According to summer weather forecasts southern Taiwan temperatures are nearly always a degree or two higher than Taipei, but that small increase sure makes a big difference! Luckily a city weekend wasn’t the plan. Instead we were soon whizzed off in the car, and after leaving Pingdong’s surprisingly small city limits we were really out in the countryside. Our goal: somewhere to cool off, and it wasn’t the beaches of Kending.

It’s not a long drive out of Pingdong City before the mountains beckon, the elevation increases, and the air temperature cools. However, my friend, knowing I’m a bit of a waterfall nut, had an idea for an even cooler escape from the summer broil. There’s no shortage of marvelous mountain retreats, and some magnificent scenery is within convenient striking distance of Pingdong, especially since the old permit system which restricted access to many mountain villages has been relaxed. For our weekend, we chose just one place: the village of Laiyi (來義), a small settlement about thirty kilometers southeast of Pingdong City, nestling at the foot of high mountains just south of Mt. Beidawu (北大武山), Taiwan’s southernmost 3,000-meter plus mountain.

Laiyi is just a tiny place, hardly a village, but it’s interesting for the aboriginal settlements in the area. Our introduction to the area was a rather surreal lunchtime karaoke, courtesy of one of Sam’s aboriginal acquaintances. Fed and sort-of entertained, we ventured out into the afternoon sun, which beat powerfully down on us; there was nothing for it but to head for one of Laiyi’s great attractions: its many waterfalls.

Our goal for the afternoon greeted us from the road just after passing through the police checkpoint (permits are still required, but are just a quick formality, as long as you have some ID). To the right of the road, the lowest level of Yilin Waterfall (義林瀑布群) drops over a rocky sill. By Taiwanese standards, it’s rather a small, insignificant thing, but this is just the beginning.

Climbing a trail to the top of the waterfall and following the stream above it, we were shortly gaping up at a far taller cataract plunging more than thirty meters in twin plumes of snow-white water into a large pool at the bottom. It’s a magnificent spectacle, but slightly marred by a bizarre system of concrete catwalks suspended over the pool below the falls and ladders leading to rocky ledges and viewpoints on the cliff beside them. After a minute or two, the initial shock at the ugly additions to the landscape wore off and we had fun balancing along the catwalks and climbing the ladders to see the falls from various angles, enjoying the cold spray bourn on the updraft from the waterfall.

Tearing ourselves away, we climbed on, and just as we began working up another hot sweat, we arrived at the base of a final, twin fall, with a huge pool at the foot. This marvelous natural playground had already been claimed by a group of local lads, but there was no more resisting the cold, refreshing water, and it’s a very big pool, quite safe to swim in, so we stripped to our swimwear and plunged in.

We finished our afternoon by visiting one of the area’s best-known attractions, the so-called ‘Grand Canyon’ (大峽谷). The evocative name conjured up images of a spectacular deep gorge like Taroko or Taiji Gorge (太極峽谷) elsewhere in Taiwan, but Arizona this is not, and after parking the car and trudging along a wide, dusty track peering in the distance trying to make out the beginning of a great defile through the mountains ahead, we found the ‘canyon’ secreted behind a long row of unsightly stalls, selling simple snacks and inflatable rubber rings, on the left. At this point, about two kilometers above Laiyi village, the river meets a bed of resistant rock through which it’s cut a deep channel, flowing between sloping banks of bare rock. My disappointment wore off as soon as I realized here was another excellent place for a swim, so, changing back into swimming trunks, we joined the handful of locals still cooling off at this late hour, while the sun slowly sank behind the horizon. Finally the afternoon heat had subsided and as we emerged from the water into the dusk it was almost chilly.

The heat came back in full force the second day, as it does throughout the summer in southern Taiwan’s torrid climes, but we had another cool escape planned for the day: the rather remote but spectacular Yuan Yang Waterfall (鴛鴦瀑布) high in the hills above Laiyi.

Had we stayed a whole week, we’d have found ample ways to keep cool. Kending is far from being the only place in the area to get away from the beating sun, and I’ll be back this summer to discover a few more.

NOTE: Not all waterfalls have pools suitable for swimming in. Before entering the water make quite sure the pool is not too deep and there are no dangerous currents.