Taiwan 2011 - Jinguashi

A bus ride away from Jiufen lies Jinguashi, a gold and copper mining town that has been converted into a tourist attraction with the opening of its Gold Ecological Park. It was an interesting spot to visit because you can learn all about the history of gold and copper mining. This spot was also the place where POWs during WWII were brought to work as slave miners. They even had this mini museum that featured Sun Yat Sen's letters so if you're a Chinese/Japanese history buff, you should go check it out. =)

The entrance to the Gold Ecological Park

A statue of what a typical miner would look like
in the good old days.

Gold Ecological Park map: A rather large space to explore if
you ask me, so try to allocate at least half a day to tour around
this spot. =)

Signs to the different spots of the park

Fluffy clouds floating past

The residences where the owners of the mines used to live in,
apparently one has to queue up to enter the area but the queue
was too long for me that day. =.=

A long time ago, they prepared this gorgeous place for the
Imperial Prince from Japan to stay for a visit at the mines but
he never came so it turned into a tourist spot instead.

We weren't allowed into the residence but you can tell that
the interior has been painstakingly prepared for his royal
highness. A woman walked past me grumbling about the size
of the living space though. =x 

Mini golf range for his imperial highness's entertainment

A rainy path outside the Crown Prince Residence,
in case his garden didn't suffice?

Mountainous view...nice fresh air 24/7 

See the gold and bronze statue in the distance? It's on
the Cyuanji Temple built in 1896 and is the largest idol
of that deity in the world.

Wagon of rocks...kinda heavy to push around

One thing I hate the most...stairs...to get to
the next level of the park =.=;;

More stairs... T.T

I'm not sure where this staircase leads to but
adventurous types could give it a try! =D

GOLD BAR~! It's as heavy as one person. =D Imagine getting
this as a proposal gift. LOL. You can find this in the museum next
to the mining tunnels.

The entrance to the mining tunnels, entrance is
ticketed though.

The stairs that will take you to the Shinto temple...you can also
spot the Teapot Mountain from here as well...

The Shinto Temple at the halfway point. Took
me quite a while but I finally reached it! Had to
go down though, coz it was getting dark.

Being the not so athletic type, I found all the climbing tiring. LOL. But if you're a nature lover, then Jinguashi is a good place to visit for its mountains, blue skies (when it's not raining) and mining history. As always, I didn't manage to cover the entire area coz I set off late due to the rain in the morning. So do remember to set aside a day or two if you want to explore the whole place~! =)

I didn't get to explore much but if you want to find out more about its other attractions, click here for the Wikitravel version. Hope this helps.

How to get there: 
If you're going there from Jiufen, you can take a bus from the bus stop in front of the pavilion that overlooks the sea. Make sure the sign bus says that it's going there. If you want to make doubly sure, ask the bus driver. Bus fare is payable using the EasyCard or cash...about 100NT if I remember correctly.

The same goes if you are coming from the Ruifang Station. Hop on the bus that is opposite the station square and make sure that the bus sign says that it's heading for Jinguashi. =)