Hiking the Elephant Mountain Trail with a view of Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan

Hi, Worldmappin team! I'm here for another entry of the #winterchallenge in another country. It was in 2016, and my first visit to Taiwan was in November. It was a birthday week so I got to relax and chill in a cold season. It was cheap to fly to Taiwan from Cebu, Philippines. I made it an alternative to Japan since the flight ticket I found was expensive.

So far, Taiwan is my second favorite country next to Japan. :D

Arrival in Taipei

I arrived at Taoyuan Airport past midnight so I had no choice but to stay inside the airport until 6 AM. It was safe for me to take the bus to my hostel. At that time, the metro from the airport to the main Taipei station was still in the works. The best transportation and cheapest way to go to Taipei was to take a bus.

It was convenient and I didn't get lost. I just followed the instructions from the hostel on how to get there from the airport. Janice, a Filipina who works in Hsinchu had some free time to meet me in Taipei. It was the first time I met her and she showed me around. She waited for me near my hostel.

I was early in my hostel. I was allowed to leave my bag before the check-in time. Janice and I went to a noodle place along the street.

We just walked and took photos of the streets in Taipei.

Here was my first meal in Taipei.

Xiangshan Station

We took a metro from the main Taipei station to Xiangshan station for the Elephant Mountain. What I love about Taipei is that the tourist attractions are accessible from the metro.

I took photos of where we stopped to remember the address and street signs.

Looks like a hotel to me.

Outside the hotel is the YouBike station. Every metro has a YouBike station. Japan doesn't have bike rental stations in every metro. I wish to return to Taiwan so that I can rent a bike in the future.

Start of the Hiking Trail

We arrived at the Nangangshan trail and took a photo of the guide map. We start at the Nangang mountain until we reach the Elephant Mountain.

There are several series of mountain trails here. As per my research, it will take 4 hours and 30 minutes to walk all the trails. Since I am not an expert hiker, we just took the short trail.

Although we took the short trail, it was very steep to go up.

You need to have good walking shoes for this activity. I wore my ever-reliable Skechers shoes. I only brought a pair of shoes for this trip.

The sight of Taipei 101 from the Elephant Mountain

My friend Janice brought me to this spot to see the Taipei 101 from afar. You can see a few buildings that were still under construction.

As tourists, we love the typical poses with a tower.

Holding the Taipei 101 with our hands.

Carrying the Taipei 101 tower with my bare hands. Haha!

Continue the Trail

Janice took me to another spot to take photos. Another trail to take. We were just cool catching our breath and had our photos taken surrounded by green lushes of nature.

I don't know how to read the sign in front of us.

But we were near to the next spot.

The Big Rock to see the Taipei 101

Janice and I took turns to have our photos taken here on the Big Rock. Too bad, there's a lot of vandalism on the rock.

On my way to go down so that Janice had her photos taken.

I love this photo of Janice.

She has nice, long, curly hair. Suddenly, other hikers stopped here because they got interested in having their photos taken here, as well. Hahaha! We took many photos and we were happy.

Time to go down and see this cute dog. The dog owners are very responsible when they bring their pets outdoors. Make sure no poops are around, bring a plastic bag to pick up their poops, and put it in the trash. Taiwanese people love to bring their pets in their scooters.

Walking around Taipei 101

We were done with our short hiking trail and saw the Taipei 101 from different views in the city.

We just walked around what was going on. We saw this bus and these reflective balls around.

We took a photo of this magical ball. Haha! Nice to see the Taipei 101 behind us.

We were just waiting for the evening to see the Taipei 101 at night.

Outside Taipei 101, they put these light installations. Many locals and tourists took their photos here.

The popular LOVE sign. I had the same LOVE sign photo in Tokyo, Japan.

Here's Taipei 101 at night

I was just excited to take photos here. We went inside Taipei 101 which is a luxury mall. It was awkward for me to go inside. It was the same feeling I had at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Imagine if you were here during the New Year when they will have a Fireworks show every year. It is also best to watch the fireworks and take fireworks photographs at Elephant Mountain.

I adjusted my camera setting and took a handheld shot of this one. Looks awesome.

Well, let me just end this blog here. I hope you enjoyed the different views of Taipei 101 from Elephant Mountain.