Our Travels In Japan (and other places): 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