Gold Melon Stone

Gold Melon Stone...well that is the literal Chinese to English translation of Jin Gua Shi, the old gold mining area that we visited today.

We took an hour bus ride from Taipei City to Taipei County to visit this beautiful area. Gold was discovered in these mountains over 100 years ago and there a many tunnels, tools, machinery and buildings left over from those times. It was also used as a POW camp for prisoners by the Japanese during World War II. In their museum they have supposedly the largest gold bar in the world, it is the size of a small suitcase. You can even touch it:

The coolest part of the day by far was when we got to use a dish and "pan for gold". We were instructed on how to use the dirt, dish and the water to try to acquire the gold. There is actually real gold in the tiny dirt samples they give you so this isn't BS. We both weren't able to get much out of it, but we ended up with tiny fragments of gold (imagine a few grains of salt). Amazingly fun. I always wondered what in the hell the people with the pans were doing in the movies, now I know.

We ended the day taking a tour of the area just below the mines called Jiou Fen. This area was supposedly made famous in a Taiwanese movie, and there were hundreds of people in this tiny market area. There were so many sights and smells it was a little overwhelming. Now that I know what smelly tofu smells like, I could smell it from a mile away. We ate some interesting foods (yes even I had an interesting pancake-type snack). I was happy to order a Coke and Ice Cream Cone in Chinese as well. My only problem was when she asked me what kind of ice cream I wanted. I didn't know how to say "Vanilla" but with my catlike reflexes I said "bai se" (white color)...well it's not perfect, but she laughed, understood me, and gave me the vanilla ice cream.

We then got in line for the bus to return home. There was an arcade where Charlene happily played the "use a crane to get a toy" game. After three tries, she finally got the prize after she dropped it, but it magically bounced back up and then went down the shoot. As we boarded the bus, the cutest little girl was sitting next to us. She was staring at Charlene with her new toy (a Tofu Doll with a parachute)...well there was only one option left...Charlene gave the doll to the little girl. The best of both worlds, winning the prize and giving it to a child who loved to receive it.

You couldn't have asked for a better day. Now off to study for my test in 12 hours.

Jim