#194 Finally climbing the tallest mountain in Taipei

Transcript

Hey, yo, welcome to the Roaming Holiday Podcast. So, pursuant to last episode, whereas having this problem with my boots, turns out the polyurethane in boots when it breaks down and gets wet can make an ammonia smell. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, your boot smells like a cat peed on it. So I managed to find here in Taipei this stuff called germkiller. I managed to, it's the only deodorizer I could find. Finally found a little spray bottle at 7-Eleven. And it occurred to me that I don't know how much I'm trying to deodorize germs because this is more of just this weird ammonia breakdown smell. But it seems like it worked. That stuff actually, it's not nearly as harsh smelling, even as fibris. Fibris is a very awful death smell to me. This stuff really didn't smell that bad. And it seems like it more or less worked. My boots don't smell too terrible. It's just creepy to know that the next time I get rained on, that's probably my future, is ammonia smelling boots. And it's pretty clear right now. But I've seen two people already walking around with umbrellas. They could just be walking around, you know, to shield themselves from the sun. But the weather is doubt, there's the third person, literally just open an umbrella in front of me. But the weather is still saying, definite chance of some thunder later today. And stuff, random rain in the late summer early autumn in Taipei is just how it is. So I got to assume that's coming in my future. Yeah, there's another person with an umbrella. It's just too many others. Another one. Too many people that just have umbrellas at the ready. It's eerie.

But right now, it's pretty nice. There's some clouds, but they're nice fluffy clouds and beautiful blue sky. It's looking pretty good. So I got a plan. I got an adventure. So it's funny how this came up. Obviously my ultimate adventure is Yangminsha National Park. Now that I'm saying that. Now that I'm saying that out loud.

I'm up in Edmund. It's only noon. From what I can gather, it would take me about two hours to get to Yangminsha. And then two hours to get up it.

Huh? Huh? Because my other plan will also take me about two hours to get to. But maybe I should. I've been having such a hard time with my sleep schedule lately. And it's just been tough to get up early and go to bed at a reasonable time.

Last night I went to bed at four in the morning, but that's a reasonable time compared to seven or eight in the morning. Yeah, maybe. Maybe today I should go to the National Park. It's not going to get better than this. I'm awake early enough. The weather's good. I mean, again, I might get rained on. But I don't know what to do about that.

Anyway, the other plan is a place called Queen's Head. And it's way over to the east of the National Park on the east coast of Taipei. And it's this part of the land that like juts out from the coast. And it seems pretty cool. And there's a bus that goes there that is, you know, takes a while. But it seems pretty doable. But I'm thinking now all of a sudden, like, hmm, because that's the kind of thing that I could get started a little later in the day because it doesn't really matter.

If the sun's going down when I'm at the Queen's Head, because I just got to get on a bus and come back. I guess stay tuned. I'm coming up to a subway station here. I guess we'll see, right? I guess we'll just see where I go.

But those are the two prime suspects for adventure. The Queen's Head and Yangminshan National Park. I can't remember the name of the main peak here in Taipei, but it starts with a queue. So I sure am sure I can figure it out when I get there. The queue one.

All right, Yangminshan, it is. So this has been a pretty easy journey. Because the Queen's Head place seems really cool. And I'm going to go there for sure at some point. But it is a way longer bus ride, big long bus ride, way across to the eastern side of Taipei. 5:00 Where this one, man, no problem. So I went to Beethoven station, B-O-U-B-E-I-T-O-U. And then from there, I believe there's like a shuttle bus that comes up here. But yeah, I wasn't quite sure where to catch it. And it seems like it comes a lot less frequently. Same thing with Queen's Head. They both have shuttle buses. But I don't know how much it matters because Taipei just really isn't that big. So in this case, I took the 2.30, just happened to get there just in time. Just in the perfect time, went across the street to a family mart, bought some water, some dried fruit, just as the bus was leaving. And the buses, they're kind of like smaller, sort of, not quite half size, but not quite three quarter size. But anyway, smaller buses, which seems appropriate because it was a little bit full as we left. But by the time we got up here, it was me, two other, whitey white tourists, and one Asian lady, and that was it on the bus. And yeah, it didn't take too long. What time is it now? It's only 1.30 right now.

