Taiwan 2

Day 4: Hot Springs and
Junjianyan

Day 4 started with a short ride on the MRT towards Beitou Station and Thermal Valley

Getting off I was pleasantly surprised by how quite it was, proper suburbia. A quick 20 minute walk later and I had arrived, the smell of sulfur hitting the back of my nose like a carton of rotten eggs

There wasn’t much more to explore here and the actual museum was unfortunately closed, still a thoroughly enjoyable, and recommendable, experience

What made this day truly special was that after I had extracted myself from the crowds I proceeded to make my way upwards, hiking slowly, first through the backstreets

And then through some more natural paths and through a forest, finally reaching the peak, Junjianyan, a spot where you can overlook much of Taipei and its surroundings.

This is one of the best things I did in Taipei, because although it may not be the heights and LEDs of Hong Kong it was impressive nonetheless. And I think due to its remote nature its one of the best things to do in Taipei, as it was also fairly deserted, even at sunset

Day 5: 2/28 Peace Park & Elephant Mountain

Last day in Taipei and due to the Weather I didn’t get to do much. But I did get to tick off one more thing on my long list of things to see: Elephant Mountain. Similar to Junjianyan it’s a vista over the whole city.

But first I walked through 2/28 Peace Park and saw The Red House. The Red House was built originally as a wooden market, in it’s distinctive octagonal shape and later turned into its familiar brick red. It now houses an exhibit, a tourist market, and a theatre

The Park was the sight of a radio station that became the sight of the Nationalist Governments main broadcasting station after it retreated from the Mainland. It became the sight of a massacre that ushered in the period of white terror. In the 1990s the government officially apologised for the crackdown and renamed the park to 228 Peace Park (wikipedia)

After I had had Lunch I took the MRT a few more stops and made my way up to Elephant Mountain to get one last overview of the city, this time with the spectacular Taipei 101 in view

I personally preferred the view from Junjianyan on the other side of town primarily due to the extraordinary number of Tourists that make their way up to the top to get an easy view.

Day 6: Early Flights

A very early day today, needed to get halfway down the country from Taiwan to Taichung to catch my flight. This meant I was able to enjoy the amazing Taiwanese High Speed Rail

Conclusion

Taiwan wasn’t well planned out on my behalf and I could have seen a lot more of this amazing country, don’t get me wrong Taipei is great but 7 days is too long to spend in my opinion.

Also at this point in my life I wasn’t exactly in the greatest mental space having just failed 3/5 courses a few weeks earlier meaning my sleep schedule wasn’t ideal for Touristing. For Vietnam I fixed this and got a lot more done because of it
– nikmaxott