Shingding and Houtong (Cat Village)

We left the house earlier than normal this morning at 8:30 to meet up with Rebecca and her mom at her house in Taipei County.  The drive was about 35 minutes and the highway driving has some beautiful views because the entire way there is along an elevated highway, so you get a really good view of the surrounding areas.

After we picked up the girls it was about an hour drive to Shouding.  The town was really small and seemed to revolve around an old train station.  The railway was originally built because of all the coal mines located in the area.  Though now the mines were closed, and the area has turned into a bit of a touristy place due to it's beautiful location in the mountains, but close proximity to Taipei.  Luckly the train was arriving just as we were so we hopped on the train bound for Houtong.

The train ride took us through the lush tropical mountains.  Rebecca's mom new which side of the train to me on for which parts, so we kept switching from side to side of the train to get the good views!  The train stopped at around 4 different stations before we arrived at Houtong

When we arrived at Houtong we quickly checked the train times to see when we needed to get back.  We had a few hours so we set off on a walkway over the tracks and onto the hillside where there was a small village built.  This was known as the "Cat Village" because back when it was a coal mining town, people who didn't want their cats (from all over Taiwan) would come here to "dump" their cat off.  The town started getting over run by cats so the mayor made it a law that everyone who lived in the town needed to build a cat house in front of their own house.  Since then the coal mine closed down and the town has turned into a little tourist destination for locals.

We toured around the cat village for close to an hour, finding all the little cats hiding around each corner.  There are many families who care for the cats too, so many have food set out, or little cages housing baby kittens with milk etc.  By this time we were getting hungry so we sat down at a small local restaurant for some eats.  Nothing out of the ordinary except for maybe the intestine.

After lunch we headed towards a small tourist centre that was built to give people more information about the lives of the miners and the history of the coal mine.  Well that's what I'm guessing anyways, because everything was in Chinese and I just looked at the pictures.  We even sat down and watched a short movie.  It was all in chinese and I was zoning out from eating the food so I put on my sunglasses and had a short nap sitting up.  Once the movie was finished we went downstairs into a cafe to have some cold drinks.  I had a Japanese Milk Tea which was so refreshing and delicious.  Actually their menu was a bit pecurliar because they had these three drinks:

• Japanese Milk Tea
• Milk Green Tea
• Green Milk Tea

I had the 1st thing, and Johan had the second and as far as we could tell, all 3 were basically the exact same thing. lol.  After the refreshing drink and some pleasant chit-chat we headed to check out the coal factory (by the way this was the first time Johan met Rebecca's mom so he was on his best behaviour).  There were some steps built up the side of the derilict building to give us access to the bridge that connected the mine and the factory.  It was a great view from the top at the whole surrounding area.  We stopped for some pictures.

We walked across the bridge and down the other side of the river where there was another part of town.  There wasn't much to see but it was pleasant walking through the neighbourhood to get a small picture in my mind of what it would be like to live there.  It looked like it would be really peaceful, though accessibility to anything would of been a big hassle so as scenic as it was, it wouldn't be for me (not now anyways).

As we walked back towards the station we realized we only had a few minutes to catch the next train!  We started speed walking and then we saw the train coming towards the station from the tunnel.  We all started running and just as we made it up and over the walk way and down towards the train the doors closed! noooo we tried to push it back open but it was stuck.  We gave up but after 3 seconds the doors opened again :D the driver had seen us and let us aboard.  It was a bit frantic because us "kids" were able to run to the train but Rebecca's mom wasn't as agile so we had to hold the doors as she scooted down the stairs and into the train.

Out of breath we sat down and chilled out on our way back a few stops to.... a stop of which I don't remember the name.  The first thing you see when you get out of the train are lanterns and a large suspension bridge.  

We made our way over to the bridge to check it out.  We crossed it but there wasn't much on the other side so we decided to take some group pics

Just as we were stepping off the suspension bridge a large paper lantern flew by low over head being powered by a ball of flaming paper.  It was multi coloured and had writing all over it.  Hao coo! ("very cool").  

