Taipei and Mao Kong

Went to Taipei and Mao Kong yesterday and it was great!

Around 11am Johan, Rebecca, and I left the house in the car to go to Taipei.  We were meeting Rebecca's friend Juna at Dazhi MRT station for lunch.  Lunch was a cheese burger with bacon and bbq sauce on it.  It's the first burger I've had since Vancouver and it was delicious.  I guess Taiwanese people know how to make burgers too :)

Shortly after lunch, we walked a short distance to a famous Taiwan Fashion Design University.  We walked around the campus that at times felt like it was situated in the middle of the jungle.  The building was designed by a famous Japanese architect.  It was very impressive.

It was time for the others to go watch a Japanese movie that was subtitled in chinese.  I didn't want to go because I would have been totally lost as to what was going on, so I decided to head to Mao Kong because I wanted to check it out so that when I tour around with my parents, I know where I'm going.

The MRT from where we had lunch to the Taipei Zoo MRT (Mao Kong station) took a good 30 minutes.  That particular MRT line is above ground which is great because it gives you a nice view of the city and mountains surrounding the areas.

Upon arrival I exited the MRT station and walked a short distance to the Mao Kong Gondola station.  Everything looked new and well maintained.  I made my way up to the 4th floor where the gondola plaform is.  There was a line up but it was fairly small and only took 5-10 minutes to make my way to the front.  It's nice becuase the gondola is integrated with the MRT transit system, so I was able to use my EasyGo Metro Fare card to pay.  The gondola is about $1.50 to go from the bottom all the way to the top most station (there's 3 stations) so it's quite inexpensive.

As we left the station and the gondola took us up the mountain, we were treated to a beautiful view of the Taipei city, its suburbs, and the surrounding tropical mountains.  It was a fantastic ride up.  I was going to get off at the 2nd stop but no one else inside my gondola or the gondola's ahead of ours got off there so I decided to ride up to the very top.  After about a ~20 minute ride we made it to the top!

I hadn't really read up on where to go touring up there, so I simply stepped out of the gondola station and looked around to see where people were walking.  I chose a road being overgrown by trees and walked along it for maybe 2km.  Along the road I passed a temple, a tea promotion centre, and many small cafes hanging onto the side of the mountain.  These cafes had beautiful views of the valley and I can see why many people would want to sit there and chill out with a cup of famous Mao Kong tea.

The weather was really hot, and I didn't really think anything of it until I took off my backpack to grab my bottle of water.  When I removed my pack, I realized my shirt was soaked through with sweat.  It was actually quite gross cause it felt like I had been sprayed with a hose, and every time my shirt touched my back it felt like someone was putting a cold cloth on my back.

used the back of a truck window as a mirror
to see my soaked back

There were very few people along the road now, and I wasn't really sure where I was going so I stopped to look at my map to see where I was going.  I realized I was walking along a road for the locals, and if I kept walking, it would be another 10km or so until I reached the 2nd gondola line.  I didn't feel like walking that far so I turned around to go back.

I had noticed a sign written in chinese that pointed down a little path into the forest.  I decided to go down there and see what their was.  To my surprise there was a wonderful maze of little paths going up, down, and across the hillside with lots of little tea huts and seating.  I explored this area for 15 minutes taking pictures.  It really seemed like a cool place to hang out.

I left and continued back towards the gondola.  I was starting to get really thirsty after the wind blew my water bottle down into the forest while I was checking my map (way to steep to go down and get it).  I found another similar tea sign pointing down a path so I went down.  At the bottom was another vista overlooking the valley with tables and umbrellas set up to block the sun.  There was only a few people there (who looked like regulars).  They started talking broken english to me and I ended up buying a refreshing glass of fresh ice cold green tea.  It was delicious and really what I needed.  It also gave me a chance to sit in the shade and dry off my shirt and simply enjoy where I was.  Exploring on my own is cool and I really enjoy it, but as I sat drinking the tea I thought how much more fun it would be if my parents or liza or my friends were there with me.  At least I had grimace. haha.

I left the tea place feeling refreshed and walked back to the gondola station and took it one station down the mountain to station number 2.  The signage when I disembarked the gondola was pretty horrible and I ended up walking around to several different maps to try and figure out where I go.  I couldn't really find the right way so I just picked a path and walked down it.  I had picked the right path!  It was a small narrow path that wound down mountain gently and on my right, a large Taoist Palace emerged.  The sun was setting and we were well into golden hour.

The palace looked stunning, but the path had a fork in the road and I took the path leading away from the temple because I knew I'd be coming back that way.  The other path took me to a large and famous temple (the name escapes me as I'm writing this) which was perched along the side of the mountain.  Inside everything was painted red and gold.  There was the nostalgic smell of incense coming from a large black cauldron with 3 dragons rearing their heads around it.  The cauldron was located in a large doorway that out looked the valley and the sunset.  All the smoke from the incense with the sun rays looked magical.

I noticed several paths leading steeply down the hill from the temple and decided to explore further.  The paths wound their way down the mountain and there were many sculptures and little shrines along the way.  very cool with the sun setting and all the jungle foliage around.

Once I reached the bottom I made my way back up the steep steps.  I was starting to sweat like crazy again and I was breathing pretty hard.  I took a different route back up the hill which lead me through a small little local housing area and back to the fork in the road I mentioned earlier.

Now, the Taoist Palace is had to describe in words but... it was wonderful.  The view from the front across the valley was breathtaking, and the palace on the inside had several corridors inside with little surprises at every turn.  I walked around for a good 15 minutes and sat down to put my sunglasses away.  As I was putting on my regular glasses Johan called me on my cell.  It was time for diner!  Well sort-of.  They were going for diner in Taipei, and if I could get down there fast enough I would join them, if not then I'd eat on my own.

I had explored Mao Kong all evening and indeed it was time to go home.  I trekked back to the gondola and rode down the hill as the sky slowly darkened and the lights of the city turned on.  It was quiet in the gondola and the sound of the wind and the twinkling of the city lights really made for a great relaxing peaceful moment.

Traveling from the 2nd gondola station to Taipower MRT station on the Xindien line took nearly an hour so needless to say I missed diner and simply met up with Rebecca and Johan inside the MRT station.  To welcome in ghost month there was a fireworks celebration so we headed there to check it out.  There must have been over 100,000 people there all packed along the river banks.  The crowd was really thick along the edges, but as soon as you muscle your way through the crowds, things lightened up and we managed to get a pretty decent place to watch the fireworks.

I think that I have been spoiled with great fireworks living in Vancouver with the annual Symphony of Fire competition.  The fireworks here were pretty bad.  I mean it wasn't horrible, but... it was pretty bad.  Long pauses in between short bursts of fireworks and the whole thing only lasting for maybe 10-15 minutes was probably what made it suck so much.  Personally I didn't care because I just wanted to go and see the spectacle of people so I still had a great time :)  Plus there was this kid sitting on the railing and I managed to use him as a human prop in my photos.

After the fireworks I was starving so we grabbed some food and drinks at a small street side restaurant.  We then walked back to the car and I passed out in the back seat for the drive home.  Thanks to Johan and Rebecca for the lovely evening :)