October 7, 2026
While waiting for my Chinese one-on-one lessons to start, I decided to visit Fushan Botanical Garden [福山植物園] in the north of Taiwan. This place was a day trip. My father is interested in botanic gardens around the world, but is too old for international travel, so I went to this botanic garden in his place.
After I did this trip, I discussed this with my tutors Fú [芙] and Yún [芸], and captured their remarks.
Despite International House being close to Fushan Botanical Garden in Google Maps, I had to take the MRT [捷運] to Taipei Main Station [台北車站], a TRA train [火車] to Yilan train station [宜蘭車站], and hire a car to take me to Fushan Botanical Garden. All up it is 147 kilometers.
A week before, I applied at the Fushan Botanical Garden website. The process was free, but put a limit of 500 people per day. I followed this website and succeeded in my application (above).
However, the next step – hiring a car – was expensive. I ended up booking a 4-hour return trip from Yilan train station (receipt above). The cost was over NTD 3,000. Both Fú and Yiyun said the price was costly.
On Wednesday, October 7, I started from International House at 6am. The weather was overcast, and the temperature was in the low 20’s. I was wearing my father’s jacket which I extorted from him when I was in Sydney. The photo above is of an MRT train; notice the man in the wheelchair.
I had reserved a seat on a particular train, and photographed the QR code on the receipt. On arriving at Taipei Main Station (above), I simply showed the QR code on my mobile phone to the ticket officer, paid the money, and got a ticket for that train. Simple!
This is that ticket.
And here is the train.
The interior of the train.
This was a Mountain Line train, which, as the name implies, traveled through mountains (above).
The train crossed rivers…
…and mountain valleys.
A view of the river and mountains.
Along the railroad track I noticed these palms.
An island off the eastern shore. Fú told me the peak was Turtle Mountain [龜山] – at least, I think that’s what she said; we were speaking in Chinese, and my Chinese is atrocious. Yún confirmed that the island was called Turtle Mountain Island [龜山島].
The country broadened out into a flat plain, with rice fields (above) broken up into rectangles.
The mountains receded; the train was coming into Yilan.
Yilan train station [宜蘭車站]. In the photo, the train from which I had just disembarked was just moving out of the station.
Another view of Yilan Station, showing the ticket gates.
The view from an arch looking out of Yilan train station.
The car I’d booked arrived quickly. The driver spoke only basic English, as good as my Chinese. Fushan Botanical Garden was an hour away by car. We started though the streets of Yilan (above). Notice the disability scooter.
We drove west, beside the mountains.
All the way from Yilan train station there were signs pointing to Fushan Botanical Garden, for example in the photo taken above (in the brown sign in above center).
We drove into the mountains.
The road narrowed and followed a twisting path. My ears popped; we were gaining altitude. The palms and banana ‘trees’ were gone; in their place, subtropical jungle and epiphytes.
The road skirted around cliffs (above).
Then, by the side of the road was a monkey; the driver stopped so I could observe it. Yún said it was a generic monkey [猴子] while Fú said it was a macaque [獼猴]). Both expressed surprise that monkeys are not native to Australia.
We passed red-edged triangular signs warning of falling rocks (above).
We paused at 福山自然中心 – the translation is “Fushan Nature Centre”, at the entrance to the park. The driver went to register me, holding my Gold Card (above).
We stopped at another set of monkeys, probably a family.
We arrived at the visitor center for the Fushan Botanical Garden (above). It is at an elevation of 420 meters. The air was very humid; rain had fallen not long before. I left my driver, who settled in to read, and set out to explore.
I was approached by a guide, who offered me valuable advice, and even took a photo of me. The above photo is of me with my walking-stick, favoring my right side (because of my stroke), next to a column reading “Fushan Botanical Garden” [福山植物園].
The guide said there was a map (pictured) of Fushan Botanical Garden. Note the bright light reflecting off the center of the map. My location is to the left of the light on the road just before Fushan Pond [福山池]. The guide suggested walking up the path parallel to Hapen Creek [哈盆溪], crossing the creek at a bridge, and walking back to the pond.
There is a fair amount of information on the Internet, for instance this piece, though many websites are in Chinese.
I have added a YouTube clip, only a couple of minutes long, to show this environment.
Beyond the visitor’s center, there was a shaded path (above) leading to Fushan Pond.
Fushan Pond, with typical overcast sky and threat of rain.
There was a bridge on the southern end of the pond.
I noticed a signboard at the edge of the walkway looking out on the pond.
The signboard says that this area was once “just a low-lying swamp”. The botanic garden let some water in from Hapen Creek [哈盆溪], and now the pond is a “stable ecosystem”, including “macaques, wild boar, crab-eating mongoose, and the rare Indian civet”. Apart from the macaques, I didn’t see any of the animals.
