Taiwan Day 190: W for Wulai - March 9, 2014

I went to Wulai on a rainy Sunday. Wulai is a district in New Taipei City and can be reached using the MRT. It was my first time to ride the Taipei Metro until the MRT Xindian Station which is the last station of the Tamsui Line on the south of Taipei. I was with a Filipino friend on this trip. He bought a new Pentax camera worth around NTD 10,000 and he wants to test his new camera so he joined my adventure. I told him that instead of buying gadgets he can just give the money to those in need like me. lol

From Taipei Main Station, we transferred trains to board the Tamsui Line going to Xindian. I looked carefully on LED screen of the train because the destination might be the Elephant Mountain Station of the Xiangshan Line which I visited in Taiwan Day 100. It took around 30 minutes to reached the Xindian Station and then we waited for another 20 to 30 minutes for Bus 849 which will take us to Wulai District.

It was not an easy ride as the bus was full people. I highly recommend for female tourist to just take a taxi when going to Wulai from MRT Xindian. Although it will cost them a lot, it will be more convenient as they don't need to stand for 30 to 45 minutes in the entire bus ride. While we are waiting for the bus a taxi driver was shouting that the fare for Wulai is NTD 150 per person. Three Taiwanese women got the services of that taxi driver. When they were inside the taxi the bus that everybody was waiting came. The one way bus fare was NTD 15 and I just used my EasyCard. You don't have to be in Wulai to start you adventure. The bus ride will give you a fantastic views of a raging river while the bus was moving on the side of a cliff.

Upon reaching Wulai, we took some pictures in a hanging bridge. It was 15 degrees Celsius and the clouds were covering the mountains. The raindrops were as thin as needles so it was still fine not to use my umbrella. After taking pictures, we went to the Atayal Tribal Museum. The Atayals are one of the aboriginal people in Taiwan. It is very important to me that I should know something about the place that I am visiting especially the people living in that area. Usually tourist go to places without actually trying to learn the history of the place. I believed that learning the history, culture and art of a place is a sign of respect to the people living in that area.

Like any other museums in Taiwan I noticed that the New Taipei City government invested a lot of money in the displays inside the museum. In my opinion the Atayals are very similar to the Ifugaos in Northern Philippines. They have the craft of weaving and they also lived in mountainous areas. They also have a shaman woman which is very similar to the 'babaylan' priestess of the early Filipinos. The Atayals are the second largest aboriginal group in Taiwan and they can be found in many places in Taiwan. The most distinguishing feature of the Atayals are there facial tattoos. A female Atayal gets her tattoo if she have already mastered the art of weaving while a male Atayal gets his tattoo if he has proven that he is a true hunter.

There are many things to do and see in Wulai. There are hot springs, cherry blossoms and cable cars and I will definitely comeback someday. My objective for my first trip in Wulai is to introduced to my 'audience' what Wulai is in my 'travel show'.

I was thinking of an acronym for Taiwan wherein each of the letters of the word Taiwan would represent a place. T A I W A N. T is for Taipei and I give W for Wulai!

Sakura Series - Taiwan

2025 Forecast

Taipei 101 first flowers

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Taipei Flower Test Center

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Broadwood Park

Sunshine Sports Park kawazu sakura

Wuling Farm (武陵農場)

SYS kawazu sakura

Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

CKS Memorial Hall

Shibafen Yoshino Sakura

Hope River

Dongfang Temple

Tianyuan Palace

Neicou Stream Trail

Orange Garden Cafe

Yangming Park Visitor Information Center

Yangming Park Service Center Bus Stop

Huashan Road

Qianshan Park

Zhongshan Hall Entrance

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Flower Test Center Shōwa Sakura

