Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 4

Yangmingshan (陽明山) was something EJ has been looking forward to, so we put on our trekking shoes and made an appointment with the same cab company to bring us there. It was about an hour's drive away, but we made good time on the drive in the early morning traffic. The actual trek, however, took us quite a while to complete. Perhaps we indulged one too many times at the night markets?

There is some serious walking to do, but after a few days of non-stop eating, we really should start some exercise before we become unrecognizable from our passport photos. And if we're going to pick a scenic route to do some walking, we couldn't have picked a nicer place. We breezed past the easy-peasy areas that other tourists linger around, and headed straight for the mountaineous route. The initial area was so touris-y, in fact, that what we thought to be a temple poised against the face of the mountain turned out to be ... a souvenir shop. No, we were determined to transverse through the entire trail of the mountain, and I convinced my inner shopaholic that I didn't think the souvenir shop would run out of keychains before we get back. 

The scenery got more beautiful the higher we went, and the chatter of crickets made the walk almost magical. I mentioned to the others that I've heard it told crickets chirp only as they mate. It looks like we're not the only ones getting our heart rates up... 

The definition of 'stairs' got looser and looser the higher we go

After a particularly arduous flight of steps, we spotted a pavilion (亭 - ting) at the top. 

Here we are: ting-ing at the ting. 

We took a breather, and continued along our way up the mountain.

We passed by a Falungong practitioner meditating near a body of water while balancing precariously on one leg. It was a really peaceful location, with the tinkling of water flowing downstream. On another occasion, I would have been content to spend a couple of hours just up there. 

Falun Gong practitioner in red. It's hard to tell from this picture, but it's a really steep drop into a valley from the rock, about a dozen stories high.  

The valley, as seen from the Falun Gong Practitioner's side. 

A collapsed tree

Near the top of the mountain, we came across 3 elderly men setting up a mahjong table, who invited us to join them. E seemed interested, but we declined. They passed me a packet of wasabi crackers, and we thanked them profusely and left. As we continued on, I passed the crackers around and started munching on them. Then an old Chinese story came to me, and I kinda freaked a little. I voiced out the (childhood) story I heard, and no one wanted any more crackers. Or mahjong. 

We headed further along the path, and came across a decrepit pavilion. We had strayed more than a little away from the usual tourist path. There were a couple of round, stone-hewned tables and stools, and a formation of what I suspected to be a rudimentary stove. They were all moss-covered, and apparently have not been used in quite a while. 

Probably a place to make stew? A large pot could be placed over the round hole, and firewood goes underneath where the square is.

R smiles, but she doesn't know she's the first one we'll cook if we got lost up here in the mountain. 

The pavilion was intricately designed, and even the dirt could not cover its beauty. Still, we didn't linger at the spot, and I didn't want to take pictures of the abandoned tables or pavilion. Call me paranoid... 

We actually did get a little lost around the mountain. Being a guy, I'm physically incapable of turning around and walking back the way where we came from, so we forged on ahead. There were some steep, moss-grown steps that we treaded on as carefully as possible. But occasionally, we chanced upon really beautiful scenery, and I was glad we decided to go all the way. 

Photo by EJ

Despite the numerous promises of a waterfall at Yangmingshan, we did not manage to locate it, even with the aid of signposts. 

  

No. I'm pretty sure this isn't it. 

Unless the waterfall was where the falungong lady was? I'm at a loss here. But I was hungry after climbing up and down the mountain for the better part of two hours, and chancing upon a food cart back at the tourist area chased all thoughts of the elusive waterfall from our minds. 

Roasted sweet potatoes.  

Our next destination was Jinshan Old Street (金山老街), where our driver-du-jour informed us would be a good place for a spot of lunch. It was a small town, with many buildings preserved in the old Chinese architectural style, and many vendors can be seen selling vegetables and fruits along the Old Street. Sweet potatoes and yam are a common sight. When I voiced my surprise to the cab-driver, he told us that Taiwan heavily exports these root vegetables, and Jinshan is a major producer. Which explained why Taiwanese desserts feature so much taros and sweet potatoes. 

I wasn't planning to buy any baked goods, because what sort of bakeries could you find here? Still, I ate more than just my words, as it turned out, Jinshan has some of the best bakeries in Taipei. Everything I sampled was impressive, and we bought from almost every bakery here.  Sweet potato and taro is a staple here and showed up in all their desserts. We loved their pastries, though we gave their sweet potato ice cream a miss... 

One such bakery sold taro, sweet potato and curry pastries. We had a taste, and we ended up buying a box each. As I found out later, it's the best when eaten on the day itself, but doesn't keep well. So eat fast!

