Taipei has a new tourist attraction - what the city goverment are calling "gondolas" - cable cars that will take you across the southern Maokong mountain to the summit, which is home to dozens of tea shops and tea plantations.
The system stretches just over 4kms, and takes you from Taipei Zoo subway to the summit - hundreds of metres above ground level, with some quite spectacular views of the mountain and the whole city landscape.
Its cost the government nearly $40 m ($1.3bn nt) - but they believe its well spent : giving people a new tourist destination, and helping to bring tourists to the southern part of the city which has been relatively undeveloped.
The trip is supposed to take about 20 minutes..though technical glitches during our press run meant it took us about 50 minutes to return after several stops..swaying in the air! Another problem is that the cable cars - originally built and designed for ski resorts in Europe - dont have air conditioning. They are looking at other ways to increase ventilation in the cars, which can get very stuffy in Taiwan's oppressive summer heat.
But the verdict from fellow passengers: great fun, good scenery, and an enjoyable ride. A bargain too - just 50 nt to the top!
3 comments:
Cool!
I didn't even know they were working on such a thing. Great idea, especially since i dig those tea houses up there, and the last time i tried to drive up there, it took forever to squeeze through the clogged traffic to get back down...
75 kms above ground level ??? Taiwanese kms ?
oops..u are right! must be typo on my part...changed it.
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