MOUNT YUSHAN 300

5 men
3952 metres of verticle rock, in darkness, dense fog and howling winds.
SPARTANS
HUH!



On the Friday night, brave souls gathered from as far as Changhua and Yuan lin to prepare for their assault on the big rock. By chance a local man [expert in conquering great heights] known as Mr Wu and his compatriot Sky were feasting in the same area. Knowing that the path ahead would be a tough one; the 7 of them with an army colleague feasted until late at night, stocking up on energy. Then under the cover of darkness they retreated back to their abodes waiting for dawn to come.


At 04:00, the alarm was raised: it was time! Without a word, each of the Spartans bathed, donned their armour against the elements, threw their equipment over their shoulders, mounted their steeds and rode down to the hike shop.


There Mr Wu was waiting with his wagon to take them south into the mountains.



Dawn broke as they rolled along... the sun swirling in the patchwork sky.


For breakfast they stopped in a village in the mountains, the local children flocked round us in awe of their garbs and locks and look of determination. It was midmorning when their opponent came into view, peering over the tops of the nearby peaks. At the time it seemed it was to be a walk in the park, the sun was shining, the clouds were like milk and the day was a pleasant cool.


When they reached the park boundary, it was midmorning. 2 dead interlinked tall trees gave an eerie welcome to the small force. A local contingent from Kaoshung, who had heard that the Spartans were out to conquer the Yushan had arrived to join the effort. These men and women were all from the Tai military.


Wu explained to them all after handing out rations for the day that before the main assault could be made on Yushan, the smaller peaks of Lulin and Lintzu needed to be defeated. At 10:00 hours the two forces joined under the directions of Sky. [Wu scouted ahead to Yushan main peak] The route was pleasant under foot and before long all had established a rhythm. The pine needles under foot and the yellower grass painted a picture similar to Dalby Forest. Before long the Spartans took the lead seeing these peaks as a challenging warm up.
Their speed impressed local hikers who chanted "so strong" as they marched past.
The first proved no problem at all, the second peak was slightly higher, the Kaoshung group had to stop half way up for a break and the nutrients in the rice cake and ham pancake Wu had sent them with. When they reached the top, the Spartans had built a monument from the rocks around sending a message to the onlooking Yushan, "We are not afraid!"

The route now was down and round back to the base. On the road, the forces passed some children catching butterflies with huge nets... unfair it seemed on the butterfly... but no: for that one butterfly had more skill cunning in its tiny body than all of the children put together: the Spartans smiled at the simile between their small force and their giant enemy.
Just before the hostel, a man on the road saw in their eyes what they intended to do, he showed them into his abode filled with information about the Yushan, he even had a 3D model to aid the Spartans in their quest.
Back at the hostel it was now 14:00; Wu had decided the assault was best made under the cover of darkness. So both forces had a powernap for 3 hours - though a Spartan is never truly asleep.
Then at 17:00, everyone woke to the smell of food cooking. A local lady had prepared a feast for the warriors. Fish, chicken, rice and pork had been laid out for the party.
20:30 Armed with torches and poles the two forces set out on their quest. They followed the road for some time watching the shadow of the mountain draw closer, then made quickly across to a small path that hugged the steep sided cliffs as it drove further upwards. Even with torches only the black drop could be made out... what lay beneath no one could tell, nor wanted to know.
The night was clear, the stars and quarter moon shone brightly down making the path easy to follow at first, but as the route headed deeper into the dark forest, tripping became unavoidable. Many times, the path steepened and the Spartans pulled each other through the course.
Spartan Higham went to scout the path ahead while the rest of the group stopped at a shelter to view the night sky in all its wild beauty. After 3 hours on the path, the Spartans had left their Kaushung allies far behind. Spartans Culbert and Kozak went ahead to check that Higham was still safe. Spartan Smith keen to keep the forces united stayed with Morgan, but the man was weak from the days hike; the stops became more and more frequent waiting for Morgan to retrieve his breath. Eventually, the lights of the Kaoshung force came into view... and Smith left Morgan in their hands, then hurried on to find the others.


