Huang Di Dian (皇帝殿)

March 08, 2016 in Photo Post, Mountains, Travel, New Taipei City

The Lunar New Year holiday was a terribly busy week that had me up and on the road early almost every day and back home to sleep in my bed every night! I had to take several day trips for work-related stuff but was still fortunate to manage having some free time to get in a couple of hikes on the days in between the stuff I was doing.

One of the hikes was one that I did a while ago and wanted to do a second time and the other - the one I'm writing about today is a hike that I've wanted to do for a long time and one that I'm sure I'll go back to quite often as it was really fun!

Huang Di Dian (皇帝殿) or the "Emperors Palace" is one of the most popular trails for avid hikers in northern Taiwan and is often compared with Wuliaojian (五寮尖) in terms of difficulty and of course the sense of accomplishment you feel when you reach the top. The hike is quite difficult and shouldn't be taken lightly - but if you are in relatively good shape then it shouldn't really be a problem!

I've hiked Wuliaojian more times than I can count and when I'm in need of a full body workout it is my go-to trail that gives me the exercise I so desperately need.

Some people compare the difficulty of these two hikes and will say that Huang Di Dian is JUST AS difficult or even more difficult than Wuliaojian. I can't really say that I agree with those assessments as Huang Di Dian seemed much easier than I was expecting and the day after the hike when I woke up I didn't feel like my body had died over night.

The difficulty (for most people) with Huang Di Dian really just depends on your method of transportation to the trailhead. If you are arriving by car or scooter then you will have a much easier experience than those who take the bus and have to hike to the trailhead.

If you arrive by car you can easily park by the trailhead and start the hike directly. If you are like most people (including myself) you probably will have arrived by means of public transport and that requires a long walk up a paved road to the trailhead.

The walk from the bus stop to the trailhead could add 20-40 minutes based on how fast you walk and can be just as difficult for some as the hike itself can be.

Once you arrive at the trailhead there are two options and it's really important that you pay attention to this part - No matter which option you choose, you are going to come face-to-face with about 30-40 minutes worth of stairs which (If you just walked up that road from the bus stop) will be the worst part of the hike for the majority of people.

Now here's the important part: There are two trailhead markers and a map. The map will show you the trails and what the hike will look like. The trail beside the map leads to the East Peak (東峰) while the trail to the left takes you to the West Peak (西峰)

The trail going to the East Peak is the easier route but I don't recommend taking it - I recommend taking what's considered the more difficult route, not because it is more difficult but because you will get to enjoy much more scenery as you ascend and will be able to easily get to the Western Peak, a few other ridges and the East Peak in a short amount of time.

If you take this route, the walk down to the parking lot from the East Peak is much easier and is mostly covered by trees. This route is also a lot easier on your knees and once you reach the road you can walk slowly back down rather than descending a bunch of ridges, the mountain and a long set of stairs.

When we reached the trailhead a scooter pulled up beside us and dropped off an old woman. The old woman wasn't wearing hiking gear and didn't have a backpack so we asked where she was hiking? She replied that she was "going home' which kind of confused me. This is a popular hiking trail - What home? She went on to explain that her home was about 20 minutes up the hill and that she takes care of a temple up there. The interesting thing was that while we were taking a break, she passed us and gave us the normal '加油' (Go, Go, Go!) and once we made it to the temple she was there to greet us and asked us to sit down for a drink and to take a break.

She had water, snacks and gloves available to the hikers who were braving the trail and it got me thinking: How does she get this stuff up here? She would have had to carry it up herself. It amazed me that a woman of her age could carry that stuff up such a terrible set of stairs.

Senior citizens in Taiwan never cease to amaze me. They are battle-hardened war machines that put youth to shame and I love it!

Once we passed the temple we quickly rid ourselves of the annoying stairs and were into the climbing part of the hike. The path isn't as steep as the stairs but through the trees you can see some pretty awesome scenery. After about five minutes of climbing you come up to a cliff with a chain that you have to climb up. Truthfully you don't even need to use the chain. I had my camera in one hand and walked up the cliff easily enough.

After climbing up the ridge you get to the cool part of the hike, the part that everybody came for - the ridge walk. The ridge walk on this hike is actually a lot more beautiful than what you get at Wuliaojian and I found myself stopping for long periods of time to enjoy the view.

