Sometimes interventions are necessary.
Just make sure you’re not messing with a gangster!
Guy
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Totally. It seems to be the root of all problems when they move to remote areas in places like australia, north america etc. The quiet, peace and lack of full on mental stimulation breaks the majority.
Though, i must agree, the mountains in taiwan are FILLED with assholes. TI feel the authors perspective is wrong, however. He is pissed because he has this preconception that going to the mountains will somehow get him away from assholes. What he fails to realize is that he lives amkongst assholes already, and the mountains are so sparsely populated that the dilution of population just makes him focus on said assholes there. Looking at it another way, he should be so lucky to be so blind as to not be so annoyed whilst living at home amongst thousands of said folk… that all said, buddhists in the mountains also tend to be exceptionally selfish and self riteous to the point of destroying nature to prove their truth. They are nearly in the same bracket as poachers on the asshole scale.
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I think it’s more like some people just like to listen to music in the mountains here. I might prefer silence, but why anyone thinks they have an absolute right to it within a circle extending about their person wherever they may roam is more of an interesting question, perhaps.
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Ironic !!! Noise is a SILENT killer ??!
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Taiwan has 23 million people living in largely a Third Of the island
Peace and quiet is not a given
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So this is Taipei Times now. I hope they didn’t waste paper on this.
If you’re hiking on the government manicured tourist trails you’ve got no one but yourself to blame. You’re going to get the same lot you get in any other public beauty spot. If you follow the crowd you’ve got to deal with the crowd.
It pissed me off to no end when they gave the tourist treatment to a mostly disused but walkable trail near my house. They cut two manicured paths through the main trails and fenced off most of the side trails. It was nice up there before.
Also, the writer keeps calling it “mountain climbing”. If you’re walking these trails, you’re not mountain climbing. You’re walking on a sidewalk uphill.
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So people who use “government manicured tourist trails” are to blame for the bad behavior of other people on those trails? Hint: not everyone is willing or even physically capable of venturing off the beaten path. It doesn’t mean those people shouldn’t be able to enjoy a pleasant hike.
This is epic level victim blaming that makes me think there is more than 1 type of mountain a…hhh nevermind.
Headphones. Don’t a bunch of Taiwanese companies manufacture them?
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for cafes, put some time into finding the decent not busy ones. most of them are chock a block. in a bad way. the chains are simply hell.
I know plenty of mountain paths with few people on them, the occasional hunter and photographer.
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I prefer silence when I go to nightclubs.
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I’ve hiked lots. Walking those sidewalks is not hiking, just walking. Fewer people hike than walk, so just more people from all walks.
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hike [noun]
Definition of *hike* (Entry 2 of 2)
1 **:** a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise
Not that calling the people who go to places like Elephant Mountain “walkers” instead of “hikers” changes the point about mountain assholes.
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And those friggin’ steps are a weird size, you’re never able to get the right rhythm, fluency.
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I hope they did, it’s easily the most entertaining and interesting piece I’ve read from that rag for the last ten years !
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And I know plenty that are chock a block. But yeah with a bit of experience, and access to your own wheels, you can get away from the most famous and crowded spots. There’ll always be somebody thereabouts though. As I remember somebody telling me when I first arrived, you could be hiking up a mountain for ten hours and there’s still somebody sitting on top of it having tea when you get to the top 
.
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To be fair, the Taipei Times does have some good regular columnists. Steven Crook’s travel writing (@StevenCrook) is distinct and utterly uncliched—he’s the best among us since the inimitable @Mucha_Man left Taiwan.
And Han Cheung’s weekly column is typically detailed, informative, and entertaining. Here’s one recent example I doubt you’ll soon forget!
Guy
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I just don’t even see them pop up on my social feed or news so I wouldn’t know. At least that one got traction .
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That’s what forumosa is for. : D
Guy