Yehliu Geopark (Taipei Trip Day 3)

Day 3 in Taipei, we visited Yehliu Geopark, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial, Taipei 101, and Ximending. 

Yehliu is located in Wanli District, around 40 km away from Taipei City. It can be easily accessed with bus. We reached ZhongXiao DunHua MRT Station at 9:15 am to catch the connecting bus (no 1815) to Yehliu.  The bus stop is located a few steps away from exit 4. We waited 5 minutes for the bus. The journey to Yehliu took approximately 1 hour. From Yehliu bus stop, we walked for 10 minutes to Yehliu Geopark. It was very convenient as pedestrian lane was prepared.

Yehliu Geopark is filled with strange-looking rocks formed by marine erosion, which the harder stones remain, and the softer eroded. The special thing is, over millions of years, some of the rocks were actually shaped in the way that they resembles some objects- such as the queen rock, sandal rock (which is called as the fairy's shoe by locals), candle rock, ginger rock, dragon rock, and marine bird rock. Some of the rocks can be easily recognized for the distinct shapes, while others, strong imagination required. 

The park entrance fee was NTD 80, operation hours from 8 am - 5 pm. The park was clean, signage was clear, the wind was strong, and the view, stunning. Unlinke Yuntai Mountain Geopark in China with a lot of stairs to climb, it is easier to move around in Yehliu Geopark. There is a small rest house built beside marine bird rock- the only place where restrooms and a food shack are available. 

Our advices, be early. We were lucky that the day was a bit hazy with strong wind, so was not too warm, but the place can be very warm under blazing sun. There might be a long queue to take photo with the queen rock. Want to beat the queue? We can take photo at the other side of the rock, which looks about the same. Can't find the special rock? We can always ask the guard there (the guys with whistles with them), and they are more than happy to show us the location of the rock. The higher grounds offer stunning views around the area, so do take some effort to climb up to the observatory platforms there. We strolled around the park from 11 am until 12:45 pm.

Zhongxiao Dunhua Bus Stop is located a few steps outside gate 4 of MRT station (upper left). The bus 1815 brought us from Taipei City (upper right) to sub-urban area (lower right). The bus was air-conditioned with LCD flatscreens providing entertainment to passengers.  The programme however was in Mandarin only.

Once get off the bus, what we need to do is to look for the signages and follow the pedestrian walkway to Yehliu Geopark.

The bus return to Taipei City is available at the bus stop opposite of the road (upper left). The pedestrian walkway is green in colour, and will lead us to the geopark (upper right). We passed by the harbor for fishing boats (lower right) before we reach the ticketing counter.

The visitor center consists of a souvenir shop, a canteen, and restrooms (upper left). Geopark map is available free of charge. The walkway in front of the the visitor center leads to the park (upper right), where we can see the crowds moving around (lower right). There is a stone garden on the right after the entrance. All the stones exhibit are the replicas. One of them is the panther stone, which had already damaged by wave. Our advice, go straight to see the authentic stones first, and leave the replicas to the last. We will walk pass the same place on our way back.

The mushroom stones from the observatory platform.

The 1.7 km long cape of Yehliu is flat except a small hill at the tip of the cape.

There were many visitors roaming around the area (upper left). The information about some special stones are provided in the park (upper right). Visitors are not supposed to go beyond the red line (lower left). Lifebuay is prepared, just in case someone steps too far beyond the red line.

The layers of limestone can be clearly seen.

Candle rock (upper left), queen rock (upper right), ginger rock (lower right), and elephant rock are several famous rocks there.

Sandal rock or fairy's shoe rock (upper left), dragon rock (upper right), and bird rock (lower right) can be easily identified. We need to search the ground carefully for fossils.

The food shack marks the end of the flat land (upper left), then we need to climb stairs (upper and lower right) to the hill.

The tip of the cape can be clearly seen from the hill.

Town view from the hill. 

The hawker center at the exit of the park with local delicacies and souvenirs (upper row). We bought some dried fish (lower right) and took our lunch at one of the eatery there. The price, reasonable.

