The Adventurous Journey to Maokong

On Sunday, the 2. day of the Lunar new year, we wanted to go up to Maokong tea garden.

Have I already told you that we surprisingly learned that 2 days before until 5 days after Lunar new year is public holiday, not only in Taiwan but also in Vietnam. Almost everything is closed, life slowing down. We knew about Vietnam but not Taiwan. Stay tuned to my post about Lunar new year.

As everyone has days off, crowds pouring to places where they can spend their leisure time, i.e. up to Maokong.

The usual public transport to the hill is the cable car, Maokong Gondola. When we came to the cable car station, we found a huge crowd. We made out 2 queues, one to buy ticket at the ticketing machine and the other one to approach a cable car. The queue to get on a cable car extended to the neighbouring park. There is no information about the waiting time, we estimated it at more hours. So, plan B - which possibilities are there? Then we saw the 3. queue, for taxis but there is no one to be seen. Last possibility is by bus, so we walked to the next bus station.

After about 10 minutes, a small bus arrived. The four of 4 could just squeeze in, standing. Even that the bus was already loaded, it kept stopping at the next few bus stops to let more people in. When driving up, we learned why the bus is small. The street uphill is not only very winding but narrow, it‘s hardly sufficient for oncoming traffic. Nevertheless, the bus driver drove like crazy as if there is no passenger inside at all. We have been shaken up and could hardly hold on. Finally arrived on top, we swore not to use the bus later downhill.

Uphill there are some nice areas, above all when walking away from the cable car station. We also got some tea to calm our nerves. Taiwan is famous for their Oolong. The weather was sunny, finally got a bit warmer and it was clear to catch a wonderful view to Taipei101.

As it was about to go down the hill, it was expected that we will not catch the cable car, again. Then we learned about a new taxi system and by it, the waiting time was bearable. A supervisor managed the queue. Each taxi will be fully loaded and every passenger pays the same price, fair and without any dispute. For this, we got away from another murderous journey with the bus.