Taipei Take 2. Mt. Zhongzheng kicks our butts

Nov 23 – Yangmingshan National Park

I’ll start this post by saying that nearly all of our suggestions for things to do in the Taipei area were given to us by Lisa, Mike’s lovely sister-in-law.  Her note said Yangmingshan National Park was a good place to go to hike and to get away from the city.  We loved that idea.  So, we got train directions to the park which happened to be just up a different street than the hot springs at Xinbeitou.  We didn’t find a map or really any information about the park since the gentleman at the information desk at Beitou station told us we could catch the train to Xinbeitou and find all of that out at the park’s visitor center.

 

We arrived at Xinbeitou and followed the signs for the park and the Mt. Zhongzheng Hiking Trail.  A quick stop at a 7 Eleven provided us with water, flax crackers (with real New Zealand butter in them we found out later.  Oops.), rain ponchos, and some nuts for what we believed was a 4 mile hike.  A sign at the base of the trail showed a large loop heading up to an overlook and back around.  Simple, right?  Right? 

The trail was a set of stone steps going up the side of the mountain through neighborhoods and temples.  We lost track of it several times as it would simply disappear.  We were supposed to follow the road in these places.  About a mile into our adventure, my Vibram Five Fingers, the toe shoes I wear for hiking and running, started rubbing a sore into the arch of my foot.  This didn’t bode well for the hike.  These shoes were an old pair and had been glued back together after a first thrashing.  Don’t think all of these shoes are bad on the feet.  I digress.   Mike suggested we either go back or go barefoot.  I was not about to wimp out on a 4 mile hike.  The shoes came off.

We walked up and up and up, stopping at a cool temple with gorgeous dragon reliefs on the front and a family shrine next door while we hunted for the trail.  Finally when it seemed that there was no way we weren’t to the mid-point of the trail, we reached what we thought was the lookout.  It was super windy.  Two golden era couples were lunching in one pavilion.  We took the other and ate our snacks. 

We continued across the parking area to the trailhead.  This was another entry point it turned out, not the mid-point at all.  The sign showed only the upper part of the trail with the view point partway up.  Any reservations I might have had about that were completely put out of my mind by the large warning sign at the trail head.  “Beware of Poisonous Snakes and Wasps.”  If you don’t know, I hate snakes.  They’re creepy and scary and slithery and soulless.  My feet were still bare and I hated the idea of stepping on one.  Mike plowed ahead and I followed apprehensively, watching both trees and ground for any serpentine creature. 

Soon we made it to the overlook which was a tower of sorts with an amazing view of the city and surrounding mountains.  It had posters of wildlife we might find in the area as well as indicators of what peaks were around us.  Pretty neat.  We continued our trip finally starting to head downhill a ways later after a minor freakout we had missed the trail.  It seemed to go on forever and ever.  Finally we pulled the camera out and examined the topo map to see if we had taken a wrong turn.  Our water was gone, we had a few crackers left and a small bag of nuts.  We decided to keep going and finally came to a road with another trailhead.  Now all we had to do was complete the loop.  We crossed the street and started down the stone steps.

A short ways into the walk, the trail became increasingly narrower with debris scattered all over the steps.  The trail looked barely used.  We pressed on.  I saw a flesh colored skinny snake and did a creeped-out cha-cha, tiptoeing away from it.  Mike said it was pretty, weirdo.  At some points trees had fallen across the trail and we had to drop down into the woods to go around them.  It seemed like we had been walking forever.  I was totally over walking barefoot through the jungle on a foot-wide, slippery trail by this point.  Finally we made it to a temple.  Checking the map, it seemed we were getting close to civilization once again.

Unfortunately, it still took us another hour from that point winding through neighborhoods looking for the trail, but we made it back.  The hike was 5 hours and my guess is 7ish miles.  We caught the train back to the hostel and grabbed food in an alley full of cats and poorly-mannered patrons.  Mine was good, but Mike was less than impressed.  A quick trip to the giant grocery store cheered him up.  We bought delicious walnut bread, mango wine bread, and fresh fruit.

