and saw that there was a small cafe nearby.
The cafe was very cute, decorated
with plants and a garden with seats to enjoy on a dry day.
Luckily, they also had an indoor dining room.
We were happy to take off our backpacks and asked for the menu.
The two sisters and their mother, who owned the cafe, spoke no English, but a friendly man came over to translate the menu for us and help us order.
With much patience, he explained the different teas they offered, and the food and even the different discounts of the meal set combinations.
I was not even hungry, but I wanted to sit down and get out of the rain.
We ordered two pots of teas and a small veg pizza.
The friendly man told us that he lives in Taipei, and that he comes sometimes on the weekends to play the saxophone with his friend in the cafe.
As we drank our teas, he played for us softly and it felt so nice.
There is something so soothing about listening to people who are not professional musicians, but are just playing music because they love it so much.
The teas were delicious and the atmosphere was lovely, and they apologized for the heavy rain and heat, which is still forecast for the next few days.
When we were ready to leave, they asked us to take a photo together at the front of the cafe.
It was a reminder for me that sometimes the best moments in a pilgrimage come from the sweet people you meet along the way.
Yes, it was rainy and very hot, but a sweet man playing the saxophone, and two smiling women who genuinely care about running a cute cafe, warmed up my heart.
The scenery of the lake and mountains surrounding the Shihmen Reservoir is poetic and spectacular all year round, although it is nicer in autumn when the maples turn red.
Shihmen Reservoir attracts many tourists on the weekends.
There are bicycles tracks and lake cruises.
The reservoir has many different functions.
It is used to generate power, water agricultural plants, prevent floods, provide drinking water to the towns and for recreation.
People come here to watch the maple leaves turn color, or to see the white plum blossoms, the pink peach blossoms, the cherry blossoms and the azaleas.
During the rainy season, people come to see the spectacular view of the floodwater being released in a torrent of waterfalls.
Our hotel offers vast views of the reservoir.
It is comfortable and completely full of guests and families.
We peeled off our totally soaked clothes, and I went to the laundry room to do our laundry.
Then I showered and took a long nap.
My shoulders were hurting from carrying the weight of the backpack.
We were carrying much more water than normal because of the intense heat.
We have decided not to rebook the pilgrimage for a cooler time, and if we have to be outdoors all day long every day, the least we can do is stay hydrated.
I was asking myself truthfully…. Am I enjoying this?…
Jules reminded me that a pilgrimage is not about having fun, but about growing beyond our perceived limitations.
It is about stretching ourselves beyond the physical, to prove to ourselves that we are NOT bodies moving through time and space, but free Spirits, eternal in the Heavens….
We are as our personal God created us, powerful healed and whole.
With love,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 21,141
Daily Distance - 14 km.
Total Distance To Date - 81 km
