Rock-hewn trio of Xiaozi, Putuo, and Cimu

There was a day week when it just rained. On and on, without respite. From Saturday until… Saturday? And then, Sunday, first shy rays of almost forgotten Sun carefully peeped out from behind the clouds.

I woke up in the morning and was like: “Yeah, I am going.” My time here in Taiwan is coming to a close and so every free, fair-weather Sunday is priceless (for everything else there is MasterCard®).

But I first had to wash my clothes, so I only got a nine-ish traisn from Zhongli. Got to Taipei at around ten, transferred to the Blue Line, then it was the Brown Line at Zhongxiao Fuxing, only to catch – just-in-the-nick-of-time – a 795 from Muzha to Pingxi.

And here the story begins.

Well not that much of a story, but I was surprised nonetheless. I’ve been to quite a few places on this island, especially in its northern part, and this has to count among the most beautiful ones.

I got off close to the beginning of the trail and it all starts with this pretty waterfall:

Once I got into the jungle, green popped up everywhere:

Green and the stairways, that is:

Presumably to heavens:

Even more greenery and yet more moss-blanketed staircases in the gallery below:

And now for the fun part:

Now that’s what I call Mt. Xiaozi!

There are stereotypical Buddhas at the top:

The views promised yet more adventures:

This is the path to reach Mt Putuo,…

…this one shows the way up Mt Cimu…

…and this is how Mt Xiaozi looks from the bottom:

Ok, time to go back down:

Time to go to Mt Putuo:

But first let’s stop at this intersection:

There is an apparently unfinished path to the left:

Whoops, a dead end!

Would be great if they could keep developing this magical spot. Already there are plenty trails to hike and a whole day could easily be spent here exploring every single nook and cranny.

But let’s go on to Mt Putuo. There is a tiny romantic temple with picturesque Buddha statues along the way:

Going up Mt. Putuo is every bit as charming as it looks on this picture:

More Buddhas at the top:

From here one can see Mt Cimu right across:

As I had already agreed to meet with my friend Angela for the second part of the trip, I had to make my way to Mt Cimu. First running down the rock-hewn stairs of Mt Putuo…

…only to climb Mt Cimu in the very next few moments:

Going down Cimu was a similar experience:

Once I reached the bottom of the stairs cut into the sheer rock, green started re-appearing:

For more greenery and moss-coveredovergrown staircases, here’s another gallery:

And that concludes the first part of my trip.