Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園)
During our eleven days in Taiwan and there were only a handful of attractions that had a lot of visitors. BabyBoss, an indoor learning centre for children to experience exotic jobs such as astronauts, is one of them and I have already covered that in my earlier post here. But unlike BabyBoss where the crowd was mainly Taiwanese children, you will find a lot of mainland Chinese in Yehliu Geopark. Ok, maybe “a lot” is an understatement. LOL.
Whether you are a nature lover or not, if you have one day to spend in Taipei or northern Taiwan area, I would strongly recommend you to visit this place. Geographically, Yehliu is situated near Keelung harbour, between Jinshan and Wanli, and it’s about 90 minutes away from Taipei city via bus. As I was travelling in a large group, we had a packed itinerary for this day to suit everybody’s interest and we could only afford to spend one hour in Yehliu. It was enough but being an avid photographer, I could easily spend two to three hours on this 1.7km spectacular peninsular.
Yehliu Geopark
Map of Yehliu Geopark
Entrance of Yehliu Geopark
Yehliu Geopark has one of the most unusual natural landscape in Asia. Among all the natural formations, the “Queen’s Head” rock is considered the most famous. Because of its stature, there is usually a long queue to take a photo with it. We decided to give this photographic opportunity a pass as we were rushing for time. Instead, we took our photo with “Queen’s Head II”, which is basically a replica as the original one is gradually eroding away. This replica (see photo below) is located near the entrance, i.e. before the actual rock formations.
Yehliu Geopark
Yehliu is truly a testimony of Mother Nature’s creativity. The end product of an erosion is often unpredictable but yet in Yehliu, the resultant rock formations are somewhat similar; comprising mainly mushroom rocks, honeycomb rocks and candlestick rock. Below is a photo of an area where mushroom rocks are plentiful. Like I read somewhere on the Internet, it does have some resemblance of the moon surface.
Mushroom rocks
Mushroom rocks
Mushroom rocks
Quite self explanatory – Do not cross the red line!
This is either Ginger or Honeycomb rocks
Honeycomb rocks
Ocean Erosion Pothole
Candle Shaped Rock
Even fossil can be spotted in the park
And by the way, I did mention that this place is very crowded, right? Hence do take care of your belongings, especially your bags. Despite the crowd, it should not be too difficult to have your photographs taken without any third-parties in it; as long as everybody demonstrates patience and consideration. There is no queue system in the park, except for the Queens’ Head, where the queue is perpetually never-ending. To queue or not, the choice is yours. 😉
Tourists queueing to have their photos taken with the Queen’s Head, which is at the extreme right of the photo
Here’s a closeup of the actual Queen’s Head (mushroom rock)
There is actually a market just outside the park and from its name, it seems to be selling local foodstuff. Since we were rushing for our next destination and we didn’t go into this market.
Market outside Yehliu
Our next destination was Keelung Miaokou (基隆廟口) Night Market and while we were heading to the bus stop, a Taiwanese man (郭先生) approached us and offered to take us to the night market in his “mini” bus for NT$100 per person. We thought it was quite reasonable and took up the offer. As it turned out, we got more than what we had bargained for – The “mini” bus was actually a tour bus with full karaoke system!
The so-called “mini” bus
Karaoke system with a good selection of songs
A private bus at public price .. hee
Useful Information – Yehliu Geopark:
Opening Hours:
- 08:00am ~ 17:00pm
Charges:
- NT$50 Adult
- NT$25 Children / Students
Directions from Taipei:
- Head to the Taipei Bus Terminal and take the bus at Jinshan exit.
- The journey is about 90 minutes
- Tell the bus driver that you are going to Yehliu Geopark so that he can inform you when you have reached your station. Note that the bus doesn’t stop directly at the park itself. You have to walk for some 10-15 minutes to the park. Ask around for walking directions to the park.
Directions from Keelung Bus Terminal:
- Take the express bus 1022 (Jinshan) or 1262 (danshui) at Keelung station (near Keelung Railway Station).
- The Bus comes every 10 minute from 0540 ~ 2240hrs (40 min)
- Tell the bus driver that you are going to Yehliu Geopark so that he can inform you when you have reached your station. Note that the bus doesn’t stop directly at the park itself. You have to walk for some 10-15 minutes to the park. Ask around for walking directions to the park
Contact Information for the “mini” bus:
- Owner: 郭先生
- Tel: 0933 – 766 079 or 0921 – 108 803
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