Shilin

Shilin Residence Tulip Show (士林官邸鬱金香展)

It’s 2020. How many festivals have you attended this year? 

If you’re like most people, I'm assuming not very many. 

Over the past six months, most countries around the world have had to shut down their economies, close their borders and impose lengthy self-quarantine measures to protect their citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been a really strange year. 

Here in Taiwan though, we’ve been extremely lucky. It’s business as usual. 

Sure, we had to endure a couple of scary months where we were all worried that our lives would be going down the same road as the rest of the world and every mention of a new infection sent us all reaching for the nearest hand-sanitizer. 

Fortunately, our nightmares (thus far) haven’t come true. 

The response of the Taiwanese government has been nothing short of superhuman. 

We’ve all been able to go to work, school and enjoy leisure activities as if there wasn’t a pandemic taking place. The entire world is looking to Taiwan and collectively scratching their heads wondering how this isolated democratic nation neighboring China was able to be so successful in containing the virus. 

Of course, the people of Taiwan also deserve a lot of credit as when it came time to take precautions with face masks, temperature checks, social-distancing, self-quarantine, etc. The entire country was on board with the government like a well-oiled machine. 

So, as the world fell into disarray, what were people in Taiwan doing? 

Well, quite a few of us were attending an internationally organized tulip festival. 

Because thats apparently how they roll over here.

Unlike so many other events around the world that have had to be cancelled, the 2020 Tulip Festival at Taipei’s Shilin Residence which took place from February 13th - 28th attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

And yeah, it was open just in time for Valentines Day, which had a one day total of around 60,000 visitors.

Imagine for a moment, during the height of the pandemic, when countries all over the world were falling victim to COVID-19, that every day tens of thousands of people were cramming themselves into a park in Taipei to check out a bunch of flowers.

Not one to miss out, I joined the thousands of other people to check them out as well. 

What do I know about tulips? Not a whole hell of a lot. 

What I do know though is that when Taiwan does anything with flowers, they don’t joke around.

The festival was held at the Shilin Residence (士林官邸), once the home of President Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石) and his wife Soong Mei-ling (宋美齡), which has since been converted into a massive natural space that is open for free to the public.

This year’s tulip festival, which was titled “So Great to See You” (見你真好) was touted as the best yet with over 100,000 tulips imported from the Netherlands as well as Tonami City (礪波市) in Japan’s Toyama Prefecture (富山縣), which are both renowned for their cultivation of tulips.  

With over twenty species of tulips on display, visitors were treated to several large displays, known in Taiwan as “oceans of flowers” (花海) that were separated by colour - Those sections included red, yellow, pink, purple, white, orange, black and multi-coloured tulips.  

The displays were further separated into three different styles, namely “Western Style” (西式庭園), “Asian Style” (中式庭園) and another section referred to as the “Spring Fields” (踏青區). The latter was cleverly named based on a popular Chinese-language idiom that loosely translates as “to enjoy a beautiful spring walk” (踏青賞春), an annual tradition enjoyed by many families in Taiwan during the Lunar New Year. 

More specifically, the various species on display are as follows: 

From the Netherlands 

Spryng (春紅), Fancy Frills (花蕾絲), White Prince (白馬王子), Largo (雷果), Negrita (小黑人), Salmon Dynasty (粉黨尼), Strong Gold (巨人), Bullit (布利), Orange Dynasty (桔黨尼), Cafe Noir (黑咖啡), Dow Jones (道瓊), Leo Visser (偉舍), Dutch Design (藝術家), Fabio (非比), Memphis (夢飛), Perfect Torch (火炬) 

From Tonami City

Toyama Red (富山紅), Hakuun (白雲), Van Eijk (ファンアイク), Murasakizuisho (紫水晶), Shiun (紫雲), Huis Ten Bosch (ハウステンボス), Kikomachi (黃小町), Yuyakekomachi (夕やけ小町), Light Pink Prince (淡粉紅王子), Pretty Woman (プリティウーマン), Orange Van Eijk (オレンジ ファン アイク), Momotaro (桃太郎) 

My one take away from all this translation is that no matter if its English, Dutch, Chinese or Japanese, a lot of flowers have weird names. 

Alas, I’m posting this article a few months after the tulip show ended, so if you’re interested in checking it out, you’re going to have to wait until 2021 (if we’re lucky enough to still be around by then) when the festival takes place once again. 

