The Aeroplane Flies High

Way back in April, Cathy and I each took a day off work to head to Taipei to visit the Taipei International Flora Expo during its final week.  We didn’t have much time to spend there, so we skipped the pavilions and walked three of the four expo areas – Yuanshan Park, Fine Arts Park, and Xinsheng Park.  We thought that by going on a weekday we would miss most of the crowds and were quite stunned by the number of people as we arrived from Yuanshan MRT Station.  Luckily, a lot of the crowd thinned out the further we walked from the main entrance.  Here is a small collection of photographs from our visit:

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Floral Tunnel Entrance

Visitors

Strike A Pose

Yuanshan’s Grand Hotel

Flowers

I’ll leave you with the goods:

Although now a back alley, this Qing Dynasty street used to be an important passage between Monga [present-day Wanhua] and Guting Districts prior to losing its status to Guangzhou Street as the major link between the two districts.

There are conflicting stories as to how Bopiliao [剝皮寮] got its name:  Some sources say that the name originates from when the area was used to peel timber that was imported from Fuzhou Province [Bopi means "to peel"], while another legend suggests that the name comes from the skinning of animal pelts.

Restoration of the area began in 2003 and was recently completed in June of last year.  Since then the historic street has hosted several performances as well as art and cultural exhibitions.

The upcoming movie Monga [website, trailer] filmed in the area and you can find several exhibits featuring props used in the film.  Blogger Patrick Cowsill had an interesting post about the film and its portrayal of the area a couple months ago.

Bopiliao Old Street is located a short walk from Longshan Temple MRT Station and is an excellent site to visit for anyone touring the historic and cultural sites that Wanhua has to offer.

Sources:

• New Life for an Old Street [Taiwan Review]
• Bopiliao Old Street Sheds Light on Another Era [Taiwan Today]
• A Fresh Image for a Qing-era District: Meet the New Bopiliao [Culture Express]

After checking-in and dropping off our bags, we set out to find a place to eat.  We ate at Taiya Po Po [泰雅婆婆美食店], which specializes in Atayal cuisine.  Luckily, I was able to get my fix of Wild Mountain Boar and Bamboo Tube Rice.

We stayed at the Full Moon Spa [明月溫泉會館].  We began our search for a resort about a month and a half in advance, but many resorts were already fully booked for New Year’s Eve.  The rate for the night was $4,200NT and included dinner, breakfast, and a ticket for their large spa.  The in-room spa was nice and the room was what we expected for the price we paid.

The resort has a nice view of the Nanshi River.  Here’s the scene that accompanied my breakfast:

New Year’s Day was unseasonably warm and dry.  We took a ride on the Log Cart for $50NT to the Wulai Falls and shopping street at the top.

The magnificent Wulai Falls are about 80 meters tall and definitely worth checking out if in the area:

Here’s a view of the whole waterfall:

By the time we were ready to leave Wulai, it was packed.  If you go on a weekend or holiday, make sure you go early to beat the crowds:

Getting there: Take the Wulai bus from the Xindian MRT station for $40NT or take a cab which will probably cost about $400NT on weekends.

For more pics from our Wulai Trip, check out my Flickr set.

• Growing up a short drive from Sandusky, Ohio, I’ve never been too impressed by amusement parks in Taiwan.  The rides at the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village were really nothing to write home about, but the cherry blossoms sure were nice.
• Skip the Sitou Forest Recreational Park and go to the Wangyou Forest instead.  It’s a real gem and almost deserted [for now].
• I visited the Old Taichung Winery with blogger Mark Forman in October and had a great time.  On this trip I learned to love my 50mm f/1.8 all over again.
• My trip to Kaohsiung with my wife was a blast.  It’s hard to choose one post to highlight here but the one featuring shots from Formosa Boulevard MRT Station’s the Dome of Light really stand out for its panorama goodness.
• I wrote a short little article about Reverse Lens Macro Photography that you may find helpful.  The examples in the article are fairly dull, but the subsequent Daily Photos came out nice.
• Surprise!  Nantou had a flower festival!
• I never knew a ceramics museum could be so interesting!  Now I need to find time to visit Yingge again!
• Cathy and I had a great time walking around the Gold Ecological Park in Jinguashi.  Check it out to learn about Taiwan’s intriguing mining history!
• I’ve written a few posts from our honeymoon to the Czech Republic and Austria.  Unfortunately, I’ve experienced quite a delay getting pictures online due to my pre-Intel processor iBook G4 showing its age.  Out of the posts I have made, the one of the Old Jewish Cemetery is my favorite.
• Can I pick just one cycling post?  Of course not.  My trip on the Northern Cross Island Highway was the most fun I’ve ever had cycling in lousy weather, mainly because of the great people I went along with.  My recent solo-ride to Xinshe was great because it was more challenging than any other ride I had done before.

