A great thing about Taipei is that it's intersected by two rivers. Some of the quietest and nicest parts in the city are found along the rivers. Each area does their riverside a bit differently. My former area chose to have it full of sports fields, so people could play rugby, soccer, and softball. These big fields provided a great place for me to jog while my dog sprinted in circles around me. Show off.
My current area is a bit further from the river so I don't get to the riverside as much as I'd like. However yesterday was some beautiful weather so I decided that I'd take the time to do some walking. My dog and I went down to the river and then walked all the way to the scenic area at the end of the subway line south of the city, then crossed over the bridge and walked all the way back. All total it took over six hours.
We didn't mind as it was a great walk, and interesting to see how each area we walked through designed their riverside. Closest to me they line the river with many flower gardens, further down they have courts for basketball and tennis. One area had the largest playground area for kids I've ever seen. Another had rows of very old houses. And of course a lot of places had construction working on whatever their plan was for their part of the river.
Pictured above is the bike path we followed all the way there and back. As it was a Monday afternoon it wasn't too busy. My dog was happy to spend most her time in the fields or whatever else was round the bike trail. At one point though she seemed to start a new game where she would get in front of everybody on a bike. I'm guessing she got too tired and just wanted to end it all rather than keep walking. Thankfully she never went into the river. She did that once before and came out covered in what seemed like black tar. Needless to say the river is not a place for swimming, although many people do fish in it.....
It was a beautiful trip that makes me consider getting a bike, so I can enjoy it on a whole other level.
