Where trust resides, a place where one can feel safe to entrust oneself

Do you still remember the "gam-ah diam" (traditional grocery store) at the mouth of the alley from your childhood? The grandma at the gam-ah diam always knew whose family was marrying off a daughter, knew how many eggs were left in your house, knew you always loved to pick out the red kam-a-tng candy...; in fact, in the settlements near each station along the Pingxi Line on the outskirts of Taipei, many traditional grocery stores, or "gam-ah diam," are preserved, and the local stories you know and do not know unfold here every day, mellowing with a rich Taiwanese warmth of human feeling.

A Place of Trust_ The Gam-ah Diam

We often say that travel is a process of searching. Many people come to Pingxi to find the image of trains flying in the sky, the wishes of sky lanterns rising slowly, the stone-paved road that little Zhang Junya ran across, or to find the girl we chased together in those years... Pingxi has gradually been labeled with nostalgia and small trips, attracting many domestic and international tourists. The once quiet Pingxi Branch Line is now often crowded with visitors even on weekdays; Pingxi District lies among mountain forests and stream valleys, less than an hour's drive from the greater Taipei metropolitan area. Whether you enter this corridor by the Pingxi Railway or County Road 106, you can immediately experience rich ecological resources and the simple local character. In 1983 the Ministry of the Interior approved the "Shifen Scenic Area"; the Pingxi Line became a tourist railway in 1992; the first Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival was held in 1999; and with the boost of films and advertisements, the wave of nostalgia for railways and old streets was set in motion. All of these are key factors in Pingxi's industrial transformation toward tourism.

In these travel moments and scenes of daily life, the "gam-ah diam" is always a quiet supporting player in sightseeing itineraries. They may not stand out, yet they always stir up many childhood memories in visitors; the gam-ah diam is a place we trust, guarding the streets and alleys of our hometown. Walking into a shop displaying bottles and jars, the dim light is full of many surprises, the shopkeeper returns a familiar and friendly smile, children play noisily in groups at your feet, and just as you are thinking about which candy to pick to treat them, the next second they have already headed off to the next secret base...

In the face of Pingxi's tourism development, the myth of judging by tourist numbers should be broken, and we should return to the essence of the place. "Give Pingxi back to Pingxi" is the way to sustainable tourism development in Pingxi. Starting from the five-sense experience of walking into a gam-ah diam, you too can be more than a traveler briefly feeling nostalgic, and can take the initiative to become one of those guarding the living environment of your hometown.