Day 29: 十分、平溪、菁桐

I'm back from 阿里山! But before I adorn my blog with the beautiful sceneries from 阿里山, I better finish my entry on 十分、平溪、菁桐 first. :)

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Had a fulfilling Saturday (15.03.08) because I went out of the Taipei City again!

This time to 十分、平溪 and 菁桐. They are located along the train line (火车喔, 不是新加坡的MRT地铁).

Met 宏哲 and his friend from Singapore, Charlotte at the Taipei Train Station.

Me, Charlotte, 宏哲. :)

We hopped onto the train and headed towards our first stop: 十分.

Yay I passed by 暖暖!! 梁静茹 has a super nice song called 暖暖, and the MV was filmed at this station. Although we didn't stop there, but I am contented for being able to take a photo with the signboard. Thanks 宏哲 for his swift action!! :)


八堵, where we transferred to the train that took us to 十分.


Thank god the train was quite empty (I am afraid of crowded trains). I love the inner design of this train! The curve reminds me of a 亭子.

Here I am: 十分~

总觉得台湾地方的名字很妙，当地人也很懂得用文字把地方艺术化。就像“十分”—— 把这个词加在任何一个美好的词后面，有画龙点睛的作用。例如：十分幸福。:)

我喜欢铁轨，尤其是那种无止尽的。喜欢远方的未知数，对未知、神秘的一切，充满期待。

This is the 静安吊桥。We walked past this bridge to get to the 十分 waterfall. At 十分, everything you see has a touch of the authentic village feel. It's this feel that made me feel calm and peaceful.

See the man with the bike? He was there to distribute the Kuomintang pamphlets to the residents here. There was a speaker on his bike, and the voice from the speaker was campaigning for the blue camp.

I approached him and asked for a pamphlet; he happily gave one to me. Now I got the full collection of pamphlets from both parties-- I was given the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) pamphlets outside my school the other day.

The green and the blue camps.

We walked past a few bridges along our way towards the waterfall. The water beneath was clean and crystal clear! The air was fresh; we can actually enjoy refreshing moments at Bukit Timah Hill too, just that the view of the mountains, trees and rivers are more spectacular here.

I wanna fish there!


The holes in the rocks were caused by collision and erosion from the small stones that gushed down rapidly with the water when the water level rose. This natural sight reminds me of the river bed I saw at 貓空 (a ravine near my school)-- people call this 壶穴.

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什么是壶穴 ?

壶穴是在河流出现的一种地理特征。

由于雨水令河水流量增加，带动上游的石块向下游流动，当石块遇上河床上的岩石凹处无法前进时，会被水流带动而打转，经历长时间后将障碍磨穿，形成一圆形孔洞，称为壶穴。

(Source from Wikipedia)
***

See how much I love the railway tracks!!

KMT's campaign vehicle was a man and a bike; DPP's was a van. I dunno what the difference means. :X

When we reached the waterfall, we discovered that they actually collect entrance fees from people who wish to view the waterfall. WTH~ Since when people have to pay to see the natural sceneries? We decided it was not worth it so we gave it a miss and headed to 十分老街.

I felt sad over the commercialisation of a natural sight. But of course they have a reason to charge-- maybe for the maintenance of the waterfall cos tourists might have been littering and damaging the area.

Behind us is the old lane.

Many shops along the old lane were closed on a carefree Saturday morning. Nevertheless, we still saw some cute shops.

杂货店. The boy boy resting on a chair reminds me of my childhood times when I played outside Grandpa's tailor shop. 那是我回不去的从前..

Veges stall! Ever since I came here I start to develop a liking for veges and fruits, cos comparatively they cost more here than in Singapore.

十分 and 平溪 are famous for 天灯（Sky Lanterns）, so many shop owners decorate their shops with 天灯s of different designs.


The door of this shop is in the shape of a sky lantern. 走味的咖啡 sounds unique~

After finishing our sightseeing tour at 十分, we took a train to get to 平溪, which was just one train stop away.

平溪老街. The old lanes are more or less similar-- they are mostly filled with eateries, occasionally with shops that sell souvenirs. I have a feeling that these places are becoming "tourist-y", which is a pity.

It was way past noon and we started to feel hungry. Came across an eatery to have our lunch.

