It is Spring time in Taiwan but raining nearly every day and more like a mild winter season. Yesterday the forecast was for a cloudy/sunny day so I decided to go to Yangminshan National Park which is nearby to Taipei and easily accessed by MRT and bus. One advantage of visiting Taiwan as often as I have is to find Taiwanese friends who speak good English and are very willing to go on day trips. This is very helpful because although not impossible and it is difficult to get lost in places like Yangminshan it is a big advantage and time saving to have a local traveling with you. I also like the companionship and don't mind a good looking 20yo local guy happy to spend time with me and pay his own way. It is rare to find a money boy in Taiwan, just mostly nice guys who like foreigners for fun and friendship.
I have seen a different guy every day I have been here for the last week for free fun. Good looking guys 20yo to 27yo, no stunners so far like on previous visits but good for my retiree budget. If you are an older guy looking for sex with a hot younger guy you would be better to visit Thailand and rent some fun. I will always visit Thailand for its obvious attractions but am so happy that I have spent more time in Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam in the last two years.
February and March is Calla Lily season in Yangminshan and there were many cherry trees still in blossom. We caught the small R8 bus from Shipai MRT to Yangming Park which is a separate park inside of Yangminshan National Park to view the cherry blossoms. There is also a temple, flower clock, fountain and other attractions inside of Yangming Park and various food stalls if you like to have a snack or lunch there. It took 30 minutes to get to the park on the bus and no entrance fee.
We then caught the 131 bus from Yangming Park to Zhuzihu, also inside of Yangminshan and took 15 minutes to arrive at the Calla Lily farms and to try one of the many restaurants. You pay 100-200NTD ($4-8AU) to enter a farm and can pick some flowers to take home with you. If you just want to view the farm you can pay 30NTD or walk around one of the free trails to see the thousands of Calla Lilly flowers. My Taiwanese friend informed me that the local food was inexpensive and very fresh.
After eating lunch and walking around the trails and farms we then walked up the road to Dinghu where we found much larger Calla Lily farms and more beautiful scenery. The photo below was a very cheerful farmer at Dinghu posing for photos for the tourists for no charge. Just a very happy and nice guy.
Those are not rain clouds in the photo below but fumaroles emitting steam and gases from the mountains.
We spent about five hours at Yangminshan and were fairly tired after a lot of walking. When the park is busy in flower season it can be a long wait to get a bus later in the afternoon but fortunately we only waited 10 minutes for the large 260 bus which goes all the way to the Taipei Main Station from Yangminshan. We decided to transfer from the bus at Shilin MRT station for a faster trip back to my room. Yangminshan National Park is huge and I try to see something new there whenever I visit Taiwan.
