the scenes, eats, and everything in between
Elephant Mountain has been on our unofficial Taiwan bucket list for a while. Unofficial because we haven’t made an actual list, but we should. Ever since seeing photos of the majestic cityscape, we knew it was a must-do. Finding the perfect day for it proved to be the tricky part.
We had an opportunity to go in March with a friend visiting from New York, but that day was cloudy, with rain in the forecast. We were waiting for prime photo-taking conditions - crystal blue skies with the sun beaming through a few scattered fluffy white clouds.
Yeah, right.
A typical day in Taoyuan will begin sunny and clear so, excitedly, we’ll hop on the bus and make the 40-minute trip into Taipei. As we cross county lines, it will inevitably become hazy and cloudy. Relinquishing our unrealistic expectations would be the only way to fully enjoy Taiwan. We finally made the journey to Elephant Mountain recently with another friend visiting from New York .
Though you can’t tell from the photos, it was a 90 degree (F) day with 90% humidity so we decided to wait until late afternoon to hike up the mountain. Being the oh-so-bright-adventurous one, I suggested riding YouBikes through busy Taipei to get to the trail (even though we could have just taken the air-conditioned MRT). After a sweaty 2-hour bike ride and a few photo breaks along the way, we arrived at the entrance of Elephant Mountain.
I’m not gonna lie, seeing the steep staircase at the trail head made me want to turn right back around, find the nearest 7-11 and soak in the free air-conditioning. But it’s times like these that you have to just carpe that freakin’ diem. Because, as the kids say these days, YOLO.
Unless you’re a seasoned hiker or are relatively active, be ready to huff and puff up the thousands of steps all the way to the top. It’s okay to take breaks and admire the lush surroundings or make a new furry friend.
The honeymoon is over.
I’m not referring to the traditional definition of the word, but as in the “initial period of enthusiasm”. As you’ve probably noticed, we haven’t blogged in over three months. Which, if you’re doing the math (and as mentioned in the title of this post) - it means we’ve been living in Taiwan for over six months!
The first few months were filled with awe and taking time to digest everything new around us. It also meant that we snapped photo after photo and quickly maxed out our SD cards and memory on our phones and camera. We eventually succumbed to what I’m dubbing as “photo fatigue”. It’s not that we grew tired of taking photos, but got stuck on how to share it all in an organized manner. Being that one of us is into cameras and the other is into visual/digital media, presenting an eye-appealing blog with properly edited photos is important to us.
I think it’s also safe to say that to blog during our first six months of transition in a foreign country was a bit ambitious. After the initial excitement, we had to adjust to various changing factors in our environment. For about five weeks in the spring, Taoyuan and other major cities in Taiwan were subjected to water rationing due to a severe drought. Water was turned off for two consecutive days out of the week. We realized just how much we missed New York during that time.
CommentsHappy Lantern or Yuanxiao Festival! This holiday lands on the 15th day of the lunar calendar and marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.
To be honest, I don’t know much about the traditions of this festival besides what I’ve learned from Google. Living in New York, I would read about and see photos of the colorful lanterns from different festivals across Taiwan. I knew it was something I wanted to experience for myself so now that we’re here, we did just that!
This year’s official Year of the Goat lantern festival is actually in Taichung. We had contemplated going but it’s a bit of a ways from us here in Taoyuan. Luckily, the capital city of Taipei is in our backyard and they host a pretty impressive lantern festival each year.
CommentsCoffee Alley is a unique dessert experience tucked away in Taipei’s ATT4Fun - a shopper & foodie paradise!
We hit this spot on one of our earlier ventures into Taipei as it was at the top of my list after seeing it pop up on my Instagram* feed.
The main attraction was the cotton candy cloud below but we were feeling a bit peckish so we thought we’d order something with a bit more substance (above) - red bean stuffed crepe topped with matcha ice cream. It was a bit too substantial as the beans were really filling.
CommentsThe Year of the Sheep is only a few days away! We decided to check out Dihua Street - the traditional market located in a historical village most popular in the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year.
It was actually on a whim, that we decided to go to the Dihua Street Lunar New Year Market. We had passed the Dadaocheng area while on the bus towards Taipei Main Station the other day. Seeing the red lanterns and posters from afar joggled my memory of recent blogs and Instagrams I’d seen of scenes from Dihua Street.
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It’s refreshing not being bombarded with everything pink, hearts, and roses here in Taiwan. We were able to celebrate when we wanted and how we wanted over the past couple days.
When I picked this dessert at the Mövenpick Cafe, I wasn’t thinking pink for Valentine’s day but that it sounded delicious. And that, it was! Honey brick toast topped with pastry cream, two types of strawberry ice cream and fruit. The perfect sweet treat for two.
Hope your day was just as sweet! // L
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The weather has suddenly warmed up so we took advantage of it by heading into Taipei. [This means more posts on the way!]
We’ve seen Taipei 101 a few times already since we’ve been back. But sometimes we’re taken by surprise as it seems to show up in the unlikeliest of places. What I mean, is that we’re usually not looking for it and then ta-da! It’s there waiting to be photographed. How can you see this and not whip out your camera?
Bravo to the designers, planners and architects of this marvelous building. I don’t think we’ll tire of it anytime soon.
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