Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Taichung Metropolitan Park

Happy Dragon Boat Festival. That was the reason we just had a three day weekend (at least for those lucky enough to not be teaching on the Saturday). I was one of those lucky ones. Yay! On Saturday morning (9am) I met Renee and Geoff on Taichung Port Road and we headed straight up that main road until we got to Metro park.

You take Taichung Port Road (away from the train station), it does a funky turn when the road rises up onto a bridge. Here you follow the road to the right and make sure you take the left. Follow that road and it will bring you back into the flow of traffic that went up over the raised road.
Then go straight until you see a sign for Metro Park (that will take you right). You can't get lost from there.

As soon as we drove into the area a man shouted at us if we wanted to park and get a bicycle. We said yes and he showed us where to go.

We parked next to the bicycles and rented one each. It will cost you NT$100 (£2) for the day for one person. They will give you a little receipt that you will need to show them when you return the bicycle, so don't lose it! They had noted down our scooter registration numbers, so if you just dump the bicycles and not return them properly to the person, i'm sure they will contact the police.

If you don't opt for renting a bicycle, you have to pay to park your car or scooter. But it isn't much.

The park isn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was certainly worth getting the bicycles. It was a really hot morning, so cycling gave a bit of a breather from the heat. There were areas that you can't take the bike into, for example, the ecological pond area, but such places are clearly marked.

It was beautiful there. Watch out for snakes and other less worrisome creepy crawlies. I was very close to a large snake when riding. EEK.

It was wonderful not hearing traffic. We saw lots of turtles, lizards and had an apple slushy in the restaurant. You can easily spend a good few hours there enjoying the peace and beauty.

What a great start to the weekend!








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