To Shake the Sleeping Self Book Review

I found myself really enjoying To Shake the Sleeping Self, Jedidiah Jenkin's account of his bike journey from Oregon to Patagonia, despite it's flaws. 

This post contains affiliate links.

 

  

View To Shake the Sleeping Self on the Book Depository

The title and the cover picture --and maybe the author's name--- led me to believe that this book would be more profound. Perhaps a meditation on nature and adventure.  It is true that Jenkin's wrestles with some big questions of a personal nature while on the trip, but what we get instead is more like Two Guys Go On a Crazy Bike Trip.

But once I adjusted my expectations I found myself really getting into the book. Some of his misadventures and mistakes actually made me laugh out loud or had me on the edge of my seat.  I also think he is very good at describing the landscape and the cities and cultures he is passing through. The tale really picks up once they reach Mexico.

There is no doubt that the book has it's flaws and I can imagine that some readers may not be able to get past them. 

First the author is very inexperienced and callow. Though he was 30 years old at the time of the trip,  I couldn't help thinking of him as a much younger person. However,  he is scrupulously honest (as far as we know) and I really respect his honesty. He seemed to resist the impulse to make himself look good.

Also he is so privileged that he doesn't even know how privileged he is.  He has visits from friends and his parents and flies home for a visit in the middle of the trip. He has all sorts of gadgets and talks a lot about where to charge his phone. 

A lot of it is just because its a different time but when I lived in South America I could not afford a trip home and I certainly wasn't FaceTiming with my mom or watching the Walking Dead on a laptop in a tent at night. I didn't have a phone and to send emails I wrote then ahead of time, saved them and then went to a place where I had to pay to use the internet. It was so slow that I would paste in my pre-written email and then read a book while I waited for it to go through, which usually took about 15 minutes for each one. 

At first, I was put off by all of the talk about religion. But as I got to know the author and as his views evolved I realized that he could not tell this story without talking about his faith.

So as I was reading the book, I did sometimes feel critical. However, despite his inexperience, he is a really good writer. I found myself really looking forward to sitting down with the book again and I enjoyed reading the voice of a younger author. Also, you have to give him credit. He did cycle from Oregon to Patagonia. It's great to know that part of the world is still challenging and awing a younger generation of travelers who are encountering it for the first time.

You can find To Shake the Sleeping Self on The Book Depository which offers free shipping worldwide.

 

Huiyinggu Waterfall 迴音谷瀑布 and Houdongkeng Waterfall 猴洞坑瀑布

 Huiyinggu Waterfall

Houdongkeng Waterfall

This hike, near the hot spring resort town of Jiaoxi, is a combination of road walking and hiking on a wide historical trail with great views of the Lanyang Plain and the ocean as well as a deep river valley. The first waterfall is in a shaded, rocky nook and is less well-known. The second is more likely to be crowded but it is still an impressive, three-tiered waterfall and another chance to cool off on a hot summer day before walking back into town.  

Paoma Historical Trail

Distance/Time:  12.2 km/ about 5 hours. More information as well as a map can be found here: http://rblr.co/OeQ7o

The Trail:

This is a moderate hike. The walking is mostly easy but I did a long loop from the Jiaoxi bus station to the beginning of the Paoma Historical Trail 跑馬古道, took the trail to the first waterfall and then walked along a road to reach the second waterfall before walking back to the bus station. 

Huiyinggu Waterfall is in a quiet spot and I had it all to myself but the second waterfall was crowded. 

The Paoma Historical trail 跑馬古道 is wide and easy but it is uphill on the way to the first waterfall and I felt the combined effects of the heat and carrying a lot of water in my bag. 

The road walking is mostly nice except for the very last part along a busy road but that part is short and there is a wide shoulder. The road from the trail to the last waterfall is surrounded by forest and I spotted a Muntac deer there.

This hike is appropriate for more active children who don't mind walking. I did the loop because I wanted to see more of the historical trail and to make it more interesting but it would be possible to make it shorter by just going up the way that I finished. 

For a very easy, family-friendly trip you could just take a taxi to Houdongkeng Waterfall trailhead and only walk about 250 meters.  Houdongkeng Waterfall is close to town and popular so it's likely there will be a good amount of other people there. 

What to bring: I took lots of water because it was a very hot day and a change of clothes. I wore my boots but the boots felt very hot and really a good pair of tennis shoes or light hiking shoes or maybe even sports sandals would be fine for this trail. 

There is a convenience store in the bus station and bathrooms where I changed clothes after the hike. There was a small shop selling soft drinks and Taiwan beer at the Houdongkeng Waterfall trailhead.

Transportation: I took a Capital Star bus from Taipei City Hall bus station. The ticket was NT$96 each way and it took just over an hour. These buses are very convenient and have big comfortable seats. On the way I only had to wait 2 minutes after buying a ticket and on the way home about ten minutes.

Subscribe: To get new posts by email you can subscribe here Subscribe or follow Taiwan Hiking Journal on Facebook

The hike:

Leaving the bus station I turned right, walked to the west side of the Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park and turned right on Gongyuan Road. 