Neihu Creek Trail

Shulin Land Office

Xióng Kōng Cherry Blossom Forest

Lung Yen Sakura Forest

Yangming Park cherry stream

Yangming Park fountain

CKS Memorial Hall Tairyō sakura

Wugu District Tianyi Road

CKS Memorial Hall yaesakura

Loving Farm

Yong Long Farm

Zhongbaling Sakura Road

Sun Link Sea

Tai'an Police Station

Cherry Hill Slope

Hsinchu Park

Taipei 101

Kāng Gào Kēng Creek

New Garden City

Broadwood Park

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Alishan Ranger Station

Alishan House

Alishan Police Station

Alishan Forest Railway

Alishan Station

Alishan Entrance

Alishan Gou Hotel

Alishan Magnolia Garden

Wulai tour

Wun Chang Elementary School

Bishanyan

Sanzhi Sansheng Trail

Sakura Series - Taiwan

Nei Cuo Stream

Orange Garden Cafe

Sansheng Trail

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Yangming Park Cherry Stream

Yangming Park Fountain

Flower Test Center

Broadwood Park

New Garden City

Yinghua Park

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Yangmingshan Visitor Center

Taipei 101

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Sakura Series - Japan

Kamonyama Park

Near the Nippon Maru Memorial Park

Shinko Park

Minato-mirai 21 area

Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus

Onda River

Tenryuji

Byodoin

Kiyomizudera

Himuro shrine and Yakushi-ji Temple

Hōryū-ji Temple

Nara Park attractions

Tokyo Tech Ookayama Campus

Sumida River

Tsuruma Park

Gion

Maple Series

Taipei Aowanda

Shimen Dam

Alishan

Aowanda

Shanlinxi

Taoyuan Valley Garden

Fushoushan Farm

Yehliu to Jiufen? Yehliu to Shifen? Cheaper than yellow taxis

The "Taipei kong mahal" (My beloved Taipei)

Always in my heart

MRT birdman

Valentine's Day

Tulips Festival

2018 Taipei Lantern Festival

City of Azaleas

Linji Huguo Temple

Nanjichang Night Market

Gudetama Chef restaurant

Dalongdong Bao'an Temple

Shilin hollyhocks

Ningxia Night Market

Ximending graffiti

Discovery Center of Taipei

Chunghwa Postal Museum

Double-Decker Bus

Shilin Cold Balls

Jingimoo

GomanMango

mud volcanic ice

Fire and Ice Dumpling

Opium Fen-Yuan

Ichiran Ramen

Liu Shandong Beef Noodles

hydrangea flowers

National Palace Museum

Other attractions in Taipei

Taipei on a budget

Japanese buildings

Dāoxiāomiàn beef noodles

Presidential Office Building

Yongkang St. and Elephant Mountain

CKS and SYS Hall

City tour

Beitou ramen

MRT Monopoly Game

Winter city tour

Zhicheng Park

Shilin Plum Blossom

Art museums

Shopping in Taipei

Summer desserts

Qingtiangang

Qixingshan hiking

2015 Calla lily

2016 Calla lily

Beitou tour

Beitou-Zhuzihu tour

NTU

Confucius Temple

2015 Dadaocheng Festival

Puppet Museum

Fantasy Ice World

2016 Bread Show

Strawberry picking

2015 Rose Garden

Modern Toilet

Shilin Night Market

NASA Exhibit

Raohe Night Market

Longshan Temple

2013 Taipei Zoo

Maokong Gondola

Lupin flowers

Taipei 101 day visit

Taipei 101 night visit

Tiger Mountain

Din Tai Fung

Taipei Story House

2014 Flower Show

Chrysanthemum Show

Miramar Ferris wheel

Miniatures Museum

Archery

1600 Pandas

Wulaoguo hot pot

Upside Down House

2016 101 Fireworks

New Taipei

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

Elephant Rock SUP/kayaking

Meteor Garden school

Tamsui Pumpkin Tunnel

Shifen Waterfall

2017 Sand Sculpture

Dragon Caves

New Taipei tour

2016 Kite Festival

Pingxi Crags

Bitou Cape

2016 Sand Sculpture

2015 Christmasland

Juming - Jinshan

Houtong - Pingxi

Sandiaoling Waterfall

Jiufen foodtrip

Guanyinshan hike

Yehliu Ocean World

2014 Kite Festival

Pingxi Rail tour

Jinguashi tour

Vigor Kobo Pineapple

British Consulate

Yehliu Geopark

2014 Sand Sculpture

Paragliding

2014 Christmasland

2014 Pingxi Lantern

firefly watching

Yingge Ceramics Street

Jiufen tour