Another store had a pastry (filled with yam/taro, naturally), which was the winner of this year's annual Taiwan national baking competition, which we just had to try. It has a piece of cheese in the middle of the yam/taro paste, which is then encased by a flakey crust (3 for TWD100). It was delicious and I was astonished by the quality of their bakeries in this old town in the middle of nowhere. We tried asking her what cheese it was, but she just smiled and waved us off. 

There was also a bakery that sold a pastry with a croissant-like crust at the top over a very soft, pillowy, light cake below. The texture was amazing and we were sorry we couldn't buy it. 

We went to lunch at a bustling seafood restaurant which kitchen is located directly in the front of Jinshan's temple. We had half a duck, sold between TWD360-400 (H2N-whassit?), and a plate of squid for TWD30.  

The coffee shop nearby also serves good drip coffee for TWD70.

Next on our list was 野柳 (Yehliu), with its promise of sand dunes, sea breezes and a market(!), was the last attraction for the day. There were quite a fair bit of things to do there, but our driver told us not to worry about the time, and assured us even if we overshoot the 8-hours, he wouldn't charge us extra. Is it me, or are Taiwanese some of the most pleasant people in the world? 

We first went to the market (naturally), where there was an abundance of dried seafood for sale, from just-pressed dried cuttlefish to dried scallops, all in a variety of prices. I was just about to buy some dried scallops, but I couldn't remember how much they were going for in Singapore. My second astonishment of the trip came when I forgot what they were called in Chinese, and J offered up "干贝" immediately. A light breeze could have knocked me over. There must be something in the Taiwan's water turning all my friends into Sino-experts. 


I didn't want to go to Yehliu Geopark at first, but I was glad we went at the end of it. Their famous rock formations all look the same to me, but the Geopark had some of the most spectacular coastlines I have seen. There are times when an iPhone camera just doesn't cut it, and this is one of those times.

Post-card worthy shot by EJ. 

We were wandering around the coastline when I saw a couple of Korean tourists staring at a spot on the ground and snapping a couple of pictures with their phones. Whatever they're looking at seem more intriguing than the rocks-with-lotsa-holes, so we made a beeline towards their object of interest. It was a dead puffer-fish lying on the beach. 

It's one thing to take a few pictures and walk away, like the Koreans did. It is another thing to gather raucously around the dead animal and try to prod it with a finger, which was what a boisterous group of tourists from another country near Korea did after the Koreans left. I was standing there and didn't care much for their behaviour; so, just as one of them reached out and came close to touching the puffer-fish, I made a sudden startled movement. Her panicked shrieks that echoed off the face of the cliffs alone were worth the admission ticket alone. It's tourists like them that give all other tourists from their country such a bad rap.  

Not all natural rock formations are created equal, and I particularly liked the Fairy Shoe that looks like a pair of ginormous sandals. You can pretty much take or leave all the other rocks though... But all in all, a wonderful place to see the coast of Taiwan, take in the sea breeze and savour our last few days of our holiday.  

We left Yehliu just as the park closed, and a pleasant surprise was waiting for us back in the cab. Our driver has bought us a box of fried fish, which he said was from a stall popular with the locals. After a bite of the fried fish, which was still delicious even when cold, I would be frequenting the stall too if I lived nearby. 

The friendly hospitality of the Taiwanese left such a warm feeling in my heart. The small things that the Taiwanese do make Taiwan such a delightful place to visit. Or maybe it's just us? Sighhhhh, who ask us to be so 人见人爱? 

Okay, I'll stop now.  

Our driver drove us back to Ximending just on the dot on the eighth hour, and we went for dinner at Tian Wai Tian, a hotpot buffet. The meal comes with a huge choice of meat and seafood, all for TWD400+. (There was vegetables as well, but I told everybody if I wanted vegetables, I would 回家慢慢吃.)     

Scallops. I did not share. 

The deal-breaker for us for Tian Wai Tian was their desserts. There was a whooping 13 flavours of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, as well as a freezer full of Meiji ice cream, to choose from. I had a scoop of each Häagen-Dazs flavour, and we can safely say that going Tian Wai Tian is officially worth our while.

Especially since I grabbed a cone and another two scoops on my way out. Booya! 

I really didn't want to call it a night and spend our last night in Taiwan just like this. So we headed out to Carrefour for some snacks and drinks to bring back to our rooms. It's not a holiday until you're relaxed, and it's not relaxing until you are lounging around in your room in your pjs eating snacks and drinking whatever exotic drinks that you can find from the local supermarket. 

Like a lychee beer.

It was a good 20 minutes walk away, but we kept ourselves entertained on the walk over.

We went back, dumped all our stuff in the hotel, and then went off for a massage for good measure. Yes, that one. But we kept it safe, and went for only a foot massage this time. And after, with one of the most relaxing hour I had, we headed back to the hotel. 

Many of these photos here are courtesy of EJ Yeo, R Wang and J Lee.

Check out the rest of my Taiwan trip here!
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