Taiwan for the 5th time - April and May 2023 - Page 2

Here is the area under Shilin station. I was on the hunt for a cafe that was actually open. It was very grey, and cold! Locals were wearing their puffer jackets. In the breeze it felt like it was not ever 20c.

The subway here is above ground, like the Melbourne sky rail. You can get a great view, that is Yangminshan in the distance covered in cloud, possible destination tomorrow, although it is Labour day tomorrow so maybe not.

I got off at Beitou and walked up the hill rather than going on the little spur line train, this took me past a market, so I took a photo. Scooters ride through every market in Taiwan, it is annoying.

More of the Beitou market, it seems very clean! Actually everything so far has seemed very clean compared to what I remember from previous visits, old in many places, but clean.

Well, the sign says hiking trail, so I will see where it goes. Nowhere. Weird.

However if I did not follow the false hiking trail sign I would not have got to fight with this cat. He won.

This is now the start of the hot springs area. Multi coloured lilies greeted me. I really want to spell liliies with an extra L.

Thermal valley, probably the main spot to breathe sulphur, it is free. The hot springs where you soak your feet are free but I think you need a booking? There seemed to be 2 hour slots to enter and an app involved. Not that I would actually put my feet in the water, but I did want to take some zoom shots of barnacle covered old people feet.

The original train line did go here, there is an old train behind me, and this is the old very Japanese looking station. There is also a newer station further behind me with a train that goes 1 stop back to the main line along the coast as you shall see below...

The one stop train goes very slowly so you can look at the holographic art and take photos with anime characters. I did both.

Now to start walking around Tamsui. That mountain across the other side of the river is smaller than it looks, I climbed over it from the far side years ago, and then took a ferry back across to where I am standing here.

Along the Tamsui old street, you can find Taiwanese style Pachinko.

A view of part of Tamsui old street, one street back from the water front with the ice cream shops and children's rides. It goes for a long way, with lots of side alleys that are very crowded. I was too early of course, the food markets were very busy but the non food places were still opening. I am generally, too early, for everything.

Between Tamsui and the fisherman's wharf I followed a bike path along the water and got burnt. Here is the customs house or something like that. There are a few old buildings that are cafes, others are museums etc.

Now for fisherman's wharf. Someone spent a lot of money on an already failed development. Most of the shops have closed down. There is a giant hotel and I think there is a golf course. The bridge is just for pedestrians, but currently it goes nowhere. The only reason to come here currently is to go back again on the tram.

It is actually a working fisherman's wharf, but they seem to take Sunday off. That big red pole sticking up is a mechanical lookout thing that goes up the outside of it, or it used to, it has also closed down.

And for the final pic, a tram. Actually 2 trams. Just like the Melbourne trams. Fisherman's wharf is the end of the line, they take a very strange route back to the above ground subway which takes about an hour and goes at walking speed for extended periods. It is still new enough that locals enjoy taking photos of it, inside and out. Tomorrow I will be applying sunscreen.

I started at the far end from a station away. There was room to move here, and a lot of Japanese restaurants. However when I went back here an hour or so later they all had big lines already.

Getting busy, but still not too bad.

Super busy. I cannot believe there are still any squid left in the sea, I better explain that comment, lots of the shops are blow torching whole squid, which then get put on a stick and put in a bag.

There are temples everywhere, some look somewhat official like this, others look like a money laundering front.

Here is the head of the queue of the blow torched mushroom food stand. I kind of wanted to try it, but I was not willing to stand in a line for 50 minutes and then decide I cannot be bothered waiting any longer.

Scooter cat does not care about the big market crowds, he just snoozes all day.

Google told me this Japanese ramen place is TOP RATED, so there is a big line going down the street off to the right.

Store dog has had a long day guarding what I think was an optometrist.

There are hundreds of stores to buy useless trinkets based on a movie you never saw.

This temple was up a long dark alley, with various questionable establishments leading to this dead end, where there are no people.

I have read that all these places with lots of claw machines are specifically set up for money laundering purposes. Note that it is in a very busy part of the Shilin market, where you basically cannot move, and yet not a single customer is in there.

There are a lot of toilet themed cafes in Taiwan. I have no idea if this is actually the original one. It is very popular with people that make videos on Youtube.

Another intriguing store front. Do you just go to the screen and transfer your money to someones Russian bank account and it gives you a receipt telling you that you just lost your money? There is a bitcoin ATM in the Emporium mall in Melbourne that I never saw anyone use. If I recall correctly, there are also ones that issue you with a fake gold bitcoin, so you can prove that you own bitcoin after you insert your credit card.

That giant sphere on a building is not a shopping mall, it is seemingly just offices, with the Audi logo.

After I boarded the train I went down 3 levels under the main station to U square, a place I have been on previous trips. The food court is excellent.