Markers had been laid down on the path every 500m and after what seemed like an age making decisions about what was the path, and what was a river bed, or landslide in the darkness; Smith was glad to see a post up ahead. A voice called out to him. He wasn't sure if this was real as he'd been hearing voices for the last hour in his head. But agian it sounded: it was Kozak.
He was relieved to see another Spartan: Culbert and Higham had long been out of view.
The next stop was only a kilometre away. But the path got steeper and steeper, at times, the 2 Spartans were only making 10 strides before stopping for air.
Spartans! Huh! They pushed on until eventually they reached a shelter surrounded by tents.
It was 02:00. People were walking around shouting things, but the walk had left Kozak and Smith numb with exhaustion. Wu appeared out of the madness, he threw sleeping bags at the two Spartans and pointed to a tent... the Spartans got in; still not knowing where Higham or Culbert were, but grateful to be off their feet.
02:2o Smith opened his eyes, he could hear Sky talking about food outside; he got back into his boots and walked out into the darkness. It seemed darker than before, a mist was enveloping the camp. 6 benches outside had turned into breakfast bars... a stream of nearly 100 people came from the shelters and tents to get some food; more for the warmth than for hunger.

Kozak joined him and both took shelter from the wind and guzzled their meals.
Out of the darkness 2 tall figures approached, it was Culbert and Higham. Higham looked rough, he was freezing and not yet adjusted to the altitude; but he was raring to continue.
There was no sign of Morgan. The slog through the night had left him drained.
At 03:00 Sky informed the Spartans that they would be the advance party, Mr Wu would lead the Kaoshung force from the rear.
The short rest had given a new surge of energy to the Spartan force, and they ploughed up the path passing all of the other troops ahead of them... but the charge was short lived. Before long, the lack of oxygen started to take its toll. Stops became more frequent: Sky the guide was apologising for needing to stop; but even these men of pride and honour were glad to hear his words. The fog was getting thicker and thicker: by the torch light, all was dark but for a beam of mist in front of their eyes. Finding the path was increasingly difficult.
Eventually they saw a chain pinned into the rock face; the fog had made it wet and cold, and the rock slippery under foot; but it was the only way. Spartan Smith took over from Kozak at the front as the small force hauled themselves up the rockface, desperate not to tumble over the edge. The gloves made little difference in protecting the hands gripping the icy chain. And the wind grew stronger with every step further upwards. It seemed as though years must have past finding a route through that hell on earth. But eventually, Smith cried out; "The top - there it is!" The Spartans spent little time looking at the post marking their conquest... the wind was too strong; Sky had found a pocket in the peak, a bit of shelter from the raging winds and there the Spartans huddled waiting for sunrise.



Though the sky seemed more blue than black, no sun could be seen through the dense cloud... by the time details in the Spartans' faces could be seen, other groups were making the last struggle of their journey to the top. Sky yelled that the team must return down the mountain, but the side of the mountain was more hazardous than the peaceful shelter where the men huddled. The warmth of day failed to reach them, so back down the mountain they headed, squeezing past the oncoming hikers on the narrow ledge of a path. With gravity coaxing them on and less need for the scarce oxygen in the air, the team made great time... it was odd to see the route in the daylight: such grand rock forms everywhere.

On arrival at the hostel, the warden approached the Spartans demanding their permits; unfortunately, Wu still had them at the top of the mountain.
Morgan woke from his needed sleep to the smell of noodles cooking. After a short rest and a bite to eat, the Spartans again left the others behind and slowly descended the great Yushan.

After an hour or so, the sun finally did reveal itself, and the magnificent view could be seen, but the top of Yushan remained in cloud.


The last hour took it's toll on their feet; subconsciousness took over and carried them back to the main hostel.

