Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Amazing Rocks @ Yeliu

I've managed to visit Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园) during my short stay in Taipei. The rock layer in the Geopark area consist of sandstones of limestone texture and as such, have been eroded by nature into interesting shapes and sizes. The most famous stone of course, is the Queen's Head.

Being the uh-hem, adventurous sort, we again took the public transport to Yeliu.We started our journey from the Taipei Main Station. Make your way to the Taipei West Bus Station Terminal A and find the Guo Guang (国光) area. Tell them that you wish to go to Yeliu and ask them where to take the bus (国光客运). Do note that if you have the EasyCard, tell them that you're paying by EasyCard and you just want to know where to take the bus. Otherwise, it's about NT$96 per person.

Before you board the bus, you can ask the driver to inform you when you have reached Yeliu as it's not the final stop for the bus. If you have forgotten, not to worry as there are a number of people that are getting out at that stop, at least for me. :) You will be passing by Keelung by the way so don't be surprised if you see it.

The sign below will greet you when you reach Yeliu.


If you are facing the sign, walk down the road to your left and you will see some interesting ships with many lanterns. Below are some pictures that I've taken.



Continue walking straight down and if you're interested in knowing where exactly are you, you will see the sign board below detailing your exact location.


After walking down a bit further, you will see the Yeliu Ocean Park. The Yeliu Geopark is just beside it. Below is a picture of the Geopark entrance. Adult entrance fee is NT$50 per person.


You will see some interesting write-ups on the Geopark upon going in. Below are some of the pictures I've taken near the entrance.



Now, Yeliu Geopark has 2 Queen's Head. You will see the first one near the entrance. Do note that this is the "fake" Queen's Head, otherwise known as Queen's Head 2. It's re-produced from the original though. You can take some pictures there, like I did below.



If you're interested in knowing the names given to those rocks in the Geopark and their locations, you can read the signboards below.



You can see the sea from the Geopark. It's a beautiful scene and very windy. The waves were quite fierce when I was there. Just look at those waves below.


The picture below shows the first set of rocks that will greet you. Try as you might, you won't be able to find the Queen's Head. Reason? It's not there! :) However, the rocks are quite big and unique, and you are free to go down to take a walk by those rocks.


Below is another nice scenery taken around the Geopark. Do the rocks make you feel very small?


Below is a picture of another section of the Geopark. There are a number of rocks here too. Can you spot the Queen's Head?


No? Can you see it better now in the picture below?


Surely you can see it by now. Right?


Ok. That's it. If you can't see it from the picture below, then I cannot help you any further. :)


Well, I'm not sure why are there rocks surrounding the Queen's Head. According to my mother-in-law, the rocks weren't there over 25 years ago. However, it looks to me that the rocks were positioned there such that it looks like a necklace over the Queen's Head.

Anyway, below is a picture of a zoomed-out picture of the area where the Queen's Head is located. Do you notice that at other angles, it just looks like any other rock?


There are strange rocks littering around the area. Below are some of the pictures I've taken of those rocks.





For the pictures below, can you identify what animal it's suppose to be? The power of nature is quite amazing sometimes.



You can really stay there for quite some time if you're a nature person. The wind, the weather, the rocks. It's really a unique place and my favorite place in this Taipei trip. There are other areas you can explore but we were a bit lazy and did not opt to climb up too high. :) There are suppose to be birds around but we didn't see much of it. Maybe it's because we were there during winter?

There are a lot of seafood restaurants outside of the Geopark. I have no recommendation though as I did not find the restaurant that I've been to fantastic.

Anyway to get back to civilization, just take the Keelung Bus (基隆客运) from the bus stop opposite the bus stop that you have arrived in. If I recall correctly, the bus stop is right outside a convenience shop.

If you have a chance to go Taipei, you should visit the Yeliu Geopark. Try not to wear a hat there as your hat will most probably not leave that place alive. :)

2 comments:

TG said...

The rocks are there, because some China tourists came too close to the Queen and touched her. That's supposed to keep touchy tourists away, according to my girlfriend. There was also an incident once, where a China tourist wrote something political. I been to Yeliu last year, your post reminds me of the good time I had :)

chantc said...

Oh. Thanks for the info. However, I don't think the rocks will keep away determined tourists. :)

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