一步一脚印，发现新台湾 (Day 3) part II

金瓜石 (part II)，九份 & 基隆

After leaving 太子宾馆, we made our way to the 黄金博物馆 and 本山五坑坑道.

A picture of one of the mountains there. According to the locals, it looks like a rhino sitting on top the area:



黄金博物馆 tells the story about the process of gold-mining, and the tools and equipment used by the gold miners then were also displayed. It also tells the sad story of Allied (particularly the British) Prisoners of War (POW) who were brought there by the Japanese to work in the gold mines in 1942, after British's surrender of Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. A party of 523 men were brought to the then called "Kinkaseki" in the Japanese occupation time.

Times were very hard for the POWs. They were forced to work in the nearby copper mines as slaves, digging the ore in the lowest depths of the mine where the temperatures often reached over 40 degrees. They also never had enough food to eat and were all badly malnourished. Pictures of these POW often portrayed them as happy eating and/or exercising as part of Japanese propaganda then, but that was obviously not the truth. I felt sad looking at some of the pictures taken of the POWs then, because it was then that I realized war is really cruel, and innocent people like the British soldiers often did not have a choice but had to partcipate in the battles, but end up being the ones suffering.

On the 2nd storey, there were also displays of gold ornaments, and also "golden" insects which I felt were quite prettily done, even tho I did not like gold particularly. The main highlight was a huge gold bar which was supposedly 220 kg!! Wow, must be worth a hefty sum. Anyway, it was displayed in a glass cabinet which had a hole small enough for a person to reach his/her hand in to touch the gold bar. It felt kinda fake to me haha.

We also had a chance to look at the tunnel dugged for gold-mining. It was preserved to let visitors have a feel of how gold mining was like, and it was surprisingly cool inside.

An air compressor used to provide air for the gold mining tunnels:




Some pictures taken outside (and inside) the tunnel:



We had to wear helmets inside the tunnel due to safety reasons:





Life-like statues to show how gold miners used to work, abit cliched. It was quite amusing to hear them "converse" in 台语 (our Hokkien equivalent) tho:







Is that gold??!!!:











We left the tunnel and made our way further up the mountains to visit the 黄金神社 located higher up. It turned out to be quite a tiring way up as the steps were uneven and it felt like a never-ending road as we fought against gravity to reach the top (Haha, not really the top la, probably halfway to the summit only, where the 神社 is located).

The scenery along the way:








We reached the top!!:








黄金神社:



It was close to 5pm by the time we left 金瓜石 for 九份。

Some pictures taken at 九份:









九份 is a pretty old area. Besides shops and restaurants, there are residential dwellings as well, and some of these locals were rather friendly. A pity it was getting dark, and as the residential dwelling area was not well-lit, so my pictures turned out bad. It was also not that inconvenient to take bus from here down to the mrt station, as expected of a mountaneous area.







Nice scenery. Many people took pictures here with their friends or loved ones:













I really like the buildings here. It has a nostalgia feel, and most stalls are selling traditional stuff like snacks (黄梨酥，太阳饼，话梅，烤鱿鱼 etc), ornaments and a few shops were selling games or children's stuff. XY bought her 冲天炮 here, and I felt rather excited too, as it was supposed to be very pretty.

You can also see many restaurants here, which boast of a nice mountain view and traditional Taiwanese food, although we did see some restaurants that looked like Japanese.














It was dark, and we decide to leave and make our way to 基隆夜市。You might be wondering at this time whether we would feel sick of 夜市 food after eating so much at 士林 the previous night. Actually, I was a little tinny winny sick, but after reaching the place and smelling the wafts of delicious smells coming from the various stalls there, I changed my mind. One good find was the Japanese takopachi. Over here, they sell in a packet of 6 pieces, and it costs S$2 only, so it was more than twice the amount we can get for the same price! And it was quite delicious too. Oiishi~ne! Another good find was the papaya milk shake, which tasted fresh and I can tell you, Taiwan's milk is really nice! Perhaps something to do with the fact they have their own milk supply.

Out of curiousity and HM's 怂恿, we sat down at a 路边摊 to try sea urchin and escargots (snails!!). Although sea urchin is best eaten raw, we had some reservations eating raw food at 路边摊 and decide to opt for cooked sea urchin. It turned out to be a mistake. We ordered sea urchin omelette, and frankly speaking, none of us could taste the sea urchin at all. It tasted just like normal egg omelette . So I decide to try sea urchin sashimi next time. Anyone game?

By the way, I felt the escargots were a little tough, compared to the ones I ate at Batam last time, but it was quite fun using the toothpick to dig out the meat from the shell (Just forget the fact that it was a snail *gasp* and it turns out to be quite tasty and a pleasant experience).

