Jiufen and Jinguashi- 九份和金瓜石

Yesterday Brian, Tama, and I went out to Jiufen and Jinguashi (Tyler's sick and bitched out on us), on the NE coast of Taiwan.  Far from being glorious, the weather was a slight drizzle, not enough to matter, but enough for locals to hide beneath the enveloping confines of their umbrellas.  Just going over to the local beef noodle shop today, the owner asked me why I hadn't brought my umbrella.  I said I didn't mind the rain, and he told me rain nowadays in Taiwan is really acidic, that my hair might fall out.  I told him it already has, and we both had a laugh over that.  Anyway, we met up in the labyrinth of Taipei Main Station and departed towards Ruifang, confident in the certainty of our guide (me).  That's always a mistake, since I have the directional sense of Roronoa Zoro, and the traveling intuition of a clingy eight-year-old.  The conductor let us know that the train we were on didn't go directly to Ruifang and that we'd have to transfer at Badu.  AWESOME, why the fuck can you buy tickets directly to Ruifang for the Tze-chiang (fastest non-bullet train) from Taipei Main IF YOU CAN'T EVEN FUCKING GO THERE DIRECTLY?  Cool, so we wait for the train that's supposed to get us to Ruifang.  And end up in Jilong, the terminal stop for that train.  GODDAMMIT.  Luckily I've mellowed with age, so I'm only slightly annoyed with this confusion, rather than flipping over picnic tables, and I know we'll still be able to get to Jiufen alright (nice thing about Taiwan: it's small).  I start asking this Taiwan dude, Tom, how to get to Jiufen and he points us in the right direction: a friendly taxi driver who cheerfully overcharges us for our trip.  Tom weakly tries to tell us that he thinks the price is a bit expensive but his English is a bit halting, and we kind of blow him off when "overcharging" amounts to $15 US split three ways for a forty-minute ride.  The cabbie made it worth my money anyway since we ended up having a pretty animated discussion.

As we're cresting the top of Mt. Jilong and going down towards the other slope, where Jinguashi lies, we see laid before us vast, ornate graves, more than I've ever seen in one area before.  The cabbie says the cheapest of those cost at least 1 million NT, and that's for the bare bones versions...just for a grave.  I tell him of the custom now to consign your body to ashes and scatter them within the heart of nature, and he counters with a popular method of going green in Taiwan...planting your ashes around a sapling, nourishing it and living on through it.  These graves are all old, he remarks, and very few people follow this tradition anymore.

At our destination we jump out and take in our surroundings.  Fog mutes the colors around us, and seems to wash everything in a lush green.  I snap a picture of us, dig in my pocket and realize my phone is nowhere to be seen...fuck.  More than the monetary cost of losing the phone, I'm hit with the embarrassing realization that I've joined the ranks of all the inbred retards who've posted their shame on their Facebook wall.  Sure, I've broken phones before, but that's not the same...and I've lost the SIM card so that means the number I got from the only black girl in Taiwan is lost forever...

The three most badass teachers you'll find in Taiwan (the fourth pussed out because he was "sick")

...of course I care about the money too, I'm half-Korean after all, how would I be able to play that off like it didn't matter?  But whatever, like Brian said, a lost phone in the big scheme of things isn't much, and with the jokes directed my way it didn't take long for me to focus on the beautiful scenery around me, not the $60 phone whose bullshit I would have to deal with today. 

Brian: "Want me to text your phone?"
Me: "Sure."
*few minutes later*
Brian: "Oh, got a text from your phone!"
me: "Really?"
Brian: "Haha, no you dumb fuck!"
me: "God damn you."

We started walking down steps, choosing to bypass the Gold Museum...I know I'll be back here someday, it's a beautiful area, maybe I'll check it out then.  Joking about quitting Hess and never coming back, I think about living in Jiufen, nestled in natural beauty, away from loud, grindy Taipei and its layer of dust and heat.  We had a conversation about those people living in Hualien and southern Taiwan.  I remarked that teaching jobs in those places are scarce, that all the people came ten, twenty years before us, found Eden, and declined to leave.  For us, these weekly excursions will have to do before we can carve out our own sliver of paradise.

Any openings for teaching jobs here?

Yeah, fuck you too.

