On Sunday, we headed to Tucheng for the final day of the 2000 2009 Tucheng Tung Blossom Festival [土城桐花節]. Although the last day of the festival has passed, there should still be plenty of blossoms to see if you head over there in the next week or so.
The area hosts a large network of trails. To get there, simply take the MRT’s blue line to Yongning Station. From there you can walk down Chengtian Road [乘天路] for about fifteen minutes or hop on on blue bus #44 and get off at Deng Shan Kou stop [登山口]. Since we were booked for lunch plans, we didn’t head too far up the trails. We basically followed the Shantong Trail [賞桐步道] up and followed signs to the Tung Blossom Park [桐花公園] on our way down. The trails go much further up, check out David’s post, Hiking trail to Tianshang Shan [天上山步道] for more information.
People weren’t the only ones on the trail:
Besides that charming creature above, there were also plenty of dragonflies and butterflies on the trail. I only brought my 17-50mm lens, so unfortunately I didn’t have enough reach for any decent insect shots.
One thing I miss about living in Taipei is the number of recreational trails that are easily accessible via the MRT [on the other hand, there's much more I don't miss].
Even though we didn’t go too high, we were still treated to great views of the city:
Looks nice Todd. I see you traveled back in time – that’s quite a feat.
Some great photos there Todd. It is such a long time since I have been hiking on those trails. I must go back some day.
Craig – Ha! Doc Brown wasn’t along for this ride. Fixed.
David – Thanks, it was quite a pleasant hike, hopefully I can take a few more recreational hikes before it gets too hot.
Yeah, Taipei city was awesome. I loved the night life, the subway, the shops selling cute stationery, the stands by the side of the road… but I think that if I had lived there, I would have gone nuts after a while.
SW – Visiting Taipei for a weekend every 2-3 weeks suits me just fine.