The western peak of this hike has great views and if you're brave enough you can climb up on the ridge, have a seat, eat a snack and enjoy 360 degree views of New Taipei City. On a clear day you can even see as far as Taipei 101!

After sitting on the ridge and finishing off a quick snack we moved on for the short hike to the East Peak - If you take the route I mentioned it should only be about a 15-20 minute hike to the East Peak although there is a bit of climbing involved.

The views from the East Peak are much better than the previous one and it can be a bit scary if you stand on top of the ridge and walk towards the edge. I stayed on the peak for a while but I was sweaty and the it got really windy so I decided it was time to head back to the parking lot.

We were unfortunately running out of time and didn't have time to continue on further past the East Peak. If you do have time though you can continue on past the East Peak to another cliff face and a bat cave. In the future, and time permitting I will update this post with photos from the bat cave as it seems like another pretty awesome place to visit on the hike.

From the East Peak, the parking lot is a short walk down some tree covered stairs and if you take the route I mentioned it should be a bit more relaxing than your way up. Once back at the trailhead you'll be able to use the bathroom, throw out your trash (DON'T LITTER) and take a break on the benches.

If you took the bus you should be careful to check the bus times and be sure to make your way back to the bus station before the bus leaves - which brings me to the practicalities of this hike:

If you are taking the bus, you need to be careful. You need to take what other bloggers have termed "The Bus from Hell" (#666) from either Jingmei (景美站) or from Muzha MRT station (木柵捷運站) The problem is that bus #666 has several destinations. You need to make sure that you take the bus that goes either to "Huang Di Dian" or "Huafan University" (華梵大學) otherwise you are in for a long hike from Shiding Old Street (石碇老街.)

The best way to do this is to ask whatever friendly Taipei bus driver who is driving the bus where the bus is heading and whether or not he or she could drop you off at the bus stop. Likewise when you need to head back to Taipei you need to make sure what time the bus will arrive at the station to pick you up.

Remember to wear some hiking shoes, bring a raincoat (just in case) and bring some water and snacks. You could also plan pretty epic (or romantic) picnic with friends (or your loved one) on one of the ridges so bring whatever suits your needs!

This hike is now probably my second favourite hike in northern Taipei and if it weren't such a pain in the ass to get to, I'd hike it just as often as I hike Wuliaojian. The ridge walk is really fun and the scenery from the peaks is honestly a lot better.

Don't let people fool you that this hike is difficult - when I did the hike there were children, fathers, mothers and grandparents enjoying the beautiful scenery.

You CAN do this hike and you SHOULD do this hike!

It's a great time and an easy enough hike for the whole family or a group of friends to enjoy! Have fun and be safe!

If you have any questions, comments or criticisms don't be shy - comment below and I'll get back to you pretty quickly!

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)

Featured

Jul 6, 2024

Jialishan (加里山)

Jul 6, 2024

Aug 19, 2023

Ogon Shrine (黃金神社)

Aug 19, 2023

Jul 15, 2023

Dongyanshan Forest Recreation Park (東眼山國家森林遊樂區)

Jul 15, 2023

Jul 1, 2023

Battleship Rock (秀巒軍艦岩)

Jul 1, 2023

Dec 18, 2022

Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park (滿月圓國家森林遊樂區)

Dec 18, 2022

Jan 8, 2022

Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園)

Jan 8, 2022

Nov 14, 2020

The Taoyuan Valley (桃源谷步道)

Nov 14, 2020

Jun 27, 2020

Yixing Suspension Bridge (義興吊橋)

Jun 27, 2020

Mar 14, 2020

Bitou Cape (鼻頭角)

Mar 14, 2020

Mar 7, 2020

Cherry Blossoms at Lala Mountain (拉拉山櫻花)

Mar 7, 2020

Losheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院)

January 22, 2016 in Photo Post, Urban Exploration, New Taipei City, Japanese Colonial Era

Leprosy was always one of those things we knew about as kids, but never experienced first hand - We all heard the bible stories of Jesus healing lepers and after the disease was eradicated in most developed countries it became somewhat of a 'joke' that a person who had the disease was likely to have random body parts fall off at any given moment. It was easy to laugh at jokes like that because we didn't really understand and would never have to experience the disease in the way that past generations had.

