Sea of Flowers

Panoramic view atop Liushishi Mountain, Hualien.

This post recounts the trip I took to Hualien County, last year, the same trip where I visited an old theater, see yesterday's post about that if you've missed it.

Every year around August, during the flowering season of the daylily, atop a mountain called Liushishi, many people come to enjoy the breathtaking view. Situated at an elevation of 800 meters above sea level, local farmers cultivate over 300 hectares of daylilies here.

To get here we took a four hour train ride then rented motorcycles and road up a zigzagging road. Here are some shots I took not long after we arrived.

Daylilies against the mountain range.

Single flower up close.

It was cloudy and started to rain. I had my fingers crossed for clear skies the next day. It was a long trip and I wanted to get some nice shots at sunrise.

We stayed in a local accommodation on the mountain, it came with a stargazing guided tour at night. I tried my first ever attempt at photographing the milky way.

First attempt at photographing the milky way.

We headed to bed early in order to secure a good location the next morning. Little did we know, by the time we got to the summit the next day, there were already loads of people. Tripods everywhere. Thankfully we did find a good spot.

Then the waiting game started, and the sound of hundreds of shutters going off could be heard as the sky began to light up. Luck was on our side, the sky was not completely overcast, and color began to show in the clouds as the sun rose behind us. For a brief few seconds, the clouds lit up for me to take this shot.

The brief window of opportunity.

After the brief window of opportunity was over, the color in the clouds was gone. We moved to another location, this time facing towards the sun. The distant mountains grabbed my attention and I was able to capture this with a telephoto lens.

The mountains really caught my attention.

After enjoying the view for sometime, we headed back to the house we stayed at for some breakfast. I was satisfied :)

On the way down the mountain, I spotted some farmers picking the flowers and took some shots of them. Here's one of them.

Farmer harvesting flowers.

I enjoyed this place so much that I also visited it again this year, however, this time the weather was not as good and I just sat back and enjoyed the view. Guess I'll have to visit again next year!

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