After lunch with pork rice, unagi soup (eel), and fried oyster with egg, we went back to Taipei by bus. Again, we waited for 5 minutes only to get onto the right bus. Yehliu Geopark is a must visit place if you ever visit Taipei. You can find more information about Yeliu Geopark at the official website of the park. Next, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial and Taipei 101. Stay tune.

More about our experience in Taipei, please read out posts:

[Taipei Huaxi Night Market- Our First Stop in Taipei] [Taipei Zoo & Maokong Mountain]

[Raohe Night Market] [Yehliu Geopark]

Raohe Night Market (Taipei Trip Day 2)

After visiting Taipei Zoo and Maokong Mountain, we continued our trip to Raohe Night Market. Raohe Night Market (饶河夜市) is one of the oldest night market in Taipei. It is located at Raohe Street in Songshan District, spreading 600 meters along Keelung River. How to go to Rauhe Night Market? Take MRT to Songshan Station, exit through gate 5,  and you will see the entrance of the night market at your right, on the other side of the road. It is just beside a beautiful temple- Songshan Ciyou Temple.

Raohe Night Market opens from 5 pm till midnight. Easy to reach, organized, clean, and not too big to get lost. Recommended by our friend, the pork rib herbal soup and black pepper bun are the must-try-food there. He actually mentioned another one- the stinky tofu, which we dared not try. Of course, we tried many other food and drinks along the street, including the grilled scallops, meat roll with spring onion and tofu fa. We reached the market at around 7 pm and stayed there for almost 2 hours.

Raohe Night Market is different from Huaxi Night Market- more stalls selling IT gadgets, handphone accessories, branded attires, beautifully packed local delicacies to trap tourists, souvenirs like key chains and fridge magnets, and more variety of food and drinks. Most importantly, it consists of one single street only, with the hawker stalls line up at the middle of the street, very organized in the way that we can see everything in a round trip, and it is almost impossible for visitors to get lost there. It is indeed a must visit night market in Taipei!

From Songshan MRT Station (upper left) we need to cross the road to Raohe Night Market. The entrance of the night market is located beside Ciyou Temple (upper right). The entrance was full of visitors upon our arrival around 7 pm (lower right). The entrance near the MRT station is the eastern entrance. There is another entrance on the western side.

Raohe Night Market is really crowdy. We need to squeeze through some chocking points due to the queueing people in front of the stalls.

Limited by space, there were just a few tables and chairs prepared for the customers to sit down and enjoy their food.

Food- we tried grilled scallops (upper row) and pork and onion roll (lower row). The grilled scallops tasted good. The pork and onion roll was special and came with big potion, but tasted average.

Winter melon drink with brown sugar (upper left) and "ai-yu" jelly or can be translated as vegetarian gelatin (upper right) tasted good. Tofu fa which is made by soy bean tasted a bit different from our country style (lower right). We didn't really like it, but many people was waiting in front of the tofu fa stall, awaiting to be served.

The famous stall selling pork rib herbal soup was jammed with queueing visitors, and same happened to the most famous stall selling black pepper bun. We decided to make our life easier by visiting the stalls with shorter queueing line. Less people queueing didn't mean they were not good. The pork rib herbal soup (upper row) and the black pepper bun (lower row) served tasted good as well!

Statue of owls- Mascot of Raohe Night Market, is erected at the western entrance.

We left the market at 9 pm with some fruits and black pepper buns packed back for supper. An advice from our friend- Raohe Night Market is a very very crowdy market. It will be good if we and keep our belongs safe from pick pockets. Although he couldn't recall when was the last case reported (rarely happened), but it's always better to be careful than sorry.

For our second day, the weather was good- sunny in the morning, a bit hazzy in the afternoon, and cooling at night. We would visit Yehliu Geological Park in Wanli District, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, and Ximen Ding on our third day in Taipei. Let us bring you to Yehliu Geopark now.

