Pingxi and Shen’ao

ICLP organised a day trip for the Saturday of this week. With a record-setting attendance of no fewer than eight students, everyone had more than enough space in the minibus, which we rode for a little longer than an hour into the depths of Pingxi. Pingxi is a rural district of Taipei around thirty kilometres east of the city centre and, as we learned, a popular weekend destination for families. We did not hike for too long, but we took our time on the way back and waded through the river while our guide tried to persuade us to catch fish in little nets she had brought along. Since I was among the several students who neglected to bring waterproof shoes (or rather, in my case, to buy waterproof shoes specifically for the occasion), I tied my shoelaces to my camera bag and went barefoot.

After lunch, we made our way down to the Shen’ao fishing village. Our little boat excursion took us to Elephant Rock, an arch reputedly reminiscent of an elephant, and then eastwards to see various cliffs and buildings associated with gold mining. I kept getting splashed in the face when I was sitting on the prow, so I spent most of the time taking pictures in the safety of the stern. In the evening, we hiked around Fanzai Park just by the fishing village, and returned home completely spent.     

Persimmons
Another persimmon
A forest path
A butterfly (would be very grateful for its identification)
A cool plant
The same cool plant
A little wooden bridge
Another little wooden bridge
A foliage-framed view of Turtle Island
The river
Farther along the river
Boats in Shen'ao Harbour
The rocks of Fanzai Park as seen from the sea
Elephant Rock
Elephant Rock with Jilong mountain in the background
The same but under slightly different lighting conditions
The same but from farther away
The same but from very far away
Some decrepit building associated with gold mining
The same but from farther away
A colourful cemetery above the sea
Shen'ao harbour
A rock that looks like a face (or like Portugal)
More boats
The view of Jilong Mountain from Fanzai Park
More of the same
More of the same
Rock formations at Fanzai Park
More of the same
More of the same
More of the same
More of the same but with Jilong Mountain in the background
The bay between Shen'ao and Jilong Mountain
 A knob-like rock
Another knob-like rock
Another view of the bay
A window in its natural habitat
Another view of Jilong mountain
More of the same but later in the evening
More of the same but even later in the evening

PS: Since I do not have enough to write about this to merit a separate post, I will mention here that on Friday, Nic and I took part in a reading group of “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis. I will share my notes upon request, though they aren’t super informative and mostly capture the very meandering spirit of the conversation(s). The most exciting part of the evening was getting to converse with a Slovak student after the meeting’s conclusion. It reminded me that I have not spoken Czech (except when conversing with my family via Facebook) for a very long time.

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