Morning
Afternoon
Night life
Today was the day that most of us went for a hike in the Yanminshan National Park. To get there the first problem that we encountered is that the bus that we intended to take was cancelled. This caused some delays and also made some people choose to take a taxi. In the end however everyone reached the National Park where the hike could begin.
The hike started off with some beautiful geisers which emitted a very nice sulphur odor. After this the path immediately became a set of steep stairs which did not seem to have an end. Because of this the entire group was scattered around the climb as everyone found their own way to the top. It cost us a lot of sweat and energy, but in the end the view at the top was definitely worth it.
Reaching the first top however was only a small part of the trail to follow. The trail continued towards more mountain tops, hot springs, beautiful grasslands and waterfalls. Each different group found a different trail to follow and in the end we all reached the end of the trail. Some of us however had to hurry as they had booked a visit to the Taipei 101 tower (which used to be the highest building in the world before the Burj Khalifa was built) at 18.00, which proved to be quite a tight schedule. Others decided that they were not done yet with walking and decided to pay a visit to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, which is one of the biggest landmarks in Taipei.
Alternatively there were also some people that did not go on the hike. They spent their day exploring some of the beautiful museums and gardens that Taipei has to offer, such as the National Palace Museum and the Taipei Botanic Gardens.
The rest of the evening was spent by either going to the Raohe night market or some other nice place to eat. As of the moment that we are writing this piece, there are also still people planning to go for drinks and to go clubbing and sing karaoke, but we have had enough for the day and will enjoy a good night of sleep after a busy day.
Written by: Jochem van Ierssel & Milva Baar
