David on Formosa

I have been out hiking the trails around Chengtian Chan Temple in Tucheng regularly over the last few weeks. I have been refamiliarising myself with the area and also trying to find some new trails to walk.

This morning I followed a trail I haven't been on before to Danuanjian Shan (大暖尖山). The trail was paved all the way but seemed to be little used. It was the most beautiful forest I have seen in the area. I will follow this trail all the way to the end next time and post a detailed description of the route with some more photos.

I stopped to drink tea with some Taiwanese people along the way. An older man then joined me for part of the walk. He couldn't speak Mandarin very well and mostly spoke Taiwanese so I couldn't follow everything he said. He was telling me about his time in the army and also about WWII when the Japanese were still in Taiwan. I'll have to study Taiwanese a little more and go back to talk to him again.

On the way back I saw a monkey ahead of me on the trail. I was a little wary of it and it started moving towards me. I stepped off the trail and it came running past. I was able to snap the somewhat blurry picture of it above.

I later came across some people who asked me if I had seen a monkey. I said yes and showed them the photo on my camera. I asked them if it was common to see monkeys in the area and their answer was that you should be careful about leaving food on the table. I guess that means yes.