Nov-24- Stone Bouldering Gym

Our final day we decided to do something we definitely can’t get enough of: rock climbing.  We found a local bouldering gym.  It was a great size and layout, clean, interesting, with a slackline.  They didn’t have much for rentals, so my shoes were at least a size small.  The system of route setting was different than any I had ever seen using small numbered, color-coded plaques to mark each hold.  Usually same colored holds or colored tape are used.  This made routes very hard to follow. 

Suddenly the power went out.  The place was well-enough lit by the natural light coming through the huge garage door at the front that we could still see, so we climbed until the numbers were too hard to follow.  By this time there were over 50 people in the small gym.  It was time to head back to pick up our stuff and head to the airport, but I was glad for the bit of exercise anyway. 

The trip to the airport was a little confusing, though mostly uneventful.  Mike found yummy veggie steamed buns at the terminal.  We tried to stay awake as much as possible on the flight home to stave off jetlag since we were essentially going back in time.  Jeff and Lisa picked us up at Seatac and took us home with them for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a perfect ending to an amazing adventure.

The end.

Note: staving off the jet lag only worked for Mike who was put immediately on night shift when he got back.  I spent 4 nights getting almost no sleep. Yuck.  Worst jet lag ever!

Taipei Taiwan 1/2

This is the first of two posts of our trip to Taiwan.  I wanted to keep it short, but it was it's own adventure and Mike and I loved it there. Pictures are at https://picasaweb.google.com/kjhansen24/.

Nov 20

The 5 hour flight was not a big deal at all.  It seemed to go by quickly. Immigration was a breeze and cost nothing.  We picked up some cash at the ATM after 10 minutes of confusing ourselves about the exchange rate and hopped a bus into Taipei City.  2 hours later we were searching for the hostel and found it with the aid of a nice gentleman walking his very fat Chihuahua at midnight on a Thursday.  The sign for the hostel was business card sized.  Turns out it’s illegal to have a big sign for a hostel.  Not sure what the issue is there.

Alex, the owner and night attendant, was not impressed at our late arrival, but took our apologies and gave us room keys.  Our room was clean and comfortable with bunk beds!  After a quick tour and explanation of the place, we crashed for the night.

Nov 21

The next morning Alex gave us directions and a note in Chinese for traditional Taiwanese breakfast.  This consisted of fried bread wrapped in a fried tortilla and a fried tortilla wrapped around a fried egg with soy milk.  It was pretty tasty (we skipped the egg), but our tummies hurt after from all the grease.

We headed immediately to Langshan Temple which is a big attraction apparently for both locals and tourists.  It’s a beautiful Buddhist temple in the traditional Chinese style with huge incense pots and carved pillars.  The back area had these columns with little cards all over them.  I think they were names of ancestors, but I’m unsure.  Many people were praying and making offerings of food, flowers and incense.

Afterward, we took a trip to the zoo.  The transit in Taipei is so similar to Tokyo, I was very impressed.  The metro took us almost anywhere we wanted to go.  We bought Easypasses which are just refillable transit cards that can also be used other places to pay for things such as the zoo and 7 Eleven (7 Elevens are EVERYWHERE here).  The metro dropped us off after just one transfer at the entrance to the zoo.  The zoo is a sprawling park with plenty of attractions.  Our favorites were the rhinos, zebras and chimps.  One feisty young chimpanzee had a stick he was using to terrorize the older chimps.  He would carry it in his mouth while he loped after someone then throw it when he was close enough and scamper off before he could be caught.  It was hilarious!  We watched for about 15 minutes and none of the other chimps managed to catch him.  What a little imp!

On our way out of the zoo, a woman and her mother stopped to talk to us in English.  They were very nice and friendly.  The mother said I have a nice physique and looked like a model.  Yay!! That made me smile.  They suggested we take a romantic ride up the gondola to the top of the mountain to see the sunset and city lights.  It would cost a little over $3USD each.  Done!  The ride was lovely.  We had a spectacular view of the sunset and the city once the dark overtook the day.  At the top, we walked to a tea house that served us greens and mushrooms with rice. YUM!  The ride back down landed us in a “crystal carriage” meaning it had a glass bottom.  Unfortunately, it was too dark to see much out of it.  We enjoyed the few minutes it looked like we were floating anyway.

Nov 22 – Shilin and Xinbeitou

This was museum day.  We hopped the metro with some bread from a street vendor and rode to Shilin to see the National Palace Museum.  The bus stop was right next to a fine art gallery with free admission so we opted to check that out first.  We really enjoyed the exhibit. 

