Entree Kibbles: Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) @ Taichung in Taiwan

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) @ Taichung in Taiwan

Wetlands are not that uncommon in Singapore, with Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve and Chek Jawa being the most famous. Hence, I wonder if this Gaomei Wetlands would differ much from the ones we have in Singapore.

Most obvious difference was noticeable almost immediately after the coach turned into a small road leading to the Gaomei Wetlands which was originally a beach and eventually became a wetland as a result of "sand embankment created to protect Taichung Port".

Towering wind turbines that were ever so breathtaking to look at. I remember seeing the lines of wind generators when the plane was about to land at Taoyuan International Airport for my second trip to Taiwan.

Wetlands refer to both "inland wetlands" and "coastal wetlands" and Gaomei Wetlands falls under the latter since they face the Taiwan Strait, with China about 100 kilometers away.

Ornamental Chinese temples that stick out for their colorfulness although the tallest and most prominent structure was a disused red-white lighthouse.

It was clear sky without any clouds, and with a temperature of 22 degrees celcius; I bet our visit would be a comfortable one even though the time was about 12.30pm.

I was wrong; it was so darn bloody hot!

The feel on the skin was more than 30 degrees celcius!

From the above photograph, it's like the artwork was showing that wheels of the bicycle had melted and fused with the concrete kerb! Thankfully, one weather condition was in our favor.

The strong wind as evidenced by the dancing strands of hair of my dad whose hair was waxed down! p.s. sincere apology to my dad for showing such an unglam look. Mine looked worse!

Sixteen wind turbines right in front of us! For energy scarce Singapore, have we look at using the wind to generate energy? Thing is, an average wind speed of 4.5 meters / second is required and the wind is Singapore is only about 2-3 meters / second. There's supposed to be one at Pulau Semakau though.

Despite knowing how to read and write Chinese, I could only understand a low level of traditional Chinese characters, especially if they frequently appeared on comics books, and without too many strokes. I assume the above words were "Visit Gaomei, the birds spread their wings". The name of the birds I don't know how to read.

Seaside Cycling Routes - do you know that recreational cycling is huge in Taiwan? Aside from boasting a robust bicycle manufacturing industry, there's even a "968-kilometer bicycle route around the island of Taiwan", known as Taiwan Cycle Route No.1 (環島1號線)!

Our purpose was to check out the boardwalk that led into the wetlands, for a closer look at the flora and fauna but the operating hours were changed on a daily basis, and we were warned beforehand that we might not be able to step onto the boardwalk.

Honestly, I have my doubts about the ever changing operating hours as the likely reason was that we were too early but didn't have enough time to wait since we needed to be at Hsinchu about a 100-kilometer away by night. Nevertheless, I didn't clarify.

Anyway, we were allowed some free time to roam about and to congregate in about 30 minutes time, at the entrance of the boardwalk. I am always happy to walk and clock in extra steps!

Right behind my dad was the red-white lighthouse; standing at 38.7 meters tall and built in 1967, it was decommissioned in 1982, with its main light moved over to another location at Taichung Port district.

Moving down to a lower level, to be nearer to the wetlands.

Did you spot the birds in the above picture? One of them is the white heron, which you can find in Singapore too. As with most wetlands, they were a source of food for migratory birds!

From what I read online, Gaomei Wetlands were "fed" by the water from Dajia River, which had its origins from Hehuanshan, where I had been to in 2014!

西安朝天宮 - the Chinese temple that we passed by earlier. Said to have a history of over 100 years and newly renovated, some comments on Google map highlighted that visitors can use the toilet.

Walking to the wind turbines as above would take us about 1.5 kilometers, so the best way for us was only to marvel at them from a distance away. As it didn't seem like there were much more things to do, we decided to u-turn back.

Mural on the embarkment.

Birds as drawn are spoonbills!

KK took a photograph of my dad and I; I was so conscious of my high forehead that I had to keep my hair in place! Maybe I should really consider hair implants at Bangkok!

Back to the main area, where the boardwalk was.

Opening hours from 2.30pm till 5.19 pm. As tide was pretty low, I guess we were somewhat hopeful that the boardwalk will open earlier, although there were just about another 30 minutes to go.

Well, no such luck to check out the 800-meter long boardwalk, which visually didn't appear that long on the photograph. I had to go to Google Map to ascertain that it was indeed lengthy!

Towards the end, you can even walk down the wetlands, which isn't possible for wetlands like Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin unless you sign out for a tour beforehand.

In addition to the rich biodiversity, another famous activity at Gaomei Wetlands was to check out one of Taiwan's top ten most beautiful sunsets! Go YouTube.com and you can search for numerous videos on it.

The do's and don'ts - a caution sign was on the strong wind which I could totally attest to! No wonder the harnessing of wind for energy is so popular here. According to an article I read, the plan was to have 374 wind turbines by the end of 2024!

With some time to spare, we decided to walk around as there's no point hoping for the boardwalk to open. Even if they did open earlier, I bet it would take us tourists at least one hour to walk to the end of the boardwalk and to return, even though those afraid of being baked in the hot sun will decide to leave earlier.

Managed to see the soldier crabs?

You know what's another function of the wetlands?

It's a natural protection for disasters like flooding!

Another mural.

Airplane flying above us! Bet those coming from Southern countries like Singapore and Malaysia would take the same route and fly above Gaomei Wetlands. Do keep a lookout!