randyland

Its early afternoon, and I've had one very interesting day.

I didn't have to work today so I planned a short trip. I went to Yelieu. ( click on the name to see where). Its a small town on the north coast of Taiwan. I got up early to beat the heat and the traffic rush.
I left my house at 4:45 am. I must say Taiwan and Taipei is a nice place to drive through at that hour, although a little eerie without the hordes of people.

I got through Taipei and into Keelung, around 6 am. A lot faster than I had anticipated. So I stopped for some breakfast and checked my maps.

After my breakfast via the 'Golden Arches' I hopped back onto my trusty steed and roared up the coast.

A few stops along the way to take some pics, and I arrived around 7 am.

As I round a bend just before the town I knew I was close because the rocks change from normal sharp and jagged to this...
Very odd to say the least.

So I get to the entrance of the Yelieu Geological Park, and I'm waiting because I figure I'm early, there are big revolving bars for a door to get in, but its locked to go only one way... out. They clearly marked as one entrance and one exit so I start to wait.

I'm slowly walking around in the parking lot when I hear a 'Hey!', I look around and see a woman in the distance slowly waving her hand. She was on the wrong side of the edge of this ...stuck down on a wave breaker...

She is waving her arm and was thinking you shouldn't be playing around in there if you cant get out. I kinda figured she was fishing from there because in the distance i could see others fishing from the top of them.
But as I get closer I notice a very different look in her eye. Her face was swollen, her jaw looked broken, and many old and new cuts and scrapes. Her left arm was scraped and bloody and in general she looked absolutely exhausted.

She reached out for me to grab her hand as she was too far down to get out, and these things are big so there was no way she could do this on her own. I grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up but I was dangerously on the edge too and I didn't want to be the next victim.
I looked around and didn't see anyone to help.

So I had to try again, this time with 2 hands, and I felt I could pull her up, but I would probably hurt her more as I would have to drag her over the embankment, with me falling back to the other side. She was too exhausted to get a leg up and help herself. Not the best option.

So I lower her back down slowly so she wouldn't fall down. The wdge was about 6 feet, and I told her in Chinese to hold on I will get help and return quickly.

She says 'hao' (ok), not like she really had another choice.


I headed off to find help and in the distance I find another guy and I try my best to explain the situation, so he gets on his cell phone and calls the police. I persuade him to come and look, he hops on his scooter and we go back I show him where she is and with the both of us we are able to eventually get her onto the edge and back over, about 10 minutes later the police slowly drive up and take her to the hospital.

The guy stopped to tell me she was going to the hospital and he went to give a statement to the police. Everyone was very thankful. So I became a Good Samaritan for the day. WooHoo

She looked like she had been beaten before with the old wounds and possibly slipped or was dumped, and woke up there?? I'm not sure of how she got there.

So after feeling good about my deed, I went back to waiting for the place to open, I was a little frustrated because it was getting warmer now and I left early for a reason...to beat the heat, and so I asked one shop owner and she pointed to another entrance that was open the whole time, and because I was early it was free. YipYipYipee!

I trot in and get my camera out and start being amazed at the strange rockscapes.

Here is the classic Queen's Head all natural and photographed by yours truly.
There will be more pics on http://www.dealboyrandy.com soon.

The rest of the trip was relaxing as i took the #2 highway back through Yanmingshan National Park one of the less active volcano's in Asia. It was scenic, cool and peaceful.