Travel around Taiwan Taiwan impression five

Travel around Taiwan Taiwan impression five

During this trip to Taiwan, Hualien was a group of group friends, and when we arrived in Chiayi, we were another group of group friends. From Alishan to Sun Moon Lake, it takes more than three hours by car, and the group members change again. However, we have fate with two Chinese-American father and son surnamed Lu, and we have been traveling together since Chiayi. When visiting Sun Moon Lake, I bumped into each other on several cruise ship piers, and they naturally laughed when they met. We, father and son, Mr. Lu, did not break up until we returned to Taipei from Taichung because of different stations on our way back to Taipei.

The Chinese-American father, after visiting Sun Moon Lake, suddenly found that he had lost his mobile phone. After verification, it was thrown on the car from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake. The original plan was to pick us up at the hotel at 2:00 p.m., probably because the driver Xiao of the last car was leaving Sun Moon Lake at 12:00, and our departure time from Sun Moon Lake was 2 hours earlier. The driver Zhang who took us to Taichung asked for our opinion and asked if it was feasible. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work, as long as he comes to pick us up when the time comes. This is of course good in advance. Hotels usually check out at 12 o’clock. You can’t go to any other attractions. Instead of staying in the hotel lobby and waiting for the bus, it’s better to leave early. It was this advance that allowed us to take a trip to Checheng and Jiji, two small towns on Taiwan’s railway branch lines.

At Checheng, a small train station, we stayed for nearly 3 hours. A small station with a bit of mountain forest flavor, the end point of a railway branch line in central Taiwan. In the past, forest production and transportation were the main business, but now it has become a tourist attraction. The attractions are characterized by its stations, various wood products, wooden experience factories, and wood logging exhibitions.

Checheng Railway Station

Checheng Station Introduction

Checheng, the terminal of Jiji Line

The soaking wood pond in front of Checheng Station, where the harvested wood can be processed after being soaked

Checheng's vicissitudes of history

Taiwanese students travel experience in Checheng

The plum wine in Checheng is its specialty. In the plum wine store near the tourist center, I experienced the sentiment of the Taiwanese again. I don’t know what words to use to describe this sentiment. It feels very similar to the petty bourgeoisie in the Chinese language of our mainland. , let’s call it petty bourgeoisie.

I have no contact with Taiwanese capitalists, and most of the contacts are small businessmen, clerks and drivers, and it is probably reliable to belong to what we call petty bourgeoisie ordinary people. Most of them are courteous and helpful, and they are also warm and sincere. I have the deepest experience in the Taiwan Museum in Taipei. When you ask them for directions, they will not only answer all your questions, but also give you very warm and thoughtful answers, as evidenced by the piece of paper I have in hand. I wanted to visit the beer factory in Taipei. Some people thought it was a bit strange that they wanted to visit the brewery, but the answer was still warm. A small note, how much time it takes, which section of the road, which subway station to go to, and the exit of the subway station, will soften the hard-hearted heart by this enthusiasm.

a help note

The same is true for the clerks in the plum wine specialty store in Checheng, where you can taste plum wine of various degrees. You reply, it is likely that you will not buy your wine because it is difficult to carry, and the clerk will reply, it does not matter whether you buy it or not, you can taste it if you want to taste it, and it is fate to come to the store. In the small log shop next to it, there are all kinds of cypress, camphor, and pine wood in the store. You can choose it. It doesn't matter whether you buy it or not, and it also uses fate to speak. I don't know how such a mentality of small businessmen and petty bourgeoisie was developed. I only know that a book that deeply influenced me, the French writer Hugo's "Les Miserables", created a bishop Miliere who tolerated all evils. The tolerant heart is infected to Jean Valjean, the protagonist of the work, and he treats the intolerant world with a tolerant heart. Perhaps, business and the peaceful life in the mountains will create some commercial tolerance. However, the mentality of violence for violence, tooth for tooth, vengeance, vengeance, and never admitting mistakes still exists everywhere, and it is difficult for such tolerance to appear in many places.

Wooden Products in Checheng

The wood products we bought: wooden stool Rubik's Cube wooden puzzle

After leaving Checheng at around 3:00 p.m., driver Zhang quickly took us to Jiji Town, which is only a few kilometers away. On the same day 19 years ago, a major earthquake broke out in Taiwan, and the epicenter of the earthquake was this small market town.

Jiji Railway Station

old train at railway station

Jiji introduction

Jiji Railway Station after the earthquake

town hall with jurisdiction over the railway station

Jiji Ancient Street

Official documents of the town office

It's a pity that time is running out, it's almost five o'clock in the afternoon, and our train from Taichung to Taipei is at half past six, but there are still dozens of kilometers to go? Mr. Lu, a fellow Chinese-American, seems to like this place. In the exhibition hall in front of Jiji Station, I saw the introduction of Taoist Wuchang Palace at a glance, and invited us to go with us. Although time is tight, this Taoist temple named Wuchang Palace evokes my hometown emotion. Isn't Wuchang the hometown where I have lived for many years? So I walked back and forth for three kilometers quickly, and hurriedly took photos of this Jiji scenic spot called Wuchang Palace and the Jiji Earthquake Memorial Site.

The newly built Wuchang Palace

Wuchang Palace after the earthquake

Introduction to Wuchang Palace

Driver Zhang was a little anxious and started calling people, but after we hurried back, he was still amiable. It was almost dusk, and the car drove quickly along the mountain road to the expressway. The last scenic spot was said to be a gift of pineapple cakes. Obviously, there was no time to go again. First of all, we have to catch our high-speed rail, and then catch Mr. Lu's Taiwan Railway. It was the rush hour of the expressway, and the traffic road was not so smooth, but it was approaching 6:00 pm, and the Taichung High Speed ​​Rail Station arrived. Driver Zhang breathed a sigh of relief, and we naturally no longer worried about missing the car.

High speed rail platform in Taichung

A glimpse of Taichung City at dusk

Farewell to Zhang and Lu, the tour around the island is over.

Tour in a hurry, leave in a hurry. The two-week tour in Taiwan was very touching, so I will stop writing here for the time being, hoping to have another opportunity to travel, and I will end it with a short poem.

Three-stage trip to Taiwan in September

Mid-autumn festival on the coast of urban and rural areas

There are many mountains and rivers, and there are roads

The bright moon and sunset stay in the sky.

2018/09/30