There are four different peaks that gives one a nice view of Taipei City. They are named after four different animals -- Elephant, Leopard, Lion, and Tiger (象山、豹山、獅山、虎山). Each of the peaks in the Four Beasts Mountain (四獸山) has it's own hike trail, which can be accessed via MRT.
To get a shot of Taipei City and Taipei 101, we chose to go to the Tiger Peak, because from what we've read online, it is the easiest peak to reach.
Lost in Space
As the heading says, YES we got lost. Horribly lost. We got down on the wrong side of the MRT, and could not find the bus stop for bus 207 or 263. When we checked the map, we saw that the trail is only a few blocks away from the MRT, so we decided to walk.
After 30 minutes of walking, we finally realized that the few blocks we saw in the map weren't so near. We tried hailing a cab, but nobody seemed to understand where we wanted to go, even though we showed them the Chinese translation of Tiger Peak. I'm guessing they have a different local name for it, that's why they couldn't understand what we were looking for. (note: my friend says it's Jiuwufeng, but I'd have to double check)
The Long Walk
We were already exhausted when we finally reached the trail. The trail didn't seem as easy as we've read. The sun was already setting and there were barely any street lights. There were no "groups of tourists" going up as we've imagined. There were a few senior citizens walking downhill, but we didn't seem to have any other company climbing.
The steps up the Tiger Peak was long and steep. It was close to dark, and well, the steps looked too creepy. With no lights, no people, and no clear directions on how to get there, we decided to abandon our journey uphill. Safety should always be the priority.
The trail was so long that I literally wanted to just roll downhill. However, on our way down, we decided to stop by this beautiful Chinese temple, which incidentally, had a fantastic view of the Taipei 101.
We decided to stop by and take some snaps.
The temple was huge and majestic. It had no sign at the entrance, so we weren't really sure if it was open for tourists When we saw some people enter, we merely followed them inside.The temple was still under renovation, so there were some tables and wood scattered in the area, making it difficult to capture a full shot of it. We did, however, manage to capture intricate details inside the temple.
We spent our sunset in the temple, and took some unique photos of the Taipei 101.
Entering Taipei 101
My partner and I aren't really city fans, but a trip to Taiwan isn't complete without at least seeing the Taipei 101 up close.
Taipei 101 is a huge high-end mall. It is formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, and was once heralded as the world's tallest building until Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
We didn't expect to see much, it being at the heart of the city. We did, however have some fun shooting around the area.
A number of buses pass by the Taipei 101, and it is also only a few meters away from the MRT, which makes visiting it more convenient. There are also a lot of food establishments in the area offering a wide array of dishes. We noticed a huge number of tourists near the building, all wanting to capture a shot of this skyscraper.
We spent around ten minutes inside the mall, and decided to head on back to the hotel afterwards to get our good night's rest after our Taipei 101 adventure.
