Formosa Adventures Page 8 - Tamsui

Thanks to 戴佩妮 I get to know about this famous river in Taipei. I thought it's just a normal freshwater river...

The first thing you see when you step out of 淡水 station.

淡水老街. Other than street food, lots of souvenir snacks to be bought (and sampled) here hehe.

Not a seafood fan but this is quite nice. FYI 鱿鱼 is squid, 花枝 is cuttlefish. Google if you don't know the difference between squid and cuttlefish =p

Turkish ice-cream! The uncle never fails to fool around with his customers first before handing the ice-cream proper.

豪大条!

鲁肉饭 at the left, 阿给 at the right. Yea the 阿给 is really as spicy as it looks. Don't ask me why it is called 阿给...

One of Taiwan's most popular bubble tea outlets - 50岚

Interesting museum...

Enjoying the river breeze while fishing.

Attempted the long long walk from 老街 to 渔人码头. Signposts and maps can be quite deceiving haha.

Stopped by Fort San Domingo, along the way to 渔人码头. Where the Angmos used to live.

Appreciating the Western deco.

Newlyweds having photoshoot at 淡水河边.
我很狼狈的 将我的脸偷偷收起了... (ok no link...)

Finally reached 渔人码头! Feels like going on a cruise.

Tamsui is in love with Haisui.

Sunset at the jetty. Makes me calm and relaxed.

Weather's good for a casual stroll =)

Lovers Bridge. You need not be lovers to enjoy this bridge.

View from Lovers Bridge

I love you...You love me. We are happy family =)

A street musician to keep us entertained after the long walk. As a Mandopop listener, I felt more inclined to listen to his singing. Street/event performers in SG hardly sing/play Mandopop songs.

I presume these boats belong to fishermen?

Bye 渔人码头! Took a speedy boat back to 淡水MRT.

Shiok to be out at sea. (except that the motor is too noisy)

Another icon of 渔人码头 comes in full view.

淡水 during a rainy day. The hill still looks beautiful though.

Formosa Adventures Page 7 - Yehliu/ Maokong/ Pingxi

Finally reached our destination after a sleepy bus ride.

Greeted by this cheerful mascot. =)

There are so many different kinds of 'special' rocks here. You have to use some imagination though.

Overview of 野柳 towards offshore. In some hundred years time it might probably become a separate island.

Don't these rocks look like Afro heads? Haha...

On a closer look it makes my hair stand. To make things worse there are lots of creepy crawlies on it.

Frankly these rocks remind me of chocolate cakes we bake in the toilet.

Mind your steps here. You don't wanna get trapped here for 127 hours.

The weather was very hot and I almost got sunburnt. No wonder some people prefer to take a dip into the water.

Statue of a brave man who tried to save a student that was swept away by the sea currents. Unfortunately both died. Anyway there is something cute on top of his head haha. =p

There is still one long stretch behind?! Too tired to walk any further...

Overview of the Geopark towards the inland direction.

Now for the 重点 of this park - the precarious Queen's Head. A lot of tourists from you-know-where were queuing up to take individual shots with it. And they were pretty aggressive too. Whenever someone else accidentally steps into the picture, they would scream and shout at that person. A little girl accidentally stepped in and was frightened off by their shouting...

MRT 动物园站. Feels like you're already inside the zoo.

Maokong Gondola! The ride is cheaper and longer than I expected. Now I seriously feel that Sentosa's cable car is a rip-off lol.

We opted for the 'crystal' cabins which have transparent glass underneath our feet. Nothing really spectacular because you just see patches of greenery below. (makes a big difference to people who fear heights though haha)

Aerial view of southern Taipei. Taipei 101 can be seen at a distance.

The most thrilling part of the journey - a steep drop followed by a rise.

The peak is a little disappointing. There is nothing much to see here (except to drink tea?).

Love this pun =)

For greenery lovers. This is probably the best Maokong peak can provide. I guess the emphasis is just on the journey.

Went to this little quiet town of Pingxi, somewhere near Shifen.

You can 放天灯 here too! The black parts are mainly written by me haha. Hope to go Japan again!

Up up and away! Fly me to the moon =p

Shortly after we flew our 天灯, this one suddenly fell from the sky and landed nearby. Poor thing. As we felt relieved that it didn't hit anyone of us, I wonder if our 天灯 will meet with similar fate...

Be careful when the sky gets dark. There are large spiderwebs everywhere, with huge spiders on them...*shivers*