river tracing
hiking
empty beaches
Mucha Man, this info in the sticky thread helped me:
He had to look it up because he didnāt know where LaoMei Park was, but he called me back right away and told me to take the Danshui Bus companyās bus to Jinshan, and to get off in Shihmen County (well, duh, even I could see that from Google maps). 
Soā¦ I am winging it with the information I already have and my willingness to walk a ways if necessary. I just hope I donāt get stuck up there tonightā¦ that would be um, challenging.
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So did you make it? Not sure what else the guy could have told you except the exact name of the bus stop. Did you ask for this? Every bus stop in Taiwan has itās own name. Also sometimes you do need to push Taiwanese to give you full info. Just keep repeating I donāt understand.
Laomei is not exactly a hot tourist destination. 
I made it up there, almost. For the record, the bus stops at bus stop A across from Danshui MRT and you want either the 1262 or the 1263, either one will do though their final destinations are different. THATāS what I was pushing tourist-info dude for, the bus NUMBERS, because a destination is nearly useless to those of us who canāt read the city names in Chineseā¦ they are not signed in English, as I learned when I went to Wulai in August (1602). There was a map in the MRT station that had all the buses listed, and since I knew I needed a bus to Jinshan thanks to the tourist-info line, I was able to figure out the 1263 on my ownā¦ but I confirmed it with a super-helpful staffer at the info counter who spoke great English. I had scrawled down the Chinese characters for where I wanted to go (even to me, it looked like a kindergarten effort) but he kindly wrote down for me both Jinshan and LaoMei Park in case I needed to show them to the bus driver.
When I say āalmostā itās because there were a bunch of other foreigners on the 1263 I took, including young adults (I was going to call them ākidsā ) from Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Montreal, Canada, and they were all in full beach gear, flip-flops and towels included. The friendly Chinese dude next to them managed enough English and gestures to figure out that they didnāt really know where they were going, and then he told them to follow him when he got off the bus. I had fun chatting with them and got off the bus when they did.
We ended up at Baisha Bay, which is a kilometer or two closer to Danshui then the park I wantedā¦ LaoMei. But it was good enough. I donāt have to work on Wednesday and if thereās not serious devastation, I think it might be really interesting to go up there again.
I rode the 1262 bus back to Danshui and the driver talked on his cell phone most of the way (with a headset, but still). He drove like a bat out of hell and I thought we were going to smush several scooters. Not my idea of fun, but nobody lost their life.
Anyway, thanks again for your help. I guess the real lesson for me here is, just go for it. Everyone Iāve talked to in Taipei has been friendly and helpful. There was no way to miss that giant body of water once I was on the correct bus and Iām glad I went.
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Buses do drive like bats out of hell for the most part. I wonder why they have never been broken of that habit?
He may have been on the horn with his wife or his bookie or other bus drivers. Driving was only secondary.
Free to visit: Pineapple Museum
https://museums.moc.gov.tw/EN/MusData/Detail?museumsId=3cfbf2ba-611f-47e2-bae7-0e705a26072e
WOW!!! 
Thatās almost as exciting as this major cultural landmark!
https://www.exploreminnesota.com/profile/darwin-twine-ball-museum/3132