What can you do in Maokong other than the gondola up to Maokong and the views you can enjoy from the gondola?
Maokong is famous for its tea but its not like you can go around the various tea fields and sample the teas at the farms as you would with a winery tour.
How long will it take to walk around to the various points of interest at Maokong? Out of the different hiking trails, which one would you recommend and how long does it take to walk those trails?
When you travel up to Maokong via the gondola, should I get off at Zhinan Temple station and go see the Zhinan Temple too? Is there anything unique or special about that temple that makes it different from all the other various temples in Taipei?
And, if you do get off at the Zhinan station and want to see Maokong too, do you go back and wait for the gondola or do you walk up there? If you use the gondola, do you have to pay again to use the gondola from the Zhinan station to the Maokong station?
And, has anybody visited the Three stone Teapot Museum? Is it worth going there when it seems like its in the opposite direction of most of the other points of interest in Maokong?
If you are going on a weekend then you should expect to wait to get onto the gondola. If you get off at Zhinan Temple I would expect to wait for awhile getting back on.
You can hike to the Silver Stream Waterfall and Temple. The route is much easier in Richard’s book but the blog link shows an alternate and quite difficult route. taiwandiscovery.wordpress.com/2 … -the-city/
If you want to go for a walk, here is a little video about how you get from Chengchi University to Zhinan Temple and from there further up to the tea house area.
I think Zhinan Temple is quite interesting and you get good views over Taipei from there. It’s right beside the gondola station, so getting there is easy. I like to walk in the Maokong area, lots of trails, but I usually avoid the places that tourists usually go, like the tea houses. Perhaps on a weekday in the evening it can be nice, drinking tea and looking down at Taipei.
Most of the trails in the Maokong area are paved, and I hate that. When I go observe nature I want to walk on a dirt trail, not hard cement. Thankfully, you can still do that by going up the backside of Maokong via the Silver Stream Waterfall (銀河洞) that Abacus mentioned. Just take the MRT to Xindian and then take a cab to the trailhead (less than $200 if memory serves). It’s about an hour hike to Moakong gondola station. If it’s a clear day, get off at the Zhinan Temple Station and hike up the small peak behind it. There’s a great lookout platform at the top. When you head down the mountain, don’t worry about not being able to get an empty carriage at Zhinan Temple. The station operator will phone Maokong station to inform them that there’re passengers waiting and they’ll send down an empty carriage for you.