26 March 2014
Its the final mountain
It was with a deep sadness that today I ascended my final mountain of this trip.
Tomorrow I fly out of Taipei at 19:30, connection in Hong Kong at 23:45 to return to Adelaide.
This means about 36 hours in the same sweaty clothing, so with that in mind, despite having all day in Taipei tomorrow, I probably wouldnt risk going out of town to climb a mountain.
But you never know....
Todays route was across the river from the other mountain area of Taipei. I have been across the river by ferry before to the seaside area called Bali, but this time I would climb up over the mountain and then descend down into Bali.
The descent sure did take a lot longer than I thought, a good 2 hours longer!
Onto more boring photos of the smog filled view.
The Guanmingshan visitor centre elected against a map, instead a papier mache representation of the mountain with some shoe laces draped over it will do.
This was not at all helpful.
The visitor centre is already half way up, the bus ride from the subway to here was very convenient, with bus 20 waiting outside subway exit 1 clearly marked as Guanmingshan hiking trail visitor centre shuttle bus.
The actual bus ride was somewhat terrifying. I noted that when we stopped at the visitor centre the driver immediately went and opened all the engine access panels to let the heat out.
The poor maps and 3d shoe lace models meant I spent about 30 minutes deciding which way to go. In the end I decided based on quality of path.
This path had the best steps, and lights, suggesting it was the main route over the mountain and down to Bali.
Now we start the view. This is the port area looking towards the Chinese mainland.
This is a view of the smog.
And heres looking back from whence I came. I used the word whence on the internet. Thats pretty rare!
And this is photo number 500, if you made it this far you must be REALLY bored.
Its me.
Again with the poorly sized panorama.
Todays pollution update was opposite to yesterday, it started out terrible then started getting better.
Right now back in my hotel its nearly as clear as 3 days ago.
Some time after commencing my descent, and interupting lots of suspicious old men hanging out at the various pavlillions on the down track, I got a view of DanShui/TamSui.
This is old streets and a seaside fair type thing, the end of another subway line and one of the most popular areas of northern Taipei.
The rest of the walk, and it was still a long way, was through a graveyard. Some of the tombs are huge and elaborate. A bunch of guys that seriously looked like Mexicans were busy gardening!
Once in Bali, I was starving, so it was time to board the ferry immediately. In Taiwan bringing your little dogs everywhere is expected.
The not so little dogs just swim across.
I stood at the front of the boat to guide the captain. Note how clear its getting. That mountain is the other mountain I climbed 5 or so days ago.
Tamsui is full of fried seafood. Fancy a whole battered fried squid? I didnt.
One of the many old streets. By old they mean lined with shops selling mainly food. The later into the day it gets the busier it gets, 10pm is probably peak time for all these places.
I bought some nougat. It was delicious!
My girly hands are awesome.
Final photo from this morning, waiting for the subway, looking back across the river, up the mountain I had just ascended and descended.