First stop: Qingtiangang Grassland
After a while, I noticed we were going up something. From what I know, the first place we were going to was a “park”. Turns out, it’s a nice place up top. And “Yangmingshan National Park” is comprised of a whole lot of attractions – and a lot of gaps in between each of them. Whew, glad I’m on a curated tour again. No rawdogging this travel! And great it’s on a car as well.
However, I was mighty worried with the weather. It was getting a little bit shady outside from what I’m seeing in the car. The Taipei weather seemed so far away – the little hope that the Taipei sun gave me and my freshly-washed pair of pants were gone. All cloudy. The tour did explicitly say that “some attractions might need to be skipped because of capacity or weather conditions”. Capacity was no issue – small number of tourists in our group. Weather was the potential stinker, and it could whack everything and we just have to freestyle the trip itinerary. Oh well, fingers crossed.
So, first stop on the big Yangmingshan area was the Qingtiangang Grassland. From what I heard from our tour guide Xiao Hei, it’s atop an old lava plateau/terrace. Lots of grasslands. It’s also a popular hiking trail for locals. And if we’re lucky, we might get to see some water buffaloes.
So our tour guide found a convenient parking spot near the first set of stairs, and we all got out of the car. Funny that we all kind of stretched ourselves when we got out. I noticed the sky went a bit darker than I’d prefer, so using my well-honed gut feel from years riding on EDSA, I wore my jacket on, waterproof-side out. I felt it would drizzle us a bit later. Anyway, it was cold outside, so the jacket helped with some warmth. Once we all got out there, our tour guide led us to the top. Just a short climb up.
It’s a fantastic view up top right away. And funny thing was, it soon became apparent that the place was 100% a water buffalo grazing spot even if I haven’t spotted one yet. The faint yet familiar smell of cow poop was in the air. It was also windy and cold that morning, so the smell was mixed with the smell of the grasslands.
I was familiar with it, nostalgically. Childhood years’ summers spent in my father’s hometown province of Isabela made me familiar and well-acquainted with barnyard smells and sights. Big cow poop cakes on the streets there was “normal”. Some even used well-dried prepped poop cakes as fire fuel (although I knew they mixed it with wood shavings).
So once we were all at the top, our tour guide Xiao Hei gave us a brief tour spiel of the place, and instructions as well. We have a good hour or so to enjoy the place at our own leisure – we just have to be back down at the carpark by 11am. Sweet, then. I prepped my camera stick, and started snapping shots away. Place was beautiful. Shame the weather wasn’t that good, but WCYD.
But as I expected, the rain came. Initially it was a light shower, very small drops so I didn’t have to bring out the umbrella, just popping the hoodie over my cap sufficed. However, the rain got a lot more wet.
There was a handy visitor shed near the main upward trekking area, so I went in briefly to prep my umbrella a bit. And take pictures as well.
After a good few minutes of snapping around the area, the rain stopped and I had no need of the umbrella anymore. Oh well. But I had a decision to make: up or nah.
I looked at my watch. It’s around 25 minutes to 11am. I looked up longingly, but I knew, time was firmly never on my side. I could’ve climbed up, spectacular views and all, but climbing up and down that shit is at least 15 minutes, excluding snapshot time. It took me around 20 minutes of walking (and taking pictures) from the pole marker near the parking stairway earlier to get to the shed. I’d certainly miss the tour guide’s call time. I decided to bail going further up this trail. I climbed up a bit for more nice shots, then turned around and walked back to the start.
The views going back wasn’t bad either. Thank God this place wasn’t a hedonistic tourist trap. I already saw why this place was perfect for casual hiking – the place was just as green and nice as possible. So naturally, I went snap-happy, click and shoot pictures as much as I could. And the middle point where the trail upward was a good enough stopping point – it still offered great views of the city, wide greens, and picturesque views of the other areas. And yeah, the smell of cow cakes. But strangely, it smelled homely to me. As I said before, it reminded me of childhood vacations to the province.
I had way more shots taken, but these should suffice.
By the time I got back to the parking lot, same as the previous day, I was the first one back, aside from our tour guide Xiao Hei who was already there chatting with another tour guide. Three minutes to 11am. Good enough, but I feel a more heavier kind of rain later, it’s cold. But maybe it’s also because we’re up high here. My hands were a bit dirty, so I washed them at the nearest restroom before going back and re-boarding the car.
And 5 minutes after call time, the rest of the group were able to be back and accounted for. Not much rewards for punctuality other than silent pride. I’d rather be very early than to eat shame as a group straggler. Once we were all onboard, Xiao Hei drove us to our next stop.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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