So it was a rainy day, the skies were like crying, tears kept dropping on us all and everyone were staying home. Taiwan was at the midst of level 3 of Covid-19 regulations and restrictions, travel sites were all closed, coffee shops, restaurants, nothing really functioned.
Where can you possibly go...? I tried to keep myself optimistic and yearned for some joyful moments to fill myself with until a sudden urge popped into my heart, I could almost hear Nature calling me out to go pay a visit, enjoy a walk and breath some of its fresh air.
After examining the options I discovered there's a nice place which is not even closed or blocked for a visit since it is simply in the midst of Nature! And guess what at some stage it even stopped raining so I could enjoy of it more, explore the plants and flowers growing there in their fullest.
Zhi Shan Yan 芝山岩- Hiking Trail, Taipei!! Is an amazing little piece of nature, only 15 minutes walk from Zhi Shan MRT station, but you can make it much faster if you take a ride on Ubike. So you get to have double fun all in one tour. Upon reaching the site, you will see a trail that circles the base of the mountain's hill, and you can actually climb it all on (numbered) stairs, yes yes, 228 steps for you to go to the top. Good luck with that!
Once you reach the top, just like with any top, you get to see the real beauty...a beautiful temple with ancient polls around it and Chinese characters carved on them, so if you can't read it all yet, let me translate one of them for you cause it really left a strong impression on me: “忍得一时无事故“ (Rěn dé yīshí wú shìgù) is a Chinese saying talking about "Ren" which is the quality of tolerance and endurance, whenever we encounter some trouble or problem we shouldn't urge to react or be too impulsive nor to conclude anything too fast but instead take a breath and a step back to see the bigger picture, as the situation might be totally different than what we think.
Zhi Shan Yan is a great spot to go visit, especially if you're looking for a nice quiet place to go travel at without going too far while in Taipei. It has countless of paths to walk on, explore nature and historical site all together, and who knows maybe even get to learn some Chinese, after all it is filled with ancient Chinese scripts carved on polls all around. Oh and once you do decide to go and wish to have a local to accompany you feel free to let me know, as long as its Nature, I never say no. See you there! :)
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