08062011 Summer Train Hopping

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Taiwan, the Taiwan Railway also launched a series of special stamps which were available at specific train stations. Some special prize awaits those who managed to collect all 100 within the year, but it was also a fun way to explore Taiwan with this purpose.

With that in mind, I picked up a book meant for the stamps from the local bookshop in Hsinchu. From time to time, or if we so happened to be passing by a train station which had the stamps available, I earned an extra chop in my book. But today was a little different. We set out with the main purpose of collecting as much stamps as we could along the western coastline, which runs from Zhunan to Zhanghua. There were two options of getting to Zhanghua, either the coastal line which runs along the sea, or the mountain line. Eventually decided on the coastal one.

Before that, I had also intended to change some money at the bank, but they refused any sort of money exchange without a passport to identify myself. As most places I’ve been didn’t require one, so I had left it at the hostel. Lesson well learned? Plus, banks in Taiwan closes pretty early, at around 3pm they pull down the shutters and refuse to entertain you.

First stop of our train hopping was Xiangshan, also the ending destination of the 17km coastline cycle. Like most of the old stations around Taiwan, the station had a strong Japanese influence and architecture.

As it was located right next to the sea, the breeze brought along the salty smells with it while we were struggling to take pictures under the hot summer sun.

Next, bought tickets for the last station of the Hsinchu-Zhunan line. Passed by Qingding along the way, which was nothing more but a deserted stop now.

Enroute to Zhunan, we saw a huge god statue but did not had enough time to ask the station master what it was because we were enquiring about the train schedules. We were told that the next local train for Dashan would leave in 40 minutes, but an express one for Yuanli would be leaving in a mere 3 minutes. Made our decision to take the express train in a split second, then was running back to the station platform to catch it.

Similar to trains in Japanese, Taiwan have a few different types of trains, like the ‘Local’, which stops at every station; the ‘Express’ which usually stop at major stations, and of course faster ones similar to the bullet train (which I didn’t had any chance to try.) If you are trying to get to a station accessible only by a local train, you could take an express train skipping a few stops, then switch to a local one at a certain station to save time. In our case, we skipped all the stations till Yuanli, then choose to take the local trains back to Zhunan.

To reach Yuanli, it took about 40 minutes, but I was pretty happy with the coastal line because it was terribly scenic running along the sea!

Zipped pass some paddy fields enroute to Baishatun.

Along the coast of Baishatun, they had many windmills used to harvest the wind for energy.

Finally reached Yuanli! But it was super hot outside!

Attempted at walking around Yuanli, but the blazing sun made it a challenge and most of the shops were closed. Eventually gave up and snucked into a 7-11 since we had another 30 minutes to spare before the next train came around. Probably we were so out of touched with civilisation till we had no idea how to fill a slurpee cup anymore, and ended up spilling a good amount of it on the floor in return for pissed off workers.

Strolled back to the station but was still greeted with closed shutters and doors. Either the business here is really bad; no one stays here really; or it’s just too hot for business in the summer. Made it back to the station to catch the train to Qingshui.

At Qingshui, I was starting to doubt what exactly were we doing, and whether was it a right choice to be train hopping in the summer. The blistering heat made it impossible to be even out of the shade for a second.

By now, we had roughly realised that on weekdays, the place was so deserted till trains only come by once every 40 minutes or so. Which also meant that we were stuck at every stop for a full 40 minutes till the next train comes by. Where else better to hide away from the sun other than 7-11?

Another 30 minutes was spent at 7-11. This time we handled the Slurpee machine better, and had 0 calories jelly to go with it because you don’t want to get fat in the summer. Nope. Plus, it felt very ironic that Qingshui, translated as ‘Fresh spring water’ was so blistering hot and you couldn’t get any water except for 7-11 because all the shops were closed! When the time was up for us to get back to the station, there wasn’t anyone around so I tried opening the gates myself but it made such a loud noise the stationmaster came out to see what was happening. Apparently it wasn’t time for the train to arrive yet, but after some time he let us through.

Leaving Qingshui and upon reaching Dajia, we decided that we didn’t wanted to waste another 30 minutes in the middle of nowhere, so we rushed to the ticket machine and got our tickets for Rinnan and rushed back into the same train all in about less than 5 minutes. The train conductor gave us an amused look before flagging the train and we chugged on to Rinnan.

Unfortunately at Rinnan, the platform was a little further out, so we couldn’t pull off the same stunt we did at Dajia, so decided to walk around for a bit. I’m guessing that the station was built between 1919 to 1922, and most of its Japanese facade still remained the same, almost similar to Xiangshan’s.

Shops in Rinnan were also mostly closed, and we couldn’t find any 7-11 around here, so settled for some roadside shop with iced drinks. Also ducked into an air-conditioned stationery shop, which was, shockingly open! Suddenly there was some loud blaring music, so went to see what it was and an old truck stopped at the side of the road while people mysteriously appeared out of nowhere to buy tofu fa (tauhui) from him.

The old seller was amused that we were taking pictures of his little humble truck, and asked where were we from. He was extra delighted upon hearing that we were from Malaysia and Singapore, and starting telling us that he has many friends there and would visit our countries often. He then gave us free tofu fa and we had an extra one, which we eventually gave it to the station master at Rinnan station who refused to take it at first. Told him that we weren’t locals and we wanted to share an icy cold treat, so he relented and thanked us.

Boarded the train for our last stop of the day, Baishatun because it was getting late and the sun was already setting. Had read beforehand that Baishatun had really nice beaches, so asked the station master for directions to the seaside, and he just simply told us to cross the paddy fields, cut through it, and we would eventually reach the sea, plus, we better do it quickly before the 6.26pm train comes by.

Unfortunately, he missed out ‘go through a narrow lane hidden by houses’ in his instructions, so for a good 5 minutes I was lost among the green paddy field until some locals relaxing outside their house called out to me and pointed me in the correct direction.

Which brings us to the glorious Taiwan strait!! The sun was setting and the view was glorious! Strolled along the sea enjoying the sea breeze before I reluctantly headed back to the train station for the train back to Zhunan.

Both of us were exhausted and sun burnt by now, but still attempted to bask in the golden setting sun for one last time.

The old man was our only companion in the train carriage which we got on, and he was enjoying the coastal view as the train headed back to Zhunan. Looking out the window, I guess pictures can do no justice to the magnificent view of the setting sun reflecting off the sea and rivers.

Our last train ride of the day, was the 8.10pm one out of Zhudong back to quiet, old and dark Neiwan with some friend chicken and squid as dinner.