We walked a short distance further along the train tracks to a spot where people can make their own lanterns and then float them into the sky.  How it works is the lady gives you the pre-made lantern and she pins it to this stand to allow you to paint on it.  Each side represents a different aspect of life.  Red was health/life, Yellow was wealth/career, Pink was family/well being, and blue was also something to do with life misison/career. (the categories really blended together).  We spent a good 15 minutes writing on each side a mixture of different wishes we had for our own lives.

When we were ready we stood in a circle on the train tracks as the man lit the paper fuel at the bottom of the lantern.  We were each instructed to hold a corner of the lantern as it started to fill with hot air.  It got really hot and at times I thought my fingers were going to be burnt!  We smiled for the camera and then counted down "San, Er, Ei!" and let go of the lantern!  It floated up quickly into the sky disappearing over the building tops.  We ran around to the other side of the building and were able to watch our hard work and wishes float up to the heavens.

It was a really cool feeling watching all of our hopes and dreams and loved ones fly up into the sky.  I had drawn pictures of my Mom, Dad, Tinker and Eliza and it felt like they were there with me.  I can't wait to see them all in the next month :)

The sun started setting and it was getting dark.  We walked back to the train station to catch the 7pm train back to the car.  We were all pretty tired from all the walking and the extreme heat so it was a welcome rest to sit on the train and zone out.

When we arrived back at the station we walked around the town (now it was completely dark) but most of the shops were closed.  A lady was selling Tofu ice cream so we each picked up a little container of it.  It was yummy!   Tastes just like desert tofu (plain flavour) though it's got a soft ice cream texture.

After the icecream we made it back to the car and drove back to Taipei.  We stopped off for diner at a chinese restaurant and ate some traditional oriental food.  It was all delicious and surprisingly nothing "weird" was served except for maybe the slimy seafood soup with mini fish in it (I thought the fish was egg bits until close inspection and seeing that the egg bits had little black eyeballs).

We dropped off Rebecca at her house and went in for a little under an hour.  We met Rebecca's dad and her cat "lala".  It was pleasant sitting there and they treated us to some iced lemon tea and longan.  Apparently because of the lack of typhoons this year it's a great year for longan.

We headed back home around 10:30 pm.  It had been a fantastic full day and we were exhausted!  I must say thank you to Rebecca's mom because she was a great tour guide and treated us to a handful of unforgettable things including the lantern activity and the tofu ice cream :D

Home-made Udon

Niki made some fried kimchi udon for us for diner because we wanted to start clearing out our freezer.  She did a great job and it was delicious!  For some reason we never took a picture of the finished product lol. but trust me it was good!

Weekend Day-off

My feet were exhausted from the previous day's walking all over Mao Kong so it was nice that we took a break today.  For lunch all of the housemates took Ali's car to grandma's house in Taoyuan.  She had cooked us Taro congee for lunch!  It was yummy and she served it with this soy cheese topping and also pickled whole ginger.

After hanging out at her place for a while we left to go to the down town of Taoyuan.  We walked to a bakery to see what sorts of Taiwanese desserts Johan could buy Rebecca's mom as a gift.  There were so many delicious things in the bakery!  My mom would have had a hay-day.  This place I think was also a bit more expensive because many things were being sold for $1-$2 per item.  Is that actually expensive?  I don't really frequent bakeries very often in Canada.  Either way I bought a small little traditional cake thing filled with pineapple and an egg yolk.  Ya sounds weird but I enjoyed it.