More about our experience in Taipei, please read out posts:

[Taipei Huaxi Night Market- Our First Stop in Taipei] [Taipei Zoo & Maokong Mountain]

[Raohe Night Market] [Yehliu Geopark]

Taipei Zoo and Maokong Mountain (Taipei Trip Day 2)

First day in Taipei, we visited Huaxi Night Market and Mengxia Night Market. Second day, Tapei Zoo, Maokong Mountain, Elim Bookstore, and Rauhe Night Market were in our itinerary. We left our hotel early at 8:30 am. Our first breakfast in Taipei- some sandwiches and wheat drink from Seven-Eleven in Longshan Temple MRT Station. 

Taipei Zoo can be accessed easily through MRT brown line. We took MRT from LongShan Temple Station to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, then from there to Taipei Zoo Station. The zoo was just about 100 meters from the Taipei Zoo Station. The MRT was very congested during rush hours, but we still managed to stand in front of the zoo's main gate at 9:40 am.

The entrance fee for Taipei Zoo was NTD 60 per adult. Unbelievably cheap for a zoo that maintains a large diversity of animals, including giant panda and koala bear. The zoo opens from 9 am to 5 pm (ticket counter closes at 4 pm).

Well, we were early. Not many were queueing at the ticketing counter and at the entrance. We entered the zoo smoothly using the easy card. Taipei Zoo was built along a slope, so the best strategy is to take the zoo's shuttle train to the highest point of the zoo, then walk the way down back to the entrance. We need to pay NTD 5 exact change for the shuttle train at the station.

Taipei Zoo was very organized, and we had no problem to see all our favourites- aviary, penguins, grey wolf, red panda, panda, and koala. It was a great experience for us to walk through the best reptile house ever, to see African elephants in close distance, and watching a pod of hippos munching their breakfast as well. A few exhibits were empty (or maybe we could’t find the animals), but overall experience was great! By the way, the zoo was clean, with vendor machines selling snacks and drinks with fair price scattered around. Umbrella and good walking shoes are required for the best visiting experience. We stayed in the zoo till 1:15 pm, well, we never expected to stay there that long. We didn't manage to see all animals in the zoo, as that required one whole day.

 

Taipei Zoo entrance can be easily recognized (upper left), with a huge artwork placed in front of it (upper right). From the MRT gate, the foot prints of different animals (lower left) will lead us right to the entrance of the zoo.

Right after the entrance, we can see the visitor information center on our right, and the canteen and souvenir shop on our left. The train station is nearby the souvenir shop. Click on the photo for a bigger panoramic view.

Shutter train with wheels on road (upper left). We need to pay NTD 5 exact change for the train service. Our first stop, the aviary (upper right), followed by the penguin house (lower left) and the reptile house. The reptile house was clean, organized, with amazingly beautiful exhibits.

The zoo was filled with greenery (upper left), with some beautiful items as decoration.

Panda house was located near the entrance, but we saved the best for last. The panda house is big and fully air-conditioned (upper left). One of the panda was very active during our visit (upper right). We took our lunch at the nicely decorated cafe located on the upper level of the panda house (lower row).

The koala exhibits are located beside the shutter train station. These cute doll-looking critters could hang on trees without a single move for a long period of time, to an extend that we thought the animals inside were just toys. The favourite eucalyptus of the koalas were stated beside the exhibits (right).

The souvenir shop in the zoo with cute animal dolls.

We stayed in the zoo for about 4 hours, twice longer than our initial plan. But couldn't help, the zoo was like a big magnet for us. For us, it was easy to navigate through the zoo. The visitor's map was clear, and we could see most of the animals by following the main walkway down the hill. Comfortable  footwear and umbrella are important. Sufficient drinking water is required as well. Of course, we can always get our drinks from the vendor machines. For all animal lovers, Taipei Zoo is a big YES for us!

We headed to our next destination- Maokong Mountain by Maokong Gondola. The "gondala" is a glamour name for "cable car". The gondola station is around 350 meters from Taipei Zoo MRT Station. We paid NTD 100 for one trip to Maokong Station (one stop). The original fare was NTD 120 per adult per trip. But we got NTD 20 discount as we paid with the easy card for gondola after we paid for the entrance of Taipei Zoo with the same card, in a same day. More information about Maokong Gondola is available at its official website.

Maokong Gondola Station can be seen from the Taipei Zoo MRT Station (the building with blue signage). There is no covered pedestrian walkway connecting these two stations.