When I visited Nepal a few years back I saw the disease up close for the first time and the experience shifted a lot of what I thought about leprosy and those jokes just didn't seem funny anymore. The disease may have been eradicated in the developed world, but in developing countries were poverty is more prevalent, the disease still rears its ugly head afflicting people who cannot afford treatment. The World Health Organization has done some great work offering free multi-drug treatments to people in impoverished nations, but while the problem isn't as bad as it used to be, it still exists and is still common in places like India and Nepal. The good news however is that we have reduced the amount of cases worldwide over the past decade from around five million to less than 150,000 and with luck we will be able to completely eradicate the disease in the near future.

One of the major problems with leprosy is the social stigma that goes with it; Leprosy is a contagious disease, but it isn't as contagious as most people think it is and the possibility of contracting it from a family member isn't that high. Unfortunately before this discovery, people with leprosy, or "lepers" as society had dubbed them were put in institutions to isolate them from the general public.

Sanitariums (sanatoriums) were thus set up as long-term care facilities for people with leprosy (and other diseases) which required long-term treatment or as a hospice for people so gravely ill that they would likely never leave again. Realistically though, the main purpose of most of these hospitals was to keep these people away from the general population in an attempt to stop the disease from spreading. The term "leper" these days still carries quite a large social stigma and if you search the word on urban dictionary you're likely to come up with dozens of results and I'm quite sure that English isn't the only language which stigmatizes the word in this way.

The concept of a "sanatorium" hits pretty close to home as one of the most important people in my life, my stepdad, was forced to live in one in his youth. A simple medical checkup for an application to join the Canadian armed forces revealed that he had tuberculosis, so instead of joining the army he had to live in a sanatorium for over eighteen months instead and wasn't allowed to leave until he was cured. He rarely mentioned the experience while I was growing up and I'm sure that it was an experience that he would much prefer to not think about it at all which is why it was best for us to never really ask him about it.

The Losheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院) in the Xinzhuang district (新莊區) of New Taipei City is one of these special types of long-term care facilities which had a mission to treat the people of Taiwan who had contracted leprosy. It was constructed over eighty-five years ago during the Japanese colonial era and was originally named the Rakusei Sanatorium for Lepers of Governor-General of Taiwan (臺灣總督府癩病療養樂生院) and later renamed when the colonial period ended. The complex has been the subject of heated debate on one side due to its historical value and on the other for the strategic development area it is located in. It is also quite popular with urban explorers as the original hospital has been abandoned for years despite a small community of people who remain in the area around the hospital and have been reluctant to leave.

Losheng (樂生) which translates as "Happy Life" was built in 1929 by the Japanese to house and treat people suffering from leprosy - At the time the disease was considered highly contagious so it was common practice to isolate these people from the general population. The hospital and the community around it was built on a mountain and was set up to be a self-sufficient 'village' where people could take care of all the necessities of life without having to leave. It was built on the side of a mountain bordering what is now Taoyuan county's Gueishan township (龜山區) and was complete with gardens, farms, temples, churches, etc. At the time of its construction, it was probably quite progressive for the Japanese, a colonial power, to build such a beautiful sanitarium equipped with modern medical facilities allowing the people who were forced to live there to live a "happy life" while in isolation from their families and rest of the island. The fact that it was built on the side of a mountain however made escape a bit difficult and I'm sure that was also taken into consideration before its construction.

Fortunately, the need for such a sanatorium became pointless in the early 1950s as new developments in medical treatment became available helping to cure people of the horrible disease. Therefore in 1954 the compulsory isolation of people suffering from leprosy ended and people were free to leave and rejoin society. Unfortunately social stigma and discrimination persisted as the appearance of those who were afflicted with the disease often made it difficult for them to re-assimilate back into society. This led to a lot of people making the decision to live out the rest of their lives in the community where they felt safe and obviously where they had become so familiar with.

As of 2006, the number of residents living on the compound numbered only around 200 with 162 living in a new nearby hospital (迴龍醫院) and 52 on the compound itself. The old sanatorium has been abandoned and a new modern hospital has taken over treatment. The government made plans to completely demolish the ruins of the old hospital to make way for development of a depot for Taipei's Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) system's Orange Line (中和新蘆線) which has already started operation and will eventually expand further connecting residents to new parts of the city as well as Taoyuan county and the airport. These plans have met with resistance from civic groups and members of the community who argue that the hospital and the community around it are important and should be preserved for historical and cultural value. Unfortunately in Taiwan, development is often much more important than historical preservation.