That being said, Taipei’s Shilin Residence has beautiful floral displays on display year-round, so if you’re looking to enjoy a bit of nature and don’t want to hike a mountain, I highly recommend stopping by this beautiful public space.

The Shilin Residence is a short walk from Taipei MRT’s Shilin Station (捷運士林站) - I’ll have a blog post about the park in the near future, but until then, all you have to do is exit the MRT station and make your way across Zhongshan North Road (中山北路) where you’ll find the entrance to the park a short distance away.

You’ll know when you’ve arrived when you see the Falun Gong protestors at the entrance. 

It seems like they really enjoy the park. They never leave.


Jiantan Mountain (劍潭山)

Taipei is a city that is blessed to be nestled in a space that is almost completely surrounded by mountains.

The city’s mountains not only help determine its comfortable climate but also protect it from the disastrous typhoons that often blow in from the Pacific Ocean.

While the mountains serve an important role for the natural environment, in the eyes of its residents the most important role the mountains play might be to provide spaces for recreation and weekend getaways!

Taipei’s mountains are often filled up with locals wanting to escape the city for a bit of exercise and to spend a bit of time enjoying the beautiful natural environment.

The city government has done an amazing job over the years developing and maintaining countless hiking routes throughout many of its mountainous areas - All of which offer residents a safe place to hike without ever having to worry about getting lost.

If you are a visitor in Taipei there are a multitude of options to choose from when you are looking for a place to enjoy the natural environment.

Guide books and travel blogs often point tourists to the same few destinations - most notably Xinyi District’s “Elephant Mountain” (象山) for the views of the city - But that means your hiking experience is likely to be one that is shared with hundreds, if not thousands of other people and when you have to compete with others for a selfie on a mountain, you’re probably not really able to properly enjoy nature.

What most tourists may not realize is that there are several trails around the city which offer similar or equally impressive views without having to wait in line to take a photo.

One of those hikes that offers such a perspective is a trail on the northern side of the Keelung River that in recent years has become a popular alternative for photographers and instagrammers wanting to avoid large crowds and a bit of fresh air.

Jiantan Mountain (劍潭山)

Most travellers who come to Taiwan are likely to be familiar with the Jiantan MRT Station (劍潭捷運站) as it is home to the Shilin Night Market (士林夜市), one of Taipei’s most well-known tourist stops.

It isn’t likely though that they’re aware that the station gets its name from the mountain that runs parallel to the station and is located on the opposite side of the night market.

Jiantan Mountain isn’t exactly what you’d consider a ‘high’ mountain - it’s only 153 meters above sea level - it is however a historically important one.

Today the mountain is home to the Grand Hotel (圓山大飯店) and numerous temples and recreation areas that were constructed over the past few decades.

During the Japanese Colonial Era, it was home to the Taiwan Grand Shrine (台灣神宮), the highest ranking Shinto Shrine (神社) in the country, but has unfortunately since been destroyed.

It is also home to the Water God Shinto Shrine (圓山水神社) which you can fortunately still see today.

When sovereignty of Taiwan was ‘relinquished’ to the Republic of China at the end of the Second World War the mountain became a military-controlled area in order to protect President Chiang Kai-Shek and his family who were staying in the Grand Hotel until their formal residence was completed.

Once the residence was completed the mountain continued to remain off-limits to the public as it was constructed at the base on the opposite side of the hotel and it was suspected that communists were roaming the areas attempting to assassinate the first family.

It is widely reported that there is a network of secret tunnels that litter the mountain between the official residence and the Grand Hotel which were constructed so that the president could safely escape in case of attack.

Taiwan was once a much different country.

In 1980, after more than three decades of being prohibited to the public, the mountain was opened up to the public and hiking trails were constructed.

I suppose if you wanted to look on the bright side, the lack of human activity on the mountain for those four decades preserved the natural environment and offered a home to many species of birds.

The 80’s though were a bit of a weird time for Taiwan as the economy was booming and people were looking for ways to spend some of their newfound riches. One idea that people came up with was to start laying concrete pretty much anywhere they could.

Jiantan Mountain was no exception and you’ll find that quite a bit of space was used to create recreational areas for people - most notably badminton courts - and temples.

Today the Jiantan Mountain Hiking Trail consists of a vast network of paths that range from short leisurely hikes to much longer day-hikes that span several city districts.

