Day 4 - Making the best
out of 'More Time in Taipei'
Today was supposed to be
something different. I was supposed to be doing a tour of the Taroko National
Park and Gorge, leaving at 5:45. Instead, that tour got cancelled – apparently fewer
people had booked it. No idea if that was the reason, but to some degree was
relieved. Obviously, I could sleep in a bit more – and the tour wasn’t so well
rated (a solid 4.1/5.0 on Viator). I wanted more time to explore Taipei, and I
got it.
That said, I did want to
get more time with nature, something that would have definitely happened in the
Taroko Gorge. Instead, I settled for a closer option – the Yangmingshan
National Park. The Park is to the north of Taipei proper, reachable by bus or
uber. It is a large, sprawling expanse of mountains and greenery and sulfur
(more on that later). It would be the centerpiece of the day. But unlike Taroko
Gorge, it wouldn’t take five or six hours to travel there and back.
I should mention, I don’t
want to trash on the idea of going to Taroko National Park. I just think it is
more diable if you have more time in Taipei (4+ days), and probably you should
spend the prior night in Haulien – the city near to it.
Anyway, I woke up in a
daze at 9am, without a clear plan of how to fit in Yangmingshan with the other
few things I wanted to get out of my sudden ability to use additional time in
Taipei. One place I wanted to see was the Confucius Temple, and then also ride
the Maokong Gondola (very long cable car over mountains). Between the two, I
would go to the park.
The first stop was the
Confucius Temple, which was buzzing with life (mostly tour groups of kids)
today instead of its serene closed silence from yesterday. It is a massive
complex, with the real treasures of its main temple grounds hidden from street
view due to a wall and large entry area. In the entrance area there was a nice
little pond with a bunch of turtles. Like a lot of turtles – like more in one small
confined space than you’ll ever see.
When you do get into the
main area, I was taken aback by how serene it was. It was at both times way
more understated than the Longshan and Guandu temples from the prior day, but
also being a bit more fancy. The metal and wood work was a little bit finer. The
place a little more holy. This is the last temple I would see in Taipei, and it
was a pretty good one to go out on.
After, I went for the
most rustic meal I could have. The Confucius Temple was on the way to the
Yangmingshan Park, so I didn’t want to venture too far away. The best option
per Google’s ratings that was walking distance was a place called ‘Old Noodle
House.’ It actually had a lot of reviews by English speakers, noting how the
90-year old owner spoke English. That was true. The rest was totally unexpected,
if still tasty.
The place truly was a
hole in the wall, with no menu to speak of. You either got dry noodles or soup noodles.
And then you picked little saucers of meat (mostly pork) of unnamed type and
taste. I really had no idea what I was picking, harkening back to my days in Japan
having Japanese BBQ. In the end, I don’t know what I got. I am pretty sure the
owner and what is maybe his great-grandson were amused by my confusion. Not
annoyed, just amused, that someone looking like me would venture into this probably
99% local place. There’s probably dozens of places like this, straight hole in
the walls with no real name. I’m glad I went to one of them.
After I left for the park,
going there by Uber, resigning myself that I would probably need to take the
bus back. The first stop was the Yangming park area that gives the overall
National Park its name. Here is probably the most publicly known sites in the
park, but far from the ebst – particularly the Flower Clock which is as its
name would suggest and overall a bit underwhelming. The clean air, lush
greenery surrounding you on each side, and intermittent views of the expansive
Taiwan forest and peeks at Taipei were fun.
The better site in this
area was the Datung Waterfall, which was actually quite impressive. It is about
a 15 min walk from the Flower Clock, and has views both from below and
eye-level. The steps are a bit treacherous in their wetness, but overall I was
quite impressed with the infrastructure and signage of the park.
Somehow, I was able to
snag the same Uber driver that brought me here to take me from this part of the
park to Xiayoukeng, my next step. There are buses that traverse the park, but
they are not too frequent and not direct, so I was quite happy to get the Uber.
Though I will say my almost indulgent use of Ubers is probably going to end up
more costly than I imagined.
