so far, we’ve been pretty much city dwellers in taipei. the city is huge and it feels like there’s already so much to explore right here on our doorstep… but at the same time, the mountains are all around us, luscious and green and tempting! so for a quick leg-stretching, we went up “elephant mountain” one day after breakfast…

…which was a bit of a mistake, because despite the walk being relatively short, the way up is aaaaaall stairs. my belly still had warm soy milk sloshing around it as we made our way up the successive staircases, sandwiched between other tourists. once we were out of the main trail though, the path became much smoother and the views unobstructed by people. it was really nice to be in a forested area, surrounded by green at the city’s doorstep.

an amouse-bouche for a future hike!