Photos from Sandiaoling and another shameless plug

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Here are some photo from our recent trip to the Pingxi area, where we spent the day hiking from Sandiaoling to Shifen. For whatever reason (don't ask me, I don't know) the photos are reversed in chronological order. I guess I uploaded them backwards. Oh well. They're still nice!

The long red bridge leading from the end of the trail to Dahua Station, where a train left just as we arrived - hence our continued hike to Shifen.

The end of the trail culminates in a big schlep up a hill at the end of a creepy parking lot near Wild People Valley, and an accompanying descent down slippery moss-and-stone stairs. Watch your step, and take time to admire the bright green moss underfoot.

Hiking clubs in Taiwan leave these markers not just out of pride in their accomplishments, but to let other hikers know the way down a clear trail.

These folks are the Yangs and the Xiongs (the woman in grey on the right is Yang Taitai and opposite her is Lao Yang, her mother. Her husband is Ah-Xiong and the white-haired lady is his mother.) Their ancestral home - which is huge, equipped with modern living quarters on the edge of the property and is the home of lots of flora and fauna - has a flatscreen HDTV inside. We came across it as we, starving, saw the gate soon after the trail hits a rural road. We thought it might be a cafe because we heard lots of noise and saw picnic tables everywhere. Turns out it was just their house and they were showing around another group of hikers and entertaining their mothers-in-law, hangin' out at the lao jia on a sunny Sunday.

(I wish I had a lao jia to hang out at, but oh well.)

They happily invited us in - we were still all "Is this a restaurant?" - and fed us some green bean noodle dessert and chao mian (fried noodles - think chow mein). At first we were embarrassed, crashing someone's home, but they were delighted to have foreign guests. Apparently we aren't the first crashers - that other hiking group is shown in the photo, and Mrs. Yang said every few years a wayward Aussie or Brit passes through, and they feed them all, but they've never had Americans before and so they're quite happy about that.

Also, Old Yang is well into her 90s and still has quite a personality. I never thought a 93-year-old could strong-arm me into eating "MORE NOODLES!" but she did.

I love this country!

The trail doesn't seem long - it's only a few kilometers. But huge sections of it require wading, climbing or heading up ladders, so it takes longer than one would guess.

My sister at the base of Sandiaoling's main waterfall. It's not a terribly long hike to get here, past another waterfall viewable only in the distance (the path that seems to have once gone to the base is long overgrown), but you do have to wade across a stream where a bridge has given way. There is a cave behind this waterfall but we didn't make it there - the pathway was quite slippery after some heavy rain and the entire roof of the overhang on the walkway and the rock wall opposite was covered in sticky, gooey insect eggs/larvae/gross stuff. Really - I'm not being a priss about this. It was GROSS. I got some in my hair and even the guys were all "ew. Nasty."

Not far from here is a lovely place to sit on a rock and soak your feet. It's also a fun place for a picnic; more unorthodox than the viewing platform by the falls. You could even go for a dip if you were so inclined. Brendan is standing on one of the rocks in this area below:

Along the way we passed a lovely small shrine, half hidden but not forgotten in the undergrowth. As I've said a million times, spiritual beliefs here run deep; deeper than most people can fathom. Everything is sanctified and modernization is not changing that...merely adding to the ways in which people get in touch with their gods (and ghosts, and ancestors, and demons).

The area is lush with bamboo, as you can see, making for a lovely green backdrop as well as calming 'forest' noises as the very slight breeze whistled through.

Locals in this area are...um, zhen tai. More Tai than we'll ever be despite our fancy video. And very friendly.

A Country Hike in the City

On Sunday, the clouds cleared up around noon to reveal a warm, sunny day. We set out from Jiantan MRT and hiked via backroads and little-used trails from Shilin to Neihu. The trip is outlined in Taipei Day Trips 1, so if you want to attempt it, pick up a copy.

The hike begins at Jiantan and heads up lots of stairs, around the backside of the Grand Hotel and through a wooded children's park and karaoke spot (for the parents). There are several temples nearby, all with lovely views of Shilin, the Danshui River, Guanyinshan, Beitou and the revolving restaurant tower (at least that's what I think it is.)



This area has a lot of military installations, which means you can't go far off the path. It also means you will pass a lot of unmarked buildings, old guardposts and even older pillboxes, set up in case of a mainland invasion I guess.



Soon you'll reach the peak of the first hill - hardly a mountain - Jiantan Mountain. Heading down, the stairs give way to a proper trail. You'll go down then up again, finding yourself eventually on a very rural road that winds around. You end up with more great views - on one side, Shilin and the Danshui River. On the other, Neihu. There are plenty of great viewing spots, many of which are probably populated with tai chi practitioners early in the morning.