Xiayoukeng is probably
the first or second most popular area of the park (the other being the hot
springs which I didn’t go to). There is one huge disclaimer that has to be
noted, and this gets us back to the Sulphur that was mentioned before. This whole
area is apparently built on a Sulphur reserve, and near Xiayoukeng it was at its
worst, including a smoking plume of Sulphur appearoing out of the mountain. We
had to hike right past it, and it gets truly tough at its worst, though only
lasting for five minutes of the 30-minute hike.
The top of Mt. Qixingshan
gives a great view of Taipei, and the expansive mountains and greenery between
Taipei and you. Taiwan has such interesting topography; most of the island are
mountains, with little depressions of cities. You really get a sense of this here,
with loads of green surrounding the speck of city and Taipei 101.
After dealing with the Sulphur
a second time, I took the bus over to Lengshuikeng, which is more known for the
hot springs. They were quite packed which removed whatever limited interest I
had in going there. The better part was the 15-min hike up to Menghuan Pond, a
nice little slice of almost American Rockies within this remote part of the
world.
Finally, I entered the
bus back to Taipei. It was actually a quicker ride back than I *expected, though
to even get it started I needed a friendly Samaritan to lend me 15 Taiwanese
Dollars ($0.50 USD) as you needed exact change. The ride back didn’t reveal
much other than a continued realization of how well developed Taiwan is. Even
the small towns or outposts we crossed were fairly well developed – no signs of
slums.
Once back in Taipei, I
headed over to the Maokang Gondola, which is a long cable-car that crosses a
few mountains, taking you from ground level near the Taipei Zoo all the way up
into the mountains (about 300m up). I decided to do it in reverse, which was
probably a good decision because it takes quite a while (about 30 min one-way).
It was a beautifully calm ride, though, once aain giving such a great view of
hiw lush and green Taipei (and greater Taiwan) is.
After, I went back to
main town to check out Zhang Men Brewing, at one of their outposts inside a
really fancy mall, The beer was great, the atmosphere even better, a nice mix
of locals and ex-pats, a couple of which I got to talking to. Overall, I love
the fact that this craft beer culture has exploded everywhere by this point.
While the USA has terrible mainstream beer, it is the genesis of this global
great explosion. Zhangmen didn’t have any real food, but had surprisingly good
fries. To be sure, it was nice to eat American food after a few days,
especially when they were made so well.
For dinner (after a brief
R&R), I headed out to Addiction Aquatic Development (a clunky name that
probably is an odd translation – basically a place for aquatic food addicts),
Taipei’s response to a major fish market. There is a fish market building, though
one far cleaner than what you would expect, and then a massive, semi-open, food
area, with many stalls and counters.
You can get pre-made
bento boxes (which reviews rave about) or sushi, or get food in their various
dine-in options. The most popular is the sushi bar, which even today, a weekday
nearing 9:30pm, was very crowded. The others are the ‘Seafood Bar’, where you
can get fresh raw seafood (oysters, crab, prawn), and donburi bowls, among
other preparations. There were two cooked food areas, one a hot spot and the
other a charcoal grill, which I regret not going to.
That said, I went to the
seafood bar and was not disappointed in the least. I had three incredible fresh
raw prawns, a miso soup with chunks of tuna in it (completely unexpected) and
then the donburi bowl with three preparations of tuna. It was all so good. This
is definitely a fancy, upscale place to be sure, but is just such a well
designed, well thought out development for, well, aquatic addicts.
After dinner, I had a
few stops, first at the rooftop bar in the Breeze Center, a block away from
Taipei 101). A few bars have their own section of the rooftop – the one I went
to was one of the other locations for Zhangmen, which truly is a great brewery
chain in Taipei. The view was stunning. Cool air, bright lights, the former World’s
Tallest Building. It was around now I really felt a longing for having to leave
Taipei tomorrow. I knew going in I would have limited time, it was a conscious
decision (and I really appreciate the fact I listened to my parents and didn’t
go to Sydney for what would have literally been two days). Taipei was a great
city, a place with a lot to see, an astounding amount of culture to take in,
and a great entry point for one day a trip to the Mainland as well.
