Day 6
The cool thing about this break compared to my previous one was that this time around all the Light Fellows in Korea were basically all at one place. In turn, we had the same vacation time. Miriam ended hanging around Taiwan the same time as me. We decided to meet up and check out 陽明山國家公園 (양민산국립공원, Yangminshan National Park) with my new compadre, Justin. Only problem was where to meet when we all lacked reliable Wifi. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Taiwan had free public wifi around the country, but like all good things, it had its flaws. Particularly, when I needed to meet someone, it wasn’t really there 🙁 Nevertheless, we all managed to meet up outside Taipei Main Station at a surprisingly hard to find rendez-vous.
Off we went on our long bus ride with nothing but our company to occupy our time. Oh, the horror… I mean, it was nice. In all seriousness, it was actually pretty interesting to hear about Justin’s work with the Department of Defense and Miriam’s post-post-graduate ideas following her Light Fellowship in Korea. Then, there was me. The baby of the group, with little experience and fewer years to shed light on adulthood. UGH.
Where I lacked in adulthood, I made up in hiking ability. Normally, I wouldn’t say this means all too much for a national park as they are often big and full of parts of various difficulties for everyone. Yet, the extra hiking ability kind of ingrained a sense of direction in me, or at least the belief of one. Once we arrived, packed snacks, and entered on in, we soon discovered directions to the actual mountains was not really a thing here.
Well, here started 5 hours of discovery.
The little part of the trail that was labeled was conquered in about a half hour. We turned up the gears to move forward without any directions and discover a peak on our own. Ominously, we saw this lone warrior before beginning.
After seeing what seemed like a staircase of stones that branched off the road, we decided why not. Good decision, too, as soon came upon a bunch of elderly people getting their afternoon yoga in by a waterfall. Pretty darn serene. But more staircases caught my eye and I decided to take us further up and behind the waterfall we came about. After crossing a metal bridge, we decided to take a path that was marked off. Curiosity got the better of me and we made our way the neverending, winding staircase to nowhere. Wait, not nowhere, but a hidden plant in the park. My guess was the small plant was creating energy from the continuous water body. I postulated all that because as we went further along this new path, we came about a few houses with sizable crops a killer mountain view to call their backyard.
Well, our diversion lasted enough and we decided to head back to the main road we were taking. The rest of the path along was full of micro-diversions like abandoned little buildings, random gazebos, and old tributes. Oh, and also full of “Oh, I think we’re here… nevermind” moments. Man, do I hate sharp inclining corners. They make you think you reached a peak, but they only tease.
Snacking and hobbling our way forward, we finally came upon a museum and a park station. For some odd reason, the exhibit inside was on the Antarctic rather than on Yangminshan. As Miriam and Justin conversed with the staff in Mandarin, I viewed the majestic beauties juxtaposed on the haunting powerful Antarctic background. I think the gravity of my ordeal far outweighed theirs.
With directions, we were back on the trail and hiking ever further. We stopped once we saw a large open tributary to I don’t know what. My hanja reading ability could only extend so far. However, we all thought it was pretty creepy and a moment of rising action for one of those horror films with hitchhikers. I was ready to “crush the skull” of any evil passerby.
But nobody wanted to stop for us. NO ONE.
Well we continued walking up the road and came to the first intersection since we started the hike. Stray dogs and bus stop galore, I felt like I was one with society again. Yet, the fact that we had not reached a peak was unsatisfying. We mustered up our spirit and moved forward once more. Plus the dogs basically looked upon us with gazes that said, “Carry on, my child, carry on.”
AND THERE WAS THE GLIMMER OF THE SUNSET. Finally, we could chill and enjoy a glorious mountain view!
Well, that was fun. ‘Twas time to head back by bus. I cannot recall how long it took to get back into Taipei proper, but when we did return, Justin and I broke off and explored 士林夜市 (실린야시장, Shilin Night Market), in other words the number one tourist stop in Taipei. A night market that seemed to have no end. I only wanted a shot glass and this had to be the place to have it. And would you imagine, I actually had to search every nook and cranny of the place to finally get my hands on one! I guess all the free pineapple cake along the way was totally worth it ;D
Woah, time ran by quick! I actually made dinner plans with a Taiwanese friend from Korean class. She was back in town for a small vacation and promised to treat me to a nice dinner. Would you believe it would be another of Taiwan’s famous three restaurants? This round: 鼎泰豐 (딘타이픙, Din Tai Fung) at 永康街 (용강거리, Yongkang Street). What would I try this time? GO BIG OR GO HOME: 半筋半肉麵 (half tendon, half meat beef noodle soup). You can be the judge of my order.
Well as much fun as it was to ravage that down with some 小籠包 (물만두, steamed dumplings/xiao longbao), Yi-en thought I could only top it off with another one of Taiwan’s favorites: mango ice at 思慕昔 (Smoothie House).
I’m stuffed now, I’ll get back to you soon (hopefully)!
