Tirugondar

Shuchi Road, Jioufen

Saturday, November 11 10:00 a.m.

Hmm. I could be in trouble. I woke up very early this morning intending to go out and take pictures. I imagined a beautiful sunrise and glorious morning sun. But when I stepped outside after a quick shower and shave at about 6, it was heavily overcast and I stepped in a big pile of dog shit. Right on the verandah.

Sunrise on an overcast day, Jioufen

I decided to go out anyway. I thought the sun might come out. But then I discovered that I was locked in. The door into the main area was locked and then the outside door was locked as well. Luckily I am a man not without resources and I escaped by climbing a wall and a fence. Everything seemed to go smoothly (in Ethiopia and Guinea when I did this, men with guns often got upset), but when I turned to look back at the front of the Old Window I saw a large flashing red light – a red light that wasn’t flashing before. So I guess I tripped some kind of silent alarm. I got out of there before the police arrived.

Early Morning, Jioufen

My plan was to take pictures along Shuchi Road – that narrow lane of steps and teahouses. I was hoping that with a bright morning sun there would be enough light to take pictures. But overcast as it was, there wasn’t much light. I still tried to take pictures though. I think I took fifty slides. Maybe one or two of them will turn out. The problem is that in order to compensate for the lack of light, the camera had to use very slow shutter speeds. I ended up shooting most of the pictures at a quarter or an eighth of a second. That is far too long without a tripod. Plus, I had to shoot with the lens wide open at 2.8. That means the depth of field is very narrow and very little will be in focus. Still, it was a lovely morning and I had the entire town to myself. Just taking the pictures made me appreciate the place and the moment, even if the pictures themselves don’t turn out.

Shuchi Road, Jioufen

When I went through this area yesterday, it was already dark. It was very beautiful in the dark, but it was hard to get oriented. I saw all kinds of interesting places and buildings, but it was difficult to figure out what they were or even how to get into them. It’s a bit of a jumble. I wonder if it all makes sense if you can read Chinese or do you have to have grown up here to be able to judge what places are?

Early Morning, Jioufen

This morning I could see better and I could take my time. I also felt less inhibited since I had the streets to myself. I went anywhere I wanted to without worrying that I would disappoint some poor shop or restaurant owner by looking in but not going in and spending money. I have hopes for one or two of the pictures. At one point, I climbed out onto a convenient roof and got a great angle on the most famous building in Jioufen. I’m not sure what to call it. I may have mentioned it earlier. It’s the tea house that was featured in the movie City of Sadness. I’ve seen it referred to as the “Pathetic Tea House” and the “Tea House of Sadness” and “Pathetic City,” but I think the proper name is the same as the movie, City of Sadness. In any event, it is a very attractive wooden building with lots of detail and some large masks on the outside. Right beside it is another restaurant/tea house that is much more to my liking and it is hard to figure out where one building ends and the other begins and what is attached to what.

Shuchi Road, Jioufen

I didn’t go into the Sadness place yesterday. Instead, I went into the other place. I think I mentioned that a woman playing with a cat got me to go inside. It’s very unpopular based on the number of people who frequent it – basically one – me. To get inside, you walk down a long stone hallway. Then you step inside what feels to me like the inside of a castle. There is a seating area there and then there is a sunken section full of old furniture and random stuff. Not sure if you would call it junk or carefully chosen “art.” In any event, it has a wonderful laid back atmosphere to it. I didn’t sit down there last night, but was escorted one floor up to a somewhat more open section. I didn’t mind being up there because I was seated beside a huge open window. It stretched a good fifteen feet and I had a great view of the ocean and the fishing harbors. Insects flew in and out closely followed by bats. I didn’t have my NEO with me or I would have written from there.

Shuchi Road, Jioufen

This morning, everything was closed and I didn’t go inside anywhere. Instead, I just wandered around snapping pictures. I felt like a pro because I had my winder attached. That winder makes my camera huge and it makes that winding sound. I think that’s why I took so many pictures. The winder just makes it so easy. You just keep hitting the button and the camera does the rest.

After a while I wandered through Jishan Road. It was much nicer early in the morning with no one else there and nothing open. But it also didn’t look like anything special. Just a narrow lane like hundreds of others. What astonished me yesterday was how blithely people drove their scooters and even blue delivery trucks down that lane. I don’t know how they made it through. I don’t know how they had the nerve.

Jishan Road in the Early Morning, Jioufen

I followed Jishan road all the way to the end by the 7-11 and Starbucks. It was still only 7 in the morning and I didn’t have much hope that Starbucks would be open. But to my surprise there was activity inside. I went closer and saw that their Saturday and Sunday hours were 7:30 to 11:30 or something like that. A young guy saw me peering at the sign and he came out and invited me in. He said that they didn’t officially open until 7:30, but I could come in and sit down and I’d be able to order shortly. They took my order at 7:20 and I had a cappuccino and a chicken sandwich. I believe I was promised a breakfast at Old Window, but I really needed something to eat and I wasn’t sure that breakfast would materialize.

