Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 26: Taipei 台北 (Yangmingshan Flower Festival 陽明山花季, Shihlin Night Market 士林夜市, World Soymilk King 世界豆漿大王)
Today I decided to head of to Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山). From Taipei city i took the MRT towards Jiantan (劍潭) station and then another bus to the national park. The bus journey was roughly almost 1 hour and it was interesting to see that there were many huge mansions along the route. Guess Yangmingshan is also another area for richer people to stay. It was super cold that morning with single digit temperatures and the drizzle was not helping. I was sort of lost again at the start as I had no idea how to explore the park and it was so huge. Nevertheless the tourist centre would always have answers hence I made my way there.
There is shorter way to reach the tourist centre via the main road (which I found out later) but I took the slightly more challenging trail instead, which was a 700 meter climb through the jungle. Don't worry there are proper staircases and I even managed to hike it by just wearing slippers lol.
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| Short climbing trail |
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| Attire of the day. So frustrated of the rain. |
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| Freezing temperatures |
Upon reaching the tourist centre, I realised I was very lucky that I visited Yangmingshan a week before the Flower Festival! There were several trails which was covered with flowers (flower shaped dots on the map below) hence I decided to just visit those places and call it a day. To make my life easier I started at a higher altitude and then heading downwards towards the main entrance/exit instead of the other way around.
First stop was a small garden located just outside the tourist centre which was filled with Taiwanese Cherry Blossom trees:
Then I headed towards Azalea (杜鹃) and Camellia (茶花) Garden. I was very lucky to see all the flowers in full bloom. Always loved the Chinese pronunciation of Azalea. Hahaha. 杜鹃杜鹃杜鹃杜鹃杜鹃. 真的很动听！
Camellia (茶花)
Azalea (杜鹃)
As I descended there were many signboards along the way to ensure that you don't get lost. The last stop for my visit at Yang Ming Shan would be their famous Flower Clock (花钟). It is basically a huge clock made from lots of flowers and gives out a tune after every hour.
Signboards depicting the different species of flowers available at different seasons of the year:
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| Spring |
The Flower Clock:
There is also another garden in the vicinity with lots of cherry blossom trees! At that time only the Taiwanese species which were in full bloom. It will be another pretty sight in a month's time. Nevertheless it was really quite a nice stroll visiting the various flower gardens in Yang Ming Shan.
Essentially as a National Park, Yang Ming Shan on its own is huge and it is impossible to cover all aspects in a few days, let alone a couple of hours. But if you are just keen for a leisurely stroll during Spring or Autumn then this would be probably a good route to refer haha. Otherwise you can take the bus or grab and taxi and further venture inside the park and do some serious hiking. Satisfied with what I saw for the past couple of hours I then headed back to the main entrance and took the bus back to Jian Tan station.
Since I was already nearby Shih Lin Market so I thought I might as head over there and grab some dinner. In the end I grabbed a fried chicken chop and somehow stoned at a nearby 7-11 for an hour or so before heading back home.
On my way back I then stopped back at World Soymilk King which was a really big restaurant selling Taiwan's rather popular food. It was located nearby my Air B&B room at Ding Xi station. The food was quite average to say the least and I am still not a fan of my soy milk having a burnt after taste haha. Not all Taiwanese love it as well. With that I headed back to rest quite early that night.
- Day 26 end-
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