New Year's Eve: Birding and Dinner in Taipei

New Year's Eve was again chilly and rainy. I woke up early and sat down at a small local restaurant near my hotel for breakfast. The shop was tiny, just a counter and a kitchen with a handful of folding tables and chairs set up on the sidewalk out front.

I ordered a cup of strong, sweet, iced coffee and a scallion pancake, a simple local breakfast favorite that was served stuffed with an egg and chopped into strips with a side of savory duck sauce.

I had wanted to go birding during my visit to Taiwan, but the weather hadn't ever really allowed for it. Nevertheless, it was my final morning in Taipei, so I set out via MRT to walk around Da'an Park despite the rain.

Da'an Forest Park is sort of like Taipei's Central Park. It's a huge, beautiful green space bordered by some of the city's priciest real estate. I had read online that it was also one of the best spots in the city for birdwatching, and though I did see a few new species that I could add to my life list (namely the Eurasian Moorhen, Malayan Night Heron, Black Bulbul, Oriental Magpie, and Javan Myna), the weather was pretty unpleasant, and I think most birds were keeping out of the cold rain.

I, too, was feeling a bit bedraggled, so after walking around for a while, I decided to return to my hotel to warm up, dry off, and start packing to head back home.

I decided to treat myself to New Year's Eve dinner, even though I was alone in Taipei. I decided to eat at Sinchao Rice Shoppe, a swanky Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant serving upscale "New Taiwanese Cuisine".

I ordered the scallop fried rice to start. The rice was stir-fried with mullet roe, giving it a unique pink color, and was topped with three large juicy seared scallops.

I also ordered the softshell crab. I can never pass up the chance to have soft shell crab! It's one of my all-time favorite foods. The deep-fried crab was perfectly cooked, tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, and was drizzled with a sweet roselle syrup and a savory and creamy salted egg dip.

This was my most expensive meal in Taipei, and the only time I ate something that wasn't exactly classified as "street food", but it was a nice treat and a good way to end out the year.

I considered staying around Taipei 101 to see its iconic New Year's fireworks display but thought better of it. I had no idea how I would get back to my hotel at midnight with thousands of others all vying for taxis.

Instead, I headed back to my hotel as night fell for a good night's sleep.

I was surprised at how much I loved Taipei! The city was clean, modern, and easy to get around. It reminded me a lot of traveling in Japan, but prices were similar to those in Bangkok. I also appreciated getting to experience a bit of cold weather, even if it was rainy and I wasn't exactly well-prepared for it. I'll definitely be visiting Taiwan again. Since we just stayed in Taipei, we've only barely scratched the surface of the island!

Beitou District 北投區

After visiting the lower areas of Taiwan's Yangmingshan National Park where it was warmer and sunnier, we returned to the van and again climbed up one of the winding roads into the hilly countryside. It grew mistier, colder, and wetter, and when we disembarked, we once again could barely see a thing in front of us.

The Beitou District is a hotspot of geothermal activity, and when we stepped out of the van, the smell of sulfur hit us immediately. As we walked over the paved trails, we passed bubbling pits of chalky grey mud burping with stinking gas.

Every few meters a seismic sensor was stuck in the ground, monitoring for any sudden or unusual changes in temperature or geothermal activity. The area sits on top of a super volcano which, if it were ever to erupt, could destroy much of Taipei. Luckily, it seems to have been dormant for a few millennia. 

Nevertheless, the government keeps a close eye on Beitou. Taiwan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries (as I myself found out recently) and monitoring the signs and sending out early warnings for disasters are critical for keeping the population safe.

When we went inside the park office after walking around the geothermal vents and springs, we were able to visit the monitoring station where real-time seismic and geothermal data is collected and processed. The seismic sensor is so sensitive that even walking close to it is enough to register on the screen.

It was time for lunch, so our guide took us to a nearby restaurant nestled in a valley between the mist-shrouded mountains.

Zhuzihu is a farming area hidden away in the mountains. It's most famous for its hydrangeas and its local mountain vegetable cuisine.

The restaurant served traditional Taiwanese country dishes. I wasn't sure what to order, so on my guide's recommendation I started with a plate of crunchy "bird's nest" fern stir-fried with mushrooms, carrots, and tiny salty fish. The fern had an incredible crisp texture and tasted a bit like asparagus.

I also ordered the restaurant's specialty, roast chicken with a sweet and savory soy-based dipping sauce.

After lunch we drove on to the thermal valley, a sprawling lava field surrounding a small lake.

Here, too, the area was thick with the smell of sulfur, and all around we could see smoky fumaroles venting their gasses into the air. 

It created a very alien and otherworldly kind of landscape, and we spent some time walking along the carefully marked trails.

