Cijin Island, Monkey Mountain, Love Boat
From Tainan I kept going down south to Kaohsiung. Curious to see what I can find there, I got on a short ferry ride to Cijin Island. The first thing I saw when I got off the ferry was a tall looking structure on top of a mountain. I had a quick check on Google Maps, and sure enough it was a lighthouse, more specifically the Kaohsiung Lighthouse. As I didn’t have any solid plans, I thought it would be a fun spot to visit while on this small island.
I walked for a little while through the streets until I got to the base of the lighthouse, just when some light rain started. There was a bit of a paved trail going uphill, and at the end of it there were some stairs to climb before reaching the lower part of the area. I climbed a little bit more and made it to the entrance of the lighthouse itself. The first floor had a small exhibition in it, showing some pictures and different tools that were used in order to keep the lighthouse working. There was also some written explanation, both about the history of the lighthouse and about the job of lighthouse keepers over the years.
While the exhibition itself was nice, and it was interesting to learn about the building, that was pretty much it. As far as I could understand there was no way to actually climb up, which was quite unfortunate. By the time I left the building, the rain was slowly down for a bit, but then it got heavy, and I rushed over to hide under one of the big umbrellas that were placed next to the lighthouse, along with a few other people. We chatted for a little bit, and when the rain started to lighten up again I said goodbye and went on my way.
Instead of going down on the same path I went up, I took a turn and after walking on a paved road for a few minutes, I went down some stairs onto a dirt trail among some trees. It didn’t take long before I got to another spot on the island- Cihou Fort. I climbed a short staircase and was able to walk on top of the walls around the fort, getting a top view of the place and a little bit of the surrounding area. I didn’t find much to see there, a few closed doors to rooms that haven’t been used in a while, and a big tree. Nothing particularly impressive, but I was already in the area.
Although I planned to spend a few hours exploring the island, I was on foot and started to feel tired. As I didn’t bother getting a scooter or a bicycle, I didn’t travel very far. So after a quick stop at Old Street (which seemed to be nothing more than a shopping area) I hopped on the ferry back to Kaohsiung.
After resting, and when the weather improved, I wanted to see a bit of nature in the area and so I went to Shoushan Mountain. I got off the train at Museum of Fine Arts Station and from there it was a short walk until I got to the start of the trail, near Qianguang Temple. From the outside, the building looked quite impressive, similar to several other temples I’ve seen so far during my adventure in Taiwan. And just like the other temples, I didn’t go inside, but rather proceeded to the national park.
The trail started with a wooden path. For a while I was just climbing up some stairs, and the familiar sense of dread started to sneak up on me. While climbing, another familiar thing that happened was the fading of the city noises. Thankfully, the stairs were not steep, and it didn’t take too long before I got to leveled ground. I didn’t pay attention to when and where it happened, but at some point the wooden path was replaced with a dirt path. And then it started to split.
I had no idea where I was trying to get to, or how long it would take. Just like the hike I did in Taipei, Shoushan National Park seemed like a place where once could easily get lost, just wandering around and exploring without any particular intent. Instead of trying to use any navigation apps, I decided to rely on the signs along the way. And so I picked my first destination to be a place called Four Banyans and started walking in that direction.
At every intersection and split in the road, I’d stop to look at the sign and continue toward the destination I picked without knowing that’s actually there. Along the way, it was the same old routine of walking around between the trees and hearing the sounds of nature. At some point it occurred to me that despite the name “Monkey Mountain” I didn’t see any monkeys at any point on this trail, although it didn’t bother me too much.
Then I saw the first rest area of the day, which had a view of the city (although not a particularly impressive view in my opinion), as well as monkeys. Quite a few of them were hanging around the little rest area, which according to the map and the signs along the way was my destination, Four Banyans. I sat down on one of the benches to rest and relax for a little bit, looking at the urban city view on one hand, and the monkeys on the other. The animals seemed unbothered by the presence of people, and were focused on their own thing.
From Four Banyans, I made my way to another rest area, Panrong. There were a few monkeys along the way, which alternated between dirt trail and wooden paths, and the rest of it was quite similar to the beginning of the hike. Some of the splits in the road didn’t have any signs in English, so I had to guess where to go, but for the most part it didn’t feel confusing or challenging in any way.
And so the day went on, as I moved from one rest area to the next, at times seeing more monkeys, at others seeing more views of the city. After taking a better look at the map I thought it would make sense to finish the hike at Longquan Temple, which isn’t far from Qianguang.
Somewhere along the way the dirt trail seemed to have gone completely and been replaced by a daunting set of stairs, going back down the mountain. There was also a sign warning me about different snakes I might find in the forest, which was a bit alarming.
I’m not sure if I have read the map correctly, but there seemed to be a main trail path marked in yellow, which I followed on my way up, but on the way down I decided to cut through it when I saw a split in the road. I may have missed some of the better views of Kaohsiung because of that decision, but I started to feel tired again, and quite glad that this time I was feeling the pain of effort in my muscles, and not in my knees.
Before ending the day there was one more thing I wanted to do. So when I got back to the city, I made my way over to Love River to take a boat tour. That, unfortunately, turned out to be a mistake. It was very loud, people were shifting around quite a bit due to their obsessions of taking selfies, and the views were not particularly interesting. I was hoping for a calm cruise around a river, and it was quite the opposite, certainly not the I hoped to end the day.
From there I went back up, to Chiayi, and after a few more days I decided to end my time in Taiwan. It was a bit shorter than I expected, and although there is a lot more to explore there, it felt like the right time for me to leave. I felt tired, not able to feel like I fit anywhere, and while I heard about the warm and welcoming attitude of the local people I didn’t really feel it. When I first landed in Taiwan, my first impression was that it feels like a halfway point between East Asia and SouthEast Asia, a feeling that stuck with me through this adventure. Somewhere between chaos and order, good public transport and more than a few scooters, language and culture, a unique place in its own right, a place I’m glad I had the chance to visit, even if only for a short while.