Elephant Mountain and more

• By dokuya
• 2 March, 2014
• No Comments

Elephant Mountain was always easy to reach but now it is even easier. The last stop on the newly expanded MRT Red Line is Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain). From the MRT Exit 2 you just walk south along the park and in a few minutes you are at the trail entrance.

You can see from the trail map at the entrance that there are a number of trails. Elephant Mountain is part of the 4 Beast Mountains but to be honest I don’t know where the mountains change names or where the trails change names. I hiked in this area once before but I started at a different point and finished at a different point but parts overlapped.

Elephant Mountain is very popular for several reasons. First it is very close to downtown Taipei. So close in fact that it is an easy walk to Taipei 101 (the tallest building in Taiwan). Second is that it provides excellent photo opportunities of Taipei City in general and Taipei 101 in particular. Many of the great night photos of Taipei 101 were taken from Elephant Mountain.

As I progressed on my hike I got off on one of the smaller trails that was very tranquil because I was about the only one on it. I started discovering small Temples and statues that were really strange as you can see in the photos. Because I was the only person around and these structures looked old and abandoned it was kind of creepy. Then the trail ended….or appeared to end. You can see in the video. To continue on the trail I had to go through a building, strange to say the least.

About 5 hours after I started my hike ended at Taipei 101. Since I can’t talk Chinese I love to be at places where I can point to the photo or in this case a food model and get my meal without talking. You can see the food models in the photo as well as my Japanese style meal and a photo of Taipei 101’s shopping center.

It amazes me at the range of experiences that you can have in Taiwan in one day. Then guess what…when it gets dark it ain’t over. When the lights come on the night markets start and it is a whole new experience. Just remember, 7-Eleven goes 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you can too. Don’t stop until you drop…..that’s what I do every day.