The day before flying back to the States, my family and I went to Yangmingshan to see the calla lilies.
I had only ever visited Qingtiangang Grassland there before. Yangmingshan’s flower fields have a well-known reputation, and though I had long wanted to go, the timing never quite worked out. Getting to go this time with family made it all the more special.
We took the MRT to Jiantan Station, then hopped on the S8 bus all the way up to Zhuzihu. On the way back, the S8 was full, so we switched to the S9 and rode it down to Beitou MRT Station instead. All in all, getting there and back was quite straightforward.
Stepping off the bus, a cool mountain breeze swept right into us. The temperature up in the hills was noticeably lower than in the city, making it a wonderful escape from the heat. A short walk brought us to the calla lily fields. The fields are privately owned, so there’s an entrance fee, but at 100 NTD it’s very reasonable, and the ticket can be exchanged for five calla lilies or three irises, which makes it an excellent deal.
Though they’re called fields, they feel more like paddies, with the flowers blooming right out of the water. We went on a Monday, so it wasn’t crowded at all, and we could take photos freely, surrounded by hills and flowers. It really did feel like a world apart. The bees there were wonderfully plump and round, each little glutton diving headfirst into a calla lily or iris, stuffing itself in nose-first with its bottom wriggling in after, utterly absorbed. Genuinely the most endearing thing.
The calla lilies were what drew us there, but it was the bees that made the flowers even more beautiful. The lilies showed me how strange and wonderful a petal’s shape and angle of bloom can be. The bees let me smell flowers’ sweetness. I’ve always found it odd that the Chinese expression for “attracting bees and butterflies” (招蜂引蝶) carries a negative connotation. To me, a flower visited by bees feels warmer and more alive, less aloof, more approachable. And since every flower will fade in the end, why not bloom boldly and joyfully? Why wither in quiet, solitary dignity?
The power of “togetherness” is greater than we think. Talking with my family, I said that Yangmingshan isn’t actually far at all, and yet on my own I could never quite summon the motivation to go up and see the flowers. So why does having someone alongside make it so much easier? Some things seem to work that way. Alone, the same thing feels flat. With one other person, it comes alive. With two, it becomes a garden in full bloom.1
The season is winding down. Go see the flowers, and bring someone with you.
NB: This article was first published in Chinese on 04/23/26. It was later translated with assistance from AI tools, edited by me, and published in English on 05/02/26.
Much like the Blogblog club, where every blog is its own small garden, and together they become a sea of flowers. ↩︎