It’s going to be hard to top our jam-packed first full day in Taiwan, but today, we’re going for something a bit different: a hike! The mountain we could spot yesterday from the top of Taipei 101 is easily accessible from the metro, and has a wealth of well-maintained walking routes, with lovely views of the city. Grabbing breakfast on the go, we head there after a late start - no rush today. As we get from the station to the trailhead, the hills looms large over us: this is going to be a steep one!
The range we’re on counts four peaks, all named after different animals. We’re aiming to climb Elephant Mountain, the most popular one due to its sight-lines back to Taipei 101. It’s a well trodden route, and signs guide us past a picturesque vertical temple clinging to the mountainside and to the start of the hike proper, complete with elephant-shaped plaque. There’s no warm-up from there: steep stairs start immediately from the entrance, snaking through the forest. We’re both very out of shape after our forced rest in Hanoi, and I’m still building back strength, so it’s a long, arduous slog up the hillside. Luckily, after a rather grey start to our stay, the sun has come out and today we have lovely blue skies - it does mean we get hot rather quickly though!
Although we’re forced into taking many breaks so I can catch my breath, there’s plenty to look at. We skirt gigantic rock slabs covered in inscriptions, pass ancient trees, and once we’ve climbed up a bit, start getting pretty views back towards the city. The trail is incredibly well set up at least, with nice level steps and paths, and handrails all the way through, so there’s no difficulty here. Little platforms have been erected at key points on the mountainside to frame views of Taipei 101 - and we end up taking entirely too many pictures of this striking tower, although it does give a lovely focus to the cityscape spreading below us.
While the first few picture spots are quite busy, as we persist in our climb we soon leave the crowds behind, and we end up having a really lovely mountain hike, with the added perk of occasional skyscraper views. Our loop takes us past a few tiny shrines, pretty rest-stops, and many natural wonders. At one point the path squeezes through a small cavey corridor between two leaning boulders; at another, we follow a strikingly green mossy wall for a hundred meters. And most of the way we have the mountain just to ourselves: after a few days in busy cities it’s a very nice breather.
The only drawback is that we haven’t timed our walk very well: we’re decidedly past lunch by the time we come back down, and so on the way back to the city, we stop by the convenient little cafe in the national library to pick up another bento box. The nearby park has a bench just for us, and we savour another delicious cheap packed lunch in the sun. A band of black squirrels coming down the nearby tree had its eyes on our food, but it was so good everything’s already wolfed down - no luck for them today!
While Ollie finds a coffee shop to get on with some work, I take the time to stroll around this pretty park: it’s got plenty to see with architectural fountains, ancient gates and colourful pavilions. At the back of it is the National Taiwan Museum, which I pop into hoping for collections of ancient Chinese artefacts. There’s a very small section about Taiwan’s political history, which is interesting, but otherwise the exhibitions are quite disappointing for me, with a lot of focus on geology and natural history. All areas I’d normally enjoy but not what I was looking for here!
Still, this has been a nice relaxing day, which we conclude by finally sending home all our Vietnamese souvenirs (and no-longer-needed tropical clothes) from the very efficient Taiwanese post offices. We’ve been carrying an increasingly heavy extra duffel bag with us since Hoi An and our lantern / clothes-buying spree, and Ollie reasonably wants to get rid of it before we travel more. A friendly group of employees kindly walk us through the entire process, and it feels like they must have expressly flown our parcel there themselves, because our massive 10kg box arrives in England within two days - better than Royal Mail! One bag lighter, we’re now ready to roam further in Taiwan - starting tomorrow.
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