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Saturday was a trial. Teaching M-F can be challenging enough, but nobody wants to be in school on a Saturday. I did my best, then had the kids work on a 2 hour art project full of coloring, cutting, and gluing to make multi-layered sunflowers. Since Saturday was a loss, I was looking forward to enjoying Sunday.
Waking up early, we visited the local bacon and egga for breakfast and read the Taipei Times, a local English language newspaper. The news was full of depressing articles about the situation in Myanmar, Mideast violence, and the increase of baby snatching going on in China. FYI - the going rate for a Chinese black market baby is $900 USD. Back at the apartment we brainstormed various escapism ideas of how to spend the day, eventually settling on hiking.
On the outskirts of Taipei, about a 15 minute motorcycle ride away, lies the Elephant Mountain nature preserve. The area is made up of leafy green hills/mountains with well marked trails running through. We enter at the Northern trail head and follow a stone path that leads past a temple and various shrines. It still strikes me as odd when I see prominent swastikas on these shrines, like the one on the attached picture of a gold Buddha. We continue hiking up the hill as it starts to rain. Like the six flights of stairs that lead to our apartment isn't enough, we're doing overtime this Sunday climbing up flight after flight of stairs up this mountain. Near the top I hear the sounds of people talking. It’s from people in a covered picnic area. The shower has passed, but we join some others on a bench taking in the view of Taipei city. A boisterous family, the people we heard talking, on the other side of the structure pack up the remains of their picnic lunch. In front of us a silver haired man dressed in white shorts and t-shirt stands barefoot doing tai chi exercise. Nearby another older man has 3 tripods set up and waits for the sun to shine dramatically through the clouds. He sips a beer as he patiently waits for his picture. A lone woman decked out in an expensive hiking hat, hiking clothes, and a professional walking stick sips some coffee from a thermos before setting off back down the hill.
We leave this covered enclave and continue on the trail. A mini exercise area and covered library can be found 100 meters away on an offshoot of the main path. A dog curls up next to a man reading on a bench. Further down the trail are several large boulders perfect for sitting and talking. From this higher position we have a scenic view of the city. We also get to watch a funny little family who are photographing an insect on a leaf near the boulder where we sit. The father first pulls out his video/picture camera and aims it at the bug, the mother takes out her lightweight camera and approaches from the other side, the 2 kids also have a camera that they share and each take a picture of this bug on a leaf. At that moment I turn around and see a female hiker who is taking a picture of us on the boulder. I smile at her, but can't help thingking ...how bizarre, how bizarre.
After a half hour or so we climb down from the rock and continue our hike. Suddenly I hear an exclamation from Chad, who is a meter ahead. I turn and see two gigantic spiders, each on a web. Then I notice little moving black specs. It’s about fifty little 1cm baby spiders crawling around. The spiders and dogs are the only animals we see though we are in snake territory. This seems as good a time as any to turn around. We head back past the boulders, dogs, and picnic area. Before we know it we’re back at the motorcycle contemplating how to spend the rest of the day.
previous travel blog entry
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