Later, as the road winds around, you begin to get views of Yangmingshan and the National Palace Museum. The glare was quite high at this time of day, when the sun was at its zenith, so I apologize for the washed-out image with the old crater of Yangmingshan in the background. You don't start getting these views where Taipei Day Trips says you do (there's been some forest growth since it was written), but they do come eventually.

Most of these come as you approach and then top Wenjianshan, which is somewhere above Dazhi on the Shilin-Neihu Road (you can stop hiking here and head down to the road at this point if you want - it's about 5kms to get to that point).


One thing we loved about the hike was that it was almost entirely rural, with real trails and forest. Other than the views over urban vistas, you could hardly tell that you were hiking within the Taipei city limits the entire time.

After Wenjianshan, you take some steep stairs down to a road, head left down it for awhile then head straight up a very steep path through the woods. As we approached the leveling-off of the path, several mountain bikers raced down past us. I heard whooping as they hit the steep part, so I don't know if they made it all teh way down on their bikes.

After the trail levels off, you end up at a well-hidden and little-known stone path. It's quite wide and plenty of locals walk it, but you won't see many foreigners and no tourists. There are no views, but it heads through some lovely woods and is an easy walk for a few kilometers.

After awhile, you end up back at the trail up the final peak - Jinmianshan (Gold Face Mountain) which has views over everything.

No, really...


...everything.
The view is not at the true summit; to get there, you have to walk past the summit and wind your way past lots of bumpy boulders. It's easy to find; you can see the view improving as you head forward and that's where all the people 'in the know' will be.

We lingered a bit too long on the summit, watching the sun go down. We had not underestimated the climb back, it' s just that it was a 10 kilometer hike (so says the book; we think it was longer) to get there, the view was astounding, and we didn't want to leave.

The hike down is over a tricky but fun rock scramble...if you linger for sunset, bring a flashlight. Trust me. There is a rope to help, and it eventually reaches some steep stone steps that could cause a sprained ankle during the day; imagine at night when you can't see (I don't have to imagine, I took a spill here).

The trail lets out in an alley along Huanshan Road in Neihu, very close to Neihu Road. Taipei Day Trips 1 gives the exact address, so if you want to hike in reverse or not bother with the long part and just go for the rocky views, you can start from here (be warned; it's a very steep ascent).

Bring lots of water, especially if you do the full 10 kilometers; there is nowhere to buy it along the way despite there being lots of roads to temples, shelters and recreation areas.

The Back End of Maokong

We went hiking up the backside of Maokong today, starting at the gondola station (which was frighteningly deserted) and winding our way up, over and across to Maokong Peak. Maokong Peak seems much higher than it is (about 560 meters) because of the tricky terrain - nothing an enthusiastic hiker in good shoes couldn't cover, but still requiring ropes and a good sense of balance - when you get there, you feel you've climbed much higher.

We were originally aiming for Erge Shan, but when we realized exactly how far it was, we scrapped that plan and stopped early. You see, we'd wasted the morning with a hearty 'hiker's breakfast' of cranberry scones, muaji-red bean buns, toast with jam, pomegranate, oranges, apples, coffee, goat milk and of course Bailey's Irish Cream (breakfast of champions!). If you set out at 11:30 from Jingmei, you aren't going to make it to Erge Shan in a day.

The hike starts at the trail behind Sanxian Temple (not sure about the Pinyin there), which is directly across from the final stop of the (hopefully not erstwhile) gondola. Climbing lots of stairs, you pass a small tea farm run by a friendly man and his dog...


...and then eventually make it back into the shade, where rockier, more 'natural' stairs take over. By 'natural' I mean "better looking, but less comfortable to climb."

Hiking aficionados will be happy to hear that the stairs end here, and what begins is a real trail. Dirt, rocks, tree roots and everything. An honest-to-goodness hiking trail! So much of hiking in Taiwan, especially around Taipei County, is stair-based that it's a relief to finally do something that really feels like walking and not just, well, stair climbing. The scenery also gets a lot greener.



...with lots of really big bugs to gape at.


The signage is not very good as the trail progresses, but there's always at least one sign to point the way if you speak Chinese. Not far after a lovely clearing the trail splits in two - take the lower; the upper goes to an electrical pylon. Then a narrow ridge of a trail (one member of our group did fall off, but only fell a few meters into the undergrowth) winds along, with hiker's ribbons and lots of signage...if you can read Chinese. Fortunately most of our group can.


At only one point in the trail is there no signage whatsoever; there is another lovely clearing with bamboo and a flat rock, perfect for a picnic. Heading towards Erge Shan/Maokong Peak, awhile later you will reach a T-junction with no guidance. (Head left). You'll pass a bamboo clearing with a camping/BBQ area and after a few tricky sections requiring ropes, you'll be at the top.