After my cappuccino, I went to 7-11 and got my morning milk. Then I walked back to Old Window. It was still locked up tight. The only way I could get back in was to re-climb the wall and fence. I didn’t want to do that because there were now people around. I wasn’t worried that they’d call the police or anything, but I figured it wouldn’t do their reputation much good if their foreign guests were seen having to get in by scaling the walls.

Alley, Jioufen

Instead, I turned around and went walking around there. I’m glad I did, because I came across no end of interesting little shops, hotels, stairways, walls, plants, and other things. I saw one place in particular that appealed to me. I don’t think there were any views from their rooms, but it was very unpretentious and yet comfortable. Nicely designed I thought, at least from the outside. There were pictures of the rooms and they also looked very welcoming.

There was another place that from the outside looked like a prison camp gone to seed. The outside walls were made of solid corrugated tin. Rusting corrugated tin. But there were pictures of the rooms and they looked okay. They had beds! What more could you want? And my splurging on $4,000 total for two nights at the Old Window really isn’t necessary. I’d much rather stay at a minimalist dive for $500 a night especially when location really isn’t an issue. Jioufen is so small, that it doesn’t really matter where you stay. No place is far from the interesting districts.

Neither of these places was open yet, but I plan on going back later to see the rooms and ask about room rates.

Neighborhood, Jioufen

While I was walking around this district, I saw a pretty young girl go past on the back of a huge motorcycle. I assumed this was the daughter of the owner of Old Window and I was right. It was her job to come and open the doors and let the guests out in the morning and make them breakfast. I’d spoken to her for a few minutes the night before. She was born in Taipei, but moved here to work for the boss and owner who just happened to be her mother. She’s been working there for five years. I’m not sure how that could be or how that works, because she barely seemed old enough to be out of high school. She gave me all kinds of tourism advice yesterday and then made sure I didn’t go out without an umbrella this morning. I ended up being glad of that because I’d barely gone twenty feet before the heavens opened and a serious rainstorm started. I’m glad I’m not on the road.

View of the Coast from Jioufen

It was actually yesterday that I made the decision to stay here a second night. It was after seeing Shuchi Road. I realized this wouldn’t be such a bad place to spend a day. In fact, it would be a shame to not spend a day here after going to the trouble of getting here. And I really wanted the chance to take some pictures in daylight. So when I got back to Old Window last night I paid for a second night. I wasn’t sure I could get a room because the owner made a big deal out of my being able to have a room for one night. I got the impression that the rooms were reserved for Saturday night. I could have the room Friday, but not Saturday. I asked anyway, and it turned out to be okay and I handed over another hard-earned $2,000. I don’t regret it though. It’s worth it considering the experience of being here.

Jioufen with Old Window in Background

When I got caught in the rain storm, I was on my way to the Pathetic Tea House. I had the NEO and wanted a place to hunker down and have a coffee and type, type, type. I figured I might as well go to the most famous place in Jioufen. When the rain let up, I went up the stairs until I got there and then walked in.

Right from the start, I knew it wasn’t my kind of place. For one thing, a tour group of Japanese (I think) were milling around and blocking every single doorway and stairway. It was very busy. Still, they had a table for me and I sat down. I was expecting something very special, but it seemed like an ordinary restaurant inside. And the menu they gave me was too elaborate for me. I didn’t want the pressure of having to order a lot. I just wanted a casual place that was willing to serve me a cup of coffee and then leave me alone. This place was much more high-end than that. I guess that is the place’s appeal. It’s a place where the well-heeled would come (or at least the well-cultured) and sit down in groups of four or five and sample the tea.

Sheng Ping theater under construction, Jioufen

It looks like the tea is served in a very elaborate manner and you’re supposed to ooh and aah over it. And the menu had lots of food on it. I would have felt like a cheap person just taking a table and ordering only coffee. Plus, the chairs and tables were very uncomfortable. The chairs were probably ordered because of the way they looked, not how they felt. They were made from bamboo and had these huge backs. Very uncomfortable.

I sat there for a minute or two and contemplated my place in the universe. I decided that my place in the universe was not here and I got up and left, giving as my excuse that the rain had let up and I wanted to walk around. I came straight here to the castle place. The woman remembered me from “tomorrow.” She stopped then and thought about it and corrected herself: “Yesterday!” She was very proud that she remembered that English word. I thought about sitting downstairs in the dungeon area. But I opted for the upstairs with the big windows and lots of lights. Yesterday, I ended up ordering a cappuccino and “cookies.” This was at the urging of a man who probably owns the place. He was the resident English expert and amidst a dozen cries of “my best friend” he brought me to a table and took my order. He really felt I should try the cookies, which I did. They were delicious and today I ordered the same thing.

