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.

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.

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 bigTaipeiroad. They come fromKeelungor Ruifang and continue on to Jinguashi. The crowding is easily as bad as the worst crowding inTaipei. 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 ofJishan Street.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 toShuchi Roadand 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 ofShuchi Roadright now in the dark. But I really don’t know how to do it with this camera. Wow, it’s only6:17. It feels likemidnightor 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 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 ofShuchi 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 intoTaipei. 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.

 

Tags: bike, Jinguashi, Jioufen Bike Trip, Old Window