Then north of the park I turned left on Zhongxiao Road. I walked for about 5 minutes to Zhongxiao Road Lane 1 and turned right.  It is a very narrow lane and not the bigger road just beyond it. There is a sign pointing to the Paoma Historical Trail. 

Zhongxiao Road Lane 1

The lane goes steeply up hill, through a parking lot at the end, up some stairs and comes to a road.

Go through the parking lot and along a shady lane

It took me thirty minutes to get here from the bus station. Arriving at the road it really felt that I had left the town behind. I went right on the road and in ten minutes came to the trailhead of the Paoma Historical Trail. 

There were cars parked along the side of the road as I got closer to the trail

Entering the narrower trail, there was more shade and it was a relief to be out of the sun. There were glimpses of Jiaoxi below through the trees. 

After 15 minutes I passed the road that I would later take down to the second waterfall but for the time being I went straight. 

 When the trail split I took the gravel path on the right. 

After about 10 to 15 more minutes of walking, the trail passed some of the best view points and then started to trace the edge of a deep river valley. The valley was filled with riotous green growth and there were white stone cliffs. The stream that forms the two waterfalls was unseen far below. 

The path started to turn toward the stream after passing an Earth God shrine.

At the point where the trail intersects the stream, families were playing in the shallow water.

Here I made a mistake and spent some time wandering around. The path to the waterfall is actually before you get to the stream but I missed it and carried on. I took another path leading off the trail to the right. It was a nice enough path and but it didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular and checking the map I could see I was heading away from the waterfall so I went back.

The correct path is before the stream and just before utility pole no. 84. It drops down steeply passing under some plastic irrigation pipes. There is a little bit of scrambling over boulders but its not hard and it was dry when I was there. 

It only took about 5 minutes to get to the waterfall. When I came to a clearing ringed by huge boulders I turned left and walked into the craggy natural cavity formed by the falls. 

 

This was a lovely spot and I had it all to myself until just when I was leaving, when 5 other people showed up. The water disappeared into the dry gravel at the base of the falls but there was a very small pool full of wriggling minnows. 

Google maps shows photos with far more water than there was the day I visited. Here is the Google maps link I would love to go back and see it after heavy rain.

 It was a great spot for a shower (or several) and lunch. The gravel, worn smooth by water, was comfortable to walk on barefoot and there were larger rocks for sitting on.

 

I stayed for just over 30 minutes and then feeling very refreshed and now walking downhill, backtracked to the road I had passed earlier.  I passed the Tudigong (Earth God) shrine again. A sign said the first rocks had been laid by those that had constructed the shrine but over time other travelers had added stones, so I made my own contribution.

It took about 30 minutes to walk back to the road which is just next to utility pole no. 33. There was a distinctive looking, gray house covered in vines on the left hand side of the road. 

The road goes down steeply, passing through forest and by some houses. 

At one point I stopped to check out a rock slope bisected by the road that looked like it would have been a water slide if it had not been so dry. I heard a noise on the slope above and saw a Muntjac deer. I hear them often but in my experience it's rare to see them. This one stared at me for a few moments and we got a good look at each other but I did not get a picture. It let out one bark and disappeared. 

After 20 minutes the road came to a T-junction next to a house with a huge agglomeration of dirty, sun faded plastic playground equipment.  I turned left on Baishijiao Road.  

 Just down the road a gravel track led to steps. I was feeling dehydrated, so I was glad to see a small shop next to the steps. I bought an ice cold Coke from an old man who seemed to want to speak English to me but I couldn't really understand what he was saying. Later as I was leaving he stood as if at attention and saluted me. I didn't know what to make of this so I just waved and said good bye.

 

The steps led to the top of a levee.  Turning left I walked on top of the levee to the waterfall.

A twisting narrow staircase led to the top of the falls. There were three pools: a deeper, lower pool, a green middle pool and a shallow pool at the top. The middle pool was pretty much inaccessible unless you were to river trace and a sign prohibited it. There was a child's transparent plastic backpack floating in it and some flip flops that had washed down from the upper pool. 

 The upper pool was too crowded for my taste but it would be a good place for kids as long as they keep away from the edge. A little further upstream I could see other people so I think there were some pools further on.

I went back to the lower pool and had a refreshing soak.

From here its not a long walk back to the bus station. I went back to Baishijiao Road and followed it around a curve all the way back to the main road. 

Then went right and back to the bus station where I had a beer and a snack before getting the bus back to Taipei City Hall.

Subscribe: To get new posts by email you can subscribe here Subscribe or follow Taiwan Hiking Journal on Facebook

 Map and GPS coordinates:

Jiaoxi Bus Station: 24.831123, 121.777721

Paoma Historical Trail entrance: 24.838102, 121.772472

Huiyinggu Waterfall: 24.852153, 121.774753

Houdongkeng Waterfall: 24.843424, 121.7819

http://rblr.co/OeQ7o