There are two types of gondolas- crystal cabin and normal cabin. While caught by long queue waiting for crystal cabin, there was nobody queueing at normal cabin line (upper left). The gondola travels 4 km in 25 minutes to Maokong Station (upper right). For crystal cabin, we could see through the glass at the bottom of the cabin (lower right). To compare the experience, we took our return trip in normal cabin, and well, not much difference. In fact, the bottom view was not that great after all.

The window view is much better than the bottom view. In a sunny and hazeless day, we could see the 101 tower far behind the hills (right side).

The view from the Maokong Station. Green, peaceful, but not beautiful.

Once out of Maokong Station, we need to make decision- turn right or left (upper left). We started with turning right. The small road led us to the tung tree walkways. Unlucky for us, we found no tung tree flower there (although the season should be April - May). We missed the yellow lupin flower blossom as well, and what left for us was a boring garden with green flower trees (upper right and lower right). Another dissapointment, the maple pavillion had a total of 4 maple trees only.

This little pond ease a bit of our dissapointment.

Well, we took the same way back to Maokong Station, then to the left we turned (upper left). We walked by several eateries (upper right). These eateries should provide good view over Taipei city, but we couldn't see much that afternoon due to the heavy haze far below the mountain. It took us around 25 minutes to reach the Tea Research and Promotion Center of Taipei (lower left). Visitor should not travel beyond the center as there was nothing interesting for tourists anymore beyond that building.

Tea Research and Promotion Center of Taipei is not a big building, with a small receiption (upper left) area that leads to a room displaying a few tea processing machines (upper right) and a corner for the selected tea planting companies to promote their products (lower right). We bought some "pao-zhong" and "tieh kuang-yin" tea leaves from the centre, and thanks God, following the instruction given by the promoter, we finally found a small patch of tea farm on Maokong Mountain (lower left).

Maokong Mountain was far below our expectation- weather was not cooling, no flower blooming, haze blocked the nice view, some unmanaged and dirty sites... it would be a total dissapointment if we didn't bought the tea leaves there. We would advise to visit the place only if you are a big fan of tieh kuan-yin and pao zhong tea leaves, or you are 100% sure that the flowers are blooming along the mountain paths. By the way, there will be a lot of foot workout up there, so wearing comfortable walking shoes is very important (unless you wish to rent a bike), umbrella and drinking water are essential as well. 

The tea plantations there were operated in small scales, so the stunning view like the plantations in Cameron Highlands should not be expected. By the way, there are plenty of eateries and food stalls up there, and you might wish to try the tea ice cream there. The taste, just average. 

This is the tea and choc ice cream at Maokong, speacial with a cat wafer on it but tasted average.

We took off from Maokong Station at around 4:30 pm and reached Taipei city center at around 6 pm. We stopped at Elim Bookstore, bought some books, and continued our trip to Raohe Night Market. Follow us now!


More about our experience in Taipei, please read out posts:

[Taipei Huaxi Night Market- Our First Stop in Taipei] [Taipei Zoo & Maokong Mountain]

[Raohe Night Market] [Yehliu Geopark]

Taipei Huaxi Night Market- Our First Stop in Taipei (Taipei Trip Day 1)

It was our first visit to Taipei together. We arrived at 2:25 pm at Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 (台湾桃园国际机场), with approximately 120 visitors already queuing at the immigration counters. We took around 1 hour to get the clearance. Tao Yuan International Airport is not Taipei City Airport. It is located 40 km away from Taipei Main Station at Zhongzheng District.

We decided to travel by mass transport to our hotel. First, we went to B1 level and redeemed our free tickets from Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport (国光客运) counter, then took a bus to Taipei Main Station (special thank to Taiwan Tourism Bureau MOTC, normal fee was NTD125 per person per trip). Bus no. 1819 to the main station was scheduled with 10 minutes interval. We reached Taipei Main Station at 5 pm, registered for free wifi at the tourism information counter, and roamed around for a while. We took MRT (Taipei Metro) to our hotel at Long Shan Temple (龙山寺). Our hotel- Long Shan Hotel was just 5 minutes walk from the metro station (we will share more about the hotel in our upcoming post).

