Sunday 15 January 2017

Second Trip To Neipuzih Reservoir (內埔子水庫) In Chiayi's Minxiong Township

Standing on the crest of the little dam at Neipuzih reservoir on the eastern edge of Minxiong township, with the red motorbike down below in the background.
Yesterday I walked the dogs at 8am and left the house at 9.30am for the drive up to Minxiong township, just north of Chiayi city to make my second visit to Neipuzih reservoir. I had had second thoughts about making this trip due to the weather; all during the week it had been sunshine and warmth until Friday night and Saturday morning. It was very cold and densely overcast with a near constant drizzle by the time I saddled up and left.

The drive itself from Tainan city to about Lioujia wasn't too bad, but from about Liouying onwards the drizzle became a little bit heavier and by the time I got to Chiayi city I was uncomfortable enough to make a pit stop at a 7-11 to warm my gloves on the engine cylinder and buy an extra pair of socks from a shop around the corner. I found my memory of the route to take to get to Neipuzih reservoir was foggy and so consulted google maps and found the route seemingly quite simple, and yet the inevitable Chiayi city confusion syndrome set in shortly afterwards about which road was which (the sign for "Dongyi road" was posted to be visible from north to south on one side of the road, but not from south to north on the other side - this kind of signage problem is fairly common in Taiwan).

Eventually I arrived and found that the overgrown grasses on the earth dam had been trimmed considerably since my first visit, but of course the weather and light was even worse now than it had been then...

A panorama shot from the top and center of the dam overlooking the reservoir. Notice the stitching flaws in the left handrail - I'm not particularly bothered because I plan to make a third trip on another day with sunshine and good weather.
I drove up into the hills on the east side of the reservoir to see if I could find an overlooking vantage point and by this time it was beginning to get warmer - so much so that I could take my jacket and gloves off. 
This was the best overlook I could find from the hills to the east. It is heavily occluded by foliage so much so that perhaps less than 10% of this image includes the actual reservoir itself
A telephoto shot toward the upstream face of the dam barely recognizable behind the betel nut trees.
A bridge for freeway number 3 over the reservoir's feeder stream. 
I made my way around to the north end of the reservoir with the intention of photographing the feeder stream entry point, but instead I found a farmer's road on a hill granting a fantastic view overlooking the reservoir straight to the dam at its' south end. On a better day with clear skies and sunshine I could get a really good shot from here.


At some point, possibly during Chinese New Year, I will make another return trip to Neipuzih reservoir to retake my pictures in better weather and light. This trip was just a chance for me to test some new kit in the wind and rain.

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