Han Lee
Google
Trail - 5 stars
People - 0 stars
A truly magical and spiritual experience. As human beings, we ought to be respectful and humbled by the riches that Mother Nature provides us. Its recent international recognition and celebration is well warranted. With that said...
...it is therefore extremely disappointing for me to say that the people we encountered were anything but respectful to the park and the environment. We encountered several tour groups along the way that had no compunction of responsibility and thought, instead just yapping away loudly about moronic topics. One lady I heard complained about the lack of "interesting sights" along the trail. 🤦🏻 I had to use every once of effort to prevent myself from (quietly) punching these idiots. And even though we had entered the "quiet" section of the trail, the occasional yelling over a speakerphone could be heard. Do you act like this when you visit a medieval cathedral on your European tour? How about a historical library? No? Then don't ruin this Taiwanese treasure!
I propose the park authorities to 1) ban large tour groups (>6 people ❌); 2) ban the use of speakerphones 📢 starting from the parking lots (it's currently permitted up to the lake observation deck, but the sound travels up the mountain); and 3) fines 💰 for hikers talking loudly along the trail. It is extremely annoying to be soaking in the forest's meditative silence only to be suddenly interrupted by the punctuated yelling of a tour guide into a speakerphone because their tour group is too busy cackling in laughter.
Do this ASAP before more tourists show up as a result of the recent media recognition, and ruin this holy place.