Across the street was the National Palace Museum.  It’s a huge structure that I assume used to be the Emperor’s Palace in Taipei.  As we walked up, we found the Garden of Perfect Benevolence and decidedly couldn’t miss it.  We fed the koi and wandered around in the rain.  The garden was lovely, well-kept and perfectly benevolent. 

The museum was a zoo.  There were huge tour groups everywhere.  The people in them seemed to have no respect for anyone else.  A group of 35 people would come stampeding into an area I was marveling at a jade carving and crowd me out.  I dislike crowds anyway, but you add in pushiness and I’m done.  I probably missed some really cool stuff because of that.  It’s ok though.  I saw enough wine containers, cauldrons, jade carvings, snuff boxes and calligraphy to last me a good long while.

We took off back to the metro and rode to Xinbeitou to sit in the hot springs.  It’s a walk up a river to the public hot spring.  We found outdoor exercise equipment to play on for the amusement of the locals.  Since apparently we could only go in at a specific time, we had time to walk up to Thermal Valley, where a river of hot water floods the area with steam. Neat!! 

Back at the hot spring, I was amused to find that I was the only female in a bikini and the only one not in a bathing suit that looked like a short wetsuit.  Interesting… The hot springs were varying temperatures.  The hottest at the top was 45 degrees Celsius.  My toes were tingling the whole time we were in there.  I lasted only a few minutes.  Then we moved on trying out each temperature of pool.  We did everything wrong from trying to go into the hot spring too early to not knowing to bathe our feet between spas to not putting my hair up.  We did not last the whole 90 minutes we paid for.

On the way back to Mr. Lobster’s Secret Den, we stopped for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant we had seen in Shilin.  It was pretty good.  I like kimchi. Shilin is also the location of a major night market.  We wandered through the throngs looking at all the weird street meat and clothing.  We finally got to a fruit stand and paid probably way too much for some dragon fruit, pineapple, star fruit and an apple like fruit.  The pineapple was amazing!

Bali Adventure Part 3 of 3 Lovina, Menjanan and Legian

*** ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ARE LOCATED HERE: https://picasaweb.google.com/kjhansen24***

Nov 18 Lovina

Our diving came with dolphin watching.  We were on the beach at 6 am and in a little pontoon canoe boat right after with a Canadian couple Jenn and Mick.  We chatted all the way out about travel and clean eating.  Dolphin watching was not as any of us had envisioned it.  There were at least 50 of these small craft out on the water.  Any time dolphins were spotted, every boat full of tourists raced over to the pod and nearly ran them over, scaring them underwater and away.  It was ridiculous.  Mick was particularly upset by it, saying it was cruel.  Finally, on the way back we came across three dolphins all on their own.  They were right by the boat and no other boats were around.  That was lovely!

Back at the hotel, we were fed breakfast then loaded into a bus bound for a “5-star PADI” dive company’s shop.  Definitely not 5 stars.  The equipment was well-used, but we can deal with that.  There were 2 snokelers, a slovenly middle-aged Italian dude and his Philipina girlfriend who couldn’t have been older than I am.  Also in the group were a couple from Switzerland Jasmin and Peter.  They were on a six month holiday traveling Asia having spent 5 years building their own company.  Good for them! 

An hour or so later, we made it to the dive site.  We crowded into a little boat with a couple of Danish surfers who were also snorkeling.  The water was gorgeous, that stunning turquoise gradient that makes all the pictures look photo-shopped.  Both dives were amazing!  There were more types of fish and coral in one section than I have ever seen in my life.  I saw huge schools of fish mingled with schools of larger fish.  The coral was gorgeous!  I couldn’t believe all the different kinds.  It was wonderful, like swimming in an expensive aquarium.  Peter was kind enough to share his pictures with us.

Nov  19 – Lovina to Legian

The hotel was kind enough to book us a ride to Kuta with their car and a driver.  It was not inexpensive.  We paid much more than we wanted to, but they’d been kind to us.  We were served Jaffles (pronounced waffles) for breakfast.  What we were served was white bread with fruit in it that had been pressed in one of those sandwich grills that seals off the edges and removed the crust.  Since it fit the vegan and sugar free (ish) categories, it was probably the closest of our breakfasts to being in our diets.

