Taipei and Yangmingshan
When: December 2019 Weather: Cool 15C
Leica M10P 35mm summilux and Nikon P900
A brief visit to Taipei saw us make a visit up Yangmingshan, a hilly reserve just outside Taipei….my only memory from a previous visit was that the traffic up and down was terrible and that it wasn’t a very outing at all…this time, our friends brought us up by an old winding road round the back which many gritty cyclists were using and the traffic was not an issue at all….much more pleasant!
Different routes up Yangmingshan
Entrance to the Park
Early wintry colours in the hills
the path from the carpark leads to a pretty waterfall
and a pretty garden..
and a flower clock
heading up from the flower clock there is a palatial looking tourist shop…
outside which there is a walking path/road where we saw a few birds…
the grey treepie was the first bird to show
grey treepie
the light vented bulbul was very easily seen
light vented bulbul
A black bulbul also made an appearance
the white eyes were busy and very hard to shoot….
and several times I saw this flash of green overhead…
the beautiful Taiwan Barbet
The Taiwan barbet is called the 5 coloured bird in Mandarin….
on our way down, we stopped for some excellent sesame oil chicken noodles squatting by the roadside, doing what the locals do
We’d been recommended this place for a seafood lunch and we had a great time there….
But as it happens, this place was also a very nice place to view the airplanes coming in to land and taking off from the Taipei City airport (not Taoyuan International Airport) …from the roof of the building where the seafood place was, we got some nice shots and also from the ground just next to the runway…
You can see the beautiful old Grand Hotel from the rooftop
and we soon heard a plane coming in
nearer and nearer..
until it was almost on top of the Grand Hotel!
almost within touching distance as it came in to land….
a turbo prop this time
and another jet
showing the wear the tyres get on landing
Taipei 101 is also visible from the same rooftop
and here the plane flying right over our heads to land
A European magpie also liked to watch the planes
we ended the day with a most enjoyable walk through the Flower market under the arches …always an uplifter
So a day in which my hopes hadn’t been too high turned out pretty interesting in the end with a few decent sightings…..
The Natural Traveller 