[travel] 1408 taiwan: kaohsiung // hiking at shoushan (monkey mountain)

Back in 2014, when I spent most of my summer in Taiwan, my mom and I decided to go hiking at Shoushan (壽山) which is in the Gushan District of Kaohsiung. We got there by scooter, my mom driving from our apartment. I can’t remember the entrance we chose to park at and start hiking from but it was in the middle of a lovely, quiet residential neighborhood.

The day was hot and humid - typical for southern Taiwan, but manageable if you remembered a hat to shade your face, water, sunscreen, a towel for your inevitable sweat, and bug spray. We didn’t bring the bug spray. I usually get bitten a lot by mosquitoes but I managed to escape with only 3-4 bites, but my mom got totally slaughtered by them.

The trail was mostly wood paved, like walking on a boardwalk. It got steep at places, but it was doable. So many elderly locals would pass by quickly wearing long-sleeves and pants as if they were immune to the heat and did this hike every day. As our purpose was to just take a little walk and immerse in nature, we only walked 1-2 miles of trail before turning back. However, the trails are quite long in Shoushan, and one could easily spend a day there. Though the mountain is home to many monkeys (even an indigenous species!), we didn’t see any.