Misty Taiwan
- Jan 5, 2019
- 8 min read
We had an amazing last day in Taiwan, as Jenna's research skills led us to take another trip out of the city of Taipei into the Maokong region, which is the tea growing area on the outskirts of Taipei.
You can get to Maokong by road but the best way in my opinion is by the Maokong Gondola which is a cable car ride which cost NT$120/$6 Aus each way which was a great price for a 4.3km trip which lasts roughly 20-30 minutes long (on weekdays if you use your EasyPass for the Gondola Ride there is a 20% discount) and the scenery even on a wet, misty Taiwanese day is breathtaking.
The Gondola has six stations (four to get on and off at and two turning stations which which make the journey up the mountain more interesting as it zig-zags around the mountains. The stations are Taipei Zoo (which is a 5 minute walk from the same named subway/metro station, the next station is Taipei Zoo South which is within the zoo and is also a good indication of the size it (it wasn't on our plans for this trip, mostly because we were not in Taipei for long enough but also because not everyone was interested in having a look, however if I get a chance to come back to Taiwan it will be a must do as it has a good reputation as being a leader in conservation, research and education and I do like zoos for that reason). The third station is Zhinan Temple and the final one at the end of the line is the Maokong station.
In Maokong there are fabulous tea houses and amazing scenery and on clear days views of the whole of Taipei including the elusive 101 (I say elusive because for a building that supposedly dominates the skyline we haven't seen a lot of it because of the low clouds.)
There is an average rainfall of 2500mm a year so that means a lot of clouds, mist and rain in Taiwan (which can be slightly frustrating when you have to have an umbrella or rain jacket and you don't!!!) but it is great for lush vegetation and an eerie trip on the gondola as you climb through the clouds.
As soon as we reached the top of the mountain we set off walking to explore and it wasn't long before our appetites kicked in (as we had left the hotel reasonably early and our breakfast had consisted of banana milk, tea-soaked eggs and the famous pineapple cake- maybe it was the brand we tried but it wasn't quite as good as I had been hoping it could be)
While we have been in Taipei we’ve been trying different foods (a bit of a we MUST eat this list, things that I thought looked or sounded great and I wanted to try or that they recommend as
Taiwanese musts...and while sitting on the mountain we decided that stinky tofu which was on the list could not be put off any longer. I think maybe we should have left the list incomplete as Sarah described the taste ‘as if someone had just farted in your mouth’. I apologise to anyone who has tried it and think it’s delicious but I think Sarah summed it up really well and I give props to those families that were sitting next to us eating huge platefuls of the stuff.
The pork sausages we ate afterwards worked well at getting rid of the taste and never has a pork sausage tasted so good!!!!
We wandered a bit longer enjoying the area, and it was another one of those things that if we'd had more time there were lots of walking trails we could have taken but we had more to see and do and after buying tea from the region we headed back down the mountain, stopping off at Zhinan Temple.
Zhinan Temple is undergoing
some re-construction and covered in scaffolds so not as aesthetically pleasing as some, however the setting is magnificent and we spent a lot of time just sitting and looking through the mist at the world below us, it was so tranquil and a nice respite from the city below. The inside of the temple is in beautiful condition and one of the temple volunteers took us around and explained what each room was used for and who people were in the statues, and our protective gods and what our year of birth means.
It was a really interesting experience and I wish that I had been able to understand the woman better, not because of her lack of English but my lack of Taiwanese as she mixed the two and I once again was reminded of my ignorance and arrogance at speaking only English (even if I muddle my way through one or two words of other languages when the need arises)
We made our way back down the mountain and back on the MRT to do our last few sight seeing spots in Taipei. Our first stop was to Shandao Temple (which wasn’t one of those places that was on our radar as a must see place in Taipei but it became a bit of a joke as we always seemed to go past the stop on every trip of our metro journey no matter what line we were on.
