To go to Rueili take the normal train from Taipei Main Station to Chiayi train station (3h30) and then the bus 7315 at Chiayi station to Ruili (2h00).

Rueili is located in Meishan Township, at about 1,000 meters of altitude.

I went there with my parents, without anything planned. We hadn’t booked a place, hoping we could find something once there.

I remember having spotted some places to stay on Internet, not too fare from the bus stop. But once we had arrived (it’s quite a distance from Taipei), we went to the accomodation places and had the bad suprise to find them either closed or full. They were super expensive, as well… so, no way …

When I was waiting next to an accomodation place, I had the chance to see this amazing big and green Grasshopper, that had jumped on my bag. From this moment on, I loved that place.

So after some research in the bus stop area, we decided to look for a trail in the Rueili Scenic Area which has many scenic spots.

Rueili is well watered so you can see a lot of rice plantations, like terraced plantations which I found really beautiful.

Ruili is also known for its fine High Mountain tea, so you can find quite some tea shops there.

While walking around, we discovered the Zhukeng river trail. For sure, we were really lucky to come across this trail because it was just AMAZING. Especially when you don’t expect anything.

First you go downwards for a while and cross a big palm plantation.

The trail is 2.5 km long and really easy.

Given the altitude, you can enjoy the fresh air which is great if you live or stay usually in the crowdy and extremely hot cities of Taiwan.

You will take a lot of suspension bridges which are all different. The place is really cool, you feel like part of an Indiana Jones movie or Uncharted game and I love that kind of adventurous feeling.

You will also see some waterfalls, like the Leiyin waterfall, which was not that impressive at that time because of the little water flow.

The weather wasn’t that good, but as I mentionned in other articles, this moisty weather makes the green colour of the vegetation even more beautiful.

Here you can see the Swallow Cliff which is a really famous part of Rueili.

Sadly the more we walked, the more the weather became really bad and at all of a sudden the thunderstorm started and the heavy rain followed. My mother was quite worried but, as usual, my father and myself decided to continue. At one point we had to stop under some rocks because it was just impossible to go any further, and while waiting, we could hear some rocks falling down next to us; finally we decided to go back and not finish the trail (that was a big torture for me, going back on my steps and not seing the end of the trail… just awfull).

The way back was a bit of an apocalyptic scene. The water was flowing from everywhere, waterfalls appeared from some unexpected places.

We had to struggle somehow through the stony path in front of the waterfall. I think some minutes later it would have been impossible.

We were super lucky that all the way was on heights and on top of suspension bridges, so we weren’t stopped by potential flooding. Maybe it was built that way for a good reason.

On our way back, the rain slowed down progressively and once on the road again, it had completely stopped.

After this adventurous hiking we walked around in the village of Ruili and at one point we found a place to stay overnight : an amazing suprise. It wasn’t too expensive for 3 people and the room was really cool.

The staff members were super nice, too. There was a big dining room with a wide range of local food. It was a kind of ‘All you can eat’ formula and had the same in the morning for breakfast.