An early morning start meant more of the day to be seized. Only coming at the cost of significant hours of sleep, I was more than willing to make the sacrifice.
Ahead of us were long hours on the road, until we reached the capital and watched it pass like a fleeting dream... Typical not listening Luan didn't know that our destination was actually the Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園). Found at the tippidy top of Taiwan, the geopark is home to displays of unique rock formations eroded by the sea.
I swear someone has cast a curse on me, because it seems that every time I go out to the coast, I’m struck with glooming overcast (and if I'm lucky, a chance of torrential rain). My Great Ocean Road trip, my trip out to see the Sydney sights, the few attempts for a clear Nha Trang and now I can add this to my ever growing list. Fantastic.
The weather and excess tourists dampened this experience, not that I was enthralled to begin with. That is... until we travelled further in. No, the sun didn’t peek out from the thick plumes of clouds but the droves of tourists did end. The lush green flora, calming coastal sights and sounds helped too. Reaching the end, you're greeted by a viewing deck (that served as a shitty shade) looking out to the sea. Though the deck was nothing special, I found the path leading up to that deck to be a nicer sight. Even under the cloudy skies, through the damp socks and shoes, I was amazed by the grandeur of the sight before me.
Not letting the miserable weather get in our way, we moved onto the next location. With a fresh pair of socks (that were quickly ruined), we made our way out to the Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布). Paying no mind to the small avenue of food stalls roping in sucker tourists, we moved on to budget Niagara Falls.
Now, I didn't know this was a waterfall coming in, so you can imagine my surprise when I witnessed the ferocity of the waterfall coming into view. It's just incredible to think that I was just walking parallel to a stream of smooth, still water that was flowing like silk.
Staying in the Shifen region, we shuffled along to the next activity - lantern littering.
At this point, the drizzling rain shifted to annoying drops that uncomfortably snuckk down my clothes. Pegging down our cheapie monotone lantern, we made haste and gave it a little makeover. Lantern inked up, we were ready to release this bad boy and all of its carbon emissions. Here, things got a tad less jolly... Our appointed lighter guy was aggressive with his instruction and seemed quite annoyed. Forced to head straight out to the toss zone, I wasn't able to get a quality snapshot of the family. Instead, it was up to the guy, who took my little brother’s mediocre phone dating back half a decade. of all phones...
While these lanterns can get pretty high up, we know they're not making round trips across the world. Well... except for our lantern - the one that I had a hand in creating. It's said that our lantern is still floating to this day.
With our mark left on the world and down some gull's throat, there was no better time to move on. Truly heading towards the capital, we were dropped off at our hotel to freshen up before a not-so-nice steak + pretty-decent buffet combo dinner. Pigging out for a good couple of hours, we were taken home again and had the night to ourselves.
In the usual Luan fashion, I wandered around the hotel neighbourhood in search of wondrous sights and sounds. It might’ve been where we were or the time of night, but I didn't get much of that. The place just felt really empty. What little shops there were had its doors closed and the fewer eateries spotted around the place were mainly unappealing carts. So that night out didn’t last long - at least not with my only means of travel being my legs.
With that, it marked the end of my first night in Taipei. Thank you for reading and join me next time for the last issue in this Taiwan trip.