A Day in Town: Pingxi, Gongliao, Shuangxi, Ruifang

I just completed my twentieth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in Taiwan. My destination this time was New Taipei City, the most populous subnational administrative region in Taiwan with a population of over four million. It administers 29 districts, of which I have already visited four during my last trip here a year ago, so this time I visited another four: Pingxi, Gongliao, Shuangxi, and Ruifang, which collectively form the northeastern part of New Taipei City.  

I spent my first day in Pingxi. With a population of about 4,000, Pingxi is the least populous district in New Taipei City, but it has been well known nationwide for several things, among them its unique sky lanterns. I began by taking a bus to Shenkeng, a district of New Taipei City that I visited last year. From there, I rode a Youbike to Pingxi. I returned the Youbike in Jingtong Village and started exploring northward on foot, all the way to Shifeng Village, where I switched to Youbike again for another ride to Ruifang to check into my hostel.

My original plan was to reach Pingxi by the local train service called Pingxi Line, a train service established over a century ago, initially intended to accommodate the coal-mining boom in Pingxi. With all coal mines closed in the 1980s, the train service was repurposed for tourism, and has since become an iconic tourist attraction, alongside the nationally renowned sky lanterns and Shifeng Waterfalls in Pingxi. However, the train was out of service temporarily for maintenance reasons, so I decided to use the Youbike instead. On that day, I visited 11 of the 12 villages administered by Pingxi District.

On the second day, I visited Gongliao District. Gongliao is situated in the northeastern tip of Taiwan, with its coastlines facing both the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. There are nine fishery ports in Gongliao, the most among all townships in Taiwan. I began the day by taking a train to Fulong, where I transferred to a bus to Cape Santiago, the easternmost point of the island of Taiwan named by Spanish sailors in the early seventeenth century. From there, I explored on foot westward along the coastline to reach Audi, the largest of the nine fishery ports known for its fresh seafood, where I took a bus to Gongliao Station and transferred to a train back to Ruifang. Along the way, I visited eight of the 12 villages administered by Gongliao District.

There were many interesting places that I had explored during my short stay in Gongliao. As a history enthusiast, I was particularly attracted to Yanliao Resistance Monument, the site where the Japanese army landed in Taiwan on May 29, 1895, a prelude to the 50-year Japanese rule that began days later. Just a 15-minute walk from the monument was the tomb of Wu Sa, a Gongliao resident hailing from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province of China, who successfully led Han Chinese to settle in Yilan in 1795, marking the beginning of Han Chinese migration into Yilan, then known as Kavalan, named after the indigenous people living there.

I spent my third day in Shuangxi District. Surrounded by overlapping hills and mountains, Shuangxi literally means "two rivers" due to the confluence of two rivers at its center: Mudan River and Pinglin River. I started by taking a train to Mudan Station. From there, I explored on foot to downtown Shuangxi. Then, I rode a Youbike to visit the rest of the district, before boarding a train at Shuangxi Station back to Ruifang. On this day, I managed to visit all 12 villages administered by Shuangxi District.

The day in Shuangxi was nostalgic because I used to visit the area several times a year in preparation for an annual event -- a marathon race organized and hosted by the running club that I was a member of. Thus, I had the opportunity to visit the marathon race course that I first surveyed 17 years ago, and found it tougher with a Youbike than with my own feet, having to climb 450 meters of elevation to barely reach the first of several peaks along the course. In my return journey, I took a detour to Chanyuan, a village of Shuangxi bordering Pinglin, another district of New Taipei City bordering Yilan County that I visited last year.

I spent my fourth day in Ruifang, the district that was once a center of economics and commerce and now one of tourism and transportation in northeastern Taiwan. Ruifang was previously known as Kam-á-luā, an area on the right side of the Keelung River where travelers and goods arrived and departed by boat. At that time, "Ruifang" was the name of a grocery store at Kam-á-luā. The store no longer exists now, but people would call the area Ruifang over time, hence the name. I started by taking a train to Sandiaoling, the only station in Taiwan that can be reached only on foot. From there, I walked to Houtong, known for its coal-mining history and Huotong Cat Village, before boarding a train to Sijiaoting, one of the four train stations within Ruifang District.

There were simply too many interesting places in Ruifang that I could possibly cover in a single day, but I tried to make the best of my time there. I returned to Ruifang Station by train, and switched to a Youbike. I rode to the iconic Jiufen and Jinguashi areas, arguably the most popular tourist spots nationwide, as well as the coastlines within Ruifang District, before returning to downtown Ruifang. Along the way, I visited 20 of the 34 villages administered by Ruifang District. 

I ended my trip with a simple thought: I should return soon to further explore this part of New Taipei City. Among others, I'll try hiking the Tamsui-Kavalan Trails -- the intriguing and challenging trails serving as the only roads linking northern Taiwan (with Tamsui being the seat of the government) and Kavalan (old name of Yilan County) in the old days. Before the Yilan Line -- the train service connecting Yilan to northern Taiwan -- turned fully operational a century ago, the trails had been developed and expanded considerably. More than two centuries after its inception, the Tamsui-Kavalan Trails remain functional and were repurposed from transportation to tourism and recreation. It comprises three main routes: North, Central, and South. Among the three, North and Central pass all four districts I visited this time. With that, this is indeed just the end of the beginning of my exploration in this neighborhood.