People queueing for immigration clearance (upper left). One hour of queue time was a bit long. The staff at the information counter at the arrival hall was helpful (upper right). She showed us the way to the airport bus station (lower left). The buses parked near to the ticketing counter. 1819 was the bus that we were waiting for. With the interval of 10 - 15 minutes to get the next bus, waiting is not an issue there.

Taipei Main Station is big, but not big enough for us to get lost (upper left). The the main station ticketing counters is the place where people purchase tickets for the trains to other cities (upper right). Visitor Information Center is located just beside the ticketing counters (lower right). We obtained our free wifi access at the information center. The application required our passports and took around 5 minutes to be completed. The wifi could be accessed in the government buildings, metro stations, and some city bus lines. The free wifi access was very useful to get us connected with our family and friends. Please visit the official website of free Taipei wifi for more information.

By far, we had no problem travelling around. All the signages at the airport, the main station, and the metro stations were clearly stated in traditional Chinese and English. Well, we could understand both. After a short rest, we decided to take our dinner at Mengxia Night Market (艋舺夜市). Later we realized that Mengxia Night Market was actually connected to Huaxi Night Market. Both night markets open from 4 pm till late night.

How to go to Huaxi Night Market (华西夜市) and Mengxia Night Market (艋舺夜市)? From Longshan Temple Station, exit through gate 1, turn right and walk through Mengxia Park until you are right in front of Longshan Temple. The entrance of Mengxia Night Market is on your left, on the other side of the road. Walk along Mengxia Night Market and you will find Huaxia Night Market on your right. Well, it should be a 2 - 3 minutes walk from the metro station. Staying at Long Shan Hotel, Mengxia Night Market was just 3 minutes away from our hotel by foot.

The entrance of Mengxia Night Market （艋舺夜市) that marks the beginning of a 400 meters night market spanning along Guangzhou Street (广州街), intersects with Wuzhou Street (梧州街) and Huaxi Street （华西街）.

When we walked down Guangzhou Street, the entrance of Huaxi Night market could be seen on our right, some 50 meters away from the entrance of Mengxia Night Market.

Mengxia Night Market is more like a traditional Asian market. Most of the food stalls are gathered at the first stretch of the street, from the entrance till Wuzhou Street intersection (upper row). Clothes, games, shoes, bags, wallets, purses, and pirated VCDs are available after the intersection till the end of Guangzhou Street (lower row).

We tried grilled squid (upper left), sausage and meat on sticks (upper right), fried oyster with egg (lower right), and juice from fresh fruits and vegetables. All of them tasted good.

Red bean pancake (upper row) and sticky rice ball (lower row) attracted our attention, but not our taste bud.

Huaxi Night Market is covered (upper left). The street is around 400 meters long. North entrance is a bit quiet (upper right), and the south entrance which connects to Mengxia Night Market at Guangzhou Street is busier. The shops along the street offer different types of food and drinks. There are shops selling exotic food such as snakes and turtles, massage and nail polishing services, and a few shops selling adult-only toys (lower left). 

We found a very crowded eatery (upper left), and tried the pork rice, spiced duck egg (upper right), and winter melon-pork soup (lower right). For us, the taste was just average. There were other dishes offered there, but we wish to spare ourselves for other food.

By the way, Guangzhou Street can be accessed through Wuzhou Street. Huaxi Street lays parallel on the right side of Wuzhou Street.

As described by a few locals, Mengxia Night Market is a traditional night market without much tourist attracting elements. Many stalls set up tables and chairs to serve their customers. We could find more old people here, strolling in a relaxing manner along the streets. These two night markets were less busy compare to Raohe or Shilin. We like the market in the way that we can enjoy our time without squeezing our way down the alley.

We stayed in the night markets for about one hour. After dinner, we rested early. We have Taipei Zoo, Maokong Mountain, and Rauhe Night Market in our 2nd day itinerary. Let us go to Taipei Zoo and Maokong Mountain now!

