Distance: 2.5km (a little less if you only go around the lake).
Time: a leisurely 45 minutes. It could be quicker or slower depending on your purpose.
Difficulty: 1/10 – if you’re just doing the lakeside walk there’s barely any incline, and the surfaces are all paved. It’s a little harder if you go up the hill, but barely.
Total ascent: 40m or so if you go uphill. A lot less if you don’t.
Water: whatever you normally take out for a stroll – there are water fountains in a couple of places though.
Shade: not much – take your own shade if you’re as sun-shy as me.
Mobile network: no problem.
Enjoyment: It’s a pretty pleasant, gently park walk. I’m not sure I’d make it a destination, but on a day when I needed to get out of the house it was great.
Map:
GPX file available here.
After a gritty morning and most of the afternoon stuck indoors due to a combination of sickness and poor weather (this above photo and one other were taken on a better weather day), I decided that I needed to get out for a bit if I was to have any chance of sleeping later. Luckily for me, I now live quite close to both Bihu Park and Dahu Park, so I have a couple of options for low-energy strolls. I settled on Bihu since I’d not done a whole loop of it before, and it seemed s manageably short distance. From Wende MRT Station, cross the road and head up Lane 101.
Along the way someone has modified some cute playground graffiti into something hellish – the original simplistic features have been turned into evil, toothy grimaces. Honestly, I quite like it. By now, I’ve become somewhat inured to the Taiwanese love of horrifically cute characters, but I remember when I first arrived I thought they were a little creepy, so it’s good to see someone making the most of that potential. (And note the pink poop-snail to the right. I’ve seen him in a few places around here.)
- Cross over the first junction after the main road and head straight. (Or right if you want to do an anti-clockwise loop.)
- I chose to head straight, keeping the lake on my right. (This picture was also from a previous walk.)
Despite the torrential rains of earlier, the sun had chased away the clouds just enough to make the sky pretty.
Walking clockwise around the lake you can spot an interesting white building – it houses park management and security. If you take the wooden walkway along the lakeside you probably won’t notice the tennis courts and swimming pool that are up in this northernmost tip of the park.
After turning right along the top of the lake you’ll notice a couple of paths leading up into the trees. I decided to go exploring a little and wandered around some of the paths.
It was quite a pleasant little diversion – squirrels and exercising grandpas were dotted around despite the recent rain.
In other places, the post-rain, late-afternoon light cast the trees in a new and magical glow.
After looping around up on the hill for a bit, I headed down to continue walking around the lake.
At the eastern end of the park there is a white bridge structure which has clearly seen better days. (Part was closed off.) A family of ducks paddled around in the water and a night heron lurked on one of the posts. I watched a grandpa cycle up with his granddaughter and a bag of stale bread to throw it at the (not really interested) ducks.
Across from the bridges say a fisherman accompanied by a small army of herons and egrets – at least five gathered around him as if casting judgement on his technique.
To complete the loop it’s a straight walk along the water back to where you started.
How to get there
Google maps address: Bihu Park, Neihu District
GPS location: N25 04.810 E121 34.950
Public transport: the park is a short distance from Wende MRT Station
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