To celebrate; Wu and Sky took the Spartans out for dinner, although they barely had the energy left to lift the chopsticks. That evening, Spartan Smith went to bed at 5pm and didn't wake until 9am on Monday; and he wasnt the only one.


Spartans: Duncan J Smith, Nick Kozak, Andy Higham, Jeff Culbert, Tim Morgan

view

How was you Friday 13th?

For me it lived up to it's name;
I got pulled over by a traffic cop for going through a red light.
I copied the wrong set of exam papers for one of my classes.
I made a tax-back cheque void by entering the English date 07, not the Taiwanese year of 96.
And I received a speeding fine for the day I was picking up Jenny and John from the airport - the day the car was dropped off late.
Today is Saturday the 14th, I wish you all good luck and happiness.

Spring Scream Music Festival: Kenting

For whatever reason, the Thursday was a holiday, so in order to have a 4 day weekend, we all agreed to make up the Friday next Saturday (a decision we still may regret). The four-day weekend was timed perfectly to coincide with Spring Scream.
Local bands, The Idiots and The Dolittles made up of mainly Changhua teachers had made the line up, so to support them a full coach of Westerners headed off early Thursday morning from Changhua main school.
The weird thing was that I didn't know half the people on the bus. I thought it would be all Shane peeps but no. Still they were a cool crowd. Dave (dolittle bass) put on one of his Dave mixes which always make a journey easier. Half way there the coach made a stop at a place where you could "toilet, buy beer and food". Well it had olbviously been a while since he had been down this route. The gas station he stopped at was shut down with no shop and the only "toilet" was an open mens urinal or an algae covered squatter space with the door smashed in. The funny thing was the driver didn't seem to think any of this a problem. We forced him to stop again before we got there.
I soon recognised the rolling Kenting Hills I'd cycled around months back: we were there!
The coach couldn't get up the driveway as there was a huge frame with all the festival's bands across it blocking the road; the driver said we shouldnt try to move it, so we waited for a couple of shuttled buses to collect us from the main building. They were tuck-tucks (2 benches in the back of a pick up truck). We formed a chain and passed all the luggage, food and guitars into the tuck tuck. It was a short drive to reception where we unloaded the vans. We were in the middle of a large holiday resort filled with 4-8 man cabins and every space had a stage assembled upon it. The headliners for the weekend would be playing at 2 large stages at the tip of Kenting a drive from where we were staying. The smaller bands would be playing here in the resort.
After a long wait, Rachel (Dolittle vocals and mum to us all) had our keys and we were reloading the tuck-tucks to get to our cabins.

I would be staying with Kim and Erica (Changhua English teachers) and a guy known as puppet: Matt. The four of us were sharing 2 double beds but that was something you get used to in Taiwan. Collin a Scottish guy who no-one remembers meeting had a problem with his camping arrangments, so he and his two Taiwanese friends were sharing the floor of our living area.

Rachel had been shopping and our cabin soon became a fluid sandwich production factory.

The event was supposed to kick off at 2pm. However there was little going on at any of the stages and I kept thinking it would have more people around. maybe on Saturday!

At 4ish we managed to locate the bar, burger and burito stands... which was all too tempting to resist even after the giant lunch we'd had . The first act I saw was in the circle; it was a Taiwanese band; they looked like college students and rightfully terrified at being first on. They didn't sound too bad despite their rigidity throughout their set.

As the sun started to sink we headed to the hillside stage and watched a collection of interesting bands: including one whose last song had only 2 lyrics: there are 2 sides of the road, one's for driving and the other is for driving. A little crazy, but you'll have to watch the flick i took.

Gemma and her friend only just in from Hong Kong Vicky finally arrived after most of the sets had finished. They'd had a hellish day of Taiwanese transport hurdles, but were glad to be here.

Knackered from the long day and keen not to miss breakfast the next morning; we took an early night.

The next day we got up stupidly early and threw on our clothes and headed to the dining room. To my delight breakfast was Western and Chinese: we had fish in breadcrumbs, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg, cereal and toast. I happily stuffed myself.

