Taiwan Cherry Blossoms (台灣山櫻花)

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It's Sakura season here in Taiwan and the Cherry Blossoms are blooming all over the country! Taiwan has a few different types of cherry blossoms that bloom around the same time of the year and people all over the country are making their way to hot spots like Yangming Mountain (陽明山), Wuling Farm (武陵農場) and Danshui's Tian-Yuan Temple (天元宮) to see them. 

The most popular blossoms are the pink blossoms that you see in Japan referred to as "sakura" (吉野櫻) but the cherry blossoms I'm posting today are Taiwanese cherry blossoms and are from a tree that is endemic to this beautiful island.

Taiwan's Cherry Blossoms known as "Mountain Cherry Blossoms" (山櫻花) are deeper in colour than the typical Japanese sakura (さくら) and when the trees turn a dark shade of pink you have no choice to respect their beauty. 

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I'm not going to waste too much time with information on this one - I took these photos in a park here in Taoyuan (莒光公園) where there are about a hundred trees that bloom in early March. I hope to get to Wuling farm in the next week or two to get shots of a different kind of cherry blossom.

That's it for me. Enjoy the photos! 

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If you're in Taiwan, don't miss the chance to enjoy a place with these blossoms and if you have any questions about where to see them, don't be shy: Comment below with your location and I'll give you some suggestions based on where you are! 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Snow in Taiwan?

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Snow in Taiwan? Seriously? I thought I left Canada for a sub-tropical country! What's with this flaky white stuff falling from the sky? 

The temperature fell to four degrees celsius in northern Taiwan over the weekend. The drop was caused by a cold air mass that has resulted in the lowest temperatures that the nation has felt in well over 44 years and the second coldest in recorded history.

Low temperature is typical during winter in Taiwan's high mountain areas, but not in ground level areas and places under an altitude of 400 meters which tend to be warmer. Winter months in the north of the country tend to be a bit colder than in the south, but the record-low temperatures brought on by this cold front have been felt even in the south where a lot of cities are below the Tropic of Cancer and are supposed to be far more temperate. 

The problem with such low temperatures is that buildings in Taiwan aren't constructed for weather like this and houses are neither constructed with insulation nor a system of central heating - houses therefore basically become refrigerators that have people living inside.

The sad thing about this is that despite Taiwan being a highly developed country, people die of hypothermia and cardiac diseases caused by the drop in temperature and this weekend has seen quite a few deaths related to the weather. 

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Steam rising up from a waterfall with snow on the trees. 

The forecast for the weekend called for snow and people all over the country felt excited that they would be able to see it for the first time. Snow is common in Taiwan's high mountain regions, but people who aren't mountain climbers have a hard time seeing the flaky white stuff without making their way to a mountain-top. With the knowledge that snow was likely to appear over the weekend, quite a few people made plans to get out and see this once in a lifetime event which caused quite a few traffic jams around the country's narrow mountain roads.

When I woke up and checked Facebook on Sunday, my newsfeed was full of people reporting that it was actually snowing in low-lying areas making this an extremely rare occasion for the people of Taiwan. People were really excited and that excitement was all over social media. 

Places like Taipei's Yang Ming Mountain (陽明山), Taoyuan's Lala Mountain (拉拉山) and Yilan's Taiping Mountain (太平山) were loaded with traffic and people were busy playing in the up to 20cm of snow making snowmen and throwing snowballs. 

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For me, I have to admit that I enjoyed seeing snow again for the first time in over a decade. I tried to escape the harsh Canadian winters by coming to Taiwan, but considering I've been removed from that for so long, I actually felt content seeing something so familiar.

The experience was a lot like when I was an undergrad in university. Whenever the first snowfall of the year happened, all of the Taiwanese international students would make their way to a field to play in the snow. Canadians get a bit tired of snow and our long winters but its interesting to see that even adults get really excited by this kind of thing in Taiwan.

I hope all my friends in Taiwan stayed warm over the weekend. The cold front looks like it won't last much longer and it will be back to 17-20 degrees later this week! 

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Silver Grass (芒花)

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Growing up in Canada, it was always really easy to tell when Autumn rolled around - Autumn meant that school had started, Thanksgiving was coming and Halloween was around the corner. Before I arrived in Taiwan I had never actually realized how popular Canada was as not only a travel destination, but a brand name as well. I had wrongly assumed that when people thought about my country that they would probably be scared away by our harsh winters - Surprisingly though, people always ask about the beautiful Autumn colours and how our iconic maple leaves all turn red before falling to the ground in winter.

Taiwanese people have a great respect for nature and people of all ages and walks of life enjoy the many different blooming seasons of Taiwan’s various kinds of flora (and fauna?) and just like in Canada, a sure fire way to know that Autumn has rolled around is to see the beautiful beige silver grass growing on the mountains, hills and along the side of the roads.

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As I've mentioned before in posts about water lilies, tiger lilies, cherry blossoms, etc. Taiwan has a multitude of flowering species and throughout the year you will find different species growing throughout the country. To help me out a bit I purchased a (Chinese-language) book a few years back that introduces all the species of flowers blooming in Taiwan, when they bloom and where the best spots to view them are. The book has been an amazing tool during my travels because it has let me know when and where to go check something out when I'm planning my weekly or monthly schedules.

Silver grass or Miscanthus Sinensis is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to East Asia growing in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China. In both Taiwan and Japan, the plant is widely respected and during the Autumn months (October - December) people will flock to see it covering the mountains and hillsides. Coincidentally in North America attitudes toward the plant are exactly the opposite and it is considered an invasive species and is usually destroyed. It's interesting that the so-called “weed” is reviled in one area and highly respected in another.

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During the months of October to December you can pretty much see wild silver grass growing anywhere throughout the country. If you want to see a lot though, or you want to get some photos in a field full of it - you're going to have to do a bit of a hike as it grows more commonly on mountain tops. The most popular places to see silver grass in the north is along the historic Caoling Trail (草嶺古道) between New Taipei City and Yilan County as well as on Taipei city’s beautiful Yang Ming Mountain (陽明山)

I decided to do a bit of research in my handy book as to where would have the most silver grass and I found out that the western peak of Da Tun Mountain (大屯山西峰) was likely to have the most, but also an excellent view of Taipei city as well as Danshui and Bali. I figured it would be a perfect location to get shots of Taiwan’s Autumn flower and some landscape shots as well.

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When I got to the top of the western peak I wasn't disappointed in the slightest as the view of the city was spectacular and there was more than enough of Taiwan’s Autumn flower to get some really nice shots. I'm quite pleased with what I got, but I'm going to have to go back to Datun mountain again in the next little while to finish the rest of the peaks so I can post about that too!

There isn't much information online in English about silver grass, but take my word for it, it's pretty cool to see Taiwan’s typically green mountain tops changing colours during Autumn and if you are in Taipei, just look towards Yang Ming mountain from any vantage point between now and December and you'll notice that it doesn't look like it usually does!

You've still got some time left for this years crop of silver grass. If you haven't seen it yet, a nice hike might be a good idea for a day trip on the weekend!

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I see the coast! 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)