I photographed a sign, and later looked it up. It’s a deciduous conifer, but:
“In 1941, the genus Metasequoia … [was a] widely distributed extinct genus based on fossils, before attracting considerable attention a few years later when small populations were found alive in central China. It is a well-known example of a living fossil species. Modern dawn redwood appears identical to its late Cretaceous ancestors…. The tree faces considerable risks of extinction in its wild range due to deforestation; however, it has been planted extensively in arboreta worldwide, where it has proved a popular and fast-growing ornamental plant. If the species had not been discovered when it was, it might have become extinct before being investigated.”
Another signboard, “Planted and Natural Forest”, alongside “a forest of Japanese Cedar”.
The aforementioned Japanese Cedar.
I followed the path from the lake through these trees. Unfortunately I didn’t record the species of the trees – perhaps some reader could help?
Another signboard, of understory plants, who live in “areas of weak sunlight”.
As before, I took this photo assuming later I could identify some under-story plants, like the ones growing next to the fence. Unfortunately, I am completely unable to, to my consternation. Any idea what these plants are?
I photographed a signboard on the Taiwan Leaf-nosed Bat. However, I missed seeing this bat at all.
There were no Taiwan leaf-nosed bats in the vicinity, but I saw a small animal (above). I looked it up online; it was likely a Formosan Reeves’s Muntjac, “one of three deer species native to Taiwan. A small, short-limbed deer weighing around 5-12 kg, it forages alone under the cloak of dusk or night in low-high altitude mountain forests throughout Taiwan. Traditionally, it was hunted by Taiwan’s indigenous tribes for its meat for food, and fur, skin, antlers to make clothing and accessories.”
Another sign: “With its warm, humid climate, Taiwan is home to a high diversity of ferns”. I looked up Diplopterygium growing near the sign: “About 20 species: tropical and subtropical areas, mainly distributed in tropical Asia; nine species (four endemic) in China.”
This photo is of some Cyathea, “Treeferns with an erect trunk, covered at the apex with whitish to dark red-brown scales. … World: >600 species, chiefly tropical regions.” I noticed that Australia has 11 species.
Any idea what this fern is?
Further up the path, another sign, “Gymnosperm”. Brittanica explains, “Angiosperms and gymnosperms are the two major groups of vascular seed plants. Angiosperms, which are flowering plants, are the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom Plantae. With around 300,000 species, they represent approximately 80 percent of all the known green plants now living. Gymnosperms are a smaller, more ancient group, and it consists of plants that produce ‘naked seeds’ (seeds that are not protected by a fruit). There are more than 1,000 species of gymnosperms still found on Earth.”
The sign says “Familiar gymnosperms include pine, fir, cedar, Buddhist pine, Japanese yew, ginkgo and sago palm”. The tree in the center of the above photo is (I think) a gymnosperm, but I don’t know what it was.
The track follows Hapen Creek [哈盆溪] (above).
I took this picture from a bridge above Hapen Creek.
From Hiking Note (translated from traditional Chinese): “The Hapen River [sic] is a tributary of the Nanshi River, meaning ‘the confluence of two rivers’ in the Atayal language. Located in the Hapen Nature Reserve on the border of Taipei and Yilan, its source is in the Fushan Botanical Garden, where it flows into the Nanshi River near the Hapen campsite. The Hapen River basin was a traditional hunting ground for the Atayal people. Due to its remote location and protection, it retains low-altitude, pristine broadleaf forests, full of original tropical rainforest scenery and mystery, earning it the reputation of ‘Taiwan’s Amazon.'”
I followed the loop of the track returning from the creek. I stopped to photograph a muntjac in turn being photographed by a man (above). Hapen Creek is in the background.
I paused to photograph this Meliosma rigida tree. Wikipedia explains it “is a species of flowering plant in the family Sabiaceae. It is native to Laos, Vietnam, southern China, Taiwan, Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, and the Philippines”.
Above is a tree with many epiphytes, which as Brittanica says, “any plant that grows upon another plant or object merely for physical support. Epiphytes have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source and are not parasitic on the supporting plants. Most epiphytes are found in moist tropical areas, where their ability to grow above ground level provides access to sunlight in dense shaded forests and exploits the nutrients available from leaf and other organic debris that collects high in the tree canopy.”
It started to rain, so I hastened back to the visitor’s center, found the driver still reading in the car, and left Fushan Botanical Garden.
On the way back, my driver stopped the car to allow me to photograph the mountains (above).
On the way back we saw the monkey again, by the side of the road. My driver again stopped the car.
We pulled up to Yilan Station (above) about 3 and a half hours after I was picked up, under the 4 hour limit. I thanked the driver, went into the station, and bought a ticket for the next train to Taipei.
From setting off to arriving back to International House, the total time was 10 and a half hours, coincidentally the same duration as my trip to Chiayi Arboretum.