I returned to Taipei for two more days before leaving Taiwan for Thailand. Arriving in Taipei Main Station again was less of a confusion than the first time. My biggest problem with this sprawling underground station is that they use acronyms for all three major systems: HSR (high-speed rail), MRT (the subway) and TRA (regular train). They all have pictures of train-like vehicles and no further description and it was VERY confusing my first time there.

Besides the poor signage, the subway wasn’t hard to manage once I actually got to it.

I spent my extra time in Taipei doing more of the classic touristy things. First was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is an excessively large, interesting square building that houses what appears to be a copy of the Lincoln Memorial: a large seated statue in bronze. The Hall is set in Liberty Square which also contains the symmetrical National Theater and National Concert Hall.

I also went to the National Museum and, for the first time in years, to the zoo. I’m generally not supportive of zoos but people are pretty proud of it there (I think it’s the biggest in Asia) and only cost $2, and they have a panda bear in residence!

The zoo grounds were pretty and well kept, and while some of the exhibits were a bit sad, some were very well done and they had a baby rhino, which is a good sign.

My last full day in Taiwan I wanted to do some hiking. Originally I wanted to do a lot of hiking in Taiwan but it turned out it is actually pretty difficult to get to the mountains in the middle of the island without a car. Buses and trains do not go on the two roads across the island so you need to go all the way around the circumference to get to the other side, making stops in the middle difficult. So I opted to take a day trip to Wulai, a town only about an hour south of downtown Taipei that is famous for its National Park and hot springs.

I arrived pretty early in the morning and passed on the tramway up the hill, opting to hoof it. I passed an old man on my way who asked if I was heading to the waterfall, in English. I gave a vague smile and a nod, not liking to tell strangers where I am planning to go when I’m heading out alone. I would see him again later. The next two hours I followed the road back into the National Park, across a bridge, and onto a trail that passed nine waterfalls.

Passionfruit juice with seeds!

On my way back down I saw the old man sitting by the first big waterfall lacing up his shoes. He motioned me over and told me to go wash my feet. He insisted that it is very healthy and gave me his soap and washcloth. While I was scrubbing my feet in the pool he pulled a pineapple cake out of his bag and put it next to my bag, saying I should eat it for lunch! Then he asked if I was going to the hot springs, which I was, so he proceeded to give me detailed directions to the free springs in the river in town. He was so friendly and I could tell that he loved his country and he wanted to be sure I would love it too. This is an attitude I experienced a lot there, and I think its very sweet.

When I made it down to the hot springs he was waiting to point out the little changing room, showed me where I should leave my bag, guided me through which pools were the hottest. I was definitely the only foreigner there and while the Taiwanese were clearly watching us, wondering why this old dude was helping me along, they were also friendly, making room for me next to them in the rustic pools. It was kind of odd, but not uncomfortable, and a hot soak after a hike was just lovely.

If you can see, the “hot springs” were just a series of concrete pools cobbled together on the edge of the river down there:

On my way out, the old man popped out of the hottest pool to make sure I knew how to get back to the bus station. Standing there in his skivvies, we chatted for a bit. He learned English at an International school and traveled to… Omaha, Nebraska! This is another funny thing I noticed-people have been to the most random places in the US for language programs. Other Taiwanese I met had lived in Tennessee and Ohio.

That night a girl who I had met in Hualien came to Taipei to show me around a temple and a nightmarket. It was so much fun to be there with someone who actually knew about what things were! Some things we ate included Chinese herb soup (very healthy for women, and should particularly be eaten on the first day of winter, which was today!), rice and peanut soup, oyster pancake, herb jelly tea, puffed sweet potato balls, tempura (not like the Japanese version), and pulverized fish cakes.

On my last night in Taipei I walked past the Taipei 101 building (the second tallest building in the world, which is an incredible feat of engineering given how many earthquakes they have here) and up Elephant Mountain at the edge of the city for a sunset view. This was one of the first recommendations I had received from a local-the Taiwanese man who sat next to me on the bus from the airport. The small look out area was packed with photographers, and for good reason. It was a great way to wrap up my time there.