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Two-thirds of this island is mountainous, and climbing the mountains -- or even just driving across them -- is an awesome experience. But, woe be to those that are unprepared... or, sadly, just unlucky. With many peaks over 3,000 meters, when things go wrong up there, they can go very wrong.
Cover image: Wikimedia Commons/神武禦皇 - Own work 玉山主峯 海拔3952公尺 單攻
Below:
1. Taiwan's Central Mountain Range (Via: Wiki/Peellden)
2. The view from the range's tallest peak: Xiuguluan Mountain, 3,860 meters - or 12,664 feet. (Via: Wiki/koika)
Below: A B-29 bomber - the same type of plane from the US Air Force's 866th Bombardment Squadron, that went down in the “Sancha Mountain Incident,” which occurred in September of 1945. Sadly, all 25 on board -- POWs being sent home from Japanese POW camps by air via Manila -- were killed. But, in a double tragedy, 26 rescuers also died due to bad weather while trying to bury the crash victims on the mountain.
Below: The "alpine" grassland area of Hehuan Mountain. 合歡北峰草原
(Via: 台灣阿成 at Chinese Wikipedia.)
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
