The porter

You pass a steady stream of hikers as you ascend and descend those Taiwanese mountain tracks. They're almost universally cheerful and friendly.

Except this poor chap. He was a porter, taking supplies up to one of the mountain huts, and doing it the hard way, without a motorcycle as used by some of his fellow porters.

He looked straight ahead, ignored all greetings, and plodded on stoically.

Taiwan's mountain huts - trials and tribulations for the luxury hiker!

Ours was mainly a hiking trip for softies, with accommodation in very comfortable hotels between our various day walks. But there were  a couple of occasions when we had to spend a night or two up in the mountains, and then you take whatever accommodation is available.

Here's Tianchi Villa, where we spent a couple of nights. Except on the second night there was no room inside, and we were put into tents.


There was only an intermittent water supply there, and the arrangements for feeding the masses were somewhat military in style.

And here's 369 Villa, which houses 150 sleepers in an even more spartan style. In practice it didn't really matter how uncomfortable the sleeping arrangements - you are woken at 1am anyway, when the first shifts rise and are breakfasted, ready for their assault on Xue Mountain.

Someone told me these huts are all run by volunteers. If that's the case, they're doing a rather fine job.

I went to Taiwan and found another Switzerland

I knew it was mountainous because I'd booked to go on a bushwalking holiday there. But it wasn't until I saw this 3D map that it sunk in just how mountainous it is.









Most of Taiwan is high mountains. There's a coastal strip down the west where the big cities are, and a few tiny flat spots up and down the east. It's half the area of Tasmania, yet it has almost the same population as Australia.

What I also hadn't quite expected was what a clean, comfortable, modern place it is. It's prosperous and very well organised. People are well educated, friendly and helpful. There's no litter, and environmental awareness seems to be high. It's easy to get around. There are motorways and tunnels everywhere through mountains. There are high speed trains, the lot. This is not a third-world country!

 




It also has a robust, fully functional democracy, presidential elections due in January 2020. I'm sure there are massive foreign interference campaigns going on as we speak.

If I didn't know that China was listening in, I'd say this is what China could be like if it was working properly.