I previously enjoyed this vegetarian buffet, however now that everyone has COVID, I am not sure how I feel about eating all you can sneeze on.

So instead, I had the most Taiwanese of all meals, beef noodle soup. Not bad, I have had better, I will have better before the end of this trip.

The line for the bus. As explained above, most of them were university students.

Today's path is very developed, steps like this, but also moss covered slippery rounded steps. Be careful! I managed to not slip over, I did on previous visits.

The visitor centre looked closed? I thought government offices had to work. Lets protest! I have been in there before and they had a video playing of what looked like a 20 metre long boa constrictor slithering through a tunnel, do they have those in Taiwan or is this another cobra situation where someone imported one and let it go in the park?

The Miaopu trailhead has a small auditorium, for a Taiwanese welcome to country.

Now for 3 photos of steps, no moss.

A bit of moss.

A lot of moss!

The way up via the Miaopu trail is nearly all in shade. I knew the way down was bright sun, so I was not cursing my decision to apply copious amounts of sunscreen. This is about the only spot for a view until you are about 90% of the way to the top.

After the view spot, the forest and moss changes to bamboo. So this is the first of 3 bamboo shots.

Bamboo 2.

Bamboo 3. As is often the case, old folks were deep in the bamboo trying to dig up bamboo shoots for their lunch.

That is the east peak, slightly lower than the peak I was almost at the top of. I have been up that one before, it is only a 5 minute detour, but it looked a bit crowded so I pushed on.

Wider view of the east peak, lots of people on it.

Annnd another view of the east peak, with a rocky foreground.

After about 700 metres elevation change and only a bit over an hour of hiking, here is the view of Taipei from Qixing peak, which literally means, 7 star peak. Personally I have seen better, probably 4 stars from me.

There are quite a few people up here as you shall see.

The view away from Taipei. I think that is Keelung down there, where I will be staying for 3 nights next week.

I am sweaty, but not as sweaty as a couple of days ago. It was very windy and cooler than my hike on Saturday.

That is a line to have your photo taken with the peak marker. Last time I was here old folks tried to make me eat little tomatoes to help with altitude sickness, at an altitude of 1,100 metres.

Some more view of Taipei.

I used my zoom. Down there is Tamsui where I was yesterday, I mentioned that smaller mountain across the river. My next stop is those people you can see at the lookout on the bottom right.

Random photo. This side is all bamboo, the forest is only on the city side.

A view of from where I had come. It is not as far as it perhaps looks.

A view with a zoom from the lookout I mentioned above.

Now to start the volcanic part of the journey down to the bus.

Getting very sulphury.

PUSH HER IN!

It is a steep path down. The bus stop is down there in that car park.

Tiny volcanic vent. I guess it could spew molten lava into my face at any time.

The tree free view is very nice.

And now here is the view from the bottom. Complete with a small dog.

Same view minus dog, and people.

Same view up close.

Same view with my big head.

And for the final pic, same view from the toilets. Note to people that read this only for toilet info: very high quality toilets.
Even though it is a short hike I have done at least twice before, it is well worth it for the scenery and volcanic sulphur experience. The shortness means maybe tomorrow will also be a hiking day? There are a lot more peaks in Yangmingshan national park I have not climbed.

Here is the underground mall I take from my hotel to the main station. I was heading out early tonight because the cleaning lady insisted on doing a full room clean at 4pm.

Running off the underground mall I was taking are many others, including this one, that is completely abandoned. Although if you follow it a bit further it turns into a linear underground book shop, I have taken photos previously.

I was bloody starving, because I was out too early before dinner. So I had this EXTREMELY over priced and overrated Cremia ice cream. These are from Japan, where people similarly line up for them in train stations as I did here. They claim to be made from special Hokkaido cream with life giving properties that cannot be described verbally or textually, only tasteually. To me it did not even taste as good as a normal soft serve. And the price! Christ! $7! That is about as much as last nights dinner cost me! Of course you do not get to see the price until you get to the front of the line. So there you go, Cremia, forget it.

Once I got off in Banqiao I decided to explore some back streets. Here is a typical Taiwanese old style back street.

There are temples everywhere, this is a less gaudy version compared to most.

Here is the Banqiao station, my recollection was that all the lines are underground, so such a grand tall building seems unwarranted. However as you shall see shortly, there is an above ground line.

That is a fully enclosed for some reason above ground train line. I have been on it. I assumed while on it that it was underground.

There is the mega mall, my early dinner destination as it turned out.

The government have erected themselves a building that looks like Darth Vader's palace.

Descending into the basement of the mall, and a huge line appears, what could it be for? Another Cremia? No, Din Tai Fung of course. I went to the Melbourne one the other night. You can get a Cremia soft serve, or an entire meal at Din Tai Fung for roughly the same price.

