The Hike That Saved Our Taiwan Trip

Taiwan was my first international trip.

In 2018, my friends and I decided to take advantage of Taiwan’s visa-free entry, and because I was the one who loved planning trips, I naturally took charge of the itinerary. And when I say I planned it, I planned it.

I wanted to make the most of our time there, so I mapped out where we were going, what we were doing, and how we were going to get from one place to another. What I didn’t realise then was that even the most detailed itinerary couldn’t prepare me for the realities of travelling with other people. Especially for the first time.

Navigating a foreign country was already unfamiliar to all of us. There were trains to figure out, directions to follow and places we had never been before. Somewhere along the way, one of my friends started making side comments whenever things didn’t go exactly according to plan. Normally, I could brush things off. But after hearing comment after comment, especially from someone who hadn’t really looked at the itinerary in the first place, I eventually reached my limit. I honestly don’t remember exactly what I said. What I do remember is that I stopped talking to him. For an entire day.

My other friends were surprised because it was probably the first time they had seen me genuinely angry. They tried to calm me down, but at that point I just needed space. Thankfully, the next morning involved a mountain.

An early morning at Sun Moon Lake.

Our plan was to hike Maolan Mountain near Sun Moon Lake. Unsure whether the hike will proceed as planned, my friend still woke up early. So there we were, walking quietly along an almost empty road in the early morning, trying to find the trail. There weren’t many obvious signs, and for a while we weren’t even sure we were heading in the right direction. Eventually, we stopped at a nearby hotel and asked for help. The receptionist kindly allowed us to connect to their Wi-Fi so we could check our location. That was how we finally found the jump-off point. It was near a school, almost hidden in plain sight.

Maolan Mountain Hiking Trail

The Maolan Mountain Hiking Trail is now listed by Taiwan’s Tourism Administration as a 4.6-kilometre trail around Sun Moon Lake, passing Assam tea plantations and cedar trees on the way toward the weather station. It is also known as a sunrise-viewing trail. Back then, though, all we knew was that we had finally found it.

The walk I didn’t know I needed.

The trail itself wasn’t difficult. Much of it was paved, and it was the kind of path that felt more like a quiet morning walk than a serious climb. And maybe that was exactly what I needed. The farther we walked, the quieter everything became. The cool air, the trees, the mountains and the stillness of the morning slowly took my attention away from whatever I had been replaying in my head since the day before.

We had hoped to catch the sunrise from the mountain. Instead, we got fog. Lots of it. There was no dramatic golden sunrise waiting for us at the top. And somehow, I don’t remember being disappointed. What stayed with me was the walk itself. The silence. The cold morning air. And the strange way a simple hike gave me enough room to cool down.

Travelling with friends isn’t always picture-perfect.

When I think about that Taiwan trip now, I don’t really remember the argument. I remember waking up early. I remember walking down an empty road trying to figure out where the mountain was. I remember borrowing Wi-Fi from a hotel because we were lost. And I remember climbing Maolan Mountain together anyway.

Travelling with friends isn’t always as effortless as the photos make it look. People get tired. Plans change. Someone gets hungry. Someone gets annoyed. Someone says the wrong thing. And sometimes that someone gets ignored for an entire day. But I think that trip taught me something important about travelling with people you care about. Conflict doesn’t necessarily ruin a trip. Sometimes you just need a little space, a cool morning and a mountain to walk up. We didn’t get the sunrise we came for. But years later, that foggy morning at Sun Moon Lake is still one of the parts of Taiwan I remember most.