Pingxi Train Line Tour / 平溪線旅游 (Jingtong, Pingxi, Shifen & Houtong Cat Village)

• Report rights infringement
• published: 23 Aug 2016
• views: 353

00:00 - Pingxi Train Line / 平溪線 03:06 - Jingtong / 菁桐 06:49 - Pingxi Old Street / 平溪老街 17:54 - Shifen Old Streets / 十分老街 33:41 - Shifen Waterfall / 十分大瀑布 33:45 - Houtong Cat Village / 猴硐貓村 The Pingxi Small Railway line is a thirteen kilometre, narrow-gauge railway, one of three remaining open from the Japanese era. The towns along the Pingxi Line were all once thriving mining towns, all feature “old streets” selling tourist paraphernalia and old Japanese buildings. Jingtong Station was built by the Japanese in the 1930s. The town is a terminus of the Pingxi Line. Along the rail line, lovers and others write wishes on bamboo sticks (“wish sticks”) and hang these on trees, fences, and anything else that might be available. Pingxi is special for its unique architecture and design, as its market area, Pingxi Old Street, is built into a hill with a train track going overhead right through the middle with shops around selling local food and gifts. Visitors are able to check out shops built during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as wooden houses built during the Japanese occupation era. However, Pingxi is undoubtedly the most famous stop on the Pingxi Line because of its annual lantern-launching activities during the Lantern Festival period after the Chinese New Year. Perhaps 1,000 or so lanterns are launched over a period of a couple of weeks. The launchings are conducted at night, making for a dramatic scene. But be forewarned that the popularity of the festival makes for very crowded viewing. During the rest of the year, one can purchase and launch lanterns on one’s own. Pingxi is also known for its sausage vendors who slice up and add toppings to their sausages. Shifen is perhaps the best stop on the Pingxi Line for picture-taking. Travelers are free to walk along the rail line, which runs right through the downtown. Shifen is the most active place for the purchasing, igniting, and launching of lanterns into the night sky. The lanterns, carrying written notes expressing the wishes of the launchers, are set aloft from the rail tracks, and everyone scampers away when a train makes its way through town. As helpful signs explain, different colors of lanterns represent different types of wishes, such as those involving romance, good health, and success on exams. You can buy the sky lanterns for about NTD150 (US$5) and then paint a good luck message. The origin stems from an ancient custom where people would release sky lanterns to signal an area was safe. The Jingan Suspension Bridge, a popular spot for photography, is right next to Shifen Station. About 1.3 KM from Shifen Old Streets / Shifen train station, the Shifen Waterfall has a total height of 20 metres (66 ft) and is 40 metres (130 ft) in width, making it the broadest waterfall in Taiwan. On sunnier days, the waterfall creates a rainbow as it splashes into the lake - widely regarded as the most scenic in all of Taiwan. Houtong was once a rich small mining town in Ruifang, renowned for a well-preserved culture surrounding its railway, which was built during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. During its prosperous years, the area produced around 220,000 tons of coal per year, the largest coal output of a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many immigrants to the area, which further spurred the town's growth to as many as 900 households with a population of more than 6,000 people. The last facility built in the area was a coal purification factory, built in 1920. As the coal mining industry began to decline in the 1990s, the area also declined. Young residents started to emigrate to look for other opportunities, and eventually only few hundred residents remained once the mining industry had died out. However, things started taking a turn for the better from 2008, when a local cat lover organized volunteers to start offering abandoned cats a better life. They posted the cats' pictures online, resulting in an overwhelming response from other cat lovers around the nation. Soon, Houtong became a center for cat lovers as word spread, and the number of cats living there increased – thus reviving a declining village, and transforming it into a tourist destination. Some cats are sterilized, and will have one of their ears trimmed as confirmation – this helps to keep check on the local population of cats, and also helps identify new cats which enter into the village. Where Cats Call the Shots: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323873904578573012947626982 http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/07/03/where-cats-call-the-shots/ WSJ Video: http://www.wsj.com/video/a-village-where-cats-rule/23235038-6D84-4DA5-B271-4F91CC70194E.html