haha good description !! I remember the days of summers in fulung when there was NO pinghai road and only trains went there. couldnt always take the ChuKwang for 65nt, sometimes had to make do with a 2 plus hour trip on the ping kuai (at least it was only 25nt) And you know, there was something to be said for those diesel fumes in those many many tunnels to fulung. And all the stops out in nowhere land to let some other trains pass by. It had a lot of character, clacking away with no airconditioning, open windows. And one lesson I learned was NEVER NEVER bite into a peanut if you are sitting in one of those cars where the lights dont work and its pitch black in the tunnels ( I mean you cant see anything, not even your own hand in those tunnels in a train thats got broken lighting) . Cuz you wouldlnt know you bit into a rotten one till its in your mouth. MAJOR UGH.
Guess a trip to Fulung on the TAroko wouldnt be the same would it. Wouldnt have the free tea (tea leaf style) in the tall glass. Wouldnt have the 25nt lunch box. And it would probably only take 40 mins I guess from TAipei and probably cost you 200nt?
I remember an exhibition of the TAiwan Railways in Japan a few years back. And they actually made some of those railway box lunches and flew them over to Japan for the event. And those suckers sold out like hotcakes. A lot of Japanese remember them when they visited Taiwan back in the day.
The HSR and the Taroko and the new Tze Chiang are great trains and they get the job done !! But , they dont have the same character do they?
Just like us, the modern man. A lot of us get there in a hurry and we get the job done , but have we lost a bit along the way?