High Road to Namaxia – 那瑪夏聯外道山路
Dark skies over lush tropical jungles after heavy rains in Shuang Lian Qu (雙連屈) in Tainan
When it rains are heavily in Namaxia (那瑪夏) the new ‘makeshift road’ (便道 – which is very nice) washes out pretty quickly and the most likely way out are the mountain roads. We had been wanting to get back to Tainan for a day and the rain was letting up and had just received word that the road was passable. Generally we drive through pretty quickly and don’t stop to enjoy the scenery, but we were blocked by a small landslide so had a bit of time to enjoy while the slide was cleared. It had stopped raining and was super clear, at one point we could see down to the village of Wulipu (五里埔), which neither Alas nor I had ever seen. Pictured here is where the roads drops into the lovely Shuang Lian Qu (雙連屈) area — right before the road down to Holy Mount Zion (錫安山) or Guanshan ( 南化區關山).
A small mudslide blocks the road in Tainan City.
I still find it strange that this remote mountainous area is Tainan ‘city.’ This is the mudslide that afforded us the rest. This road was once mostly dirt but after the Morakot Typhoon of 2009 washed out Hwy 21 it has become quite important for linking Namaxia to the outside and has been reinforced at many of the stream crossings as seen in this photograph.