The hiking trails (for the most part) consist of well-developed paths that have lights which guide your way at night and trail markers which guide you to all of points of interest along the way and help to ensure that you won’t get lost.

The first few minutes of the hike tend to be the most difficult and steepest of the entire trail. Don’t let that scare you away - The rest of the hike is more of a brisk walk through the woods than an actual hike.

Within the first fifteen-to-twenty minutes you’ll arrive at the first ‘observatory’ which provides amazing views of the city and will definitely make you feel better about all those stairs you just walked up.

I’m sure for some people the view of the city from the first observatory might suffice, but you should definitely consider walking a bit further as the first platform doesn’t face the city while the others offer a much more direct perspective. 

After passing the first observatory the rest of the trail tends to even out and you will get great views of Shilin (士林), Beitou (北投), the Danshui River (淡水河) and Guanyin Mountain (觀音山) on one side with a wide-open view of the rest of Taipei, including Taipei 101 on the other side.

Soon enough you’ll arrive at the “Lao Di Fang Lookout” which has become the main destination for many of the people hiking the mountain in recent years.

From there you have the choice to either head back the way you came, continue along the mountain for a longer day-trip or to head down to street level to take a bus back to town.

One thing that you’ll want to note is that the markers on the trail give you an ‘estimated’ amount of time to arrive at each destination. Like most mountains in Taiwan, I’m not sure how they estimated the time intervals but what I can tell you is that you should definitely ignore them.

The estimated 180 minutes from the trailhead to the “Lao Di Fang” Lookout took me about thirty minutes - and its not like I was running. I think their estimations were primarily based on how long it takes 90 year olds with only one leg to climb the mountain.

Lao Di Fang Platform (老地方觀機平台)

Even though Jiantan Mountain has a “peak”, it is safe to say that the majority of people who hike the trail won’t even bother attempting to reach it.

The main attraction of the hike is a platform known as the “Laodifang Lookout” (老地方觀機平台) which allows for panoramic views of Taipei city - and of course is a popular selfie spot.

Lao Di Fang” loosely translates as “Old Place” and was an area frequented in the past by people who would climb the mountain for their morning exercises. It became a daily routine for a lot of them to hike to the area for morning Tai-Chi with spectacular views of the city. 

The platform is advertised primarily as a spot for watching airplanes taking off and landing at Taipei’s Songshan Airport (松山機場) but is also a great spot for checking out the city from the opposite side of the Keelung River with Taipei 101 flanked by mountains.

On a clear day you’ll have spectacular views of the city - but I’d caution you - Hike this mountain only when the weather is great. If your purpose for hiking this mountain is for taking photos of the city, you’ll be sorely disappointed on a day when the weather or air quality is terrible.

The first time I climbed the mountain to take photos for this post, the weather was great, but the air quality was considered “unhealthy” (AQI: 130) so when I reached the lookout I could barely even see as far as the river - Taipei 101 and the rest of the city were completely obscured by a thick cloud of haze.

Such is the case when you’re taking cityscape shots these days in many of the worlds large cities.

Photo Tips

I’m sure I don’t really have to say this but if you’re heading here hoping for night views of the city, make sure to bring a tripod so that you can take long exposures and stabilize your camera. If you’re not travelling with a tripod, it is possible to set your camera on the ledge of the platform and hope for the best but you may end up with a bunch of fails due to the fact that the platform tends to vibrate when people are walking on it.

You may also want to consider bringing a telephoto lens with you so that you can take closer images of Taipei 101 flanked by mountains.

Some of the photos you’re seeing here were taken with a 70-200mm lens.

The platform tends to be a popular spot, especially on weekends, so you may end up having to wait for a spot to get some photos - but your wait will be nothing compared to what has become extremely long waits at other spots.

Getting There

 

Simply take the Taipei MRT Red Line (紅線) to Jiantan Station (劍潭捷運站) and from Exit 2 cross Zhongshan North Road (中山北路) and make a right turn.

From there simply walk for a few minutes until you arrive at the trailhead.

The trailhead is a steep set of stairs with a traditional gate over it with a map of the trail to its left.

Next to the trailhead you’ll notice a small temple and another building that is equipped with public washrooms which is useful for washing your face and hands after the hike.

