Day 9: Final Day @ Jinguashi (Oct 2016)

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Saturday, 29th October 2016

Jinguashi - I made a visit with my sister some 10 years ago and I was determined to trace back the journey once again.

The weather today was quite unlike yesterday. Plenty of dark clouds and rain even though it did really help to bring down the temperatures. From Taipei Station, I hopped on to a train to Ruifang before bussing through the rest of the journey to Jinguashi. On the way, my bus passed through Jiufen where it was overrun with tourists despite the wet weather. I was quietly hoping that the crowds would thin down at my destination.

At the Gold Museum where I alighted, I parted NT80 to commence my visit. The crowds comprised mainly Taiwanese - were manageable. I followed one of the free guided tours to gain a better insight of the grounds before wandering on my own when it ended. Since this was an old mining complex from the Japanese era, the Japanese-inspired houses were littered throughout the museum. The work of the miners were tough, yet it brought much wealth to the workers and their families who were staying within the same quarters. I had a ginger bean curd soup before having a mine worker's lunch box at one of the on-site eateries.

I headed back to Taipei city after lunch where I headed to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall to watch the Changing of the Guards. Since it was still early, I popped by to the nearby Songshan Cultural and Creative Park before calling off for the day. Since I had a rather early flight to catch the following morning, I decided to retire early after packing my bags. The Hello Kitty flight back to Singapore was interesting even though there was nothing to wow about though. I did pick up the dining utensils as keepsakes though as they made really good trip souvenirs to mark the end of my trip in Taiwan and Okinawa!

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