Silong Waterfall - 四龍瀑布

This a very short hike, maybe only ten minutes if you drive to the trail head but in the summer I'll take any opportunity to get wet and cool off! To get there follow the 106 from Taipei towards Shen Keng. Just before a Formosa petrol station, there is a betel nut stand on the right, this is where you need to turn right. Follow the signposts for the Paozilun trail 炮子崙.

The beginning of the trail is not that easy to spot. Keep going up the road, ignore a turning over a small bridge to the right and keep you eyes peel for a trail on the left. There are no tags for it.

The trail is made of stone at the beginning but this quickly turns into sandbags so if you see lots of sandbags, you're probably on the right one!

It's an easy if a little slippy walk to the waterfall. Just next to the falls, a shelter has been built with a changing room, shower, small cooking area..... etc. It doesn't really add to the beauty of the place but the locals seem to spend a lot of time there and want somewhere comfortable to pass the time.

Below the waterfall there is an old wooden pallet which you can climb up to get up under the water. People come here to use the falls as a water massage jet. It's powerful and a few minutes under there is more then enough time!

We spent a little while by the waterfall and then went back down to Shen Keng to wander around the old street. Shen Keng is famous for it's stinky tofu and I tried some again but it seems no matter how many times I eat it, I can never get used to the taste. Eating my socks after hiking for a day would be more pleasurable.

That said the old street at Shen Keng is full of all sorts of different foods and snacks and it's definitely worth a visit.

Practicalities

Bus number 236 goes from the Zoo to Shen Keng and takes about 15 minutes. It would probably be an extra 30 minutes to walk up the road to the trail head.

Lots of places to get water, food etc in Shen Keng.

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