So this whole journey took me an hour and a half, not too shabby.

Man, there are a ton of buses up here, mountain of buses. And it was kind of cool because, yeah, I mean, again, like I said, Taipei is pretty small. So as we were going along, we got up to the sulfur, sulfur pit, what's it actually called? The sulfur springs. And it was a lot cooler in a bus, really, than it was getting there on foot because you just get to go buy and look down into it and you see the sulfur spewing up out. Whereas when I got there on foot, it was a very awkward, uncomfortable walk because I had to walk down one of these little super narrow mountain roads where there's no real pedestrian space. A lot nicer to just stop by on a bus and then I could have got off if I wanted to, but I kept on going. And then you go up and up and up into the mountains. And I was like, you know, this is so weird because I've been here, like I'm connecting back up to where I've been on foot. But how is this possible? Like I'm way up in these mountain roads, looking down at these amazing views of Taipei, but this is a different route than I took before. But then it all connected up where I realized I was going past the mountain with the really cool view of Yanminshan with the area where they planted all the cherry trees for the emperor back in the day.

Shemoushan? Yeah, that's the one. Shemoushan. Where when you come out at the southern end, I was like, oh, this is actually a bit awkward, this weird little road that I'm on. Well, I was on that weird little road now on a bus and then that connected up to how I had first gotten there, which was the top of the Tianmins Trail with the area with all the monkeys. Anyway, it all connects up and now I'm back at, for some reason, a post office is like the most prevalent thing around here. I'm glad I bought, I mean, it's a little town, but I'm glad I bought convenience store snacks and water before I got here because I don't know there must be somewhere around here that you can buy that stuff, but I don't know where. So anyway, from here, there's a little tunnel that goes under a road that I explored when I was up here last time that then leads into the National Park. So I guess that's where I'm going. I'm going back. And I mean, I guess the main thing here is like the peak, the big main peak. But there's so many weird little items and stuff on the map and it is a whole National Park. I have a feeling the peak, you know, if I just do the peak, hey, that's great, I can check it off the checklist. But this does seem like the kind of thing that there's bound to be a lot more stuff, a lot more areas to check out, a lot more stuff to do. And yeah, it was super easy to get here. No problem at all. Nice and quick, nice and fast, nice and easy. Sweet. It's actually kind of a nice feeling being back here, like it's cool that I got here on foot, like I did this. Sort of, this is a little bit like when I was walking around the outside of Jeju. And you know, I would just take the bus back to where I ended off the day before. So technically, technically, I walked the whole outside, but in pieces, this kind of feels that way too. Like I would feel kind of disconnected if I had come straight here. I mean, I'm not saying you can't do that. It's fine. But it's just neat that I have a way better sense of where I actually, like where this bus actually took me. It's like, oh, there's the sulfur spring. I was there. Oh, here's the bottom of, looks up in name, impossible to remember. Shamayoshan. It's like, oh, I've been here too. And now I'm right back here at this little bus stop bus depot, where I also was. This is the day I saw a monkey speaking of monkeys. It's right after I saw a monkey. I came here. So now I'm just continuing on, continuing on the journey.

And yeah, early in the day, still very clear. This is an idiot's last words, but everything seems like it's going pretty well. I don't know how, how could this go too badly? And this peak pretty high up. A thousand meters, almost 1100, I guess. But it really all depends on just the setup. How things are laid out. I mean, 500 meters in Okutama is terrifying because it's so steep and it's just straight up and straight down. Where theoretically, if a thousand is a little more gradual, it won't feel like a thousand. It won't feel like a big deal at all. So, let's see. Let's see if that's true.

All right, I'm at the Yangman Shan visitor center. So the trailhead to Mount Kixing should be around here somewhere.

That's the Q, the Q mountain, Q-I-X-I-N-G, much like an arcade game from the late 70s.

When did Kix come out? Was it the 70s of the 80s? It feels like a 70s game.

All right, yeah, this appears to be the entrance, but let's doodle for a moment because this is going to be, I assume this is going to be up.

The whole way from here on in, you are here. Mount Kixing, East Peak and Main Peak.