Some tips from a family we passed steered us back towards our destination, Golden Waterfall.  We'd have to walk down the winding road towards the sea.  No complaints here.  The scenery around us, even with the other-worldliness of the mist around us, seemed vibrant, alive with the possibility of excitement and adventure.  Each bend of the river beneath us, each small landmark and I felt my step become lighter.  And with each step the air became saltier, that sharpness like a natural VicksVapor that only the sea can awaken in a person's eyes.  We kept going down, stopped to admire the Golden Falls, cascading over sandy-brown rock, and then continued, a new canine friend in tow.  The black lab trotted with us, ever in the lead, heedless of cars or my repeated calling.  You can't help but have such boundless energy with an ample package.  We passed a decrepit coal processing plant that still seemed to carry an air of prestige, overlooking the bay like some old protector, a fort replete with portcullis, imposing walls and moat.

Looks kind of like Hawaii.

Bet there's gold underneath that bridge.

Bet there's an aboriginal chieftain buried under these falls.  With gold.

 

The first thing I thought when I saw this wall was...oh shit, Kurosawa movie.

You thought I was exaggerating, it looks like a fort the Portuguese might've built.

We continued down towards the beach walking along the freeway, making our way over the railing and rappelling down the seawall with a stray rope tied above us.  Carefully, we made our way over the stones, driving away crabs and other arthropods.  The three of us soaked it in, this respite from our respective cities, away from the mass of humanity, the teaching, the bullshit.  We climbed back over the seawall, and continued on, asking the way to the local Art Gallery (unfortunately closed) and surprising some local kids who suddenly had three foreigners casually strolling through their neighborhood.  On the way back we were united with the black lab, who was a bit too happy perhaps to see us, as he tried to nibble around my nut region.  Brian started roughhousing with him, something the lab was all too eager to reciprocate.

Wonder what lies over that way down the freeway.

Just climbed down, ready to roll.

I don't know why I took off my shirt.

Come here you little fucker.

Walking back, while easily doable, was not something we relished, so luckily we hitched a ride with a Taiwanese couple after five minutes of walking.  They were up from Taizhong, just for the afternoon.  We wound around the narrow road, with the husband pausing in uncertainty at every fork.  Back in Jiufen, the town of quaint teashops and narrow alleys on the opposite side of Mt. Jilong, we took a few pictures to preserve the memory, and thanked them profusely.  Now we were in tourist central.  Starting at Old Street, we walked past the hustle and bustle of vendors hawking their wares, shortbread cakes filled with all manner of fruit filling, taro balls, fried shrimp balls, ice coffee, dried fruits, tofus, and meats, and a score of assorted snacks and beverages I never cared about, motivated instead by riches of the mind and spirit.  We meandered down and up stairwells, while the fog grew thicker around us, clinging to the stilt-like bottoms of the teahouses.  Lanterns of red tried to ward away the encroaching whiteness, but even they were soon enveloped.  And every viewpoint, or quaint window-site seat overlooking the night view of the ocean was rendered moot...but perhaps not totally spoiled.

Right after we got dropped off by our benefactors.

Yes, stuff your faces!!!

Let's step away from the rampant tourism for a bit...

Japanese tour group right in the center.  Had to awkwardly ask to borrow their map in my (now) shitty Japanese

Goodbye Jiufen!

Upon finding out everything closed at 8:30 we decided to hop in a cab and get back to Ruifang, and then home.  The first cabbie, insulted that we tried to bargain him down, refused to talk to us, even after I agreed to the original price.  I shrugged, apologized and left him to his infantile brooding.  Ironically, the time we should have bargained we snatched up the opportunity like water in the desert, and then when we're being treated fairly we decide to try and push things...funny how it works like that when you don't understand a culture.  We had to wait a long time for our train (delayed 23 min.) to come pumping in and then we were away.  Brian and Tama played dark chess and I watched until we had to part ways.

If we can keep days like this up, then Taiwan will have been the right choice.

How to get to Jiufen and Jinguashi:

"From Taipei, take the train north to Ruifang Station. From Ruifang take the Keelung Transit bus from the bus stops in front of the train station to Jiufen. Be sure to line up across the road to go to Jiufen and Jinguashi. The bus trip is roughly 15 minutes. Not all buses are equipped to show the correct driving direction or have bilingual signs.
The bus stop heading to Jiufen and Jinguashi is no longer right across from the Ruifang Train Station. Instead exit the Ruifang Train Station and turn left staying on the busy street right in front of the train station. Staying on the right hand side of the street keep walking straight until you pass a police station. The bus stop heading to Jiufen and Jinguashi will located a little past the police station."

This is pulled from wikipedia.  What it doesn't tell you is that you can't take a train straight from Taipei to Ruifang, you have to transfer at Badu station.  So be sure to buy a ticket to Badu, then a ticket from there to Ruifang, otherwise you'll end up in Jilong, like we did.

The end point is where Jiufen is.  You can see my city at about 1/3 of the distance, spelled Sijhih here.