Ancient masterpiece: Ten Thousand Year Gorge

Some of the pools were obviously very deep, and would have been perfect for a swim had we been prepared, especially as the sun was beating down mercilessly on us, and trees or any kinds of shades were almost nonexistent. Following the stream down for perhaps another hundred meters, the stream begins cutting deep into the flat rock bed once more, makes a curious and very sudden 90-degree bend, and plummets off a sheer, 40-meter-high cliff in the spectacular Dragon Phoenix Waterfall (龍鳳瀑布).

Gingerly peering over the edge, we could only glimpse the torrent: the path that once led up to the base of the falls from below has long vanished, and these days only keen, well-equipped river tracers get to properly see this powerful cataract, the biggest in the area.

Making our way back upstream, a group of local tourists had arrived, and several, obviously forewarned, were slinging down towels and getting ready to plunge into one of the calm, cold pools. After cursing our luck in leaving towels at the homestay and finishing the long and sweaty climb back up, we made the best of the shaded drinks stall back near the car park, and enjoyed a couple of bowls of delicious aiyu jelly, grateful to be at last out of the blistering heat. If it’s this sweltering in early June, it’s going to be a long, hot summer.

GETTING THERE

Although Ten Thousand Year Gorge is part of Jhanghu Scenic Area on route 149 in Yunlin County, the route to get there is quite different. Leave National Freeway Three at the Zhushan (竹山) exit and pick up route 149, heading south. It’s just under 25 kilometers to the turnoff (on the right) for Ten Thousand Year Gorge, which is signposted in Chinese.

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