MarissaZKChang

        Mountain climbing has now become one of my day-off activities since, well, since I found that weekends and holidays are scarce after I started working. There are so many things good about Taiwan─the convenience stores where you can find anywhere, or the food (but it is another story). You would also find that the mountains are everywhere, just around you, even if you are in the city.

On the top of Jinmian Mountain

        So I took a day-off last Friday and went “hiking” with my parents. I call it hiking because I thought it was just a walk, but actually, it is not.

        We went to Jinmian Mountain. The name “Jinmian” was called by the habitants there because of the shimmering rock in the sun (but I really did not see that though it was a sunny day when I went there).

        It was quite disappointing in the beginning because for me, it was just a mountain, and nothing special about it. Actually it was a little bit soiled. But then I found some kind of bird which is obviously not the kind of “city bird” like sparrow. They were like blue birds, flying elegantly from one tree to the other.

        I was astonished and felt like “Okay, at least I am not cheated by the website.” It took some time walking and found nothing, but then came some cool stuff about this mountain.

        Yes, I call it rock climbing. Not that challenging, comparing with real rock mountain climbing, but challenged enough if you have never climbed rocks.

        Hundred years ago, when Taiwan was under the government of Qing Dynasty, the material for the old Taipei city walls came from this mountain. The stone dashing field of that time still remains in this mountain, so do the rocks.

Stone Dashing Field

        So we climbed.

        It was maybe a 200 kilometer climb. Rocks and more rocks extend to the crest line of the mountain. There were even two eagles flying when I was climbing the rocks, which reminds me of the novel The Return of the Condors by Mr. Jin Yong (You know, the mountains, the condors, the spirits of the heroes during a time of chaos).

        Tiring indeed. I have never tried this kind of climbing (and that was why I went there for the first place!), not to mention I had to climb up and go down through the same path! And I had to take care of my camera, though it was just a small one, comparing with professional video cameras. My legs were shaking in the end! Guess I need more practice of this kind of stuff!

        Anyway, if you wanna try some other things of Taiwan, consider this one!