Back alley view, Jioufen

The weather is a bit of a disappointment, but it could be far worse. I could be out cycling! I had wanted to get on my bike and cycle to a nearby town called Jinguashi or something like that. If it clears up this afternoon, I could still go. The rain will also keep away the hordes. I feel like I have the whole town to myself right now. It feels much nicer that way. It feels like a real place where people live instead of an amusement park.

I haven’t learned anything real or official about the place, but the Lonely Planet did inform me that Jioufen started as a gold mining town. Apparently, nine families lived here once upon a time. Then gold was discovered in 1890 and the population grew. By the 1930s it was known as Little Shanghai. I think Taiwan was under Japanese control at that time and the gold was shipped to Japan. Then the gold dried up and the town languished until it was rediscovered after that film “City of Sadness.”

Saturday, November 11, 5:30 p.m.

First, the setting. I’m back at my favorite place – on the top floor of the castle, next to the big open window. It’s still very misty. I can see the lights along the coast, but not much else.

Small place below Jinguashi

The man who calls me his best friend was glad to see me. He brought me up here and even set up a light to make it easier to see my computer. Of course I didn’t want the light, or the trouble of setting it up, but what can you do? He’s now my best friend. I had thoughts of coming here to eat. My best friend was encouraging me to do so earlier. I would have done so, but my best friend is so energetic, I don’t think I could have controlled the food process. I could have ended up with anything when all I wanted was some simple rice. So I ended up at 7-11 once more. A bit of a shame considering how much food is on offer in this place. But I hadn’t really eaten or drunk enough today and I could sense I had to eat fast. I wasn’t up to the task of ordering food.

Jinguashi

The 7-11 corner was even crazier than yesterday. The weather kind of cleared up (the sun never came out, but at least it stopped raining) and lots of people came. The city bus service out here is quite extraordinary. There seem to be almost as many buses as on a big Taipei road. They come from Keelung or Ruifang and continue on to Jinguashi. The crowding is easily as bad as the worst crowding in Taipei. The buses are actually jammed with people. And when a somewhat empty bus pulls up, there are crowds of people waiting to get on. The buses leave here jammed to the gills. And then there are the tour buses. All the tour groups meet up at the 7-11 intersection to reboard their bus and it becomes very chaotic. There is no place to sit of course, but I don’t mind. I find a couple of square feet and eat standing up while watching the crowds and thanking my bicycle that I’m not one of them. Each hour I stay here adds to my knowledge of the little lanes and the stairways connecting them. I can now make my way from one end of town to the other without having to go along the main drag of Jishan Street.

Jinguashi

I had a lovely time today. I didn’t expect to because of the overcast weather, but things worked out. I decided to go to Jinguashi as a little trip. I knew nothing about the place except what I read in the Lonely Planet. The “guide” said that it was only a couple of kilometers from Jioufen and was just now beginning to open up to tourism. I went there only because it was there. There was nothing there that I particularly wanted to see, though I understand that the main gold mining operation was actually there.

Jinguashi

The ride turned out well because it didn’t end at Jinguashi. Jinguashi sits on a mountainside just like Jioufen. It’s a beautiful setting actually and the road twists and turns down the mountain following a river. The river continues all the way down to the coast and the ocean and so does the road. As I was going down, I wondered if I was being wise. Going down was easy of course. But then at the end, I would have to turn around and cycle back up and I wasn’t sure how I would feel about that!

The road from Jinguashi down to the coast

But of course I couldn’t resist. I kept telling myself that I could stop and return. But I couldn’t. Once I started on that road, I had to continue all the way to the bottom and see where it ended up. The river was interesting because the rocks had all been turned yellow by the run-off from the gold mines. I’m not sure if it is actual gold that turned the rocks yellow. I don’t think so. I think it was some byproduct of the mining process like sulfur. In any case, it ended up quite interesting and I took a few pictures.

Gold Rocks, Jinguashi

The road wound down and down through beautiful green mountains and valleys. Then it ended in a tiny little village right on the coast. I rode the road right out to the coast highway and looked around and was glad that I did. For off to my right and behind me was a huge stone structure. I’d seen this monster on my Chinese New Year bike ride and was completely at a loss about what it could be. The entire structure could be half a kilometer wide and goes up level after level after level. It looks like a fortress or a prison from someone’s worst nightmare. Now I knew for sure what it was. It was the remains of the gold mining or processing plant. Exactly what was inside it or why they needed such a formidable structure, I don’t know.

