Impressions of Houtong: Thousand-Mile Trail Round-Island Microcosm, Part 7

Text / Zhou Shengxin (CEO of the Thousand-Mile Trail Planning Center)
Photos / Thousand-Mile Trail Planning Center, Wang Kezhen

The rain in Houtong can dance

I went to Houtong alone. Suddenly the rain came down harder. Aside from a few cats that meowed at me, sounding me out for whether I had any treats to offer, there was also the sound of rain striking the rooftops and the concrete ground. I lowered my umbrella and strolled toward the so-called Cat Village (Guangfu Village) behind the train station, watching my step on the slippery ground. In just a few minutes, a gust of wind suddenly flipped up half the edge of my umbrella. I looked up sharply, and a whole river valley stretching out alongside the long railway tracks appeared before my eyes. The Keelung River seemed to be spread with a hazy layer by the swirling sheets of rain, astonishingly beautiful.

Under the blowing of the northeast monsoon, the rain fell so slantwise, layer upon layer, from left to right, drifting and falling aslant. I remembered that Shuhui of the Houtong Black Gold Cultural History Workshop had once said: "The rain in our Houtong can dance." It was exactly this dancing rain, tinting the entire Keelung River valley like a green reprinted version of a splashed-ink landscape painting.

The dancing rain made the originally damp and cold feeling on my body suddenly sway along lightly too. Standing alone in an open spot halfway up the hill, gazing into the distance, every memory of taking the train to Houtong or passing through Houtong came vividly before my eyes. Anyone who often rides the Yilan North Link Line train will surely be deeply impressed by this stretch of railway that winds along the river valley and sometimes threads between tunnels. Yes, it is exactly this section: if you set out from Taipei and head east, after passing Songshan-Nangang-Xizhi-Badu-Ruifang, you turn south and arrive at Houtong, and after Houtong you enter the small station of Sandiaoling. Nestled against mountains and beside water, there is no more beautiful scenery along the railway than this stretch, especially as seen through the eyes and heart of a returning traveler.

Coming here, you can fully feel the appearance of life in the mining district of those years; why not find some free time, board a local train, and visit this quiet little mountain town located in the upper reaches of the Keelung River...