This area is also known for its "cold water" springs (in this context, "cold" meaning "not boiling"... they are still very hot, just not too hot that you can't put your feet in). It's a popular day trip for people from Taipei who want to get away from the city and relax at the springs.

Finally, we drove on to the town. Beitou is technically part of Taipei and can actually be reached via MRT at the furthest stop on a long line. The town is a hot springs resort town famous for its onsens, spas, and rejuvenating hot springs.

As we entered the village, we stopped by the "jade springs", a spring of rare green sulfur-infused water that is supposed to be good for your health, immunity, and beauty. It's common to pause at the fountain and soak your hands inside the warm water for a few minutes to rejuvenate yourself. I have to admit, the water felt really good.

This area is also known as "Ghose Lake". According to legend, when indigenous people discovered the spooky smoke-filled valley, they believed it was haunted by ghosts and demons, so they asked a local witch to protect the area with her magical powers.

The witch turned the mountain mists and steam into a protective boundary and the water into a healing spring, and today, the mineral-rich water is believed to be blessed instead of cursed.

A walking trail encircles the lake, whose steam engulfs you in a thick cloud as you walk along the path. Luckily, the steam here did not smell like sulfur, otherwise the walk would have been much less pleasant!

Today, Taiwan has a thriving hot spring culture, but that wasn't always the case. During the Japanese colonial era, when Beitou was known as Hokutō, the Japanese discovered the local hot springs and built the country's first public onsen.

Today, that building still stands, but has been transformed into the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, and that was the next stop on our tour.

The building was based on the design of the Mount Izu Hot Springs Bathhouse in Japan and consists of two floors. The baths are on the bottom floor with a rest area above. After bathing, guests would lounge in the tatami-floored rest area, sipping tea and eating snacks from the on-site concession stand. Originally built exclusively to serve the Japanese colonists, the bathhouse eventually became popular with local Taiwanese people as well, and over time, the Japanese onsen tradition spread throughout the country.

Daikichi Imura, the governor of Taipei Prefecture, built the Beitou Public Bathhouse in 1913. At the time, it was the largest bathhouse in East Asia and an important symbol of Japanese imperial authority in its growing territory.

The baths themselves were magnificent, located in a vaulted chamber with marble tiles and colorful stained-glass windows.

It reminded me a bit of the spas that we toured in Hot Springs, Arkansas a few years back.

I can only imagine how relaxing it would have been to have spent time here in the cold Taiwanese winter.

Finally, as our day came to an end, we stopped by the Beitou Public Library, Taiwan's first "green library" and the pride of the country's sustainability movement.

The building is made of wood and features huge windows covering every wall to utilize natural light instead of electrical lightbulbs. The roof is covered in solar panels, and the building collects rainwater to use to water the library's plants and flush the toilets. It's the first building in the country to receive a "Green Building" certificate, and it looks really cool as well!

The city promotes the library as a spot for "forest bathing". After soaking in the hot springs at one of the nearby onsens or spas, you can relax at the library, enjoying the views of the surrounding nature.

It had been an extremely fun and very long day of exploration and adventure in Beitou. I could have wished for better weather, but I didn't let the cold and rain bother me.

In the evening, we returned to Taipei. I was so tired that I turned in early. The next day was New Year's Eve, and it was nearly time for me to return to Bangkok.

Yangmingshan National Park

"Hello! My name is Kevin," our guide said as we settled into the small but comfortable tour bus, "but you can call me Handsome Kevin."

I had decided kind of spontaneously to sign up for a group tour to Yangmingshan National Park and Beitou, some of the most beautiful and scenic areas just north of Taipei and had met the tour group early in the morning just outside the exit to the city metro.

We climbed up and up into the hills above Taipei, along winding roads and past extremely expensive walled villas. Handsome Kevin explained that the neighborhoods in the hills outside of Yangmingshan National Park are some of the most expensive in all of Taiwan, and are home to celebrities, politicians, and other wealthy and powerful people. I guess it's kind of like Taipei's Beverly Hills.

We arrived about an hour later. It was a cloudy morning in Taipei, but by the time we had gotten up into the mountains and parked at the national park, it had gotten so misty that we could barely see a thing. I would have liked to have seen the park's famous sprawling visas, rolling hills, and fields of roaming water buffalo, but the fog and mist gave it a sort of spooky, quiet, ethereal feeling that I actually kind of liked.

For reference, this is what the park is supposed to look like during good weather:

via Pixabay

But on that foggy December morning, it looked like this:

We collected umbrellas from the bus and set off on a walk along the paved trail.

The national park was originally established during the Japanese colonial period as Daitong National Park but was re-stablished in 1985 as Yangmingshan National Park, becoming the third national park in modern Taiwan.

Because of its close proximity to Taipei, it's very popular with day trippers as well as those who want to stay overnight at the nearby lodges and campsites.