After walking finish the entire area, we went back to our hostel. As we were back a little early, some of us went to the hostel's leisure area to play pool, read manga or surf the net. I thought it was quite a nice touch to have such an area for hosteliers to interact with each other, and also provide some entertainment for the lone travellers. After watching the guys play pool awhile, I felt sleepy and decide to go to bed early (about 12 plus).

Anyway some pictures of our hostel room (6-person dormitory) before i end this entry (it happened to be our last night here before we travel down to 高雄 the next day evening):







It turned out to be our favourite stay as it felt like home and it was pretty comfy. I would probably opt to stay in Hostelling International again the next time I travel in Taiwan, as I felt it is a better experience than staying in hotel.

一步一脚印，发现新台湾 (Day 3) part I

金瓜石 (part I)

As we were out late the night before, we woke up much later and had breakfast cum lunch at about 11am:

Haha.. No, no we didn't eat at this place la. Just happened to pass by, and my attention was caught by the giant crab on this building:

I dunno about you, but it doesn't look that appetising to me Haha it looks scary to me. Reminds me of Spiderman climbing on a building.

We ate at a small eatery that sells 菜饭。You can choose from a huge variety, just like in Singapore, and they also include soups like 酸辣汤。I had cabbage, mushroom with salted egg and 炒中卷。 I'm hopelessly in love with 中卷 (sotong) now, and can't resist ordering it whenever I have the chance.

After eating, we set off for the railway station to take a train to 瑞芳 station, before taking a bus from there to 金瓜石 and 九份. While waiting for the train:

HM and XY:

A lousy attempt at capturing the train coming in:

The trip lasted about 1 hr plus, and I was rather restless as I didn't feel like napping after a heavy meal. Some pictures that I took on the train:

Much of the scenery we see along the way is that of industrial areas and old buildings. Not much of a beautiful sight save for this scene:

A nice mountain backdrop. If only there were no industrial buildings.

We reached 瑞芳 station close to 2pm.

A rather cute and animated map of the area:

Some pictures of the area outside 瑞芳 station:

On the bus to 金瓜石 and 九份 (from left: WL, DC and XY):

The 黄金博物园区, or Gold Ecological Park (GEP), is located in 金瓜石, which is the mountain city of 瑞芳 town. Beautiful scenery awaits us on the bus trip up the mountains to 金瓜石 stop. Here's a brief history/introduction about the park: The Gold Ecological Park was actually built to preserve the area's beautiful natural scenery as well as re-creating the area's gold mining heritage and natural reserves. The whole area was pretty big, and consisted of various museums for tourists to visit for more information about the area as well as look at some of the historical artifacts and buildings reserved, and these include 环境馆，太子宾馆 and 黄金博物馆. I was quite excited about coming here as I love mountain scenery as well as historical stuff. The place did not disappoint.

A map of the area:

Part of the residential area found here:

One of the Japanese-style dormitories/chalets found in the older times:

You might probably be wondering at this point in time why such dormitories are found here, or why the place is kinda heavily Japanese-inspired, what with 太子宾馆 as one of the main attractions here as well. Actually, this area used to be the main gold mining area in Taiwan, and as we recall Taiwan's history, the Japanese took over territorial control over this area as well, and thus gold mining became one vital activity the Japanese had a commercial interest in, other than pure military interests.

As we were high in the mountain area and due to the slight rainy weather, the place was rather windy as well, tho not as windy as 渔人码头 the previous day hehe.

More pictures:

A rather nice police station there:

Pictures of the mountain terrain:

We bought tickets to enter three museums there, namely 环境馆，太子宾馆, 黄金博物馆 and 本山五坑坑道. An old gold-miner statue found at the entrance of the information/ticket office:

We first entered 环境馆, and as a result of banned photography inside the place, I can't provide any pictures here. The place, as suggested by its name, gives a brief (or rather detailed) description of the surroundings and how the terrain as we see it now was formed, as well as some of the minerals (particularly gold; ok, gold is not a mineral, so i should correct myself and say minerals AND metals, particularly gold) found there.This would probably interest geography freaks hehe. For me, I was a tag bored as my geography sucks, but luckily they have explanations in English as well, otherwise I would be totally lost lol.

The exit to 环境馆 directly leads us to 太子宾馆. Outside 太子宾馆:

Actually 太子宾馆 is a Japanese royalty housing-inspired place, and as you can see from the pictures below, the Japanese royalty housing is very basic yet has aesthetic beauty, and although it maybe a far cry from the actual ones we see in Japan, nonetheless the place inspires awe and I wouldn't mind staying here as well. They even have their own shooting range and mini golf course!

Some pictures:

P.S. Realize I took v long to complete this post due to time constraints, so I've decided to split this entry into at least two, so that i wont delay posting this entry till too late.