Shit, yeah, 117 or 1120. So about 1100, but again, I don't know where I am right now. I don't know what the prominence is based on where I am right now, but I'm pretty high up in the mountains. I'm certainly not at zero. That's for fucking sure.

No, here we go. Nice, okay, yeah, this is one of these things that I don't remember seeing this type of thing. Well, I did see a map like that once in Seoul on the way up. The first time I went up the side of Buchansen, there was like a side view map of how steep it got. So there's one here, Clinometric map. So from Yangminshan bus station, which I assume is where I am, because yeah, there are also, I've noticed bus stops around here. So you could not that it was far from where I was, but there is a bus that goes even a little farther, if you want to come straight here. 400 meters, I'm at already. So yeah, that's not bad at all. I only got six or seven hundred more to go. That's totally normal. I've done this before. Should be no biggie, but it did rain just a little bit. And I do remember seeing on the weather website today that the heat warning has finally passed. That official heat warning is gone. However, today it did say extreme humidity. And I wasn't noticing that too much until the little bit of rain sprinkled down. And yeah, now I am sweating like crazy. It is humid town. So, however, I got two bottles of water and a bottle of tea. I should be fine, but it's going to be, it's going to be a little rough.

But we're here.

It's early in the day. This seems pretty likely that this is going to go all right. Oh, and I guess specifically, I met Mount Kicks and Hiking Trail Miao Pu Entrance, M-I-A-O-P-U. So yeah, I mean, it is a big ass mountain. I'm sure you can approach from any sides. Miao Pu. But anyway, a couple little things I noticed out washroom related, weirdly. There's a lot of ants around here, tons of little ants. But it's funny that down by where I first stopped, by the post office, the washroom down there, it did have a nice western-style toilet. But for some reason, there were ants all over it. I've never seen that before, just crawling all over the seat and all over the toilet itself. I don't know what they found on the toilet. Something led them up there, and they're excited about it. I mean, I don't know. I guess the obvious thing would be, like, maybe ants like to eat poop. But I've never seen that before. And the toilet seemed fine. It didn't seem like some kind of gross toilet. So I don't know. It was weird. But then I found sort of a unisex washroom, so I used that instead. I'm like, oh, nice, because I don't want to fight the ants. And then up here at the visitor center, I didn't even need to use the washroom again. I just stopped into wash my hands, because there was no soap down the hill. But I noticed here, there's a couple squat toilets, of course. But then there were a couple of western-style toilets, but I've never seen this either. They were labeled Muslim Friendly. And I know nothing about being a Muslim. Not anything, like literally pretty much nothing. So I thought maybe is that just, I don't know, 15:00 or you just not meant to squat? Is that not cool? Or do they need to have western-style toilets? But then I saw it had a little cartoon of the bidet thing, the little cartoon water spraying, a little cartoon, but I was like, oh, maybe that's what it means. Maybe it's totally not acceptable to not... That seems more likely. Like, maybe you don't need a bidet specifically, but it's probably seems like it'd be uncouth, maybe, to not wash your butt after you use the bathroom. I feel like every culture should feel like that. I don't know why North America doesn't.

But I don't remember ever really seeing a bidet in Taipei. They're pretty rare in South Korea, and yet I don't think I saw any here. So I did go in to take a little gander since no one else was around anyway. I'm like, let me explore. Let me check this out. So it's not like a bidet attachment like they have in Japan, or very occasionally in Korea. It was just like a little garden hose attached to the wall. And it's like, all right, well, I guess. I guess so. I guess that'll do. I would not complain better than nothing. But yeah, Muslim friendly. I've never seen that before. It's a bit interesting.

All right. Yang Min-shan Scout Center. It keeps saying, like, entrance and trailhead. But I don't know. I'm just walking along a road. I'm still not actually sure that I'm going the right way.

Well, there's some green dotted lines coming up ahead of me on Google Maps. Yeah, man. There's bus stops all along here.

Cool.

But yeah, heading toward a green dotted line and walking up shore signs of going up a mountain.

And it is distinctly more overcast now. So I guess that could be how this could fail. If it hits a level of rain that is uncool, that could be a problem.