The MRT depot is currently under construction near the abandoned hospital, but the project met with large-scale protests in 2007 that pressured the government into changing its policy with regard to the sanatorium. After years of lobbying and protests, the government agreed that 39 buildings within the community would be preserved, 10 reconstructed and 6 would be demolished. This meant that while the community would continue to exist and that some conditions would improve, they would have to accept the loss of some of the original buildings as the MRT depot was important for the future plans of the MRT system.

The sanatorium currently still stands in its original location and despite being abandoned and in some parts run-down, it is still in pretty good shape. The engineers working on the depot have had to build a wall on the mountain to protect the hospital from erosion and a lot of the buildings have tarp covering them due to damage to the roof. It has become a popular place for urban explorers to visit and while it isn't anything compared to what my good friend Alexander Synaptic discovers, it helps to act as an introduction to the hobby and spark an interest for further exploration. The hospital has also become popular with local photographers as a place to have spooky photo shoots.

The hospital has some pretty cool rooms that are extremely capable of freaking out any of your superstitious friends. There is a surgery room, a morgue, an X-Ray room, old offices, doctors dormitories, patient rooms, recreation rooms, a library and long dark passages that tend to scare quite a few people. The rooms are full of old paraphernalia including Microsoft Office 97 discs, MS-DOS books, floppy disks, old records, cassettes and VHS movies as well as various belongings that were randomly left behind when the hospital closed. Some of the rooms are full of clutter while others are clean and neat. It's interesting to stop in the rooms and look at stuff that was so common in the 80s and 90s that we don't really think of any longer.

I'm not really a superstitious kind of guy, but on my second visit, I walked alone around the hospital on a grey day with the rain hitting the roof and dripping in through various holes. The light was terrible and it was dark inside. I'm pretty sure that if any one jumped out and screamed that I'd probably have a heart attack. On my way out I ran into an old resident of the community on a motorized wheelchair. He stopped in front of me and smiled and said hello. I stopped and greeted him and immediately noticed his disfigured skin and missing fingers. The man was smiling and happy to meet someone walking through his community so I took a few minutes out of my day to have a conversation with him. When the rain picked up he said goodbye and scooted off back to his home. If it were my first experience with leprosy I might have had a different reaction, but I'm happy that I was able to have a quick conversation with someone who probably doesn't have the opportunity to get out and enjoy his senior years as often as he should.

Taiwan is a country full of history, but sometimes that history isn't always well-preserved and visiting a place like this helps us to understand the way things were in days gone by. I'm sure when the renovation and reconstruction projects are finished that Losheng will become a popular attraction for tourists to visit and learn about the historical value of such a place, but right now, I prefer to enjoy it the way it is.

If you have any questions, comments or criticism, don't be shy - Comment below or send an email through my contact section below!

Getting There / Map

In most cases with an Urban Exploration post, I wouldn't share the location in my blog post. When it comes to Losheng Sanatorium however, information about its location is easily accessible in both Chinese and English, so I figure letting people know how to get there isn't really a big deal.

The Sanatorium is easy to get to and is accessible through the Taipei MRT system. To get to the Sanatorium, take the MRT to Huilong Station (迴龍捷運站) and from Exit 1 (1號出口) walk down Wanshou Road (萬壽路) until you arrive at Huilong Temple (迴龍寺), walk up the hill to the new hospital and across the bridge to the rear where you'll find the former sanatorium and the community around it.

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Featured

Mar 18, 2023

Abandoned Tea Factory

Mar 18, 2023

Nov 19, 2022

Abandoned Church (廢棄的教堂)

Nov 19, 2022

Jul 23, 2022

Abandoned Resort (廢棄的俱樂部)

Jul 23, 2022

Jul 9, 2022

Agenna Shipyard Relics (阿根納造船廠遺址)

Jul 9, 2022

Jun 25, 2022

Khóo Tsú-song Mansion (許梓桑古厝)

Jun 25, 2022

Feb 26, 2022

Baiyun Police Station (白雲派出所)

Feb 26, 2022

Jul 13, 2019

Abandoned Railway Dorms (台鐵安東街宿舍案)

