Elephant Mountain in Taipei is a popular place to get a night view of Taipei. It’s only a short hike (albeit uphill) from Xiangshan station. Once the incline starts, it’s essentially a continuous flight of stairs until the viewpoint. There’s more to the hike than just the viewpoint, but most people end their hike at the viewpoint since they’re only there for the view anyways. The hike isn’t particularly strenuous, but it REALLY helps to bring water because Taiwan is hot and humid, which makes people sweat much more.
Even from the trailhead one can see Taipei 101 in all its glory. I never did make it up to the observation deck of Taipei 101 though – I’m not one to particularly enjoy those kind of sights. The thing that did pique my interest about the Taipei 101 though is its counterbalance – its system of minimizing vibrations (e.g. from wind), only because I learned about them in university.
After the hike, my appetite was so good I ate two full meals one after another. A friend told me to try this turkey rice from a stall at the Taipei 101 (apparently it’s a thing), but to be honest, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. As I walked through the food court though, I saw a Liao Fan Hawker Chan – they’re famous in Singapore for soy sauce chicken. Despite having already eaten the turkey rice, I was determined to eat this too! I missed it a lot since I went to Singapore two years back.
The food coma hit me pretty hard though after those two meals, and that was a sign for me to go back to my AirBnB and rest up for the next day.
See more of my trip to Taiwan here!