As a few people hadn't been to Kenting yet, we thought we'd investigate the shuttle bus. Sadly we were told that the shuttle service didn't start until 3pm... it was now 11am. We tried a taxi but they were all busy... in the end we had enough people to hire a small bus to take us there.

We spent the morning shopping down the packed main street. And after a touristly priced lunch, Gemma Vicky and I headed to the beach to chill. It turned out Vicky had backpacked through Cambodia and Vietnam earlier in the year; she had loads of great advice for me: including not to go with the tour group I'd almost signed up for. From the beach we went for dinner in a nice Thai restuarant. As we were fairly close to the 2 main stages, we thought we'd check them out. We found a shuttle bus that took us to the venue, where the lighthouse towered in the background. The first stage we came to - again - seemed not to have that many people in front of it, but we sat with a drink and watched a couple of bands, one of which 'I.R.I.S.' sounded very much like a Taiwanese Manic's or Ash. We walked over a hill to the second stage and finally it felt like I was part of a music festival. Everyone in Kenting must have been there.
We caught the last part of a blues/funk band with an excellent Taiwanese singer. Then there was a boy band that had everyone including the fellas screaming and singing along (there's nothing unmacho in Taiwan about blokes listening to boybands or wearing pink clothes - just come down to the poolhouse in Yuanlin - they're all doing it!).

The last act was good, but her music was a bit slow... so we walked back to the other venue and caught the end of a really cute artist who had the crowd in the palm of her hand.

The journey back to the resort was fairly easy, but the music had ended. As I walked back to my cabin, I passed another with 30 people or more crammed in for a jam session; I'm sure it sounded better to the players than to those on the outside. Despite the noise, I slept like a baby!

On Saturday; I discovered why they call Matt puppet.

As part of our Dolittle groupie task list; we walked round the resort promoting the band (which would be playing at 3pm) with Rachel made garments and posters. Matt brought his dog (Matt's a ventriloquist) to sell the band. Now Matt's a funny guy, but RJ is hilarious, I spent more time talking to the dog than Matt. It was soon time for The Idiots to play. A fair crowd had gathered on the hillside. Now the Idiots [Canadians Abe, Sean and Chris with Irish brothers James and Mark] had spent most of the weekend drinking, smoking and having a good time; pretty much like they all day everyday... so we were all surprised by the quality of music that flowed forth from the stage. The first song included a rap piss-take of themselves and their rise to stardom: The Idiots from Changhua! The overall sound was quite blues-like. For more info http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=151512306

The Dolittles were on straight after, but as fate would have it, a rain cloud drove in and scared off the Taiwanese contingent in the crowd for half the set. Despite the weather the set went down really well. http://www.myspace.com/thedolittles and as a result Andy was asked to support a band in Taipei the following weekend.

Gemma and Vicky went back into Kenting but I decided to stick around and see the bands playing that evening in the resort.

Of note were:

this crazy band from NYC using 2 accordians and a clava-something... (electrical instrument controlled by waving your hands about) a very Hungarian folk sounding band;

Atash - a band with members from all over the world - Arabian feel to the music. The lead singer was in his 50s and drove the crowds wild by dancing waving a white hankie in the air.

The Anglers: funk/reggea band with brass galore!

Faye, a girl who had been on the coach with us with her guitarist and percussionist; she had a great voice and a nice country sound. The rain came pouring down while she was singing, but we didn't mind getting wet for it.

At the end of the night there was an Air Guitar competition to win guitars, a drum kit and a keyboard. The hopefuls varied in style and skill. Then suddenly Puppet gets up on the stage and had RJ playing Smells like Teen Spirit... the crowd loved it and for a while we thought he was going to win, but the judge said you couldnt use props... that didnt stop two blokes taking the stage seconds later jumping around with real dogs.

One crazy evening. One crazy weekend.

http://www.springscream.com/