We tried to descend the fast way, that is, straight down, but soon became discouraged with the condition of the trail in this area, as well as the 70 degree straight drop. We're not entirely convinced it was a trail, and with fading daylight we felt that it would be much smarter to just head back the way we came.

All in all, Maokong Peak is a great idea for a quiet day with great weather, when you just want to get out and walk around in nature. The views are mostly obscured by forest growth and bamboo, but the air is clean and you can make it there and back in half a day.

We settled in at a teahouse (Mountain Tea House, next to Red Wood House). Mountain Tea House may not have a very original name, but they're friendly and down-to-earth and their upper balcony has the requisite amazing view of Taipei. They also have mountain pig, lemon diced chicken, mountain vegetables and other delicious items on the menu for around 200 NT/plate. The lemon chicken comes with diced sweet potato and is served in a tart, tangy sauce. I highly recommend it.


One more thing before I sign off for the day - go to Maokong, people! The tea is still great, the teahouses are still there and the view is still the best in the city (and I work on the upper floors of Taipei 101 a few times a week; I should know). Did you know former president Lee Tung-hui refused to have the teahouses, which were illegal at the time, torn down because he loved them so much. Well, Lee might be KMT but he's got good taste in tea and views, that's all I can say.

It's not as expensive as you think to drink tea at some of these places, and the food is generally pretty good at the more homey ones, the ones without all the tourist frippery.

And yet, because the gondola is out of service, nobody's there! On a beautiful Sunday night, with a bright night sky and reddish clouds rolling in over a spectacular view, we were the only customers in that teahouse, and looking in the others, all were doing slow business. Nevermind that the gondola is perfectly safe (I have a good source and I believe this person) and should never have been closed in the first place. You can still get there for about 200 kuai in a taxi - which is nothing, if you're sharing with friends - or take the Brown 15 bus from Taipei Zoo station every half hour. Any teahouse owner will happily tell you when you can catch one back.

Not only will you enjoy the treat of having Maokong all to yourself - no crowds, no irritating music, no shouting kids, no tourists - but you'll be helping out a sector of the economy that is really feeling the economic crunch.

Go to Maokong!

Yehliu

Kid playing in rock formations as the sun sets

Yehliu is a small fishing town - and an ugly town at that, sorry - on the northeast coast of Taiwan.



To get there, take the MRT to Taipei Main Station. Exit on the Zhongxiao side of the railway station - 4 or 5 should do, I can't remember which is better. Walk west along Zhongxiao (if you're facing the railway station, turn left) until you come to two bus stations - one for the airport and one for long distance buses. Pass both of these and make your first right, walking away from the Shinkong Life tower that is prominently on your left. On the left, you'll see another bus station servicing Ubus. enter and turn right, walking past the UBus section into the Guo Guang section. On the left, find a departure terminal labeled "Jinshan". Buy tickets to Yehliu from the counter across from that, and get on a Jinshan bound bus. Make sure to have the driver tell you where to get off. About 1.5 hours later, you'll arrive in Yehliu. Turn right and walk down the hill to the harbor and past it. The good seafood restaurants are here. Turn away from the harbor when you see a V in the road, and you'll come to the Geopark. There's a market selling dried fish and tacky souvenirs as well.

Weird Rocks I

It has two attributes that make it entirely worth a visit, if not a repeat visit: gorgeous eroded rock formations and the best damn seafood you've ever had in your life.

We went for a day last weekend - a second visit for me and Brendan, and a first for my sister and a new friend. As we had all slept in, we didn't arrive until an hour or two before sunset. As it turns out, this is the best time of day to take photos of the compelling rocks that dot the coast, and the staggering cliffs above. The warm sandy color of these formations lends itself particularly well to the orange rays of the setting sun.

The rocks, coast and parts of the cliffs were formed - and are still being formed - by wind, water and sand erosion and (apparently) seismic activity. My students say that this last factor is false - it has nothing to do with the movement of anything below, and everything to do with the unique erosion conditions above.

Queen's Head Rock

The rocks are classified by their shape - there are "tofu rocks", "ginger rocks" and apparently even "brain rocks". The most famous is nu wang tou, or Queen's Head, shown below. We personally found the odd "garlic"-topped mini-volcanoes at the other end to be more compelling.

More weird rocks

Couple at sunset

After the sun properly set we made our way to a seafood restaurant, choosing based on the abundance of plastic bins holding live seafood. "You guys got a menu?" I asked in Chinese.

"This is our menu," the owner answered, gesturing to the bins.

We had cuttlefish sashimi with a spicy dipping sauce, a plate of basil clams, a steamed fish, four barbecued crabs and a plate of stir-fried cabbage. The entire meal came to under $2000 NT for four people. Delicious!

My sister enjoying the local marine life

Sand dollar fossil

Fishermen flagrantly disobeying the rules