More about our experience in Taipei, please read out posts:

[Taipei Huaxi Night Market- Our First Stop in Taipei] [Taipei Zoo & Maokong Mountain]

[Raohe Night Market] [Yehliu Geopark]

Où étais-tu la nuit dernière ?

 

Journal, 21 avril 2016 > Toute la journée en montage. Je coupe les infos. A peine le temps de voir en fin d'après-midi, un partage Facebook au sujet d'un corps sans vie retrouvé à Paisley Park. Je ne m’inquiète pas plus que ça. Les filles rentrent vers 19h. En leur mettant des dessins animés sur la télé, j’aperçois un extrait de Purple Rain sur France 5. A 19h20, Prince sur une chaine nationale ? Lui qui (comme la bonne musique en général) est tricard des heures de grande écoute sur les médias depuis si longtemps. Je n’ai pas besoin de lire le synthé. Je comprends.

Prince est mort à 57 ans.

Ce moment, je ne le redoutais même pas tant il est inconcevable, surtout depuis que Prince entre apaisé dans une nouvelle phase de sa carrière et que je l’imaginais atterrir en douceur d’ici vingt ans dans des croisières souvenir pour ses anciens fans, ou dans un club de jazz, ou les deux. Je ne pleure pas. Je m’étonne même d’être totalement froid. Le téléphone vibre sans cesse. Des condoléances. Des cœurs. Des SMS. Je n’en ai jamais reçu autant et aussi vite. Je ne pensais pas avoir fait autant étalage de ma passion auprès de mon entourage et sur les réseaux. J’ai du mal à partir aux 50 ans de Jegoun. Je suis quand même sonné, ça monte. Gildan m’envoie un message :

- Tu sais ?

- Yep.

Le repas à la Comète n’est qu’un flottement cotonneux d’où je ne perçois que les échos du best-of de Michael Jackson que le patron a jugé bon de passer en boucle. Dans le brouhaha, sur l’écran d’une chaine d’info, j’aperçois Raphaël. Il a les mots justes et relève le niveau bien mal engagé tout à l’heure avec Eric Dahan qui n’a pas attendu dix minutes après l’annonce du décès de Prince pour piétiner son œuvre.

J’entraîne Gildan à la soirée hommage organisée en une heure par Schkopi au Réservoir. La première fois que j’y retourne depuis 2012 et le concert de The Family (les premiers interprètes de Nothing compres 2U). C'était le soir des 60 ans d’Eric Leeds. J’étais comme un fou, je discutais avec des légendes de mon adolescence qui ont collaboré avec Prince à des moments clés, et je filmais leur concert. Devant la salle, des visages sombres que je connais et d’autres visages, le regard tout aussi perdu, croisés au fil des années de concert en concert. J’ai presque honte de ne rien sentir, de ne rien afficher à part une décontraction de façade. Something does not compute. Nous pénétrons dans le club aux sombres éclairages pourpres alors que raisonne de la façon la plus glauque du monde sa chanson la plus triste : Sometimes it snows in april.

Sometimes it snows in april,

Sometimes I feel so bad,

Sometimes I wish life was never ending,

but all good things, they say, never last.

J’ai envie de partir.

Comment va-t-on faire ? Comment vais-je faire ? Comment ne pas parler de sa musique au passé alors que sa musique c'est lui ? Comment faire vivre tout ça ? Comment laisser la place à du nouveau tant il est inégalable ? 

