Taipei Trip Part 6: Houtong Station on Pingxi Line, one of the most largest cat villages in the world

[Introduction]

I traveled to Taiwan for four days and three nights. This time, I visited Taipei and its surrounding areas. In this article, I will write about walking around Houtong station on the Pingxi Line as part of Day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Flying to Taipei & Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung
* Day 1: Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, National Taiwan Museum and National Museum of History
* Day 1: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (Light-up)
* Day 2: Pingxi Line (Jingtong)
* Day 2: Pingxi Line (Shifen)
* Day 2: Pingxi Line (Houtong) [This article]
* Day 2: Jiufen
* Day 3: National Palace Museum
* Day 3: National Martyrs’ Shrine
* Day 3: Xinyi District
* Day 3: Taipei 101
* Day 4: 228 Peace Memorial Park, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple and Ximending
* Day 4: Huashan 1914 Creative Park & Return to Home

[Travel Date]
2017.04.27-30

[Main Part]

Houtong Station

I took a train from Shifen station and got off at Houtong station to stop over.

Houtong used to prosper as a coal mine town, but has gone into decline since the coal mine was closed in 1990. However, Houtong has recently received much attention from tourists from all over the world as CNN  picked up it as one of the “5 places where cats outshine tourist attractions”.

At the station building of Houtong.

When I left the station and crossed over a pedestrian overpass, I found a cat immediately.

Cats in Houtong were used to tourists, so they didn’t move away even if tourists approached to them.

I found many cats around me and I will show these snap photos later in this article.

Cat Cafe “217 Cafe”

When I climbed up on a hill, I found an area where there were several cat cafes.

I dropped by “217 Cafe” among them.

In the cafe.

I ordered a cup of iced coffee, which came with cookies.

The coaster was cute.

Messages with many language.

I will take photos of cats in the cafe.

This cat took a rest just before and suddenly got up.

Then, it strolled around the cafe.

There was another cat in the cafe.

Both cats paid little attention to visitors and kept their own pace.

Cat Village

After I left “217 Cafe”, I will take photos of cats in Houtong. Here are some snaps.

Now was the time to leave Houting and I returned to the station.

I took a train to move to Ruifang and then went to Jiufen.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about walking around Houtong station on the Pingxi Line as part of Day 2.

Speaking of cats, I recall Neko-no-hosomichi (Cat Trail) in Onomichi and my profile icon is “Fukuishi-neko” (Lucky stone cat), which is placed along Neko-no-hosomichi. When I traveled to Onomichi, I often saw cats. In Houtong, I found cats more frequently. If you are a cat lover, I would recommend you visit Houtong if you have a chance 🙂

In the next article, I will write about walking around Jiufen as part of Day 2.

[Map]

[Related Link]
Taipei Travel (English)
Taiwan Tourism Bureau (English)
TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration) (English)
217 Cafe (Facebook)