Monday, May 21, 2012

White-chan in Taiwan - Digging for gold at Jinguashih 金瓜石

To go to 金瓜石 and 九份, you have to take a train to 瑞芳 station, then take a bus. But please note that the bus stop just outside the 瑞芳 train station is for buses coming down from 金瓜石, the actual bus stop to go up is at the police station which is a couple of blocks left of the station, across the road!

瑞芳 train station

金瓜石 used to be a gold mining town, so you can imagine how prosperous it used to be! Now there is no more gold to be mined and the town has been developed into a tourist area. Which means... expect lots of tourists!

Jinguashi 金瓜石

The major attraction at 金瓜石 is the 本山五坑 tunnel. This is a short tunnel that used to be part of the series of tunnels built in the gold mines. It is rebuilt and wax figures are placed inside to explain how gold mining used to be like. With audio explanation at each station, illustrating each process in gold mining, this is quite an educational tour!


















Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Besides 本山五坑 and its museum that contains the world's biggest piece of gold, there are a couple of other attractions at 金瓜石, most of them are old buildings left by the Japanese, like the living quarters of the Japanese officers, and even the house for the Crown Prince when he visited! Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

And then there is this 黄金神社 which is way up on a hill. After climbing hmm... some... staircases, you will see a few 鸟居 and a few pillars... yes, that is what's left of the once majestic 黄金神社... but hey, at least the view from up there looks good!






















Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石 黄金神社

Jinguashi 金瓜石 黄金神社

Jinguashi 金瓜石 黄金神社

Jinguashi 金瓜石 黄金神社

Jinguashi 金瓜石

Jinguashi 金瓜石

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