Here we go. A bunch of locals that are properly equipped with bags and stuff. And some other foreigners just walked by me who didn't have shit, just like me. Let's go. Yeah, I did just always assume, especially based on South Korea, that like hiking poles, you probably should have those if you're a serious hiker, because everybody has them. But they really don't work for me, even on Bukhonson, which was really steep and rough sometimes. My bad shoulder, it just doesn't work well to transfer the weight onto my shoulders with hiking poles. But also, I mean, they can kind of help you keep your balance and stuff if you want to stay standing upright. But I really have found that even on Bukhonson in the winter, even some of the like snowy parts that were quite steep, I found the on all fours method just worked better. Instead of using hiking poles as extended hands, just crouch down and use your hands. And it's just like a lot more flexible. You can grip stuff. And you're lower to the ground. Your head is just down by the ground. You can't really fall when you're in a crab position. And poles get in the way of the crabbing. So yeah, I'm actually not a big fan of hiking poles.

But all right, it looks like I'm on the trail for real. Wish me luck.

So I'm almost halfway. This is kind of handy because there's a little distance signs.

So it's 2.4 kilometers distance wise from the bus. And there's little markers here and again, but of course it's uphill the whole way. So you know, 2.5 kilometers, not that bad of a walk. Just uphill. Just upstairs the whole time. But it is. Stairs the whole time. It's mostly big stone steps. And then occasionally if it gets a little flatter and mudier, there's kind of like wooden slats to walk on.

But yeah, it really is, I guess I should have expected this because everything has been very developed in Taipei in general. This is the most developed for hiking out of South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. I didn't think South Korea could be beat. It was extremely well developed hiking there, but Taiwan, it's even more so. And it's, you know, I've run into some people. I've probably passed eight people or so. 20:00 Coming back down, which it really makes Mount Takau so crazy. The more I think about it, what a weird, because this is also, I mean, like I said, there's a bus stop. A bunch of bus stops and a big lodge and there was a cafe down at the bottom. And now it's just steps the entire way up. I mean, I understand why Mount Takau is popular. You know, there's not a ton of mountains, I guess, accessible from Tokyo. And it has an express train that goes right there. But it was so busy. It was fucking insane. Like, I think it really is like advertising works, you know, if you really make people aware of your mountain, because it's not even close. It's literally hundreds of times busier than any other mountain I've ever been on in my life. What a strange place. Because yeah, this feels comparable, you know, very easy to access, maybe not as easy to access. And it's obviously, Taipei's a much smaller metropolitan center than Tokyo. I mean, I guess it's like a number of variables that all add up. But I just feel like it shouldn't have added up like it did on Takau. Takau was so fucking nuts. This is still basically me by myself. Just some people here and there. I did see a mountain dog part way up who wasn't looking too bad. His fur could have used a little, a little brush in. And he seemed very nice and stuff. He didn't, you know, mind me walking by. But I'm not sure how domesticated these mountain dogs are, you know, I wouldn't want to try to actually pet it or touch it just in case. But I did wish I had something to feed it. Where I know you're not supposed to feed the animals, you know, it's not a good thing to do. Like the raccoons on Mount Royal and Montreal that aren't scared of people at all and are overweight. And it's like a serious problem. Speaking of the devil, here's some people coming down. Let me let them pass. Another guy with hiking poles, you certainly, certainly do not need hiking poles here. It's just steps. But yeah, I don't know again. Other people. Oh, I'm exactly halfway. 1.2 kilometers of 2.4. But yeah, I think other people just have better shoulders than me. I have one of my shoulders in particular. It's very bad. Redestributing the weight is a terrible plan for me, but I guess maybe it's good for other people. Even if you don't need the actual hiking pole, you know, utility, maybe just that weight distribution is better. I don't know.

Oh, and here's a little, my first fork in the road. So, now kicks in main peak.

And Langshoe Kang. I don't know what that is. L-E-N-G-S-H-U-I-K-E-N-G.

