Taipei Outdoors!

There are lots of fun places to explore in urban Taipei, but that doesn't do the whole city justice. There are kilometres of great biking and hiking trails that we have taken advantage of. Here are some pics:

One nice day this week Sharon, our good friend Cassie, and I went on an epic bike ride around Taipei. The city of Taipei is circled by a river system to the North, South, and West with a mountain range closing it off on the East. There is an interconnected bike path system all around the rivers in the city, which you can hop on and off at your leisure. We decided to take a two hour trip from one area of town back to our place.  Along this bike ride we saw a bunch of baseball diamonds, badminton courts, and stray dogs (not necessarily in that order).

These guys were awfully friendly

This is Sharon on a U Bike. 

 zoooooooooooom!

This is the public bike system in Taipei that connects with the subway system. The first 30 minutes of the bike ride are free then it's $0.40 (CAD) for every 30 minutes afterwards. Our whole bike trip cost us $1.20.

Here is a video of the ride. I'll let it explain everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4wIwJfnmpU&feature=youtu.be

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A few days later Sharon and I went to the mountains East of the city. There are four mountains to explore, but because of a call for rain, we decided to just check out one: Elephant Mountain.

We have been learning a LITTLE Chinese. Beneath the words "Taipei" on this sign

 are the symbols 象 (elephant) and 山 (mountain). Once you recognize a few symbols, 

you can get by in every day life. We are not at that stage yet.

Elephant mountain is a 10 minute walk from the MRT (which makes it the most popular) and can take you on hours of trail through some pretty breathtaking scenery. It also gives you a great and inexpensive view of the city:

I guess we should have picked a nicer day for this...

It was a rainy day, so we didn't get a great view, but you still get a pretty good feel from the city up there. Straight ahead is Taipei 101, Taipei's "Empire State Building"/"CN Tower". We'll have to go back and get a better shot on a nicer day.

Back to the hike, there are a few good shots that we took and would like to share with you. Enjoy!

If only I knew what these meant. They look really cool though.

Once we were off the mountain and walking back, we saw this amazing looking temple embedded in the mountains. On a nicer day, we plan to go back and explore it (and I'm overdue for sharing my experiences with temples here).

Until then, keep your feet dry and your hands warm.

- RS=T