On the 3rd day of my trip to Taipei, Taiwan, I decided to dedicate the day to visiting Yangmingshan National Park. I set out from my hostel a little later that day since I was a little tired from the previous two days, and after having breakfast at 10am, I made my way towards the National Park.

To get to one of the entrances at the park, I took the train to Jiantan Station on the Red Line, and then took a bus to the Section 1, Hushan Road Entrance. The bus ride towards the National Park was pretty scenic as you move away from the city into the less-developed mountainous areas. Close to the National Park entrance were a couple of houses, but there were some recognisable shops as well such as Starbucks and a 7-11.

The distance from where I started to the top of Mt. Qixing was roughly 4km. It took me around 2.5 hours to reach the top, making some stops midway to take a break and also take a couple of photos. As compared to my previous climb on Bukhansan in South Korea, this climb was so much easier since everything was paved and there were no narrow paths or steep cliffs simultaneously.

Given that the National Park is tropical in nature, there were signs warning you to stay away from poisonous snakes or insects, and the paths were shrouded in trees, bushes and leaves. Of course, being alone, I had to keep my guard up.

Halfway through, I stopped by Qixingshan Park where there were a few huts where some hikers stopped by to rest and a large field where a cute little dog was freely roaming around.

After spending some time resting in the park, I continued my climb on Mt. Qixing. As I got closer to the top, the paths started to become less covered by trees, and grass started to get a lot longer. The sky also started to get covered by the clouds and fog expected at the altitude that I was in. Eventually, I was greeted by awesome views of the surrounding areas. While I couldn’t really see much of Taipei city itself, you pretty much have a bird’s eye view of the National Park itself. Even during the summer, it was pretty windy and cold at the top so I was pretty lucky to bring my jacket and scarf with me.

While I wouldn’t advice anyone to do so, I went back down the same way as I climbed. There were a couple of different routes you could take back down, and you would pass by some interesting things as well such as the landslide-sulphur formation at the side of Mt. Qixing. Evidently, I didn’t plan this very well. However, I got a bus which took me to Shilin Station where there was a popular night market there. And that is an experience for another post.