But it looks like it's going back down. So no, thank you. But yeah, I know you're not supposed to feed the wild animals, but it does feel different with dogs. You know, it's a dog. But all I had was I actually should have, I should have ate more. When I stopped in a family yard, I should have snacked on something there. I didn't really think too. As soon as I started hiking up, my belly was like, hey, by the way, asshole. I'm going to hike up a mountain. Why are you eating something? So I ate my little dried mangoes that I bought, but all I had left were just like these kind of dried candied lemon, or maybe it's lime. I don't know. Not really an appropriate thing to feed a dog. And I mean, I need those. But I kind of wish I had some like kibble or something, some dog food. But again, I'm sure I'm not supposed to be feeding him. He didn't seem in terrible shape. And you know, like I said, this is near a bunch of bus routes. And people are going by all day. I mean, if it's appropriate to feed the dogs, I'm sure other people have got it covered. But yeah, it's just hard to shake. That's a dog. You know, that's supposed to be in your house. That's man's best friend. Oh, here is some, there's all these, you know, the little informational plaques. They're still popping up. There was one about various, just that there's unique flora on the, oh, it mentions specifically too, that just the way that this peak is set up, this side of the mountain, it's very humid all the time. And here's one about animals that live here. Redbellied tree squirrel, harvest mouse, bandicoot rat, and foremost in giant flying squirrel. I don't know that I've ever seen a flying squirrel in my life or if I have, I guess I wouldn't know because if it's not in the act of flying, I wouldn't know what it's doing.

But yeah, despite the fact that there's this one branch here, this one fork in the road, 25:00 generally this is just a trail straight up to the top without any other real options to go anywhere. So it's interesting because if you just look on Google maps to this national park, like there's a lot of things that pop up, different areas. But I have a feeling kind of for each goal, I think you'd have to specifically chart a course and plan to go to that place. Because yeah, once you're on a mountain, you're on a mountain.

And it makes sense that there's just this one trail because obviously they don't want people fucking up the ecology. So it's like just stay on the trail. Don't go wanderin' all around.

So for today, yeah, I do suspect this is the plan. Just up to this peak and maybe there'll be another way down or maybe it'll be just back down this way. But yeah, this is pretty doable, pretty easy. It's kind of nice too, just because you know, these other mountains were more severe, but I never technically made it all the way to a peak on Bukance, and I probably never will, because those peaks are insane. And I never made it up Halasen on Jeju, and that one again, probably will never happen because it's 2,000 meters, and it's basically an actual 2,000 meters, you know, because that island, you know, is just an island. You start pretty close to the water.

Here's some more people. And yeah, you had to plan it in advance and blah, blah, blah, as I described when I was there. But I have been hit in this kind of run where whatever the biggest mountain is around, I don't go there. I don't quite make it. Or even something like in Okutama, you know, I went up a 500 meter mountain there and got scared, I freaked the fuck out, but all the mountains around it were way way bigger. So yeah, I don't have a history of making it to whatever the biggest mountain is, so it helps that here, the biggest mountain ain't that big. And yeah, this is nice and easy, this is so doable. Oh wow, this is kind of reminding me of some of those mountains on Jeju where there's a distinct mist line. I can see it. I'm right beneath it right now. I'm sure I won't be able to see it as I get into it. But yeah, you can really tell. Oh yeah, now I can see the mist like I can visibly see it moving in the air like blowing gently past. Wow. And so whatever elevation I met now, this is exactly where the mist starts. That's fucking eerie, man. Here's another little trail, Mount Kixin main peak, East Peak, or Kixin Park.

What the hell is Kixin Park? It's another name I didn't look up by the way, so I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right. I mean, here's a map. You are here. East Peak, main peak, Kixin Park. I mean, it has a washroom, but I don't really think I need a washroom. I think I'm okay. Oh, and there's what this Langshire Kang thing is. It's just another trail entrance from the east side of the mountain. Yeah, this is pretty nuts, man, because yeah, Kixin really is right in the middle. So yeah, it's like weird to look at this map and just how quickly, yeah, there's the trail entrance, like how quickly I'm already like a third of the way, or a quarter maybe, but a decent amount of the way through this national park already. It's like, wow, so small, man, Taipei is so tiny. And yeah, so it seems like that Langshire Kang, that could be an alternate way down. That looks pretty good. Maybe I'll take that just for a change of scenery, even though I'm sure to look roughly the same, because then the other option is to keep going north to Shaoyu Kang Trail. And there are buses and stuff up there, but that looks a lot more, you know, nowhere's built. That's not near civilization. Yeah, cool, and it's got that cleanometric map. Okay, so where am I now? I'm at 600 meters now. So yeah, it's 600 meters. Maybe not every day, but the way things are today, this is exactly where the mist starts.

