It’s called the world’s workshop but there is more to Taiwan than just factories. Friday’s Colin Drury explored the island’s rural and urban charms, and enjoyed it all. Except, possibly, for some vertigo-inducing cable cars…
GulfNews.com
Date: April 13, 2015
By: Colin Drury, Friday , Senior Writer
There is a school of thought that says no one should be afraid of heights. True – but it’s the
Marvel at the splendour of Taiwan with a boat tour of the idyllic Sun Moon Lake. Image Credit: Shutterstock
ground if you fall that’s the scary thing. This is sort of how I feel as I sit in a swinging, creaking cable car slowly moving between two Taiwan mountain peaks almost a kilometre apart.
Above us, nothing but a slither of stretched metal connects our largely glass cabin to a thin cord of suspended cable. Below is close to 200 metres of fresh air.
“It’s OK,” laughs a friend. “Just try not to think about how we’re in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.” She pauses, then presses on. “Makes you wonder, though, hey? What would happen to us up here if there was a real Richter-scale shaker down there…”
I look at her. And then, for the next 18 minutes, as we complete this aerial journey across and above Mount Buji, in Nantou County, central Taiwan, we sit in silence. The only chatter comes from the wind buffeting the car and the occasional groan of metal on metal.
And yet, these 18 minutes – now that I have my feet back on (relatively) firm ground – rank among the most incredible of my life. [FULL STORY]
