Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 27: New Taipei 新北市 (Goose Rice 呈信傳統鵝肉店, Wulai 烏來, Yun Xian Park 雲仙樂園）

November 06, 2016

Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 27: New Taipei 新北市 (Goose Rice 呈信傳統鵝肉店, Wulai 烏來, Yun Xian Park 雲仙樂園）

I first stumbled upon Wulai on a blogger's Instagram feed a few years back. At that time I was already taken aback by the beauty of this place and I made it a point to visit this place if I ever return to Taiwan. So here I am!

But before I made my way to Wulai, I had to fill my stomach first with breakfast. Today I tried Goost Rice at a restaurant nearby my Airbnb place. For NTD 90, I got a set as below with 3 additional toppings. Goose tastes about the same as chicken but is slightly less tender.

Goose rice

Wulai is a mountainous township 25 km directly south of Taipei and it is quite obvious that you have reached another world when you arrive here with all the greeneries around. The main attraction here would definitely its hot springs. There is also an Old Street and some hiking can also be done around here.

Attractions around Wulai

How to get there: From Xindian MRT station, take bus 849 to Wulai (烏來) ~ NTD 15, takes about 40 minutes, runs every 15 to 20 minutes.

The bus dropped me nearby the Visitor Centre and I then made my way towards Wulai Waterfall. Without much effort needed, you could already witness the cerulean blue river passing through the village. How often do you get to such a beautiful river only 25 km away from a city centre?

For every tourist attraction in Taiwan, there seems to always be the classic Old Street with lots of food and souvenir stalls catered to holiday goers and Wulai Old Street (烏來老街) is no different. Having said that, each place has their own unique food or attraction compared to the others.

For Wulai Old Street, you could see many stall selling Roast Pork as well Wild Boar Noodles (pic as below). Recommended if you ever stumble upon one of the stalls. The meat is like your regular pork but perhaps a bit more on the tougher side.

NTD 100

To get to the Wulai Waterfall, you could walk for about 1 km. Alternatively you can take the modified log cart (NTD 50 per way) which saves you all the walking. The design was really cute with pictures of wild boars decorating each of the cart. Many many years ago these carts were used to transport logs from the jungle to the town and has thus been converted into another tourist attraction.

Apart from the usual scenery, there are many Taiwanese cherry blossom trees (山櫻花) at this area as well. Another added beauty during the Spring season.

Lovely sakuras!

Upon further exploration, I stumbled upon a cable car station which brings tourists further up to the mountains. This cable car design reminds me of Genting Highlands many, many years ago as it only has one large cabin. Having said that, I think the cable car to and fro Awana Genting Highlands still uses this. Price: NTD 160 (both ways)

Wulai Waterfall

Apparently the cable car brings you to theme park, also known as Yun Hsien Resort. Personally I think that the whole idea is trying to replicate Genting Highlands but it failed pretty badly. Perhaps it was during the low season during Winter, the entire place was pretty run down without much visitors. Granted with only one cable car as a vehicle, accessibility to this park is a huge issue. Not sure if there are any other routes to get up here.

Among the few attractions would be some kiddies rides and a lake where you can row boats in it. For each of these rides you have to pay separately as there are no entrance tickets sold. However the place looks pretty dead, and many of the rides were closed or undergoing renovation. I am making a good guess that the whole park will be closed down within the next few years, if not months at the current condition. If you have not been to Genting Highlands and taking a cable car prior to this, then I would suggest to just skip this place altogether. Maokong is a much better alternative in Taipei.

Closed

More photos of deserted rides:

Deserted swimming pool

As I left the disappointing Yun Xian Park, I then proceeded to the main attraction of Wulai which is the hot springs! Since I was on a tight budget, I proceeded to the cheapest one which was the public hot spring located at the river itself. In the background of the photo below you could see many people, mostly elderly enjoy the hot springs.

The hot springs are pumped directly from the mountains via pipes directly into the river itself. While it is a public area, there are still rooms available for visitors to change into their swimming wear.

Lucky lady who managed to find her own private spot lol:

Since I did not bring any clothes to change so I went for the foot hot spring instead. The waters were really hot and it took some time before my feet gets used to the temperature. After that, it was pure bliss. I was quite reluctant to leave after a good 15 minutes of soaking as I had to expose my feet to the freezing temperatures again. Not pleasant. :(