Crazy. Very, very weird looking. Hello. And there's a distance and time map. Wow, yeah, it's got how long it takes to get to all these places. This is like the best map I've ever seen in my life. And here's the notice for tourists. Okay, when hiking a trail, consider your own physical condition. Plan accordingly. Treasure our resources. Do not interfere with or harm them. 30:00 Take garbage with you. Airplane going by, but I can't see it, because it's too misty.

Do not field wild animals or stray dogs. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. I did the right thing. Watch out for poisonous snakes and wasps. Watch out for snakes. There's frequent rain in the afternoon. Bring rain gear. I do, in fact, have my umbrella and a disposable, I've been carrying around this disposable raincoat ever since Canada. My mom had it kicking around. She's like somebody, somebody gave it to her, I guess. She's like, maybe you can take this on your travels. And yeah, I still never had to use it, but I got it. If there's a forecast of torrential rains or a typhoon, please keep off the mountains. Good advice, but this is the weird one. Prevent forest fires. Do not burn spirit money or anything else. Is this one of these battle gum situations? Is this something I've never heard of in my life? What is spirit money? I'm going to try translating the Chinese and see how it describes that.

Because if I had to guess, maybe it's something to do with like incense, you know, like if you're doing something spiritual that involves burning, that's the first thing that comes to mind for me. And yeah, obviously you don't want to be doing that shit just in case. But what does the translator say?

Forbidden to burn paper money and any items to prevent forest fires. So that doesn't help a ton, except that I guess they are specifically referring to money. I don't know, is that something people do as an offering or something? You burn money? I was not aware of that, but yeah, it's definitely good advice to not fucking do that for many reasons.

Well, that right then, 600 meters. Mistville now, walking up into the mist. And these really are cool. So it's like these, yeah, just these stone steps really well made, but they are just like made of natural rock. Like you got to appreciate this shit. You know, this is like one of those plant a tree, even if you yourself never get to experience the shade, because future generations will benefit. Like you got to respect the past generations that built this fucking thing. This is awesome. And it's all misty, and it's just going up, going up into the woods till I can't see the end of it. Endless steps. Fucking really beautiful. This is great, man. This is great. I hope I don't get rained on, and like they were saying on that sign, I mean, that's just something you got to expect could happen. There's just no way around it. But this is another for sure worthwhile thing to do while you're here. I don't even care if there's no view at the top. Although I'm sure there is. I mean, if this is this well developed, and it's the most famous peak, it's probably all set up for some kind of grand view, though maybe not today with the mist. But yeah, who cares? Who gives a shit? Views are a dime a dozen in Asia. You can see an amazing view from anywhere. But just this actual trail up the mountain. This is super cool.

All right. I'm only a little further along. I'm only just past the 1.6 marker of the 2.4 kilometers distance to the top, going mega slow. Some people came by and I let them pass me, because I just want to walk slow, because that is going to be my true test for the day. It's like when I first start down at the bottom, I feel pretty tuckered. This is going to be rough. But just like always, as I get going, I get into a nice, comfortable, very slow pace, and then it's not bad. I don't feel winded. My knee doesn't hurt. Everything's great. It really is the way down. As I've said many times, but that's the true mental test of, it's easy to go slow on the way up. It's hard to go slow on the way down, but it so pays off. Man, does it pay off in the not destroying your knees situation? Hello.

But I got to the first open area where I can see out beyond the trees, and I can't see shit. I can't see anything. It is just mist, just clouds out there. But I'm not complaining, because the sun is high in the sky above me, because it's keeping that at bay. It doesn't feel too terrible today. It's kind of a nice breeze even now that I'm in the open air.

And you never know. I mean, this could pass at any time.