Save for the first few minutes, Jiantan Mountain is a relatively leisurely trail to hike and also offers visitors quite a few temples to visit as well as vistas for which to view the city.

Included in the hike you’ll discover a bit of Taiwan’s modern history as you pass by several abandoned military outposts which were once used to protect the president.

If you’re looking to take some beautiful cityscape photos, this hike offers several wide-open vistas which are equally enjoyable during the day and the night and requires very little time and effort but there is more of a focus on exercising and enjoying the peace and quiet of nature than you’ll get at some of the other popular tourist locations around the city.

An added bonus would be that your photos will offer your friends and family a bit different of this beautiful city than what you’ll see in guide books. If that interests you, you should definitely consider visiting Jiantan Mountain!


Giant Lily-Pads at Shuangxi Park (雙溪公園大王蓮)

Shuangxi Park and Chinese Garden is a two hectare park in Taipei City’s Shilin District situated between Chiang Kai-Shek’s former Shilin Residence (士林官邸) and the National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) at the base of Yangmingshan (陽明山).

The park features beautifully crafted pavilions, courtyards, arch bridges, zig-zag bridges and a man-made lake that is surrounded by a beautifully maintained landscape designed according to the standards of what you’d typically find in Southern China’s gardens and also with the concept of Feng-Shui in mind. 

With all that being said though, the park isn’t a very popular tourist attraction and only really attracts local residents who want to enjoy a bit of the outdoors near their homes.

That is however until the Taipei City Government filled the lake with the giant lily-pads as part of their effort to show the beauty of Taipei during the Summer University Games that were held in late August.

Before I start I should probably mention that quite a few people mix up Water Lily's and Lotus flowers and think that they are the same thing. While they are both beautiful aquatic flowers, the lotus is one that stands high above the surface of the water and has those scary-looking seeds. Water Lily’s on the other hand float peacefully on the surface of the water and have big ugly lily-pads around them.

In actuality these giant lily-pads at Taipei’s Shuangxi Chinese Garden and Park (雙溪公園) have been all-the-rage as of late with lots of photographers, models and even the mayor of Taipei descending upon the grounds to get photos of the small lake filled to the brim with these giant lily-pads (大王蓮).

When I parked my YouBike at the entrance of the park one of the first things I noticed was that there was a well-known local Instagrammer at the gates. We had never met before but we both live in Taoyuan, so instead of walking up to her like a creep, I sent her a message and said hello to be polite.

When I entered the park and got my first look at the lily-pads I was kind of amazed - Not only was the lake completely full of them but they completely covered almost every part of the lake making it seem as if there wasn't actually even any water in it.

These giant water lily-pads which are native to tropical regions of South America are not endemic to Taiwan, so their appearance over the past few years in Taiwan has been one that has attracted a lot of people in any of the locations that have featured them. 

Since 2013 the lily-pads have been cultivated in Taoyuan and Tainan as part of their respective Lotus Festivals which take place every summer when the flowers are in bloom. In 2013 and 2014, the giant lily-pads made their first appearance in Taipei but only appeared again after a three year hiatus this summer. 

The giant lily-pads which can reach widths up to 130 centimetres are delicate and it takes a lot of effort to cultivate them but when they are fully grown they are known for their ability to sustain heavy objects. 

The ability to stand or sit on the giant lily-pads makes for quite a unique photo opportunity and if you know anything about Taiwan you’ll know that there are obviously going to be lines of internet models, old ladies and families wanting to take their turn to take a photo on these lily-pads.

I’m not particularly sure how long these lily-pads will last, so if you’re free any time in the next few weeks you may want to take the opportunity to visit the park to check them out before they disappear again. 


Map / Location

 

Address: Intersection of Fulin Rd. and Zhishan Rd. (台北市士林區福林路與至善路交叉口)

You can take a bus to the park if you want but its actually just a short ten minute walk or less than a five minute Youbike ride from Shilin MRT station (士林捷運站). When I arrived at Shilin Station, I just grabbed a Youbike and parked it outside of the park and then rode it back. 

If you prefer to take a bus however, leave Shilin Station through Exit and from there take bus 206, 255, 303, 304, 620, R4 or R30 to the Taibei High School Stop (泰北高中站). It is a short walk from there.

Since you’re going to be walking either way I think you might as well just walk or ride a bike from the MRT station instead of waiting around for the bus, but it's really up to you!