Our Travels In Japan (and other places): July 2011

Jingtong

The old mining town of Jingtong was not quite what I expected. They had turned their town into a sort of living museum. Many of the old mining buildings were left in ruin for tourists to walk through and see the mining operation as it had been. Some of the buildings were converted into other uses, but the appearance was kept the same. It was rather interesting.

There was a strange little shop right across from the station called Carton King. It took a little while for me to figure out why, until Erik said "This place is all cardboard!". He was right! No one else seemed quite as amazed as we were.

Ok, not ALL cardboard, maybe 80% cardboard, 20% kitsch

Sun modeling a cardboard hat. All the shelves behind him are cardboard, too

Yup, cardboard train

cardboard paneling on the walls, the window on the left is all cardboard, as is the counter.

railing = cardboard

what are you doing here?

More WWII era kitsch.

The old rail station was still "standing", though it was mostly just a shell

We worked our way up the mountain paths that comprise the streets of Jongtong, passing some interesting things along the way...

His paw moves if you push it. It will wave for a few minutes. I have no idea why he's here.

We stopped at an old mining building turned schoolhouse turned coffee shop to once again escape the sun (it was quite brutal).

Most buildings here are built on pillars like this

Panda checks out the seating. Those desks were small, even for the Taiwanese students.

We all ordered cold drinks of varying kinds. They were absolutely delicious! Minor heatstroke aside, they were fresh juice smoothies, iced coffee and iced tea in attractive cups.

Raspberry smoothies. Not what I'd expected in the mountains of Taiwan.

interesting glass

Apple smoothie!! My choice, made with Asian apples.

Refreshed, we headed up to the old mine shaft itself for a look around. Unfortunately, it was so hot, we didn't explore nearly as much as we would have otherwise, and I forgot to take my camera out :( It was interesting, though, and the walk down yielded some interesting sights

attractive koi pond

Gorgeous view overlooking the city

He gave us the evil eye the whole time

a cute couple...Sun and Arthur

We finally boarded the train and headed out for our final stop at PingXi

another cute couple...Frank and Andrew

Shifen

After leaving Houtong, our next stop was Shifen, which is known for it's spectacular waterfall. Along the way, we had some wonderful scenery, as the train barreled along a cliff overlooking a river.

View from the train

Unfortunately, it's an hour walk from the town to the waterfall. In the intense heat we had and the curfew we had to follow, it didn't make sense for us to make the hike. When I return to Taiwan, that will be one of the very first things I would do. Instead, we wandered the town, which was enjoyable in its own right. The train station was quaint.

The shops were interesting.

95 degrees and they have beef just hanging from hooks. It was there when we left an hour and a half later, too...

Much more appropriately, taro root drying in the sun

It was so hot, this shop owner could barely move

The train tracks were lined with small versions of the large sky lanterns that we were going to light in PingXi, ran through the center of town. Literally.

and apparently, some Houtong residents were hiding from their celebrity.

We decided to stop for lunch just as much to get out of the heat as to eat. We waited at a restaurant just off the main street for about 15 minutes (unusual in Taiwan), and finally got to sit in air conditioning! The food wasn't bad, either...

The chef taking a break...

The train tracks were apparently also used as a launching pad for sky lanterns, which seemed rather dangerous to me, but everyone did it.

An Audi? A Mini Cooper? Whatever happened to wishing for world peace?

In the center of town, spanning the river, is a rather majestic suspension bridge, built during the Japanese occupation.

What a view

Andrew using blond hair, blue eyes and shameless flirtation to his advantage. A bunch of giggling girls get their picture taken by the exotic foreigner. We ran into them at the next two stops, as well.

With that, we boarded the train again, and headed out for Jingtong.

Houtong, Town of Cats

On our last Sunday in Taiwan, some of the CYCU students decided to take us to the other side of the island to light lanterns and do some sightseeing in a more rural part of Taiwan. I had wanted to see the village of Houtong, which is known for its many feral-but-friendly cats :) At first it wasn't on the schedule, and I suggested that myself and a guy from my lab, Sun, go to Houtong ourselves and meet up with them later. This sparked some controversy, as it seemed that several people in the group really wanted to see the cats, too, and the guy in charge, Frank, omitted that stop because he is afraid of cats (no laughter, please). At first I didn't believe that, but he really did look ill at ease the whole time we were there, so I'm thinking it may have been true.

So, poor Frank was apparently bullied into go to Houtong, or at least that was my read of the situation. Anyway, we all met up at JhongLi Station at 9AM, armed with food, sunscreen, insect repellent and lots of water for the projected 97F and bright sunshine day. An hour to Taipei Main station (standing, of course), then transferring twice to our first destination, Houtong, city of cats! The rest of the post will be many pictures of the town, mostly cat themed. You have been warned.