Pingxi: Tastes of Coal

This blog has given the impression that we have wonderful adventures every weekend. That there are a myriad of places that we can go off to escape the noise, smells and dirt of the Taiwan city. Honestly, that isn't really the case. Though weekend trips are exceptionally easy to take in Taiwan, they don't always end with us finding our way to picturesque places. Some things here are just plain dirty and ugly and there is no getting around that. However, that being said, it has been a major goal of ours to find places in Taiwan that are beautiful, and that haven't been affected by the island's massive growth and constant construction. Of all the places we have gone so far, I have to say this weekend we discovered one of the best.

We read about an old railroad line called "The Pingxi Line" in our tour book some weeks ago. There wasn't a lot said about it so we just left it on the back burner for when we had no other trips planned. Well, with the coming of the cold weather, our ability or rather our desire to go out on long scooter trips has significantly diminished. So we have gone to looking into easy train trips. Naturally the Pingxi Line found its way on to the planning board. We did some quick research (mainly to be sure the line still existed as things tend to disappear rather quickly) and then set out on Saturday morning north toward Taipei.

Here is Katie in a traditional Taiwanese outfit, complete with Converse...

So what is the Pingxi Line? Without sounding too much like a tour book, the Japanese did some coal mining on the island before WWII and the Pingxi railroad was established to move the coal out to the coast for shipping. After the mines were closed, the small towns established on the lines remained relatively untouched by the massive growth of the rest of the island. The government bought the line a few years ago and opened it up for tourism. The line boasted a small three car train that stopped at each small town for a minimal fee ($1.75 for an all day pass) and a rather large waterfall known as the "Niagara Falls of Taiwan."

Enter us.

The route to the railroad looked simple enough and we caught a train from Taipei east toward the town of Ruifeng. Supposedly we would catch the Pingxi train from here and it would be no problem. Well, we managed to buy our tickets for the train but apparently it didn't actually come to this town. Or so we were told...

One of the most interesting parts of living in Taiwan, is that whenever you are lost or confused, someone will be there to help you. Whether you want that help or not. After we (and others looking for the train with us) were told to wait for the train, a lady beckoned us over and told us to follow her. Apparently, the train wasn't coming to this station, but she would take us to the right station. We agreed to follow her and she promptly gave us a some kind of foul-smelling meat on a stick to chew on while we waited.

I nibbled on the meat and tried to swallow some. Without trying to be rude, Katie and I quickly began to look for a way to get rid of it. There are very few public trashcans in Taiwan.

Another train station...

We followed the lady onto another train and took it to the next stop. Thankfully we came up with a paper bag to throw the meat into so we managed not having to eat it and we were off to the next stop for the next stage of our adventure with the lady talking our ear off the whole time. I am proud to say our entire conversation was in Chinese and I understood most of it!

We got off at another stop then finally caught the Pingxi train.

The train was small and almost as soon as we got on we began to feel ourselves moving away from the hustle and bustle of Taiwan living. The ride wound into the mountains, following a river the whole time--which gave us some nice views of small waterfalls along the way. We got off at the first major stop: a town called Shifen (pronounced Sher Fun).
Shifen is a very small town with only a few roads and the train track running right through the middle of it. This was a little unnerving as you could meander onto the tracks at any point you felt like it, but the train that came through was so small and slow-moving it actually added some charm to the place.
After walking through the town, we began to search for the waterfall. We walked along the river for a few minutes and came to one of several suspension bridges. We found that each town we came to had these footbridges going over the river.

After walking over the bridge we came to a park with a waterfall and the path leading to the larger waterfall. The park was beautiful.

Oh yeah...Spectacle Cave was there too...
Oh yeah...spectacle cave was there too...
This is the first waterfall we came to.
We followed the path further over yet another bridge and then straight onto the railroad tracks.

Here comes the train and yes those are little kids two feet from the tracks...
We walked up the tracks a bit and came to the park with the huge waterfall. Sadly, the park was closed AND we were unable to see the falls except through a small hole in the fence. It sounded huge and from what we could make out through the barbed wire it looked amazing. We don't know why the park was closed and it was kind of a bummer. Oh well...we will be back another time.

Here are some shots from the walk back...
We walked back to the small train station and hopped on the next train down and took it to the last stop: Jing Tong.

At this point the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping so we weren't able to see much more than the town itself. It was set up in a similar way to Shifen and we read that there are a number of great hiking trails leading into the mountains from here. Another reason for us to head back.

Finally we took the train back toward Shifen but hopped off in Pingxi to see what the town is also known for: Flying lanterns. We were only there a few minutes when we got to see a few people setting them up and sending them into the air.

You can buy these lanterns for about $6 and then you can write some kind of message or blessing on it. Once you are finished, the fire is lit and it takes off in a matter of seconds. Apparently there are thousands of these sent off at once during Lantern Festival. In January we are hoping to make it up there to see this.

With the sun down, Katie and I decided to start the trek home. As we walked toward the train station we came across this cafe...
Looks like the Cafe was closed...I can guess why.

We got back on the train and since we knew the route back it felt much quicker than the trip in. While we sat on the train we reflected on how nice it was to be in a quiet place breathing clean air for a while. We both agreed that the Pingxi line will definitely be worth another vist.