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