I remember on Goonsan on Jeju, even when it was real, that was crazy up there, the swirling mist and stuff. That was like a portal to another dimension, bugs flying around in it. That shit was really weird. Even that house speaking of, there we go. I just saw some mist, mist its way in and flow by. 35:00 That is so eerie. I'll never get used to that. It's so crazy. Yeah, you can just see it. The mist is so thick, I can just see it blowing through these trees and blowing right by in front of me. Man, I just have never seen that in North America in my life. There were some days in Vancouver that were really, really foggy, but only in the very early morning, never in the afternoon. And you could never like see it like this, like just see the physical motion of the mist in the air. But yeah, it's keeping the sun from being too insane. And I'm not getting rained on. That's really all I care about. Just because of the general uncomfortability of rain getting rained on. And because yeah, I'm very motivated to try to keep my boots dry. Now that I got them back to only being semi gross.

See, I can't see nothing out there. It is, it's interesting, even though I'm way up in the sky. I could be, I don't know, I could be on a little hump that's 10 feet tall. And it would look like this on a foggy day. I can't see. It's just weird to know that down there somewhere is all of Taipei. It's like probably the greatest view of all time.

But nope, absolutely nothing. 0% visibility out there. But I don't mind to tell, not complaining. That's just a bonus. And the true bonus is yeah, not getting burnt to a crisp and not getting rained on. So, two out of three ain't bad, man. In fact, I'd say I'm getting two out of two. I'm getting everything you really need. I like views. I like big, cool, crazy views. But they literally are everywhere. Even just on the bus, on the way up here, looking at the window. I was like, wow, those are some views. That is some crazy shit.

So yeah, this is fine. No problem.

And this path, I mean, it's probably partially because of the mist. It makes it look like a movie set. I worked on a movie set once for our TV show set, literally for one day.

It was very weird. It was just like a friend of a friend of a friend. Got me this job on the special effects crew. It was a show called Whistler.

That was about, you know, the ski lodge. But it was filmed.

Is that like Burnaby? It wasn't technically Vancouver, but in that area. So yeah, it was kind of one of those one and a million like I got to be on the special effects crew, helping to make fake snow and stuff for one day. So if it had gone super amazingly, who knows, it could have been my way of warming my way into the movie industry. This was a long time ago, like 2005, 2006.

But the main problem is I didn't have a license and still don't. And that's just not worth it, you know. This was like somebody's farm that they had rented way out in the middle of nowhere. So that day I got picked up and I got a ride there because they just needed somebody that day. But in the long term, me not being able to drive, that's a deal breaker.

But yeah, we worked for hours and hours and I got like, double in a half over time or something, something crazy. And meal penalties and all this stuff. It was like a huge paycheck for one day of work. And it was kind of fun. I kind of like to be in on the special effects team. But it didn't lead to anything. Unfortunately, just the neat thing I got to do for one day. Anyway, at one point they were doing this, like the fog machine stuff. Just so that things in the background would look awesome on the TV show. And that's what this looks like just naturally. So as beautiful as it is automatically, probably also because it's so humid here. So everything's just like a little, little droplets on everything. Everything's like a bit moist. It just kind of makes everything look extra green and extra pretty. And then also the mist. Yeah, it just like gives weight to the air. And the sun shining down through the greenery.

It's fucking pretty.

And there's the traditional siren from somewhere down in the mist.

Well, this is pretty eerie. So I'm at 2.2 kilometers of the 2.4 almost to the end. And I can see various peaks from here, just like a little bit above me. There's a peak. There's another peak. There's another peak. Like, you know, I'm not great with distances, but they're like 20, 30 meters above me. Like very close.

And yeah, it's kind of weird because the weather is all the weather's right now. 40:00 Now I can see blue sky on one side and clouds that are thankfully the big fluffy beautiful clouds are right across the sun right now. That might not last though. And then on the other side is mist. So there's only mist on the east side. And the mist is flowing across these peaks over on that side. But yeah, this is just eerie because I know conceptually, if I'm this close to the top, I'm 1,000 meters up. But I'm almost walking through like the plants are so tall here. There's still the stone path and the stone steps, but the plants are taller than me on either side. So I'm just walking through like a corn rose or like a hedge maze. It almost feels like, but I can see these peaks. Yeah, 0.15 kilometers to the main peak of Mount Kixin.

