Paiyun-Lodge 2 am

The night was extremly short and we got nearly no sleep. A lot of people in the room, snooring people and hard beds - no room to calm down. But nothing compared to the condition our guide is which we will notice quite soon.

3 am we finaly start to climb the peak. It is completely dark and we have to use our head lamps. We move very slowly and after half an hour we see our guide womitting beswides the path. He´s not doing well. After a short discussion he allows us to go on our own. I guess he had some rice wine too much or maybe high mountain desease.

Peak at dawn

Final destination

At some point the peak plaque gets free for a photo shooting. We try to get good pictures but unfortunately clouds come over the peak again and covers the scenery by mist.

Right before sunrise we reach he peak as one of the latest groups. All the good places are occupied. It´s crowded on the top.

Still everything is obscured by misty clouds but the peak. Suddenly the mist clears a little bit and the sun comes out and the scenery is touched by a lovely light.

Descent

We descent very rapidly. Everything much less dramatic as we thought during the ascent. Although my headache gets better and better the lower we get - high mountain desease it what it´s called.

We arrive at midday at the entrance. Good luck, a mini van is waiting for tourists and we can take it down to Tataka without having to wait for. Suddenly it starts to rain. Quickly the water rises up to few centimeters on the road. Astonishing!

The ride back to Hsinchu takes about four hours. We have an appointment for dinner at 7. And we make it good in time. Tired but very happy we fall asleep at 11 o´clock at Gilbert`s home.

The big adventure named Taiwan will come to an end...