Over the Double Ten holiday weekend we took a trip out to Cihu Presidential Mausoleum in Taoyuan County. The site serves as the temporary resting place of the late President Chiang Kai-shek [ 蔣介石 / 蔣中正]. Statues of Chiang Kai-shek removed from parks and schools may find themselves here.
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Category Archives: Northern Taiwan
Doing the Touristy Stuff
Two salespeople from the company Cathy works for had to entertain a couple of their company’s customers in Taipei on Sunday. Through some unusual series of events Cathy and myself were roped into the task, too. Our free time was exchanged for free meals, various entrance tickets, and a ride home on the High Speed Rail as opposed to our usual luxurious choice: the Kuo-Kuang Bus Company [國光客運] . Our first destination was the National Palace Museum [國立故宮博物院]. Before strolling through the museum we ate lunch at the San-hsi t’ang Teahouse [三希堂], located on the fourth floor of the main exhibition hall.
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Cosplay at NTU – Petit Fancy 8 [the extended post]
As mentioned in the previous post, Petit Fancy 8 was held at National Taiwan University’s campus over the weekend, here is the picture heavy post that I promised. David Reid wrote a post about the event over the weekend, as did Darren Melrose on his new WP-powered blog. My anime phase passed after Cowboy Bebop aired on the Cartoon Network, so I have no idea who most of these characters are.
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Cosplay in Taiwan – PF8
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with bloggers/photographers Craig Ferguson, David Reid, and Darren Melrose for the cosplay event Petit Fancy 8 held at National Taiwan University. The event also marked my first time shooting in RAW and right now I am trying to get used to using Adobe Lightroom as opposed to sorting and adjusting pictures in iPhoto.
I’ll have a longer post, with more pictures, in the next few days.
Taoyuan Valley Hike: Trail Views and Dasi
View the large
After I had gotten out of the forested area full of butterflies, I made my way to the higher elevations of the trail. I started on the Caoling Line of the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷步道草嶺線]. This section is 4.5 kilometers [~2.8 miles] and gives some great views of Taiwan’s mountainous northeast coast.
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Taoyuan Valley Hike: Taiwan Water Buffaloes
Like Yangmingshan National Park’s Cingtiangang, the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷] also provides an opportunity to see grazing water buffaloes.
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Taoyuan Valley Hike: Creatures of Flight
Athyma selenophora laela [單帶蛺蝶]
Yesterday’s hike started much the same way the Caoling Historic Trail hike ended. I left Taipei by train for Yilan County’s Dali [大里]. I started by making my way from the Dali Tian-Gong Temple [大里天公廟] to the area on the Caoling Trail near the Tiger inscription where visitors have the option of turning south along the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷].
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Gimme a Five!
I went out for a late breakfast and discovered a crowd of Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九] supporters lined up along the street. Turns out the Kuomintang election caravan of noise was scheduled to roar through Zhonghe City!
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Tuesday’s Hike – Part II [Fog and Birds]
Once I arrived at the Yangmingshan Bus Terminal after a walk along a portion of the Jinbaoli Trail [金包里大道], I immediately scoured the food vendors for a lunch more suitable than the apples and 7-11 sandwiches I inhaled on the previous trail. After fried fish balls and some soup, I stood back in line to get back on the park bus. Yangmingshan’s park buses are tiny, there are always a lot of people much more deserving of a seat than I am, so each time I usually unnaturally contort my neck because of the low ceiling. It also doesn’t help that many of the bus drivers drive like maniacs.
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Tuesday’s Hike – Part I [Falls and Cows]
Early in the morning I checked the weather report: an 80% chance of light rain on Yangmingshan. I began plowing through online maps and information to find a suitable trail for the day. I ultimately settled on Jinbaoli Trail [金包里大道] using Jyuansih Waterfall [絹絲瀑布] as a starting point. The trail once served as an important link between Shilin [士林] and Jinshan [金山].
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