Bientôt des souvenirs m’assaillent dans tous les sens : Des concerts évidemment, ceux auxquels j’ai eu le privilège (cher parfois) d’assister, mais aussi ceux que j’ai raté (ça fait partie de l’expérience, et finalement j’en garde aussi un bon souvenir. Je l’ai d’abord aimé grâce à ces centaines de concerts dont je ne connais que les enregistrements). Plein de flashs sans aucune hiérarchie sur ces petits moments qui n’ont rien et tout à voir avec lui, ces trente-trois dernières années où il m’a accompagné chaque jour. Je me souviens précisément du moment et de l’endroit où je l’ai découvert, aux balbutiements de mon adolescence. La déconcertante et magique première écoute d'Around the world in a day l'année suivante. Ce moment où j’ai clairement basculé, deux ans plus tard, avec la sortie de Sign of the Times et cette émission sur la toute jeune Skyrock diffusant l’intégralité du double album le soir même de sa sortie, les cassettes de compilation faites au collège, les paroles sur mes cahiers, les vinyles achetés à Londres en 1987 lors d'un week-end de gavage princier (disques stupidement revendus des années après), mon premier concert au Parc des princes en 90 (peut-être le moins bon de tous, et qui pourtant a été un déclencheur supplémentaire), les discussions entre fans sur Minitel, 3615 code stars, mes dessins, des heures de dessin autour de son univers (là il m’a vraiment aidé à passer des moments difficiles). Mon premier enregistrement pirate acheté 500 francs à un revendeur hollandais le Small club 2nd show that night, écouté en boucle cet été de solitude 1990 et qui est encore là sous mes yeux au moment où j’écris ces lignes. C’était tellement décoiffant musicalement, différent de ses hits et d’une qualité audio si parfaite que j’ai d’abord cru à un « fake ». Ma course aux bootlegs, mes pochettes recomposées, ces heures en sa compagnie auxquelles je ne faisais plus attention tant elles étaient naturelles, ces voyages en Europe et aux États-Unis que je planifiais toujours autour de ses concerts durant dix ans. Ces longues répétitions au palais des sports d'Anvers où il était habillé pour une fois (presque) en civil et jouait les morceaux que nous lui demandions. Cette inoubliable et improbable nuit dans un petit club à Las Vegas en 1999 après laquelle je me suis dit : « OK c’est bon. Ce que je viens de vivre pendant des heures est indépassable ».

Le New Morning dix ans après me prouvait que, oui, cela pouvait encore être dépassé.

Même si parfois il m’énervait, et que je m’en éloignais, il était toujours dans mon air. Ayant une défiance pour la vénération aveugle, je me suis toujours défendu d’être le "vrai fan" (ce qui m’a d’ailleurs connement fait rater pas mal de concerts y compris une fois juste en bas de chez moi) sans toutefois jamais cacher ma passion pour sa musique et son énergie (elles étaient trop consubstantielles de ma vie pour pourvoir les dissimuler). Mais cette nuit, au fil des heures les enchainements du DJ ReverendP et l’alcool font leur effet.

How can you just leave me standing  ? Alone in a world that's so cold.

Je craque sur une chanson "inoffensive" Beautiful, loved and blessed, une de ces ballades récentes sur lesquelles, entre les démos, les avalanches d’enregistrements inédits, de concerts, mon attention glissait jusqu’à présent. Cette nuit, cette chanson est une flèche tirée de l'au-delà qui me perce le cœur. Je pleure et bats la mesure. La joie et la peine, comme le sentiment amoureux. L’être aimé n’est jamais assez là. Même quand il est là. C’est exactement ce que je ressens. C'est ce que j’ai toujours ressenti avec Prince, avec des débordements parfois, une distance raisonnée à d’autres moments, ou en le refusant, tout simplement parce qu’un amour trop intense vous empêche parfois de vivre.

Body don’t wanna quit, gonna get another hit.

Dans les larmes, je bricole une cohérence à tout cela : cette dernière tournée énigmatique où il joue seul au piano (je dois avouer que ce trop-plein soudain m’agaçait alors qu’il snobait stupidement en live cet instrument dans lequel il excelle aussi bien, voire mieux, que dans les autres) et la reprise de Heroes depuis quelques semaines (lui qui n’a jamais joué du Bowie) sur cette même tournée. Même les paroles que je considérais être son seul point faible prennent une autre dimension, de Let’s go Crazy aux dernières secondes du dernier morceau de son dernier album. Je ne m’étais pas inquiété sur sa santé. Je m’inquiétais sur ses choix artistiques et commerciaux récemment, mais j’étais déterminé à rester insensible à sa personne (toujours ma vigilance à ne pas tomber dans le fanatisme), et je n’ai pas prêté d'importance à ce que j’interprète maintenant comme des signes. Sauf bizarrement la veille de son décès, où j’écoutai religieusement une émission de FIP qui lui était consacrée, en postant sur Twitter un commentaire sur chaque chanson (ce que je ne fais jamais). Expérience décalée qui ajoute au côté surréel de ma nuit blanche.

