I don't know what it is, but for the first three days of the new year, I have been unable to get out of the apartment at an early enough hour. Today, we took the train to Jiji (Chichi) 集集 in Nantou (Nant'ou) County 南投縣, only the one we caught left Fengyuan 豐原 at 1:35, and with the wait to change trains at Ershuei (Erhshui) 二水, it was after 3:30 by the time we arrived at our destination. Then again, an early start might not have been such a good thing after all. The first time I visited Jiji was in early 2000, when it was just a sleepy rural town with an old Japanese-era train station (which was closed at that time due to extensive damage suffered in the 1999 Chichi earthquake 921大地震). With each successive trip there (and I've made several over the years), the town has gotten more and more crowded with tourists, not to mention the businesses that feed off of visitors, to the point that these days Jiji resembles a huge night market (albeit, one that operates during daylight hours). In addition to the heavy vehicular traffic, there were thousands of people clogging the bicycle and foot paths, passing by an endless stream of food stands and carnivals offering midway rides. Jiji has suffered the fate of so many other "charming old towns" in Taiwan that have been discovered by tourists - what was attractive about the area in the first place is quickly erased as the hordes descend en masse on weekends and holidays, while the vendors fight for the privilege of lightening the loads of the visitors' wallets and purses with tempting snack foods, tacky souvenirs and life-threatening carny rides. Unless I find myself with time on a quiet weekday, I don't think I'll ever go back to Jiji.
Amber poses on the train tracks
Close to Jiji Station there was a small carnival set up, with a number of rides for children to go on, such a carousel, paddle boats, bumper cars and the like. Unfortunately, while it looked the kids were having fun, it seemed as if liability coverage was something that hadn't been contemplated by the park's operators (my wife compared it to a Vietnamese amusement park, though I'm not sure where she came up with that analogy). At the back was a go kart racetrack, where several people were driving around the course at high speeds and without any protective gear (there were a couple of near accidents while we were watching). If you can divert your gaze from the young woman in the photo above and look over to the red car, you will see that one man has his son in the car with him. ここは台湾だ！
The mountains behind Jiji are beautiful, but I don't think many of the day trippers even noticed.
In the late afternoon, many people started the long drive back to their homes, though plenty of others were still walking around.
If anything nice can be said about Jiji, it's that it looks much better after the sun has gone down, and most visitors have left. Though my camera doesn't do it justice, this section of street was quite attractive with its overhanging lights. If you must visit Jiji on a weekend or holiday, it might be better to spend the night (though I can't vouch for the state of the hotels there). That way, you could enjoy a nice stroll after dinner, and then get up early the next morning to rent a bicycle and do some cycling around the countryside before THEY show up.
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