Jul 13, 2019

Jun 22, 2019

Abandoned Chiang Kai-Shek Temple (廢棄蔣公廟)

Jun 22, 2019

Dec 29, 2018

Taipei Railway Workshop (臺北機廠)

Dec 29, 2018

Sep 1, 2018

Mazu Art Village (馬祖新村眷村文創園區)

Sep 1, 2018

Qingshui Zushi Temple (清水祖師宮)

October 18, 2015 in Photo Post, Temples, New Taipei City

The Qingshui Zushi Temple (清水祖師宮) in Sanxia is well known in Taiwan for being unsurpassed when it comes to the amount of craftsmanship and art that has gone into its construction. The design as well as the intricate stone carvings found throughout the temple make it one of Taiwan’s most artistic places of worship and make it a must see for a lot of visitors coming to the country as well as making it the focal point of religious worship, culture and the economy in Sanxia.

The temple was originally built in 1776 by Hokkien (閩南) immigrants who settled in the area. They set up the temple on the banks of the river in Sanxia dedicated it to Qingshui Zushi (清水祖師), a Taoist deity more well-known in China and since then it has been an important place for people in the area to worship. The temple has a 240 year history on the site you see today, but the masterpiece of Taiwanese temple architecture sitting there today is less than fifty years old and has been in a constant state of reconstruction since 1947.

The current Zushi temple is actually version 3.0 as the first was destroyed by earthquake and the second destroyed during the late stages of World War 2 when the area was in a bombed several times while America was making its advance on Japan and its colonies.

The temple was completely destroyed by the bombardment and after the war had finished, it was decided that it would be rebuilt yet again. A famous artist, Li Meishu (李梅樹), who was trained in western style art volunteered to aid in the construction of the temple and with a group of eager college students, made the temple his life's work (working on the temple until his death.) The artist stressed his philosophical views of art and the importance of the work being done on the temple needing to elements of Chinese history, culture and folk stories while adapting and integrating western styles of art.

Truthfully, when I visit the temple, I don't really notice much western influence, but there is a certain vantage point on the second floor balcony where you can look at the main shrine, the courtyard below and the worshippers that makes me stop and think, “Wow, I'm in Asia!”, a feeling that you don't often get while living in modern Taiwan.

For people who appreciate art, this is one of the places in Taiwan that you have to visit. I'm a big fan of Taiwanese temple art and the detail that goes into making these places of worship. Whenever I'm at this temple, I feel like I could spend hours there looking at and appreciating the work that went into making the temple the way it is today. There is so much detail to appreciate that you really could spend hours looking at all the stone work and still miss 90% of the detail involved. The artistic legacy left by Li Meishu is awe-inspiring and sets an extremely high standard for all of those follow in his footsteps today.

Apart from the artistic aspects of the the temple, I suppose it's important to note that the temple is dedicated to somewhat of an obscure “deity” who isn't worshipped as much as some other of the prominent Taoist deities. Master Qingshui (清水祖師) a Buddhist monk who lived over 1500 years ago. Qingshui is credited with being so highly skilled in Buddhist doctrine that he gained supernatural powers. The monk was eventually deified in Taoism for his efforts in using his supernatural skills to end a terrible drought that plagued Anxi county (安溪縣) in Fujian Province.

The strangest aspect of Qingshui Zushi worship in Taiwan and especially at this specific temple is that every year the infamous Pigs of God festival is held in his honour. It seems a bit strange to honour a Buddhist monk by performing animal sacrifice, but I suppose this is where Taoism takes over with respect to his worship as a Taoist God.

If the temple is renowned for its world-class artistry and craftsmanship, then it is equally infamous for the yearly display of the Pigs of God festival, that makes the ‘Pigs of God festival’ I covered earlier this summer during Ghost Month look like child's play.

Despite widespread protest, the festival attracts thousands of people every year and it seems like the way of compensating for the amount of people who take part in the activity and the interest it generates is to grow the pigs progressively larger, which ultimately means that they go through a tremendous amount of suffering and cruelty during their short lives.

The festival puts an ugly face on what is an otherwise important temple culturally-speaking and for that one week a year, the temple becomes a sensational spectacle. I prefer to focus on the art inside the temple rather than anything outside – the art left behind by Li Meishu and his team of artisans is something that we can all appreciate and what they achieved is important for the preservation of art and history.