Taiwan Revisited 2019, Day 3

My trip continued with another visit to Shifen Waterfalls Park and Maokong Gondola ride.

SHIFEN WATERFALLS PARK
Widely regarded as  most scenic waterfalls in Taiwan, Shifen Waterfalls is 40 meters high and its strong cascades create double rainbow . The waterfall can be reached after a 30 minute walk from the Old Street. 

Prior to reaching the waterfalls, one will cross a suspension bridge where a river runs underneath. 

At the end of the bridge, you will reach a park and view deck  built along the waterfall for a relaxing view. 

Food stalls, dining area, comfort rooms are provided for visitors.

refreshing aiyu lemon jelly juice

sweetened cherry tomatoes

Spend an hour at the waterfall park and return to the Old Town for another leisurely walk.

 Catch the train back to Ruifang and try to get the front seat beside the train driver. The view at the front seat is relaxing.

Direction to Shifen Waterfalls Park

1. Take a train from Taipei main station to Ruifang train station (瑞芳車站)
2. walk to underground to the other side and transfer train to the Pingxi Line (平溪線)
3. Ride train to Shifen train station (十分车站): 1 hour travel time.
4. From the station, walk 20-30 minutes to Shifen Waterfalls. There are English signs along the road, so you won't get lost.

MAOKONG GONDOLA CABLECAR RIDE

Maokong is a picturesque village located at the top of a mountain with breathtaking views of Taipei City. You can reach this place via the Maokong gondola cable car ride. Choose the Crystal Cabins which have glass bottom cars to see the green views below.

 Alight at the third stop and stroll along the road, try street food, and enjoy the city view.

Direction to Maokong Gondola
Take the MRT brown line and alight at Taipei Zoo Station; 10 minute walk to the gondola station. Entrance fees: NT$120 each way for adults, NT$50 for children 6-12 and seniors over 65, with each adult allowed up to 2 children under 6 for free. Easycard can be used to pay the entrance fee.

Day Trip to Heping Island, Keelung

Heping Island , located in northern Taiwan, is a famous tourist attraction. Nature has sculpted  rock formation and coasts have formed  special shapes.The place has the similar kind of mushroom rocks in earthy yellow as in Yehliu.

A swimming pool is built right on the coast line. There is also an outdoor pond, a visitor area and park.
 

Direction to Heping Island
Take the train to TRA Keelung Station, transfer Keelung City Bus (No. 101) $15 to Heping Island Park stop and walk along Ping 1st Rd. 300 meters to Heping Island Park. Entrance Fee:$60

Villa Escudero- A day tour

Villa Escudero Plantations was originally a sugar plantation but converted to coconut plantation. It's a 2.5hour ride by bus from Manila and it is just located after the arc of Tiaong Quezon


The plantation opened its doors as a resort in 1981offering village tours, museum tour, food and accommodations. One can experience Philippine culture and history in a beautiful rural setting.

The reception area is spacious and has this nice lighting in native materials.

After paying the fee at the reception they will give you stubs to the museum, carabao cart and food.. You can start your tour and  proceed first to the church turned museum. Bags and cameras are not allowed inside the museum.  However, smartphone is allowed for calls only and no picture taking or video recording.

A church converted into a museum houses a vast collection of religious artifacts, Chinese porcelain, antique furniture, ethnic clothing and costumes, memorabilia from World War II, clothes of Philippine presidents, butterflies.

After the museum, you will ride a carabao driven cart complete with singing female staff accompanied by a guitar played by a male staff. You will pass some rice fields and coconut trees and arrive at the pathway to the waterfalls where you will have your lunch.

They also have bamboo rafting activity. Labasin lake is about 30ft deep and you need to have a vest when doing the activity.

Two new large swimming pools are also available to adult guests. There is a small pool and water activities for the kids.

The resort is perfect for nature lovers; it is clean and well kept and lots of greeneries.

How to get to Villa Escudero:

Public Ride
Take a bus bound for Lucena at Buendia MRT station. Fare is Php140. Tell the conductor to drop you off Villa Escudero. Cross the main road and ride a tricycle to take you to the resort. Fare is Php50

Private Car
Drive all the way to Sto Tomas Batangas, turn left at the junction , drive all the way towards Quezon, passing SM City Lucena. Slow down upon seeing the Arc to Tiaong , turn left on the marker of the resort. Follow the dirt road to the reception.

Chasing Waterfalls - Aliw Falls, Laguna 2017

For our chasing waterfalls activity, we went to Aliw Falls in Lousiana, Laguna on May 1, 2017 which is a public holiday.

We hopped on a JAC Liner bus at their Buendia terminal. Bus bound for Sta Cruz Laguna cost Php140. Passing thru Pansol, Calamba , we encountered a stop and go traffic due to influx of people to the hot spring resorts. Took us at least 3 hours getting to Sta Cruz. From Sta Cruz, we hopped on to a Lucban bound jeepney. Fare is 30 pesos if I remembered it right. We told the driver to drop us at Dafi Resort in Brgy San Jose which is our jump off point. We passed by Brgy San Salvador where Hulugan Falls is located. You can do Aliw Falls after Hulugan Falls as the distance between the two barangays is about a kilometer.

From the main road, you need to walk around 50 meters to get to Dafi Resort.

We saw parking space for at least 5 cars. We registered at the resort for our trek to the falls.

There is no fixed registration fee just a donation. We donated Php100. We were assigned a guide. His name is Danny. There is no fixed guide fee. Fee is from your heart whatever you feel is right. We decided to give our guide Php400.

The trek to Aliw Falls is fairly easy, path is not steep unlike at Hulugan Falls with 70-80 degrees angle. Kuya Danny's children can even negotiate the rocks by themselves.

The path is shady, lots of bamboo trees and there are patches of rice fields.  Our hike was more or less 20 minutes. The trail is dry and easy to navigate with some gentle slopes. Wearing a sturdy and no slip shoes is advisable especially during rainy season.  Upon reaching the waterfalls, we noticed that the cascades was not strong simply because it was in the middle of summer. However, Kuya Danny has advised his fellow guides to open the dam located on top of the waterfalls. And the cascades slowly began to pour more. According to Kuya Danny, during summer time, they collect the water atop the waterfalls so that when visitors come in summer there would be strong cascades. This way the visitors would enjoy the cool cascading waters.

The catch basin is about 17 foot deep. Need to have floaters in case you dont know how to swim like me. Also, you can jump from one of the cliffs onto the basin.

Our guide showed the path to the second tier which has a little steep angle but still manageable. At the second tier, we enjoyed the strong water falling on our heads. It was so refreshing.

At the third tier lies flat surface. The area is safer and you can roam around. There are small wading holes where you can just dip and relax.

We spent 3 hours at the waterfalls. We went back to the resort to bathe and change clothes. Shower fee is Php15 and toilet fee P5.

We left the resort and headed to the main road and there are stalls selling rice cakes.
We bought 3 pieces sticky rice cakes topped with cheese for Php100

We were very delighted going to Aliw Falls. It's off our bucket list.  Till our next waterfalls