Gold Rocks, Jinguashi

This little village at the bottom was unremarkable except for one little café. I’d noticed it on my way past and decided to stop there on my way back up. It struck me as an odd thing to find there. I didn’t see anyone stopping there. It looked like the kind of place you’d find in Jioufen and I didn’t know how it would get any business down there.

Cafe in the valley below Jinguashi

I didn’t really want one, but to justify being in there I ordered a café latte. I was feeling a bit jittery on caffeine because I keep ordering cappuccinos and lattes just to give me an excuse to go into these places. This was my third one of the morning and it was getting to me. They’re not like my weak cups of instant coffee.

Jinguashi

The café was a combination craft shop and coffee shop. The woman had definite new age leanings. There wasn’t a single thing there that wasn’t decorated in some ways. A trip to the bathroom alone was worth it just to be stunned by the elaborate stone and plant waterfall on the other side of the urinal. There was incense burning everywhere and candles in different stages of meltdown.

I really wanted to get this woman’s story. She looked to be in her late forties or early fifties, but still slim and with a mother earth attractiveness. Her family also ran a bed and breakfast in Jioufen. She had an elaborate brochure for the place that said in part, “Sometimes strong monsoons fly pass by the eaves, zip—zip—It takes us into the fancy world of Miyasaki. What an unlimited dream it is!!” This passage was about the “Windy House.” They apparently have three different places for rent: Windy House, Rock House, and Waterfall Pavilion. I’m not sure of what I’m looking at, but these places look like they cost between three and four thousand a night. I tried to find it when I came back, but I couldn’t.

Detail on house outside Jinguashi

One question I forgot to ask her was how she ended up with her music collection. She was playing some kind of New Age CD and had lots more stacked up, but on the wall was a cassette collection that could have come from any university dorm room in the seventies or eighties. Forget that she had cassettes, why these titles?

Once I was shaking from the caffeine overload, I got back on my bike to climb back up to Jioufen. Then I discovered that there was another way back. You can take one road down the south side of the river, and then at the bottom you can cross over and come back up on a different road on the north side. It made for a wonderful little ride. It wasn’t long or anything. I think the whole round trip ended up at about 15 kilometers, but it felt like a long trip – in a good way.

Rivery Valley Scenery, Jinguashi

Arriving back in Jioufen was a bit of a shock. The crowds still hadn’t gotten that bad when I left. But upon my return, the place was jammed. I quickly rode back to the Old Window and had a shower. I didn’t do much after that. I’d brought along a travel book, “It’s Not about the Tapas” and read that for a while. I went out onto the verandah from time to time and looked around. I was still hoping that the sun would come out and then I’d go off to take some more pictures. But it stayed grey and dark. Actually, now that I think back, the sun did come out while I was cycling down to the ocean and back. Good timing there.

It feels like I have the Old Window to myself. I knew they had rented out room 301 because it was reserved. And when I got back, the curtains were drawn and there were two pairs of shoes outside. I never saw anyone emerge. Perhaps some canoodling going on?

Room 302 is still empty. I saw them show it to one couple, but they looked at it and didn’t take it. And the restaurant area has been pretty quiet as well.

I finally emerged to get a meal at 7-11. And after that I walked to Shuchi Road and my best friend set up my light and brought me a beer. I didn’t really want the beer, but I had to order something and I didn’t want any more coffee. I actually had a bit of trouble sleeping last night and I think it was because of the strong coffee I had in the evening.

I wish I knew how to do nighttime photography. I’d like to take some pictures of Shuchi Road right now in the dark. But I really don’t know how to do it with this camera. Wow, it’s only 6:17. It feels like midnight or later. That’s what you get when you wake up at five and spring out of bed by six. I hope some of my pictures turn out despite the low light etc. I think I’ve taken over four rolls! I also made a lot of mistakes. I’m just not used to the winder. I kept hitting the button by accident and taking pictures of my feet.

My bicycle on the way back to Taipei

My plan is to hit the road early tomorrow morning. If it is clear and sunny, I might stick around for an hour or so and take some more pictures of Shuchi Road. But if not, I’ll just hop on the bike and go. I imagine I’ll go back along the Pingshi road even though it is probably considerably longer than the direct route. The direct route will take me into heavy traffic instantly and keep me there the whole way back. It would be nice to stay in the mountains. As far as I can make out, I need to go back to Ruifang, and then a kilometer or two after Ruifang, I’ll come across a turn off to 106. 106 will go straight up into the mountains for quite a while so it will be slow going. Then it should level out for most of the way back before it goes down and back into Taipei. It might be a long day. It’s hard to say. If it’s raining, though, I’ll probably just go through Shijr –the quickest and most direct route. No sense prolonging being soaking wet on a bike. The real problem might be getting out of Old Window that early in the morning. I might leave the bike outside. Then I won’t have to worry about it. I can just climb the wall as before.
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