We had one of those moments wondering if we would regret not getting out and having a look at the temple or not (especially for me as I love temples) so we thought to hell with it, and got out of the subway station to have a look. It was interesting, very modern on the outside and we were not able to go inside so I can’t judge but it seemed a bit cold to me and that is one thing we have all found here that every other temple we have been into felt warm and welcoming but this one didn’t (but again I say that I can't make a true judgement because we only saw the outside) We wandered around the area for a little bit, but there wasn't much going on, I think the area around the temple is more of an office area and probably on weekdays is quite lively but there
wasn't much open apart from a few coffee shops which we stopped in for bubble tea and bubble coffee before heading towards the Martyrs Shrine which happened to be the place we drove past last night and I was curious about (and which I had forgotten to research because I got caught up in the drama I was watching).
The Martyrs Shrine was built to honour those who died in the Chinese Civil War which forced those people who supported the Republic of China to flee to Taiwan. Twice a year, on Youth Day (29/3)and Armed Forces Day (3/9) the President and heads of the Government come to the Shrine to honour those who died. It is another beautiful area with the main building housing the 'spirit tablets' of all the Republican soldiers that died in the civil war.
We arrived late in the day after our day in Maokong but we were lucky enough to spend some time here and see the final changing of the guards ceremony before they closed the Shrine.
For the first time this trip we opted out of public transport and caught a cab with the sweetest cab driver who was so interested in where we were from and what we had seen in Taipei, he tried to talk to us with only limited English and spent the whole journey smiling and laughing.
The trip only cost us $9 Aus for a trip that would have cost at least $50 at home and it was to 228 Peace Memorial Park which was was lovely and peaceful in the early evening and would not make you think about the troubled history in this beautiful place. 228 Peace is to honour the hundreds of lives (still not known to this day how many) that were lost or destroyed after protests against the government began in Feb 1947, which led to a period known as the "White Terror", which led to all political dissidents being suppressed, murdered or imprisoned and Martial Law being implemented (which was not lifted until 1987)
The park in the early evening was still lively as there were plenty of people wandering around, there were families with children playing on the playgrounds and people exercising, and the four of us doing a 'massage walk' which is supposed to be good for the health. The foot massage may have worked because the pain in my feet certainly made me forget about the pain in my knee after walking over them.
Our last stop of the day was the Taipei 1O1 which
was once the tallest building in the world and is now ranked at number 10. It's unwanted nickname is 'the Noodle Box' as it is said to resemble a stack of noodle boxes on top of each other and there is no denying it, I can see why people say that.
If you have read any of my blogs before you would know that I like observation decks, not necessarily the price you pay to go up them but because I love to see the city from a bird's eye view and just sit and marvel at the vastness of some cities.
Another reason to go here was for the world famous Din Tao Fung which is known as the cheapest Michelin star restaurant in the world and the famous soup dumplings and we were not disappointed (well we were...that we didn’t order twice as many) but it was a great last dinner in Taiwan (and knocked off something on our ‘to eat list’. The only problem with the restaurant is the wait time, but if you know about this ahead of time (which I did) it's not so bad, you don't have to line up at the one at the 101, you just go up and get your number and they tell you to come back in 60-90 minutes and your table will be ready. This is great because it gives you time to shop if you want, to have a nice cold drink or sit and listen to buskers outside while you wait (which we did all three)
The restaurant is fast and efficient and the food is great (and cheap) and the kitchen itself is open to people to watch as the chefs create those mouthwatering morsels.
Dinner finished it was time to try the observatory again (we had thought about going up in our wait time but the visibility was poor and the staff recommended that we don't bother so we decided to wait)
Going up to the observatory caused a bit of debate not just amongst the four of us (majority rules)but the staff again who very nicely told us that we might be wasting our money, We decided to hell with it, it was our last night in Taipei, we might never get a chance again and we might get lucky like we did earlier in the day and get at least a glimpse between the clouds. Our first impression was ‘oh crap the staff were right' and we made do with the lighted map showing where everything was, to the ‘oh wow’ as the mist began to clear enough for us to see the city below, get a few decent photos and be able to try and work out where we had been while in Taipei. While we looked at the map and the city below us, we realised we covered a lot of ground in our whirlwind tour of Taipei. For anyone who wants to try something cheap and different all four of us would highly recommend visiting as we have had a wonderful time here and we will be sad to leave even though we are looking forward to the next adventure.
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