After visiting the Tiger and Dragon pagodas we have one more stop planned, specifically we want to find a cache in the nearby Shoushan National Nature Park. The trail starts similarly to the wall trail we have walked on earlier but soon it starts climbing up and up with lots of stairs. We are in awe of the older people that pass us and walk so easily, we have to catch our breath after almost every flight of stairs.
There is a viewing platform about halfway up and it is a good place to rest and enjoy the views of the lake and pagodas before continuing our climb.
There are rare places where the trail is level before continuing its way up almost to the top. There are few birds around but there are a few monkeys that we are scared about but in the end they don’t seem interested in us.
And then we are at our goal, a bunker high in the mountains. It is disaffected now but it was used both in the Second World War and then afterwards to protect against Chinese invasion. Somewhere around here is the cache so we must explore the bunker carefully from all sides.
You cannot enter it but otherwise it feels like we are exploring a castle, however a much more modern one than we are used to.
We find the cache and then sit a while and enjoy the great views. Views for which the location was selected, quite likely, as the bunker needed good line of sight in case of invasion.
And then it is time to descend quite abruptly back towards the parking and our car. There are some interesting buses here now but after having a laugh it is time for the drive to Tainan and our hotel for the night.