This year I started doing Weekly Links as a regular feature on the blog.  I hope my readers have found this useful for finding interesting content.   The Daily Photo feature began last year and unfortunately posting has been sporadic at best.  I usually post a Daily Photo if there wasn’t a long post and usually only post a photo on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday [and technically Thursday if you count the Weekly Links header photo].  Regardless, here’s my 10 favorite Daily Photos [sorted by date]:

January 22 – Anping Tree House [4]

February 2 – A Sign of Spring

March 17 – Electric

April 27 – The Tenth Floor

May 7 – Bamboo

May 14 – Lotus

May 25 – Time to Take out the Trash

June 8 – Corrosion

August 18 – FM2

October 7 – All Your Weight Falls on Me and Brings Me Down

Notice anything missing?  Yeah, no people.  I’ll try to work on that in 2010.

In personal news, Cathy and I just celebrated our one year anniversary!  I’m looking forward to plenty more anniversaries and travels with my beautiful wife!

Have a Happy New Year!

Here’s the hotel we stayed at in Baling, a four person room, dinner, breakfast, and hot spring for $2,000 NT.

The climb on the second day was a little more challenging than the first day.  Despite this I was comfortable on the middle front gear the whole trip.


Two Michaels make it to the top:

On the way down there was a lot of fog, which means I’ll have an excuse to re-ride the route on a fog-free day.
Towards the bottom of the descent down a few monkeys ran across the road several yards in front of me.  Unfortunately, they were long gone by the time I hopped off my bike and took my camera out.

On our way to Yilan City:

After splitting away from the others with Michael C. and checking out a bike shop and buying some tea, I shipped my bike on the train and caught a bus to Taipei to later catch a bus back to Nantou.

Luckily I packed a change of clothes:

I have a few more photos of the ride on my Flickr and Michael C. has posted some great ride photos from the weekend.

Even though we didn’t go too high, we were still treated to great views of the city:

Located on the northeast coast of Taiwan, Jinguashi [金瓜石] was once a booming gold and copper mining town.  The once prosperous area took a major plunge after the mines exhausted.  However, in recent years the area has reinvented itself as a popular tourist destination.  Jinguashi is home to the Gold Ecological Park [黃金博物園區], which preserves Taiwan’s mining history and serves as a venue for environmental education.

Built during the Japanese colonial period in 1922, the Crown Price Chalet [above] is one of the area’s several Japanese-style buildings.  This was built in anticipation of a visit by the then crown prince.

The Benshan Fifth Tunnel provides visitors with a first-hand experience of tunnel working conditions.  The copper mines of Kinkaseki [the Japanese pronounciation of Jinguashi] were the most brutal of the POW camps in Taiwan.  Click here for more information about Japanese prisoner of war camps in Taiwan.:

A brief hike up will take you to all that’s left of an old Shinto temple:
Visitors can also tour the interior of a restored building once used by Japanese mine technicians and their families:

Despite the weather, the area gives spectacular views of Taiwan’s beautiful northeast coast.  Here is Keelung Mountain to the left and Teapot Mountain to the right:

No visit would be complete without viewing [and touching] the 220kg gold brick on display:

The park’s official website includes information on getting there.

A few more pics can be found on my flickr photoset.