Results tagged “Stairs” from Hong Kong and Taipei 2014

Better day today. After breakfast and photo stuff we headed out on the train to the end of the red line - to Tamsui. From there a short bus ride to Fort San Domingo, a fort that's been run by like half a dozen countries, including Australia! Interesting stuff.

Elevated road near our hotel

Fort San Domingo

The nine flags of Fort San Domingo - Spain, The Netherlands, Koxinga Era, Qing Dynasty, Great Britain, Japan, Australia, USA, Taiwan

View of Tamsui River from the fort

One of the cells in the fort

Cells in the fort, added in 1863 when used by the British Consulate

Yard in the fort

Chinese kitchen in the fort, added in 1863 to cook for the constable and prisoners

Stu and the nine flags of the fort

Fort San Domingo

And next door is the former residence for the British Consul, until they left Taiwan in 1972.

Canons outside the Consulate building

Stu and a canon

Fort San Domingo from the consulate building

View of the Tamsui River from the consulate front steps

Drawing room in the consulate

Reading room in the consulate

Stu in a room in the consulate

Kitchen in the consulate

Dining room in the consulate

Front entrance of the consulate

Consulate building

Had a drink and a bit of a picnic lunch at the bottom of the hill and had a look along the foreshore of the river.

Us at the entrance of the fort

Tamsui River

Looking up to the fort from the river

Building by the river

Tamsui River

Then bus and train back into Taipei.

Grand Hotel from the train

Inside a Taipei train

The sweetie hopped off to go back to the hotel, while I stayed on the train until the complete opposite end of the red line - Xiangshan - to go climb Xiangshan - Elephant Mountain. Hoooooboy, what a climb. Around 750 steps (give or take a hundred, I kept losing count at the 50 markers I was doing on my fingers) up and up and up. Some steps quite easy, others quite steep.

Entrance sign to Xiangshan

The view from half way up

The steps just keep on going and going

But the view was totally worth it. Even if you do need to negotiate the crowds of people up there.

View at the top

Taipei 101

Taipei from Xiangshan

Taipei from Xiangshan

I was still very hot when I had someone take my photo

Top of Taipei 101

A lot of tourists on the climb. As I was going down it was a case of pick the language or accent.

The walk was very crowded

Then train back to the hotel to have a shower and chillax.

Sculpture in Xiangshan station

Taipei's stop/go men

Taipei's stop/go men

The Ambience Hotel by day

Then we headed out to go the Shilin Night Markets. We had meat in a box (beef I think - very yummy), meat in a bag (deep fried ribs - nice but fiddly with the bones), meat on a stick (chicken - ok, not great) and meat in a bowl (squid, quite nice). And strawberries on a stick. With toffee. Sooo good :) Other than that just walked up and down the maze of streets and stalls. I did get some earrings, but didn't see much else that I was interested in.

Shilin Night Markets

Cooking meat on a stick at Shilin Night Markets

Toffee strawberries!

Then back to the hotel. The sweetie put on Die Another Day on tv, which kept me up til very late (23:45).

5am wakeup. 6:20 up. Slept fairly well I think.

Went and got takeaway maccas for breakfast.

Maccas breakfast

At 10:00 we were out the door. We stopped in at 7-Eleven for some sandwiches and chocolate, then headed out on the train to Chai Wan.

In the corridors at Tin Hau station

From the train you walk up the hill and then through a cemetery on the side of a hill. A very steep hill. With a lot of stairs. A *lot* of stairs. A couple of hundred metres straight up. But the view was pretty good :)

The start of the big climb - in the cemetery up from Chai Wan station

We have to climb all the way to the top of this mountain!

Part way up, and already a great view

Ossarium at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery

Radio transmitters at the top of Mt Parker

Going up!

Nearly there!

At the top we stopped for a water break then we walked along the road for a while which was very flat and easy.

View along the road at the top of the hill

Zoomed in a bit

Then it was onto a track, which again was mostly flat and easy going. Except for the constant *stream* of people coming the other way. Busiest walk I've ever been on. I suppose it would have been quieter on a week day.

Marker indicating the way to the Dragon Back hike starting point

View south towards Red Hill

Then finally the start of the Dragon Back hike proper. You go up. And up :) But then you get to the ridge line, and that's where it gets really pretty. Spectacular views and a bit of up and downs as you go along the top. Just lovely and worth the effort. And we had an amazing day for it too which was great. And it was very windy on the ridge but we found a sheltered spot to eat our sandwiches.

Us at the start of the Dragon's Back hike

Looking along the Dragon's Back

View from the top of the Dragon's Back

Remote control glider

Local dude with his remote control glider

Stu holding the remote control glider

Looking back along the Dragon's Back

Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir

Looking across to Stanley

Shek O Country Club

Stu at the top of the Dragon's Back

Dragon's Back peak marker

Us at the top of the Dragon's Back

Starting to head back down. We're on our way down there to Shek O

Shek O village

Made it to the end of the Dragon's Back

Then we headed all the way back down. When we hit the road we caught a number 9 bus down into Shek O. We got changed and had a swim at the beach. I was a little (a lot) paranoid about all my stuff on the beach so didn't go out very far. But it was super refreshing.

Beach at Shek O

Stu body surfing at Shek O beach

After a swim we went had some very expensive beer at Copacabana and a fancy hot dog before catching a bus back to the train line.

Relaxing after our swim

Expensive hot dog

Shek O beach

Catching the bus back

Shek O from the bus

Sunset over Stanley

On the train back we messaged @Chrispycon to see what they were up to. We met up with Chris and then later Anne and Bronte for a drink at Oaky bar.

Chris and Stu enjoying beers at Oaky Bar

Then we wandered down to find some dinner. We went to Saigon, a Vietnamese place. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share which were all delicious. A great evening, probably better than just going back to the hotel and going to bed ;)