鸡丝面+蛋=30NT. But there were no slices of chicken inside, so I reckoned “鸡丝面” must be the name of the noodles. The egg was delicious though. :)

Charlotte ordered this signature food from 平溪—— 谷早味面茶 with 油条. It tasted like sesame paste but was not as sweet. The taste was so unique and palatable that I couldn't describe. I like it very much!! :)




***
什么是面茶？ 它的主原料是面粉加上芝麻和糖炒香，用热水泡起来又香又甜。
***

We passed by another cafe-cum-souvenir shop that was very artistically decorated. The floor was a man-made railway track and the ceiling was full of pretty 天灯s.

“喂喂，幸福电话，请问我的幸福在哪里？”

“你的幸福在你爱的人和爱你的人那里。”

The noodles didn't fill our stomaches so we bought a 车轮饼 (7NT). I choose the one with corn butter flavour. The crust was very crispy and the taste of the butter slowly unfolded as it melted in my mouth. 这种感觉也叫幸福喔~ :)

这是平溪著名的圆柱式老邮筒，在原地伫立了上百年，历经战争和沧桑，现在还有用喔～ 听人家说，没和它合照就等于没来过平溪，如果哪天你也来平溪玩，记得找寻它的踪影！

对我来说，它是个坚定、屹立不倒的象征～

那天很幸运地碰到这位很友善的Tiger老伯伯在邮筒旁，他带领小童子军游平溪，而老邮筒就是小童子军们寻宝游戏的其中一站。

每到一站，就有得盖章，老伯伯也帮我盖一个邮筒的印章，以示我到此一游（虽然一洗手，墨汁就马上脱落了 :X）！





老伯伯听说我们是新加坡人，乐得告诉我们，年底会在新加坡参与一个童子军的交流活动。能和老伯伯在这里萍水相逢，也是短暂的缘分～ 预祝你们在新加坡玩得开心!!

Guess what's inside this 八仙洞?

Bwahhhaha~ It's actually a bomb shelter. There are a lot of small tunnels inside this shelter, and inside these tunnels were tables and chairs. Probably for the residents hiding inside to chit-chat and drink coffee while sheltering themselves from the dreadful air raids. Wow, 真是大开眼界～

Statues of deities were placed inside too.

Another historical monument—— 平安钟。

According to 廖伯伯（another teacher who brought the scouts here）, this bell was used by the residents to announce the arrival of the soldiers. Upon hearing the alarm, residents would go to the shelter and hide.

敲敲几下，祈求平安。:)

Then, I finally get to 放天灯!!

我在天灯的四面为自己和家人写上慢慢的祝福，然后放它到自由、辽阔的天空翱翔，把祝福送到在天上保佑着我们的快乐天使和幸福精灵，让祝福散播、实现。

Next stop: 菁桐。There was nothing much in 菁桐, only (another) old lane, haha. I heard that 杉菜（大S饰）sold ice desserts from one of the stalls here in the super famous idol drama 《流星花园》, but couldn't located the stall. Not fated to eat dessert from here, haha.

好多好多许愿筒.


Green :)


菁桐老街。这条街还蛮短的～


去看太子宾馆（据说是周渝民主演的偶像剧《贫穷贵公子》的拍摄场景之一）的途中看见这个漂亮又有格调的餐厅。

It was dinner time when we were about to leave. Went into this eatery to have 黑猪大肠蚵仔面线.

Yummy yummy! The 面线 was soft, the gravy was thick. See how big the 蚵仔 is!!

Whoo-hoo~ Only 40NT for a small bowl. :)

No wonder it was featured in TVBS 《食尚玩家》. 还好吃到这里著名的小吃，还算不虚此行（自我安慰）。

I bet the shop owner sees signatures as a type of artistic expression.

Last food of the day—— 臭豆腐. 宏哲 treated us to this not-smelly-at-all-smelly-tofu. It tastes more like fried 豆干. But still, the chilli was tasty. :)

On our way back to 木栅, I met a group of NCCU students also heading back to NCCU from their course outing at 菁桐. What a coincidence! Initially I thought I would have to take the metro from 木栅 station back to school, but was delighted to hear from them that we could actually transfer to another bus that could take us directly to the doorstep of our school.

And so, I said goodbye to Mr. and Miss Nice (宏哲 and Charlotte) in a hurry, took another bus with the group of students, and chatted with my new found friends along my way back.

开心又充实的一天!! :)