The driver took us first to a Buddhist monastery where we walked around very quietly then up to the hot springs where we took a short dip and were introduced to his wife and sister who sell sarongs and other souvenirs there.  He was rather disappointed that we didn't buy anything.  However, on the way out, there was a woman selling purple sweet potatoes wrapped in palm leaves.  We weren't missing out on those for anything.  I love purple sweet potatoes!  I ate them all the time in Hawaii.  I also approved of the packaging.  One thing I hadn't mentioned to this point is there is garbage everywhere.  This is fairly typical of a third world country.  When you have to buy bottled water a couple times a day, you wonder where the plastic ends up.  Indonesia burns it, it turns out.  Agh!  So we avoided plastic wherever possible.

After the hot spring, we were driven to a waterfall.  For $0.50 each we could hike down and back up to see it.  Of course the guy collecting the money is at the bottom of the hill with no sign at the top for warning.  Hope you remembered your wallet!  The waterfall was huge and gorgeous.  The mist made it hard to take clear pictures and soaked our clothes in seconds.  We watched a bunch of girls freezing in their bikinis pose for a lot more photos than I would have had the patience for.

At this point, we were up in the mountains.  It was no longer hot and oppressive but blessedly cool and beautiful.  We stopped for a view on the side of the road and ended up feeding papaya to a bunch of fruit bats someone had turned into a tourist attraction.  They are ridiculously cute creatures, willing to chew a chunk of papaya as big as their heads while begging for more.  The male had squirreled (heehee) a strawberry away under his wing.  There were other animals as well, a huge snake, an iguana, chameleons, but the bats stole the show.

The bats had us in full smiles.  The next stop was the Temple by the Lake.  I’m sure it had a name, but I don’t recall it.  It was beautiful and serene on a well-manicured estate of lakefront property.  We took a nice stroll around.  I used my sarong as a wrap since I was chilly for the first and only time on the Island. 

Next we drove to the Temple by the Sea, Tanah Lot.  This is a very famous place.  It was extremely crowded.  We paid our fee and walked through a gauntlet of shops selling all the same things we had already seen.  Finally we made it to the shore and temple.  It was very cool, standing out on a rock fifteen feet off shore.  We waded over and were told we had to be blessed by the monks before entering.  We did their silly ritual of drinking holy water and having rice smeared on our heads, then declined a donation as we had already paid an entrance fee.  As we walked up the stairs to the temple, we realized it was blocked.  No one was allowed to actually go see it.  We walked down the beach and took a picture, but were rather disappointed.

Finally the driver dropped us off at a hotel in Legian, near Kuta.  It cost $60 per night for a room which was more than we paid for any other room the whole trip.  The room was okay, but the resort was right on the water and had a breakfast buffet as well as swimming pools.  We grabbed some food up the road and wandered down the beach a few miles checking out all the oceanfront bars, fire dancers, and even a fisherman.  The beach was ours.  Low season is awesome! 

Nov 20 – Legian to Taipei.

It dawned bright and beautiful, so we ran to the beach, famous for its waves, and played in the rough waters.  Once decided I had drunk enough salt water, we went straight to the breakfast buffet, dripping wet.  We ate as much toast, fruit and grilled tomatoes as our stomachs could hold.  To top it all off, we jumped in the pool before heading back to pack up.

We had a bit of time after checkout to entertain ourselves before flying.  I decided I wanted to have a proper pedicure, so we went searching.  We found a little salon a few blocks away that didn’t have ridiculous prices or look sketchy.  We chose 1 hour foot massages and pedicures.  It was lovely.  The girl working on my awful feet told me all about her life.  It was a sad story, but she’s making it happen.  Mike enjoyed his first pedicure, but regretfully declined letting the girl paint his toes a perky shade of pink.

We negotiated a cab to the airport and made it with plenty of time to spare.  However, when we got through security, they wanted $20 each to leave the country.  What?  I’ve never had to pay to enter and pay to leave before.  Not happy.  The airport had very few sitting areas and made us wait to go to our gate until 15 minutes before boarding time.  Finally we took our seats on a fairly empty flight and headed to our next adventure in Taiwan.