Nature's Wonders at Yehliu (野柳)

It's almost a fortnight since I returned from my recent trip to Taiwan. It was a very fruitful trip. In fact, it was so fruitful that I haven't gotten around to writing about half of the things I wanted to write about. One of the things which has given me enormous pleasure is my visit to Yehliu Geopark on a cloudless day.

The "Queen's Head" at Yehliu at the park on the way to the real Nature Reserve Geopark


According to internet sources, Yehliu is the extension of the mountain range called Datun Mountain (大屯山). It takes the form of a promontory into the northern coastline of the town of Wanli (萬里), between Taipei (台北) and Keelung (基隆). Since 2006 it has been entrusted by the government to the administration of a company called New Space International.

It has some very strange rock formation which dated back to the Miocene Era between 10-25 million years ago like "mushroom rocks", "ice cream rocks", "ginger rocks", "peanut rocks",  "elephant rocks", "candle holder rocks", "bee hive rocks", potholes, sea caves etc. Scientists believe that they are formed by wind and sea erosion of carboniferous rocks, coral rocks and sedimentary rocks like sandstones etc. .

There are three versions of the story of how Yehliu got its name. The first is that it is the Taiwanese pronunciation of the indigenous Pinpu tribes (平埔族社) originally living there. The second is that it is the local mis-pronunciation of the Spanish words "punto diabolo" (devil's cape). The third is more interesting. The area used to be inhabited by some poor local fishermen who would steal rice from the rich rice merchants by using a short sharpened bamboo tube made by slashing slantingly a diagonal cut across the top of a section of bamboo into the form of what has been colorfully called a "duck beak". They would stick the "duck beaks" through the fibres of the hemp sacks containing the rice and let the rice flow out along the bottom surface of the funnel-like "spade" and pick them up as food. To the local rice merchants there was only one adjective to describe this kind of behavior: "yeh"(野) or "barbarous"  and their acts of could only be described as "偷" (stealing) pronounced as "liu" (柳)in Taiwanese. So Yehliu became an abbreviation for the name of the place where this kind of uncivilized stealing took place.

Whatever the origin of the rocks and however Yehliu got its name, there is little dispute about how bizarre, and to some, how beautiful some of the rocks look. The area may be divided into three sections.The
first contains the so-called "mushroom", "ginger", "icecream" and "candle holder" rocks, potholes, deep fissures in the rocks and eroded bowls. Numerous rocks of
grotesque shapes and sizes formed as a result of sea
erosion can be seen in this area, including the so-called" 24-filial piety hill",
"pearl rock" and "Marine Bird Rock". The "Queen's Head" is the town symbol of Wanli. The second, like the first, also contains "mushroom" and "ginger" rocks but not so many. It is here that you find the famous "Queen's  Head", "Dragon Head"  Rock, and
etc. The third area consists of wave-cut platforms on the other side of the cove. This area is much narrower than the second area and one of its sides abut steep cliffs below which the waves lash the shore.

The photographs I took that day follow below.

On the upper left, we find the so-called "ginger rocks" behind which we find the "wave pools"
In the foreground, we find some of the "mushroom" rocks".

A fat "toad""? A small "dragon"?

"Ginger" rocks with a deep fissure separating them?

Elephant's feet?

A shark's head?  A killer whale's head? A serpent's head?

A dog lying down?  And on the top left, a little lion?

A seal lying on its side basking in the sun and at the top in the middle, a tortoise with a raised head?

Women's breasts? Or "arcades" (亞給) each with a date or meat ball or dumpling on top?

More breasts with inverted nipples?

A porcupine or hedgehog?  Or a bear?

The head of the cartoon character "Goofy"?

The bust of someone looking out to the sea, awaiting the return of some family member ?

The famous "Queen's Head"? The second? Only enough space for one queen on one
small section of the coast? Perhaps it would be less of an eye sore if the other were to remove
herself further inland? We're both women, aren't we?

Whatever the truth may be, we can always look at the waves coming from the vast East Sea (東海).

An island in the distance and some reefs closer to shore.

Waves lashing at the reefs throwing up a shower of sprays through the thin veil of haze..

On the other side of the bay, we can see the promontory on top of which sits a telecommunication
transmission tower.

A closer view of the telecommunication transmission tower. We see the fault lines, the fiissures
and other evidence of erosion.

A flock of sea gulls or migrating birds at the side of the cliff face of the promontory?

Opposite to the side where we find the strange-shaped rocks, we find layers of folded sedimentary
rock split by wave action so that a bridge has to be built over to enable tourists to walk further out.
Note the waves coming in from the open sea.

A huge sea cave further inland closer to the shore.

Here we see the waves piling up before they break.





Here we see the waves breaking upon the outer rocks.

Here we see the waves rushing over the outer rocks and continuing their paths to dash against
the inner and bigger rocks.

Here we see the waves rushing towards a second line of rocks further inside.





Here we see water from the broken waves sliding down back into the sea from the sides of the rocks..

Here we see the waves coming in with the might of the ocean directly from the open sea. These
rocks were on the other side of the bridge over the layered rock formation.

Another wave crashing in from the open sea and beginning to break. Note how smooth the surface
of the rock has become as a result of the constant attrition by such enormous force.

The waves having broken, we now see the water receding back into the sea.

The waves having dissipated part of their initial force, the water now recedes back into the sea.





As a result of the backlash, following Newton's law of action and reaction, we see some waves
now rushing out in the opposite direction from where they originally came with the residual energy
of the main wave which crashed upon the shore a little earlier.

As a result of the uneven shoreline, some of the energy of the waves now fuels the production
of a number of bigger or smaller whorls and eddies.

Is the residual impact of the energy from the whorls and eddies of the Taiwan trip not still in
my own mind?