River Climbing

We stayed in a beautiful 'home stay' in Hualien with our room being the VIP room on the 4th floor of the home. I really appreciated all of the steps we had to climb as it was a great workout! We had barbeque for dinner and then pretty much headed to our rooms to crash. Before dinner the kids watched Mama Mia in our room while I took a decadent bath in the slipper clawfoot tub.

The next morning we woke up to prepare for our river climbing adventure! Everyday brought new activities with details not being very clear until the actual moment for the activity to begin. As I'm unable to speak Chinese, I was pretty much forced to just go with the flow the entire vacation which is a challenge for me as I like to be prepared! Fortunately, I was able to find this groove early on...might be a new side of me.

We loaded into a van and headed to Mysterious Gorge where we donned helmets, socks, gloves, life vests, and wet suits. The wet suits were comparable in thickness to what Anna and I wore scuba diving Lake Superior in November...THICK! The adventure was basically climbing a river filled with many waterfalls, ledges, and deep pockets. It was an amazing way to experience the scenery of this beautiful area. In our particular group, Gary at 52, was probably the oldest in the bunch with Connie and I not far behind. It is definitely not an activity for the faint of heart!

We were led by aboriginal men who we all agreed (the girls anyways) were the cutest guys we had seen so far. They were all taller than average Taiwanese with high foreheads and proud, straight noses and angular cheekbones. They were born to the water as they lithely stepped up and down and around our group.

This is Anna after battling one of the fast-flowing waterfalls!

Some synchronized swimming.

Going head first down some rapids!

At this point in our trek we were heading back down the river. The guide is explaining to us (with Jess loosely translating as Anna and I were the only English speaking members) that this is the point where we curl up in the fetal position and just let ourselves pinball down the waterfall. Up to this point we had jumped off of two cliffs that were higher than I was comfortable with, battled raging currents, and was held under violent waterfalls. This unnerved me...I was speechless...until the guide said 'Just kidding!'

Practicing our head first techniques.

Cliff jumping!

Me, Jess, Anna, Connie, Gary, Amingo