To offset the cost of Cremia a little, I headed to the Food Republic. Thankfully these places have done away with the pre pay card system that required you to buy a card, charge it, buy your dinner, then refund your card. Now you can pay with credit card. There are at least 50 places to choose from in this one, and plenty of spaces to sit.

I had Japanese food in Taiwan, I had Taiwanese food in Taiwan, why not Korean food in Taiwan? Bibimbap it is. Pretty good. Big serve.

After my hearty meal, I ascended to the top floors to see the slightly fancier options I could of had and probably should of had. Up here there are fountains, a piazza, blue sky ceiling, pools with gondolas, it was like I had woken up in old Venezia. I call Venice Venezia the same way we now say Turkiye and KyEEEeeEevvv instead of Kiev. Capiche?

Now for a couple of street shots, with scooters, east of the Banqiao station.

A very nice area.

For my final shot this evening, a crashed Borg cube.

I started my day with a coffee in this park near my hotel. I have sat here before. It is known for it's friendly squirrels, I saw them bothering a girl eating a sandwich but they wisely left me alone.

After getting off at Xiangshan station and walking through a very nice park, I arrived here, and assumed a path up behind that fancy building was the Elephant Peak walk, it was not. I found out by going up it.

On my way up the wrong path, I sweated a lot, and briefly thought about taking a ride in this free to use self operated cable car.

Before too long I got to this point and realised I was on the wrong path. It was a dead end, and there were no other people. Only I can get lost looking for the start of the most popular trail in all of Taiwan.

It is not like the real start of the trail is hidden in any way, it even has an elephant!

Today's hike was completely stairs and concrete trails. Largely slippery step free.

First view of Taipei 101. There are flowers lining the path in many areas.

I believe this is the photographers assigned view point.

Apparently, this is Elephant peak. It is not really discernible as a summit of any kind.

I carried on, along a nice path that was more like a linear garden through the hills. A lot of old dudes wanted to chat today.

There are numerous detours to take, many go to old person hang out spots with exercise areas, but also the occasional Buddha. Soon I will be old enough to hang out in a makeshift tent with old folks smoking and playing cards.

I have gone further away from Taipei 101. I guess that hill in the foreground is Elephant Peak.

More Buddha's, I cannot really achieve a shallow depth of field with this camera even at f/1.8.

On my way down now, it was a fully developed path the entire way.

Still time for a bit more view. The grey clouds were brief, and provided temperature relief for a while. It did not last.

Wave goodbye to Taipei 101, for now.

Mystery orb.

The last part of the descent goes through a number of temples. Perhaps I will include an incense burner every day. Here is the first for today, it won't be the last.

The lower part of the trail went through this nice forest, which was advertised as being a firefly viewing area. The show was cancelled 20 years ago during it's first season.

The path let's out at, wait for it, a temple! A plain one, with lots of air conditioners.

But don't worry, if you go around the first corner, you get to another temple, this one was much more splendiforous. If you are playing the incense burner game, drink now.

Nope. I will not. Also, that's all for now folks.

Ximending at or around 5pm on a Tuesday is quite busy.

This place sells cups of plain noodles. Just the noodles (I think?). It has always had a long line, each time I come here, to buy just plain, flavourless rice noodles. Apparently people have been buying flavourless noodles in droves since 1975.

Random street scene.

Here's some street photography. Where you just snap photos of random people in the street that are poorly framed without them knowing. This one has the rainbow Taipei street for bonus points.

First sighting of the bride. Yes, they are holding instant cameras pretending to take photos. Yes, the groom does appear to be wearing an Indiana Jones hat.

Here is the red house. The place most people buy gifts from.

Inside of the red house, with a sampling of the over priced tourist things on offer. T-shirts were $40! Elsewhere I can buy 40 t-shirts for $40.

I remember this spot from previous visits. Hardware stores that line about a kilometre of under the freeway real estate. They carry on a long way down the street behind me.

I am not quite sure, but I do not think the blood bank buses are actual real buses. They look too narrow. Why did they have to affix that green wire mesh to the bottom of them? I have so many questions, but if I go any closer they will extract my valuable blood.

SUNHENGE. Heavily edited in lightroom, the non sun part of this photo was basically black to stop the sun from clipping, because there's no way in hell I am doing an exposure stack.

Just like in Japan, pasta is a popular meal. Just like in Japan, you can get weird things like Thai green chicken, seaweed, durian. I went with the chilli beef option and cream of corn soup. Pretty good!

There she goes again, running through traffic.

This is an fancy lingerie shop called Air Space. Exactly where is the air coming from?

Another very popular place that always has a long line. I think they are selling some kind of fried radish cake. But I could be wrong. What I know for sure is that the street around here is coated in many years of very slippery oil.

And now for 2 more night street scenes, here is the first.

And here is the second. Good news, tomorrow is NOT a hiking day. At least I am not planning for it to be.