After the bakery we wandered around for another hour or so to find Johan some new casual shoes.  His current "casuals" were a bit too fancy.  Anyways we found some shoes and proceeded on to diner.  It was sort of like a budget Tepanyaki place where they cook everything on a flat metal grill at your table, except this place only had the grill at the bar, and there was no seating for 4 people (it was busy at the bar).  Johan and I ordered the lamb and Ali and Niki ordered the beef.  It wasn't super crazy delicious but for $4 it hit the spot and was quite tasty.  The lamb/beef was cooked in some sort of garlic sauce and placed on a bed of bean sprouts with the heartless-veggie on the side.  It also came with a bowl of rice, a little egg/green onion appetizer, and simple soup.

i'm not sure why the lighting on the beef looks so bad in
this photo.  It actually looked better in real life :P

Taipei and Mao Kong

Went to Taipei and Mao Kong yesterday and it was great!

Around 11am Johan, Rebecca, and I left the house in the car to go to Taipei.  We were meeting Rebecca's friend Juna at Dazhi MRT station for lunch.  Lunch was a cheese burger with bacon and bbq sauce on it.  It's the first burger I've had since Vancouver and it was delicious.  I guess Taiwanese people know how to make burgers too :)

Shortly after lunch, we walked a short distance to a famous Taiwan Fashion Design University.  We walked around the campus that at times felt like it was situated in the middle of the jungle.  The building was designed by a famous Japanese architect.  It was very impressive.

It was time for the others to go watch a Japanese movie that was subtitled in chinese.  I didn't want to go because I would have been totally lost as to what was going on, so I decided to head to Mao Kong because I wanted to check it out so that when I tour around with my parents, I know where I'm going.

The MRT from where we had lunch to the Taipei Zoo MRT (Mao Kong station) took a good 30 minutes.  That particular MRT line is above ground which is great because it gives you a nice view of the city and mountains surrounding the areas.

Upon arrival I exited the MRT station and walked a short distance to the Mao Kong Gondola station.  Everything looked new and well maintained.  I made my way up to the 4th floor where the gondola plaform is.  There was a line up but it was fairly small and only took 5-10 minutes to make my way to the front.  It's nice becuase the gondola is integrated with the MRT transit system, so I was able to use my EasyGo Metro Fare card to pay.  The gondola is about $1.50 to go from the bottom all the way to the top most station (there's 3 stations) so it's quite inexpensive.

As we left the station and the gondola took us up the mountain, we were treated to a beautiful view of the Taipei city, its suburbs, and the surrounding tropical mountains.  It was a fantastic ride up.  I was going to get off at the 2nd stop but no one else inside my gondola or the gondola's ahead of ours got off there so I decided to ride up to the very top.  After about a ~20 minute ride we made it to the top!

I hadn't really read up on where to go touring up there, so I simply stepped out of the gondola station and looked around to see where people were walking.  I chose a road being overgrown by trees and walked along it for maybe 2km.  Along the road I passed a temple, a tea promotion centre, and many small cafes hanging onto the side of the mountain.  These cafes had beautiful views of the valley and I can see why many people would want to sit there and chill out with a cup of famous Mao Kong tea.

The weather was really hot, and I didn't really think anything of it until I took off my backpack to grab my bottle of water.  When I removed my pack, I realized my shirt was soaked through with sweat.  It was actually quite gross cause it felt like I had been sprayed with a hose, and every time my shirt touched my back it felt like someone was putting a cold cloth on my back.

used the back of a truck window as a mirror
to see my soaked back

There were very few people along the road now, and I wasn't really sure where I was going so I stopped to look at my map to see where I was going.  I realized I was walking along a road for the locals, and if I kept walking, it would be another 10km or so until I reached the 2nd gondola line.  I didn't feel like walking that far so I turned around to go back.

I had noticed a sign written in chinese that pointed down a little path into the forest.  I decided to go down there and see what their was.  To my surprise there was a wonderful maze of little paths going up, down, and across the hillside with lots of little tea huts and seating.  I explored this area for 15 minutes taking pictures.  It really seemed like a cool place to hang out.