I’m gonna dance my life away.

Nous écoutons très fort sa musique jusqu’à très tard. On danse, on rit, on pleure. Comme dans un concert de Prince, plein d'inconnus sont au diapason de la même émotion. C’est ce qu’il fallait. Un énorme merci à Raphaël. Nous marchons à l’aube. Comme d’hab. Comme après le concert surprise  du Bataclan, toujours en 99, où à peine sorti, usé mais heureux, il fallait reprendre une journée de montage dans la foulée. Je dis au revoir à Gildan à Bastille. Il me rend mon casque qu’il avait gardé dans son sac. Et j'écoute encore celui que j'écoute au moins une fois par jour depuis trois décennies.

En me demandant de quoi demain sera fait.

Articles connexes : 

Prince à Montreux 2009

Prince au New Morning 2010

Prince et le suicide artistique 2.0

Refarm, A Good Place for Short Rejuvenation in Kampar

Refarm is a recreation farm. Fish ponds, rooms for overnight stay (not cheap), halls for birthday party, gazebo for outdoor activities, and several types of old MacDonald's farm critters. Not to forget the best part of the farm- a big swimming pool with the water pouring down straight from the waterfall. For us, the all-natural water from the mountain range far behind the farm was selling point that worth the entrance fee paid.

Approximately 4 kms from Kampar (to Tapah and Cameron direction, address is lot 6059, Jalan Temoh-Kampar), Refarm can be easily spotted as it's located just beside the main road. The entrance was not catching our attention at all, so we didn't realize its presence until we were invited by Bryant. The entrance fee was RM10 for adult and RM5 for child. It opened daily from 9 am to 6 pm.

First of all, our advices- be early and be ready to get wet. The farm was still under minor construction and there were less shades. Gazebos and some big trees could help to chill a bit, but the whole area was very hot and humid under the sun. The swimming pool could be the only place that remained cold after 11 am. There was a fish catching area fun for children. The area however was a bit too big and the fish could easily elude the clumsy net. The animals feeding area was not attractive, hence a quick walkthrough would be just fine. So again, the main attractive would be the pool. By the way, if you are really a big fan of old MacDonald's pets, you may visit Farm in the City in Selangor. It is a good educational farm for children.

Decent entrance of Refarm. Luckily, ample car parks were prepared.

The entrance of the park is located next to the restaurant (upper left). The ticketing area was narrow. The restaurant had limited operation time, and it offered non-halal food (upper right). There was a shady walkway right after the entrance (lower left), with some fish in not-so-attractive tank.

There were a few fish ponds, decorated with newly planted shrubs.

The best part of the farm- the swimming pool! You can see the water pours into the pool from waterfall far behind.

There are shading huts beside the pool, with tables and chairs prepared for snacks and rest.

We could see ongoing constructions around, reflecting the ambition of the farm owner (upper left). A view from the top of the hill (upper right), where the rest houses located (lower right). The pool for fish catching was a bit too big for novice "fisherman". 

We could touch only two types of animals- goat and horse.

We took our lunch at Refarm Restaurant with Livien's family. The food was average, with overall small portion. The restaurant surprised us with no credit card payment allowed. Luckily we brought enough cash.

We stayed in the farm for around 1 hour and 30 minutes. To our surprise, we were not bitten even once by mosquito. The farm was clean without unpleasant smell from animals. So, if you wish to have a dip in natural waterfall, Refarm provides a good alternative that saves us from a long walk through the jungle, such as waterfall at Nopungguk. By the way, there was a food stall inside the farm, providing snacks and drinks with reasonable price.

So, visit Refarm again? Yes, and will bring along the towels and swimming suits with us.

For our experience in places nearby Kampar, please read our posts:

[Tin Dredge in Batu Gajah] [Kellie's Castle] [Ipoh Old Town]
[Limestone caves in Ipoh] [Ipoh's Food] [Short Stay in Kampar]

[Cameron Highlands] [All Our Destinations]