This is, a sort of an isolated district in the metro of Taipei, based off of the writer's perspectives…translated…
The natives of Beitou had all once, argued, "Beitou is in Taipei, NOT Hsinbei!", but most who live in Beitou—especially around New and Old Beitou—would admit, that comparing to the other district in Taipei Beitou truly was, so, far, far, off.
How far is it? Basically, "going into town", meaning the metro of Beitou, it's at least, an hour, and my friends in Hsinchu and Taoyuan could gloat, and feel superior, stating, "it's faster for us to get to Taipei than you!", if you live a bit farther away from the MRT, then, it would be, even, farther out; it's a twenty-minute walk from my residence to the MRT station, Ubike would take me ten minutes (the bikes are all, rented out when I arrive at the kiosk). Once, I commuted from my house all the way to Poli-Sci university, within the city of Taipei, and it'd taken me around, two hours.
I'd once stated, that reason why I never work in the office, is because Beitou is too far away from where my office is. Recently, I'd just, recovered from a major illness, it'd, caused me to feel even more so that Beitou is too distant from everywhere else; one day, I had to get into town because for work, by evening, I was, nearly completely, drained, returned back to Beitou at around ten at night, and, the sight of despair greeted me: the electric bus monitor showed, Bus Route ### is thirty minutes out". And so, my choice at the moment of time reduced to: flagging down a cab, and paying for the fares, dragging my nearly DEAD body for twenty minutes, or, stand waiting for the bus in the cold for half an hour.
And, it was like my whole life flashed before my eye, I'd wondered, for those ancient people who lived in Beitou, or those who were coming here, did they also, feel my pains right now?
Although, the ancient adventurers had made their ways into Beitou, flipping through the maps of the city during the Japanese ruling days, comparing the records, there were, only, limited number of maps; the very first, hot springs hotel, the Tengu Springs Hotel, the owner needed to get the guests to Beitou, he had to send them to Dadaocheng for the boats to pick them up. Thankful, the Japanese government loved the hot springs (this was my guess), they'd built the roads, to allow the carriages to drive all the way, into, Beitou.
But, the real advancement that separated the times, perhaps, it's how the Old Beitou got included in the "Bei-Dan Line". Until this line got replaced by the red route of the MRT, this highway is a passage people must drive through to get to town. In 1901, when the roads were finally set up, the government hosted a "Grand opening", connecting the hot springs, the hotel, and the restaurants, getting the money in. in 1916, the subline, "New Beitou Station" started up, upon exiting the station, the home for the hot springs, which became the newly business-oriented "New Beitou".
the map of the district, of the city of Taipei, way up north...from online
The building of the railroad caused many lives to be lost. There's the Puji Temple in the midst of the woods of the hills of Beitou, with the Springs Goddess of Mercy being the main goddess of the temple, it's said, that this temple was in memorial of those who'd died, building the railroad by the railroad employees, they'd raised the funds themselves for.
The blood and tears in exchange for half a century's worth of traffic flow, in 1988, because of the MRT projects, the New Beitou Station got torn down. There was almost NO beliefs of keeping the ancient architecture standing, the station carrying many generations of memories, got sold for a dollar, to the Taiwan Traditional Village Museum in Changwha. And, after many years, the people objected, and then, the city bought it back, and, it'd become, the current tourist attraction site that became criticized a whole lot, and not at the original location.
All I can say, is that coming to Beitou, going out from here, it's, truly, not that, easy. But, being "off-the-grid" has its, perks too, or maybe it's because of how separated from the rest Beitou is, the locals became, really, cohesive to the land, and one another, refusing the label of being a part of Taipei, or the Dragon Realms, and, there's huge input of operating of the local communities by the local residents too, many of the historical architectures were salvaged by the locals—and certainly, the help came to rebuild, but the rebuilding were delayed, due to how far "off-the-grid" Beitou is, the construction companies couldn't get here, fast enough.
Simply put, Beitou is far, but, it's a great place. Next time, before I complain, I will, try and remember this………then, I will, start ranting. After all, this, common complaint, is what bind us, the group of, Beitou residents, together.
And so, historically, this is the location in the city of Taipei, that's, off-the-grid, far from the "known civilization", an isolated "chunk" of a district, but being isolated has its perks too, not too much of the outside influences can get in, and taint the local subculture, but, getting to and from the place would be, a bit, trying, so there's good and the, bad to this…
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