The photo above was the spot that Raymond was curious for years. This scene of Taipei 101 Tower was shown many times in Micro 4/3 Facebook group. When we found the exact location, it surprised Raymond because it was a small place in a garden. Moreover, Taipei 101 Tower was blocked by the construction site about 60%. This photo was Photoshopped with two photos to restore the original scene before 2018.
Part 2 ended at Jiufen, the town of gold mining. Our driver picked us up in the morning and our road to Taipei began. The route was circling to the North and then down to Taipei. It took us about a day. The first stop was the gold mining museum that everyone recommended us to go.
This museum would be very interesting if we hadn't visited the private museum at Jiufen (in Part 2). When we could freely touch and played with the antiques at the private museum, everything in this official one were locked up behind glass. There was a huge brick of gold in the museum. Absolutely, it was the highlight of the visit.
After that, we passed by the Golden Rainfall. We had no idea why it was called that name (see the photo below). Not something very impressive, right? And then, our driver took us down the hill a bit to see something shocking.
This one looked like "Golden Rainfall" more... Actually, the golden color on the rocks was toxins from gold processing factories. Japanese used chemicals to extract gold from the rocks from ~1900's to WWII. They dumped everything down to the rivers. Some local people thought those golden color substances were gold and they ended up really sick. The only lucky thing was they drank from wells instead of river.
The toxins wouldn't be gone in over 800 years from now. Crazy?
Down from the river, it should be the sea. It was what it looked like: Ying-Yang Sea. The toxin trapped in this area for another 1000 years because of the tide.
Beside this processing factory, there was a big (but broken now) pipe sending poisonous gas to the back of the hill. Japanese let the wind from sea brought the poisonous gas away from the living area.
Before we visited the park full of weird rocks (sands), we stopped at a seafood restaurant for lunch. Everyone was hungry in the day of long drive. This park was a must-visit spot for tourist. The rocks weren't the regular rocks you could see everyday.
We didn't think the "neck" could last long. Better go see it in 10 years.
Slowly entering city area, driver planned to bring us to see a red building in Danshui but it was closed. Then, we stopped by the sea side to take some photos.
We arrived at Taipei, finally!
The hotel's lobby was at B1. Ground floor looked like a commercial building with 3 elevators and a security guard station (Imagine a company's building in downtown). The design of this hotel was interesting. It had a children's play room, 24 hrs free noodles, free coffee, free pops, free snacks, free popcorns, free streamed buns, etc. Wow... The room was really small but very nice.
In the next day, we took train to Maokong cable car. The "crystal cable car" line up was about 15 to 20 mins extra wait time. The "crystal" one had a glass floor. Worth waiting.
Next, we took public buses to various locations. Not a comfy choice but not too bad.
At night, we tried to go to some night markets but we found that it wasn't made for young kids. It was way too many people pushing us to walk forward.
When you saw this glass "slavery cage", you would know it was Din Tai Fung. We only waited for less than 30 mins (way better than the one in Bellevue, WA, USA). Food was good but not super impressive.
Various places near our hotel...
The hotel we stayed was very close to Taiwan President's Office. Protest was happening at the right side (out of the photo below).
Taipei at night:
Taipei was just another modern city with brand name stuff. Most stores and restaurants closed at 9:30pm just like Canada. Although some people said big city's people were not as nice as country side's, we thought Taiwanese are very nice. The travel experience was comparable to Japan. We would love to shoot wedding photos in Taiwan if anyone hired us. Thumbs up!
Raymond & Jessie
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