Today is Dragon Boat Festival and so yesterday was a day off too – yippee!  So up to the Yang-Ming Shan Mountains to escape temps of 37.1°C recorded in Taipei City….

We had sun and clouds and fog, on and off all day ~ good for walking, but not so good for photos!  First to Erziping 二子坪, then up to Mian-Tian Shan 面天山, Datun Shan 大屯山 and finally along to Qishing Shan 七星山 via the fumaroles at Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑 ~ that’s 3 mountains and quite a way in-between, finishing in a foot-bath at the Lengshueikeng 冷水坑 Hot Springs!  It’s the Yang-Ming Shan Butterfly Season, so there were flowers and butterflies all over, and people too ~ bumped into our good friends right on the top, incredible!

The highlight just has to be the fumaroles at Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑 ~ photos can never do them justice! The noise is one thing – all that smoke billowing out is really noisy – but the smell of the sulphur is just incredible ~ do go there if you get the chance!