We were glad to a)find the bus terminal easily and b)find that buses were cheap (less than $3/CAN) and frequent (every 15-20 minutes). We stopped at the Taipei Main Station food court for some lunch before we left- I got a tzatziki chicken wrap and some Mövenpick stracciatella ice cream for desert. Mövenpick is my new dessert obsession- it's the richest, creamiest, best ice cream I've ever had. As you can tell from the photo, Mel didn't get a cone.
We were pretty excited to take the bus to Yehliu.
The ride took about 90 minutes, 30 minutes of which were spent in traffic trying to get on the freeway out of Taipei. We told the driver where we wanted to go so he showed us where to get off. We appreciated the help since he let us off on the side of the road in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere... we probably couldn't have guessed the stop ourselves. Pretty soon we saw English signs pointing us in the right directions and a short walk from where we were let off was a nice marina with lots of fishing boats at dock.
Oversized novelty light bulbs hung from each and every boat.
When we got to the Geopark entrance to buy our tickets we were pleased to find that we were only charged half price admission ($1 CAD instead of $2). We guess at why we had been so lucky- did they think we were students? Is it because we're so good looking? Minutes later we found out why we got such a bargain- two thirds of the park was closed for construction INCLUDING the Queen's Head, which is the most famous attraction, and the star of all those pictures I'd Googled that made me want to visit in the first place. What are the odds? Fail!At this point I would just like to point out that all week things in Taiwan have been closed for us. Mel and I decided to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art on Monday and- guess what- it's closed on Mondays. Then we decided to go out for Korean BBQ and- guess what- it was closed (we went back an hour later when they were open and we shouldn't have, They charged separately for the lettuce to wrap your beef in! And there were no free side dishes! Shame on them). Tuesday night we had supper at a Vietnamese restaurant with one of Nareesa's friends. After supper we were going to get fancy cupcakes at a fancy cupcake shop in the mall. As we approached the store they turned off the lights, hid all the cupcakes and shook their heads at our request for cake. Then we decided to go elsewhere for desserts and the entire street seemed to be closed. At 10:30PM. In the capital city of the country. And now no Queen's Head? Faillllllll. Tearrrrs.
The area of the park that was open was pretty cool. The sun was shining and being near the water was a welcome change of scenery. No regrets about this trip at all.
The rock formations, caused by erosion, were awesome looking. It was like being on the moon, man.
Tourists on the moon.
The sign says "Caution- honeycombed rock has falled by geological process". Uh oh!
The park decided that a lot of the rocks look like things (possibly to make it seem like there were more attractions than just the Queen's Head). Above are the "candle rocks". If we'd been able to access the rest of the park there would have been rocks shaped like a dragon, an ape and bean curds.
Ice cream rock. The woman who took posed with this amazing rock after us squealed when she saw it, "Bing Chi Lee! Bing Chi Lee!"- yep, that's ice cream in Chinese. Guess who has a Mövenpick obsession and learned that word pretty fast a long time ago.
There was a thick red line painted along the coast that we weren't allowed to cross to go near the water. If you stepped over the line you got whistled at.
This lady, with the world's best hat, was immune to the whistles as she scraped her supper off a rock.
From the area that we were visiting we could see the stretch of land that contains the other forbidden two-thirds of the park.
For reference, this is what the Queen's head rock looks like. Thanks, Google. I read online that she is at risk of being "falled by geological process". Too bad they only have one Queen's Head!
With the camera zoomed in we could see the Queen's Head from a distance.
The vultures were starting to set in, so we decided to head back.
But wait... what's this? Queen's Head 2??? There's two Queen's Heads? This can't be. Let's follow the sign...
WTF!! Two months ago the park used lasers to carve a replica Queen's Head out of stone! And they put it up in a garden! Can you imagine if Egypt just lasered themselves another Sphinx? We posed with this poor man's Queen's Head, but we didn't like it.
On the way out of the park I noticed this noose conveniently hanging in the trees. Probably used by the last devastated tourist who didn't get to see the real Queen's Head!
Outside of the park there is a market where you can buy some souvenirs and fresh seafood. Or in the case of the above image, dried little fishies. Mmmm, sounds... crunchy.
A lady with a hot hat carrying a silver platter full of dried fishies.
Fish floss. Move over, cotton candy.
There was a quiet looking aquarium next to the Geopark, which we went in for a look around. Guess what? It was closed! Don't worry, there were still some shops and food vendors open- including one place where you could get a delicious looking coffee and popcorn combo. Mmmmm! Whenever I'm drinking a coffee I always wish I had some popcorn to munch on.We walked back to the bus stop and our bus picked us up quite promptly. Our drive back to Taipei was a little shorter because we got off near the 101 to get some Thai food for supper before going back home and putting our new souvenir on proud display in our living room:
The Queen's Head! #1, not #2. We'll always remember how amazing she was, even from a distance.
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