Saturday, May 25, 2013

Assignment 3-- In love with hiking; in love with Taiwan






"It was immensely satisfying that you have accomplished your mission of reaching the top of the mountain whereby others are unable to reach it; and to be proud and said to yourself that you’ve finally conquered one of the mountains upon it’s peak"

Pitt Lu, a Taiwan professional tour guide who is an experienced boy scout and hiking lover. He mentioned that hiking at Mt. Nanhu in previous article and he will be sharing the basic knowledge and hiking adventure part 2 in today's article. Besides, he will expose his personal backpacking adventures so that travellers can know more about necessities as they travel around the world.

He did give up several times when he and his teammate were trying to climb to top of the mountain. Due to bad weather, he was forced to give up along their journey. Sometimes, if one of the teammates was injured, it might need some experienced people who have medical knowledge to stay back and take care of the injured, and others would have to continue their journey on their own.

Besides of having good stamina, they actually need to do a lot of research before hiking. They need to clearly understand the route, picking a good weather day, prepare all necessary stuff, make sure the body is in good condition and be cautious on any unexpected events in the hiking adventure.

One of the most dangerous hiking experiences for him was the day when he was accidentally trapped by tree roots while hiking which caused him to nearly fall down from the cliff. Luckily his shoes were stuck between the tree roots so he was safe. That's why he claimed that hiking is a dangerous adventure, it's not always safe, because you couldn't predict what will happen the next minute or second. But at the same time, people who like to experience adrenaline rush, this will definitely suit them.

Furthermore, on that very same day, they did a wrong estimation, which resulted in inadequate of drinking water. There is only about 400cc of water remaining yet there are 6 people in a team. Luckily they found a pot with water. In order to make it clean and safe to drink, they used filter papers to filter it.

Even if you didn't have any proper method to make it clean and safe to drink, you must drink it, as water is the most important substance for human body. Pitt Lu said, "You would rather have a stomach ache than feeling the pain while dying in this situation". In other words, we need to stay alive no matter what.

Actually, there are a lot of easy packed snacks and food in Taiwan, so you can buy and bring them along with you. Still, if you found out that there is no food leftover, "You might need to consider to eat grass" claimed Pitt Lu. Grass is the safest substance or plant to eat and it caused no harm.

What is inside Pitt's backpack?

Pitt always travels around the world, so he mentioned that first aid kit is the "closest friend" to us, that's why we need bring it during travelling. This is because unexpected event might occur and mostly will injure you or your friend.

Other than that, he will bring essential equipment such as torch light, whistle, a paper fan, thermos, cardigan and so on. Besides that, he will bring two wallets, whereby one would be normally filled with foreign money and bankcards and a main wallet filled another insurance card, identification card, and other important cards.

The funny part of the video is that he actually showed his professional tour guide card, which is recognized by the government just to prove that he is not a faker.

So, why do you still hesitate? Grab your bag and start your own hiking journey!

For more information, you can refer to the official website