Reaching Maokong, the top station, the station was beautiful. The place actually reminded me very much of Penang Hill. The air was also a lot fresher and cooler. No monkeys sighted though.
Upon exiting, one can walk to the nearby town on the left. That was the path I took, to go see the tea houses dotted along the road and on the slope of the hills. You could go in a meal or enjoy the local tea here.
Lots of tourist on the streets as there are some snacks being sold along the little town.
Walking through the town, this is how small the roads are. In front there is a pink shuttle bus that can take you around the hill if you don't want to walk. The place I was headed was around 20minutes walk away, so I decided to just walk there.
Along the way, I saw super cute cat cafe! It was up a slope of stairs and I didn't want to climb it, so I skipped it. But it looked so cute! The problem with cafes, how many can you visit in a day right? You can only eat so many sweet cakes and drink so many cups of caffeinated drinks in a day!
I also went inside this shop cause it says they sell fresh milk mantou. But sadly, they sell it frozen/refrigerated. So I couldn't get any. They didn't even have cooked ones for same! What a pity. It was half way to my designation and it would have been nice to have a snack along the way.
I also took this photo of some graves I walked pass. Look at the words on the grave stone. That's my surname! Maybe I'm related to some of the people here? Is that why I feel so at home here? Anyway, I finally reached my designation, Maokong Tea Research Center. At times I wonder why I have the courage to walk through lonely path alone. I was afraid I might come across some dogs. But the path looked so much like Penang Hill that I just persisted on. I'm do a dedicated post on the Tea Center in the next post.
Walking back to town in the evening, to the left of the cable car station is kinda like the Maokong crossroad where you can find many crossroads and taxis to bring you around. There are temples around the hills, but I didn't visit any. Didn't want to walk all the way there and be caught in the rain.
It was kinda late by the time I head to the left side of the station, else I would have love to walk some of the trails found here....maybe next time?
The beautiful valley view of Maokong. I was hanging around waiting for sunset time before I hop into the cable car. My target was to capture some sunset view on the ride down.
A different view of the Maokong Gondola Station, this time later in the afternoon.
The beautiful tea shops on the slope of the hill. They lighted up when it started to get dark. Must be beautiful at night here. Reminded me of JiuFen very much.
The same dooms day shot, but this time, orange grey in colour as the sun starts to set. Isn't nature lovely?
A zoom shot I took from the cafe I stopped at. It has Maokong Station on the left, Taipei 101 on the right, and the beautiful landscape in front with a type of mist/fog partially covering it. I was very grateful that I decided to make the journey here. It was one of the most beautiful shot I got of Taipei :) Moral of the story? Don't stay in your hotel room the whole day when you are on vacation! Go out and explore!
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