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| Stairs, stairs and more stairs up to the East Peak |
Our driver recommended a "famous" restaurant serving Hakka style chicken which I have had in the past. And while it is very tatsy, I wanted to get on the road home. I had packed enough food for the day according to the itinerary I was given.
It was 6:15PM when we stopped at the restaurant for dinner. It wasn't cheap. I was concerned about money and not having my ATM card. Dinner worked out to be NT$300/person. I certainly did not eat NT$300 worth of food as there were a number of seafood dishes that I didn't care to eat. After paying for dinner and the taxi I had to take first thing that morning, I had NT$600 plus change in my wallet which would be enough for the train and taxi home. Just enough.
It was rolling on past 7:00PM and we were still waiting on the chicken. I looked at Google Maps and it said it would take about 4.5 hours to get back to the Hsinchu train station from where we were. I was starting to get concerned about missing the last local trains back to Taipei. One of the drivers agreed to drop me off at the High Speed Rail station as the last trains go around 11:30PM.
At 7:30PM, we were still at the restaurant. I was becoming slightly annoyed by this point. I had been on the road since 5:40AM and was exhausted. I expressed my concern about getting home to the organizer and the driver suggested dropping me off at the Taichung High Speed Rail (HSR) which was only about two hours away. I agreed not thinking about the cost of getting home from Taichung.
I was dropped off in front of the HSR station at 8:51PM. I knew there was a 9:00PM train so I booked it to the ticketing counter to get a ticket. I told the lady I needed to go to Nangang and she told me it would be NT$725. When I opened my wallet I saw a 500 note and a 100 note. It was at this point that I remembered I had very little money. My mouth dropped open and I had to tell the lady I didn't have enough money. I opened the change part of my wallet well-knowing I did not have NT$125 in change but at this point I was shocked, exhausted, feeling weird from the high altitude and starting to understand that I may have just stranded myself in Taichung. I was overwhelmed.
The lady behind the counter looked at my handful of change and said I had enough to get to Taipei. I told her I needed to go to Nangang. She looked at me like I was a child and slowly explained that I didn't have enough money to get to Nangang. I wanted to cry. I was still staring at my money, mouth gaped open when she reminded me that I had minutes to catch the 9:00PM train. I told her to give me to the ticket to Taipei and I don't even think I said thank you before sprinting to catch the train. I had NT$24. That wasn't enough to take the MRT from Taipei to my neck of the woods.
For the second time that day, I felt defeated. My head was foggy and I had a slight headache. I felt angry at how the day turned out due to poor organization. I did learn a lesson that day. Even if there is an itinerary, bring your ATM card as you never know what may happen.
On the train ride home, I was chatting online with my friend who reminded me to focus on the feats I had accomplished that day. She told me to drop by on my way home and pick up some money so I could pay for the taxi. I reached my house just before 11:00PM. I dropped my stuff on the floor, took a hot shower, crawled into bed and was alseep in minutes. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I am very glad I went. And in the future, I'll prepare a bit better for things unexpected.
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| Hiking alone around the 600m mark and looking back at all the stairs I had climbed |
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| Around the 800m mark, the stairs stopped and it became more of a rocky scramble |
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| Clouds quickly rolling past on the Hehuan East Peak at 3,421m above sea level |
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