Today was the start of our two day trip outside of Taipei. We first headed to the Gold Ecological Park in Jinguashi. This area contains Taiwan's only gold mine left in the country. Called Benshnan No.5 Tunnel, it was particularly cool, wet and slippery but still very refreshing compared to the blaring sun outside.
Can you imagine how much money this is worth? Whoa!
It was very interesting because I've never been to any mine before, so it was a nice little cave adventure. Did you know that because they were only mining gold and not coal that the miners could smoke? It is also Taiwan's first museum designed using eco-museum principles with the intention of persevering the cultural richness. Not only was the scenery beautiful, I loved the Japanese architecture originally used for high level Japanese company employees in the colonial era. Jinguashi Crown Prince Chalet, a very sophisticated Japanese building even had a miniature golf course. This reminded me of my geography class in which my professor once mentioned that the Japanese people really love golf and beef but have so little land for both on such a small island. Once again there were alot of tourists today too but it wasn't so bad because the area was much more spread out.
Flora also told me that this area was inspiration for one of
Hayao Miyazaki's films, but she couldn't quite remember which one. However later on that night when we traveled to Shifen, another particular area in the market, I learned it was inspiration for Spirited Away.
Amazing! I can certainly see why because of all the beautiful scenery.
Recall the mask?
Besides the wonderful place we were staying, and the delicious food, the highlight of tonight was creating our very own sky lanterns! It's tradition to write your wishes on a lantern and set them free to the sky. Everyone's lantern looked so great and it's a once in a lifetime experience that's indescribable. It's something that I will never forget.
Sea Shell sink
No comments:
Post a Comment