For my fourth day in Taiwan, I had planned to go hiking up Elephant Mountain Trail. Ever since I read about it, Elephant Mountain Trail has been on my list of things to do in Taiwan because it's where you can find the best view ever. But more about that later.

The night before, I was reading some travel blogs to check the best time to hike up the trail. While I would have preferred a morning hike to see the sunrise, the train stations open at 6am which is too late for sunrise so I decided to go on an afternoon hike instead. Since the hike was scheduled for the afternoon, I didn't have anything planned for that morning so I also Googled other tourist attractions in the city. I saw two temples: the Dalongdon Bao'an Temple and the Confucius Temple, which are located next to each other in Datong District. So after a quick breakfast, I headed out and took the train.

Unfortunately, the Confucius Temple was closed that day because it is apparently closed on Mondays. And that day was a Monday. While my Googling skills are usually good, I failed to check the days that it is open. That and I lost track of what day it is, which always happens to me when traveling. But Dalongdong Bao'an Temple was open so that morning wasn't such a total fail. What I love about that temple is that it is so underrated that I was the only tourist there. There were a few locals who were praying but they paid no attention to me. Of course, I asked the guard first if it was okay to take photos and videos inside the temple and he was totally cool with it. I made sure to not include anyone in the frame to not make them feel uncomfortable. After all, it is their place of worship.
 The Confucius Temple - a Confucian temple in Taipei modeled from the 
original one in Qufu, China. In photo is its main gate, so you really cannot
see the temple here.
 Dalongdong Bao'an Temple - a Taiwanese folk religion temple. This was
originally built with a modern structure in 1972.

After the temple, I went to Yuanshan Park which is close to the train station just to check it out. I t was a nice park but there was nothing special about it. So I just took a few photos and took the train back to Taipei Main Station and walked to Eslite Shopping Center for an early lunch and went back to my hostel to take a nap.
Yuanshan Park

That afternoon, I went on my DIY walking trip as scheduled. I took the train to Sun Yat Sen station and then walked to the following places: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Eslite Bookstore, Taipei City Hall, and Taipei 101. The entrance to Taipei 101 was quite pricey so I decided not to buy tickets and instead went to the best viewing spot of Taipei.
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall - a memorial to the Republic of China's
National Father, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. 
Eslite Bookstore - the most popular chain of bookstores in Taiwan. This
particular branch in Dunhua is open for 24 hours and spans for five floors
filled with books, CDs, DVDs, gift items, and an exhibit showing how media
and information has evolved over the years.
Taipei 101 - formerly called the Taipei World Financial Center, this 
building is the tallest skyscraper in Taipei.

So here goes. It took me a bit of hiking to get to where the best view is but it was totally worth it. The nearest train station to Elephant Mountain Trail is just once station away from Taipei 101. From the station, just walk for about twenty minutes along Xiangshan Park to reach the trail head. And from there, it takes about an hour or so I was told. Challenge accepted and I reached the viewing deck in thirty minutes.
Xiangshan Park

NO WORDS can describe how absolutely beautiful it is up there. 
view from the top of the Elephant Mountain Trail

After a quite exhausting and eventful afternoon, I went back to the hostel and took a nap again before heading out to Ximending Youth Shopping Center. It is basically a huge shopping center lined with stores carrying popular brands (H&M, Adidas, The Face Shop) to local novelty stores with really cute items. With all the buildings lit up and people bustling around, it kinda reminded me of Tokyo. I did some shopping there and had dinner, and finally decided to call it a night.