So long.../再见...

It has been a fantastic conclusion to this trip. I finally met my family friend, Sophia, and her brother Bruce, along with her husband, Bruce's wife, and Sophia's daughter Linda and three granddaughters! Sophia was so sweet, she was tearing up when we met at the station. She took me to see her and Bruce's office for her business, Yutop, and it was a very comforting place. It was nice to be surrounded by biking paraphernalia, it felt like home!

Me with Sophia and Bruce. The painting in the background was made by their mother!

We then went to have lunch with their family. Funnily enough, this was the same place that we'd have dinner later as a class! It was nerve-wracking to meet the rest of the family, I didn't want to seem like I was intruding. They were very welcoming, though, and Linda was very nice to talk to!

(From left to right): Peter, Sophia's husband, Linda's three daughters, Linda, Bruce, Me, Becca, Bruce's wife, and Sophia.

After lunch we went to hike Xiangshan (象山), which translates to Elephant Mountain. It's the smallest of the Four Beast Mountains (四獸山), but still has such a beautiful view. It had a very nice and well-kept path, but some of the steps were so steep! There was an abandoned cemetery on the mountain, and I saw some very old, unkempt shrines as well. It made me wonder if the mountain is haunted. Sophia said that she hikes this mountain once a week, and she's 72 years old! I aspire to be like her.

At one point on the trail there was a cave!

We ended the day by going to the Raohe Night Market with Linda, and watching the sunset over the Keelung River (基隆河). The air over the Keelung is so fresh and nice. The Raohe market was one of the smaller night markets I've visited, but it was very lively. We ate pepper meat pies, which according to Linda are a popular delicacy from the Raohe market! I also had a strawberry tanghulu (糖葫芦) made with strawberries from Dahu (大湖郷). Those strawberries are in season at this time, and they were delicious!

The next day I went to Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山国家公园) with Peter, Linda, and her daughters. It was an astonishingly beautiful place. It's a geothermal area, where the hotspot is close to the surface so there are many vents in the area, kind of similar to Yellowstone in a way. Just like Beitou (北投區) where we went to the hot springs, once we got in the area it smelled strongly of sulfur. Linda said that there are no hot springs in the park because the hotspot is so close to the surface so it's too hot. That makes sense as we literally saw boiling pools!

Boiling pools.

We stopped at another spot further up the mountain, at Qingtiangang (擎天崗). This was an old military site, that after abandonment became a grassland. It was also an old rangeland for domesticated water buffalo, but those establishments have since been abandoned so the water buffalo have become wild. It was fascinating to see them, and I mentioned to Dr. Huang that never in my life did I think I'd see wild water buffalo. He seemed a bit confused by this, saying that they're relatively common in Taiwan. I think I've just seen American bison so much, and have worked with them, that I had always seen water buffalo as a very foreign species, one that lives in Africa or Asia, in places that I'd likely never see in my life. But now here I am!

There was also a small temple to Tudigong (土地公) a local earth god. Behind the temple was the original shrine built in the Qing dynasty, which I read was the oldest in the area. I found this area fascinating as it has so much history in just that small area. It makes me want to explore the area more, especially the Jinbaoli historic road which has many ruins from Han and local Atayal tribe settlements. In fact, I really hope to visit the area again sometime soon so I can explore it more. As Sophia told me my grandfather always wanted to visit Alishan (阿里山) but never got to, I'd like to visit it for him. Alishan also has delicious tea so I'd be very happy there.