Leofoo Village Amusement Park in Taiwan

I'm down to my last three Taiwan posts, finally. For just one week of travel, I sure did a lot!

As far as amusement parks go in Taiwan, the best ones seem to be located far away from Taipei. Like, seriously far away. But given Taiwan's small size, they are all accessible as day trips if you so choose.

The best park near Taipei is Leofoo Village, a 90 minute bus ride from the airport (buses are also available from a couple MRT stations). I arrived in the late afternoon literally just as the rain was stopping.

 While there were clouds in the sky and water on the ground, my umbrella wasn't needed as I entered the park.

 Leofoo is divided into four themed areas. The first one I came to was the "American West". There is a main street with western buildings and plastic animals to take pictures on.

 Like American parks, the buildings held stores and restaurants.

 I also saw a couple rides tucked away inside some buildings.

 The first coaster you come to (if you start with this side of the park) is the Little Rattler.

 It's a family coaster but was decent. There is a U-shaped coaster in this section of the park but it was closed, and due to the clouds and angles I wasn't able to get a good photograph. The English website calls this the Screaming Corridor.

 Nearby the Rattler is an inverting ride, which is one of my favorite types of rides. It's listed on the interactive map as Old Oil Well. After making my way around the park I settled on this ride for most of the rest of the night.

 The theming in South Pacific was very mountainous. There is a flume ride which I didn't go on, but you could walk inside some of the rockwork...

 That area was called Lost World. As you may guess from the name and sign...

 There are dinosaurs lurking here.

 You walk around inside caves going up the mountain and see a few dinos along the way. You can also see the flume ride a bit. Again, due to the weather and lighting, I didn't get many pictures.

 Hmm, is that an Arabian Village? We'll come back to that later.

 First, walk around the mountain and you can see a Rockin' Tug.

 And here is the flume ride. It looked really fun!

 There is a drop ride in this part of the park which takes you up into a giant helmet thing before dropping.

 And like every other park, a swinging pirate ship.

 Okay, now let's go to the Arabian Kingdom. My first stop was a Ring Of Fire ride. The ride was fairly tame but still enjoyable.

 Ahh, would you like your fortune told? There is an attraction called Sultan's Adventure, which is similar to the Indy Jones rides at Disney parks, in this section of the park.

 Sahara Twister is the coaster in the African Safari portion of the park. It has seats that spin freely as the coaster travels around the track.

From here, you can get a nice view of the Arabian Kingdom from across the lake.

There are animals in the African Safari portion of the park, but due to the time (the sun was setting) and the weather, I wasn't able to see any of them. Leofoo Village is a park I will definitely revisit should I find myself back in Taiwan, if only for the U-shaped coaster - Leofoo claims it's the only one in Asia, and that there are only two in the entire world.

Leofoo is open from 9-5 or later, though the Safari closes at 4 or 6:30 depending on the time of year. The park has a really good English website though the pictures in the Attractions section don't seem to be working. You can check there for prices - NT$999 for adults, though they have an NT$1299 "Ambitious" ticket too which might include the water park.

Awesome Science! Taipei's National Taiwan Science Education Center

 Do you want to spend the day at a place that calls itself an education center? Most people don't. But this place isn't about classrooms and lectures, or dusty stuffed dead animals in glass cases.

 The exhibits are generally out in the open, able to be touched and seen from many sides. And a large number of them are interactive.

 They are designed with children in mind. You can have fun at this place and learn a whole bunch of science at the same time! If you read Chinese, that is. (There is enough English information to keep it interesting for foreigners, so don't be afraid of that.)

 Have you ever walked through a digestive tract? I have! (Though a slimy, gross, more-realistic one would have been even cooler!)

 What are the differences between boys and girls at puberty? Learn about it here. No crazy puritan taboos.

 Interactive exhibits are scattered all over the large museum, and it's easy to spend a few hours here.

 I managed to find one glass case with a nice butterfly display. It was tucked in a corner of a hallway between exhibit halls.

 There is a lot on life sciences (especially the human body), but the physical sciences are examined as well.

 These stands help teach about electricity and magnetism.

 How pretty!

 Up on the fourth or fifth floor, you can put on a helmet and ride a bike across a wire. The weight beneath the bicycle guarantees it won't tip over!

 Uh oh. That's a scary cave...

 And it has scary creatures and plants in it! Ecology is another big focus of the museum.

 But I like physical sciences. Especially ones with physical exhibits.

This kid has only a head and an arm! It's all described with physics.

Admission to the NTSEC is only NT$100, and you can get there on foot from Shilin MRT Station. It's open from 9-5 (6 on the weekends), but is closed on Mondays. If you have an elementary school-aged child, this would be a great place to let them learn a bit but have lots of fun doing it.  [Note: at the time of this posting the website is inaccessible, but Taipei is experiencing some major storms and the museum is closed along with other area attractions. It's possible the servers are offline due to the storms.]

Ornate Overdrive: Taipei Longshan Temple

 Built in 1738, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the front. Yes, that is a digital message board over the front gate.

 Stroll past that and you can see the more traditional appearances of the inner buildings and gates.

 The main building and left corridor were damaged in World War II but were faithfully rebuilt.

 The building is done in traditional Taiwanese/southern Chinese style. A large plaza just inside the gate with the message board is a popular gathering place:

 People were just hanging out here - the temple actually serves as a community space in this part of Taiwan. That is something I haven't seen in many of my travels around Japan, Korea, and Taiwan - in the modern age people go to coffee shops, the mall, or just stay home.

 The temple is open to visit and pray. Head in through the gate.

 The temple itself is found further inside. There seemed to be some kind of event going on the day I arrived, as an inner courtyard had these tables set up with food (offerings to the Gods, I'm sure).

 The temple had a nice waterfall feature in one corner. It's amazing how much effort is put into Chinese architecture.

 Every small nook and cranny seems to be filled with carvings.

 The flowers in front of the temple are, again, probably to celebrate a God's birthday (as I saw at another temple) - or they could be for another purpose (funeral or wedding).

 The burning of incense is supposed to help with luck. Part of the ritual involves lighting an incense stick, and in some case inhaling the fumes to drive away bad things. Sometimes the sticks are left in urns or on graves.

 More details - a painting of some sort.

 Don't forget to look up when visiting temples in Asia.

 The roofs, just like every other surface of the building, are covered in carvings.

 And under the roofs gold and brightly-colored paint with even more tiny carvings cover every inch.

 It's just amazing to look at all this detail.

 Most imagery involves some form of dragon.

 Dragon!

 Dragon!

Okay, one last picture - next to the intricacy and detail and bright (gaudy) colors of the temple, this peaceful natural pond draws the eye to a simple beauty.

The temple is located across a large modern plaza from the Longsham Temple MRT station, or a 15 minute walk from the Taipei Botanical Garden. The best (and most crowded) time to visit is on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, when locals come to worship; the rest of the time you're more likely to see tourists and foreigners visiting inside the temple. Visit between 6 AM and 10:20 PM. Across the street is an underground market, and the whole area is good for shopping for traditional and religious souvenirs. Don't forget to check out the modern plaza area too.