So, I decided to go to Maokong Mountain in the southeast part of the city and climb up to the top, then take the gondola down. That’s not quite how it worked out.
First, I got several different sets of directions from several different people, this after showing them a map and pointing to the place where I wanted to go. The first set of directions put me off track on a rather pleasant nature trail:
A few other misdirections got me to a residential area where I saw this:
Finally, someone figured out where I really wanted to go, but I had confused two of the temple names, so they gave me the correct directions to the wrong trail. This trail led up many flights of stairs to the Zhinan temple rather than the Zhangshan temple, which was further up the mountain. After a lot of climbing and just soaking through my shirt (it was hot and humid), I got to the temple and took a quick look around.
The view was pretty good, so it was worth it. There is a gondola stop that is near the Zhinan temple, but it was down a set of narrow, moss-covered steps. After going down the steps for about three minutes without seeing my destination, and almost slipping twice, I decided to return back the way I came. On the way back, I encountered a feral cat and a domesticated one, so that definitely made the day worth it.
So, I thought I would take a bus back from the National Chengchi University (near where the trail started) back to the Taipei Zoo metro station, and I got on the first bus that had “MRT” listed on it. Unfortunately, it was going to the Guongdang station, which was about a half hour away. The good news is that I got to see more of the city in air-conditioned comfort, so that turned out well also.
I returned to the hotel in the afternoon to do the laundry, work on the pictures from yesterday, and get some sleep. Later in the evening, I went to the Shilin Night Market, which is the biggest in Taipei. I had all sorts of food, including a vegetable steamed bun, something I thought was a hot dog but turned out to be fried chicken with garlic flavoring on a stick (it was wonderful). The mango juice was not very impressive, and I did try some durian, which as far as I could tell, tasted from nothing. Photographically, there wasn’t a great deal; just mobs of people around food stands.
Consider the alternative.
A transport company’s logo.
A store at the night market; I didn’t go in to see what they sell.