I left and continued back towards the gondola.  I was starting to get really thirsty after the wind blew my water bottle down into the forest while I was checking my map (way to steep to go down and get it).  I found another similar tea sign pointing down a path so I went down.  At the bottom was another vista overlooking the valley with tables and umbrellas set up to block the sun.  There was only a few people there (who looked like regulars).  They started talking broken english to me and I ended up buying a refreshing glass of fresh ice cold green tea.  It was delicious and really what I needed.  It also gave me a chance to sit in the shade and dry off my shirt and simply enjoy where I was.  Exploring on my own is cool and I really enjoy it, but as I sat drinking the tea I thought how much more fun it would be if my parents or liza or my friends were there with me.  At least I had grimace. haha.

I left the tea place feeling refreshed and walked back to the gondola station and took it one station down the mountain to station number 2.  The signage when I disembarked the gondola was pretty horrible and I ended up walking around to several different maps to try and figure out where I go.  I couldn't really find the right way so I just picked a path and walked down it.  I had picked the right path!  It was a small narrow path that wound down mountain gently and on my right, a large Taoist Palace emerged.  The sun was setting and we were well into golden hour.

The palace looked stunning, but the path had a fork in the road and I took the path leading away from the temple because I knew I'd be coming back that way.  The other path took me to a large and famous temple (the name escapes me as I'm writing this) which was perched along the side of the mountain.  Inside everything was painted red and gold.  There was the nostalgic smell of incense coming from a large black cauldron with 3 dragons rearing their heads around it.  The cauldron was located in a large doorway that out looked the valley and the sunset.  All the smoke from the incense with the sun rays looked magical.

I noticed several paths leading steeply down the hill from the temple and decided to explore further.  The paths wound their way down the mountain and there were many sculptures and little shrines along the way.  very cool with the sun setting and all the jungle foliage around.

Once I reached the bottom I made my way back up the steep steps.  I was starting to sweat like crazy again and I was breathing pretty hard.  I took a different route back up the hill which lead me through a small little local housing area and back to the fork in the road I mentioned earlier.

Now, the Taoist Palace is had to describe in words but... it was wonderful.  The view from the front across the valley was breathtaking, and the palace on the inside had several corridors inside with little surprises at every turn.  I walked around for a good 15 minutes and sat down to put my sunglasses away.  As I was putting on my regular glasses Johan called me on my cell.  It was time for diner!  Well sort-of.  They were going for diner in Taipei, and if I could get down there fast enough I would join them, if not then I'd eat on my own.

I had explored Mao Kong all evening and indeed it was time to go home.  I trekked back to the gondola and rode down the hill as the sky slowly darkened and the lights of the city turned on.  It was quiet in the gondola and the sound of the wind and the twinkling of the city lights really made for a great relaxing peaceful moment.

Traveling from the 2nd gondola station to Taipower MRT station on the Xindien line took nearly an hour so needless to say I missed diner and simply met up with Rebecca and Johan inside the MRT station.  To welcome in ghost month there was a fireworks celebration so we headed there to check it out.  There must have been over 100,000 people there all packed along the river banks.  The crowd was really thick along the edges, but as soon as you muscle your way through the crowds, things lightened up and we managed to get a pretty decent place to watch the fireworks.

I think that I have been spoiled with great fireworks living in Vancouver with the annual Symphony of Fire competition.  The fireworks here were pretty bad.  I mean it wasn't horrible, but... it was pretty bad.  Long pauses in between short bursts of fireworks and the whole thing only lasting for maybe 10-15 minutes was probably what made it suck so much.  Personally I didn't care because I just wanted to go and see the spectacle of people so I still had a great time :)  Plus there was this kid sitting on the railing and I managed to use him as a human prop in my photos.

After the fireworks I was starving so we grabbed some food and drinks at a small street side restaurant.  We then walked back to the car and I passed out in the back seat for the drive home.  Thanks to Johan and Rebecca for the lovely evening :)