I decided the best way to get to Yuli would be to fly to Taitung, where scooters can be rented at the airport. From there, it would be a wonderful drive up Highway 9 to Yuli. I was on the 8:55am flight a couple of Saturdays ago, and soon thereafter seated on a scooter and heading up towards the East Rift Valley.

Once out of the vicinity of Taitung City, there was, to my surprise, virtually no traffic at all. I expected, it being a clear day, to find convoys of souped-up Honda Civics racing up the valley and lines of 18-wheeled trucks lugging gravel and betel nut up towards Taipei. Instead, I was treated to unobstructed views of yellow rice fields and large, sleepy mountains on both sides of the valley.

In Luye (鹿野) Township, I passed a couple of turn-offs for a "High Terrace View" while rolling up the 9, and when I noticed a third, I asked myself what I was in a hurry for, then turned up and headed for the hills.

A two-lane road led up through a small town; this road, once beyond the town, began to narrow and then curve for a kilometer towards a mountain hamlet, where two black dogs charged at me. I turned back, and on my way I noticed a brown sign with white lettering -- an indication of a scenic area. Tall grass and creeping vines obstruct this, which is probably why I missed it on my way up.

I turned up the steep, narrow, overgrown road that hairpins its way up the face of the mountain. Radiant yellow flowers -- something like mini-sunflowers -- drape over both sides of the tunnel-like road, giving one the sense that he's en route to some sort of Formosan Shangri-La. And then I had to stop my scooter: the views over the East Rift Valley from up here caused me to shout out involuntarily.As I snapped photos and drank water, a flatbed truck rumbled up the hill with six Taiwanese teenagers standing in jumpsuits. They waved to me and pointed uphill and said, "flying," flapping their arms like birds. As they pulled away, I noticed several large backpacks and some other equipment in the back of the truck; I assumed the "flying" they were about to do was parasailing.

I joined them on the "high terrace," where the panorama of the great valley made me feel like what I was seeing couldn't be real; I had not witnessed such a vast bucolic scene in Taiwan for as long as I could remember.

Back down in the valley, I gunned it up Highway 9, roaring by fields straight out of 'Little House on the Prairie,' passing temples set amidst golden fields of the best rice in Taiwan.

My destination in Yuli was the Wisdom Garden Guest House. For NT$1,200, I was the sole lodger in a small mansion surrounded by a forest which, in the evening, erupted into a cacophony of insects and frogs, letting me think that I was back in Sumatra or Khao Sok.

I had two hours till dark, so after checking in I got back on my 125cc motorbike and drove to Nanan Waterfall. Last time I was there, 4 years ago, visitors could swim in the falls. Now, however, one cannot even approach within twenty meters of the thunderous plunger, as the old path is fenced off and warning signs abound. Disappointed, I got back on my scooter and drove to the Walami Trail, which, just down the road, is technically part of Yushan National Park. On my previous visit here, a set of stairs led down to a beautiful waterfall that came crashing down from unseen heights, carving natural swimming pools into the rock. Today, those steps are gone and I could not figure out how to get down to the waterfall. So, no swim.

The views of the falls from Shenfang Bridge made up for my disappointment about swimming.

The following morning I got on the scooter again and attempted to drive up the road that goes up behind the Wisdom Guest house. I took it up about 1 kilometer, but turned back once it turned to stone and became too steep and overgrown with foliage. No doubt adventure awaits the more courageous.