As we walked along the trail, the guide pointed out a small red pagoda nearby in the mist. He explained that the concrete base of the pagod was originally the top and vent of a WWII Japanese bunker, but after the Republic of China took control of the island, Chiang Kai Shek mandated an intense Sinicization of Taiwan in an effort to erase Japanese influence on the island, and the abandoned bunker was topped with a distinctly Chinese pagoda.

It was cold, windy, and rainy, and despite the umbrella and my hoodie, I was soaked through within minutes. I never saw any buffaloes either, but that's fine. When I was an English teacher, we had two buffaloes on campus, and I got to walk past them every day on my way to and from my office.

The weather was honestly pretty miserable, and I was absolutely not prepared for it on this supposedly "subtropical island"!

Don't get me wrong, though, despite the icy cold rain and my general discomfort and the unfortunate fog that spoiled what could have been an amazing view, I still really enjoyed visiting the park. The air was fresh and clean, and from what I could see, it was very beautiful.

After a short hike, me and two Filipino guys who were in the group with me decided to head back to the park headquarters. Along the way we stopped in at a very small Chinese shrine where we met up with our guide, Handsome Kevin.

This shrine, he told us, has been here for centuries in one form or another. It was mostly used by local sailors and fishermen who would trek up to four hours to make offerings and pray for safe journeys on the sea.

As I mentioned in a previous post, in Taiwan, a relatively isolated Pacific island, fishing and sailing is paramount, but the waters surrounding Taiwan are treacherous for most of the year with the exceptions of short calm periods in April and October. It makes sense that Mazu, the goddess of the sea, is so highly revered here.

"Do you want any of the shrine candy?", Handsome Kevin asked us, explaining that, while people leave offerings of candy and sweets at the shrine for Mazu, the offerings are free and anybody visiting is welcome to take one to enjoy.

Back at the park headquarters, I ducked into the shop for a much-needed cup of hot coffee. When I returned, Handsome Kevin was showing us the topography of the park and explaining to us where our journey for the rest of the day would take us.

Yangmingshan National Park is a geothermal hotspot; a volcanic range that is still relatively active. He told us that he would be taking us down the mountain later in the day to visit some famous hot springs.

Our guide decided to amend our route a bit due to the weather and loaded us back into the minibus to drive us about half an hour down the mountainside to a more pleasant part of the park where the rain had slacked and the temperature was just a tiny bit warmer.

It was still damp but no longer raining. This part of the park was extremely verdant and lush even though it was winter, and Handsome Kevin told us that if we had been there in the springtime, we would have seen some of Taiwan's most beautiful Sakura blossoms.

Yangmingshan National Park (which translates to Yangming Mountain) is named after the famous Ming dynasty Chinese philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529). Though Wang never set foot on Taiwanese soil, Chiang Kai Shek admired his philosophical teachings so much that he changed the previous name of the park, which meant "Grass Mountain" in honor of Yangming.

Basically, he taught that knowledge and action are one and the same and to genuinely understand what is right, one must live it. Wang believed that every person possesses an innate moral sense, and that ethical wisdom comes not only from studying texts, but from sincere self-reflection and the discipline to act according to one’s conscience. I can't really say that I disagree with him.

Apparently neither could Chiang! A statue to Wang Yingmang stands in a place of prominence atop a marble pillar at the park.

Earlier, I mentioned the Sinicization of Taiwan during the rule of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang was a hard man, and in many ways he ruled harshly. His government imposed decades of martial law and silenced dissent. However, at the same time, Chiang was also the man who ensured that the Republic of China did not fall to Communist rule, preserving Taiwan, today probably the most democratic country in all of Asia.

Chiang was a Methodist, often speaking of forgiveness and claiming to have forgiven his former enemies, especially the hated Japanese. And yet, upon taking control of Taiwan, he ordered the destruction of nearly every Shinto shrine the Japanese had built across the island. He was nothing if not a complex figure, and yet, without his leadership, I'm truly not sure that Taiwan would have survived to this day.

A lone torii gate, no longer leading to a shrine, stood alone off a side path in the park. Our guide explained that this land had once belonged to a wealthy Japanese landowner and had once housed his personal shrine until it was torn down by Chiang's government.

At one time during Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan, there were 204 Shinto shrines on the island. Today, only one active Shinto shrine remains (the Gaoshi Shrine in the far south of Taiwan).

As we walked through the park, we crossed over a zig-zag bridge, a common feature in a Chinese garden. The bridge is designed in such a way so as to force the walker to slow down, stop, and take in more of the scenery as they make their way to the other side of the stream.

It's one of the more prominent features in gardens designed under the principles of feng shui and is meant to encourage people focus on and live in the moment, lest they fall like Michael Scott into the koi pond.

After a while we returned to our minibus. It was time for a lunchbreak before continuing on to explore the volcanic and geothermal history of the area.