Jing Mei, Xanji Hiking trailHike

JingMei, Xanji  Hike

 It's surprising to find such a nice hiking trail in the middle of Taipei.

From the JingMei stop on the Taipei MRT, their is a good map to the hiking trail.

 Taipei is located in bowl surrounded by mountains, but the Xanji hiking trail, located in the JingMei neighborhood of Taipei, is on a ridge elevated from the bottom of the bowl. To the left and right of the trail are the built up sections of Taipei.

 

Even the tallest building in Taipei can be seen from the ridge.

  The hiking trail is more than just an exercise route, it is a nature trail with educational plaques and wildlife:

a religious pilgrimage with temples:

and a literary excursion with poems along the way:

The trail is in good shape with rough granite hewed stone the whole way, is can be wet but is not slippery.

 There is plenty of beautiful nature along the way.

Although I went twice in the morning in the past 2 weeks, I was struck my the lack of bird calls. I think this because of the feral cats that I saw along the trail.

Universal Charger

At a local market in JingMei, I bought this charger. From a computer USB port you can charge up 10 different devices! It cost 80 NT that's about $2.75.

Also this year the postal rate for airmail to the US changed from 13NT to 15NT. So an airmail to the US now costs about the same as the first class letter in the US.

My eyes

My eyes are getting better, I can now almost read a newspaper without a magnifying glass.