So it doesn't feel like I'm high up at all, you know. It feels like I'm just by these little 30, 40 meter peaks, but conceptually, I know I'm 1,000 meters up. So that's like weird, but just on a purely like me freaking myself out level. I have zero reason to feel a fear of heights right now. There's nothing, nothing. I'm like in sconce in these tall plants. And I can't see anything but some peaks around me and there's nothing scary looking. But I know beyond those peaks, it goes way down. But it is amazing what difference it can make. Because I mean, I don't actually feel a fear of heights. It's purely just a thing in the back of my mind that is like, well, just probably don't think about that you're 1,000 meters up. But it's real easy not to think about it. Where Okutama's been on my mind just because the way the release schedule of this podcast works, I just put out the episode where I went to Okutama. So it reminded me about that 500 meter mountain with the steps that were almost fucking vertical. And that like being on the top of that mountain, even though it was only half as tall as this, it felt like I was, you know, in an old movie when somebody is standing on a ledge outside a building, you know. Standing on a ledge outside the Empire State Building or something. Waiting for Superman to rescue them or whatever, like it almost felt like that. It felt like I was clinging to the side of a building because that mountain was so steep and so severe. Where this one is so gentle that I'm twice as high up but I don't, I don't feel nothing. I don't feel shit except a strange multi-layered conceptual weirdness. The theory that I'm this high up is a weird feeling.

The actual feeling, no problem. But yeah, it is interesting too how the, now that I'm on the top, the foliage has completely changed.

It is just these really tall plants. Not a lot taller than me, but a little bit taller, so they're seven or eight feet tall on both sides. Now I'm just walking up the stone steps, but now in between. It feels like I'm in Alice in Wonderland or something. I'm just walking through some, again, like a weird hedge maze. It's pretty cool.

Now the mist is drifting in straight on to me. Wow, yeah, weird man, weird stuff.

The yawi, wawi, so I met the top. I made it and real heavy mist now. That thing where I could see blue sky on half the sky and then half mist. It's fully mist again. I wonder if I'd gotten up here a little sooner on that one side that was clear. Would I have been able to see down? I don't know, anyone hanging out here a bit and see if it clears up but I'm not counting on it. But I bet this would be fucking amazing if you could get up here. I don't know how likely it is to get up here on a clear day. It seems pretty unlikely, but there's one of those nice signs. A distant view of mountains and waters in the Taipei Basin. Taipei is a beautiful city thanks to its proximity to mountains and the sea. Yang Menchat National Park, known as Taipei's Backyard, consists of undulating terrain with soaring peaks. And when you climb those peaks, you're rewarded with views of the mountains and seas around the city. Your present location is the peak of the highest mountain in the park, Mount Kixin, which gives you the best vistas of the mountains around the city and the rivers that flow through it. If the weather's clear, your vision will extend to the elevations that define the Taipei Basin, Linku Plateau, and Mount Gianyun to the northwest, and the Dayton volcano group to the north. You will also be able to see the Keelung River and the Shindan River, as they come together to form the huge Dan Shui River, which winds like a serpent to the sea. 45:00 Sometimes, at the extremity of your vision, you might even be able to see Mount Shui, snow mountain. Mount Daba Gian and other high peaks. Try and see how many other places you can identify. And they should hire me. They should have like a little button you can press, so that spurts out. That shit. But anyway, I can't see any of that stuff, but there's a picture of here's what you could see theoretically. And yeah, I bet it's fucking amazing. You can probably see a full panorama. Of course you can, right? It's the highest mountain. What am I talking about? There's nothing in the way. This is the highest it gets, bro. That would be fucking cool. However, like I said today, nothing. Not a goddamn thing. I just missed. But this wasn't that hard to get to. And like I said, the walk itself was fucking great. But I don't know. I don't know. Unless it's like the clearest day of all time. I'm not going to necessarily try to come up here again on a clear day. You know, I'll keep it tucked away in the back of my mind. If there happens to be a day that is like clear out of a small child's birthday wish, then maybe.