Hukou Old Street, 湖口老街 and Hangqing 漢卿步道 , Renhe 仁和步道 and Jinshi 金獅步道 Historic Trails

A train ride, a quaint old street, a catholic church, temples, ruins in the forest and pretty walking trails: when a new rail line was built and the train station was moved, Hukou was divided between old and new Hukou and old Hukou went into decline. The old street which has been restored as a tourist attraction is small but a visit to the old street combined with a walk make a trip to this rural community in Hsinchu a very pleasant day out. It is known as a good area for viewing the white blossoms of the tung tree which typically bloom from mid-April to May and cover the ground in white heaps that is called "May snow."

Distance/Time: 6.4km/ 2h 36 min. A map as well as more information can be found here

What to bring:  Nothing is really needed. We just took water and ate lunch at the old street after we finished. Just about any good pair of shoes will do on the trails. There are shops near the train station and the old street.

The Trail: This is an easy to moderate walk. We started at the old street then walked the short Hangqing Historic Trail to Ox Cart Station and Tank Park. After that we walked back to a road and to the Renhe and Jinshi Historic Trails which together form a loop. 

The trails are gentle and easy though there are steps and one long hill. These paths were part of trails formerly used to transport agricultural products.  Some are paved or gravel and some are dirt. Parts of the trail are close to a highway but the hum of the traffic didn't bother me and faded as we moved away. There were lots of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies and birds.

For such a short walk there is a lot to see. Attractions include: 

Hukou Catholic Church

Hukou Old Street

San Yuan Temple

Ox Cart Station and Tank Park

A couple of elaborate tombs including the Lou Family Columbarium

Wanshan Temple

Maiden Shrine

Tea Garden Trail

Jinshan (Golden Lion) Temple

Yihe Villa (an abandoned former residence) and other ruins

Transportation: We took a local train from Taipei to Hukou. Trains leave frequently and most take between an hour and an hour and 20 minutes. 

It's 3.4 km from the train station to the old street. There are buses but they are infrequent so we took a taxi which cost $150 NT. 

On the way back we borrowed Ubikes from the station near San Yuan Temple and rode to the train station which was mostly downhill and a really nice ride.

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The trip: My wife, who is not usually a hiker, joined me for this trip equipped with a brand new pair of hiking boots. We arrived at the old street just after 10 am. 

The taxi dropped us off in front of Hukou Catholic Church which occupies the site of the original train station. It was built under the aegis of an Italian Catholic priest, Father Marsecano, in 1958. Construction was completed in 1965. The church actually closed for about 30 years but later was restored and is now used for community activities as well as religious services.

interior of the church

 

Hukou's original train station was established in 1887 but in 1929 the station was moved as part of the construction of a new railway line-- an event which changed the center of commercial activity in the town.  Later the old street was restored and became a tourist attraction. However, it still seems less popular than other well-known old streets and for me this is part of it's appeal because it is less touristy and crowded. There are lots of shops selling snacks and restaurants serving Hakkanese cuisine but not as many shops selling touristy souvenirs or cheap plastic toys as in other popular places. When we arrived it was still early and not much was going on.
 

elderly residents chatting and cats relaxing outside of a shop

former Hukou movie theater

At the end of the street there was an area with games for kids including bagatelle machines, ring toss games and a pool where children can "fish" for toy, plastic animals. 

We had some red bean che lun bing (wheel cakes) and while my wife went to the public toilet I checked out San Yuan Temple.

San Yuan Temple

interior court yard of San Yuan Temple

 We turned right after the temple, passed the public toilets and the Ubike station and walked to the end of a large parking lot.

We turned right again onto a road and in a few minutes turned into a tunnel on the left which passed under highway 1.

When we came out of the tunnel the Hangqing Bu Dao was directly across the street. At first it is a dirt path and then becomes a stone track with steps. As we were walking my wife attracted several mosquitos and welts rose on her arms but none bit me.  It seemed she was more palatable to mosquitos and I was grateful to her for keeping them away from me.

The trail climbed for a short way then leveled out, passed a view point and reached a road. The entire track is just over 300 meters and terminates at Ox Cart Station which used to be a rest stop for farmers transporting goods to market. There is a building but it was closed when we were there. 

A fork on the right leads through Tank Park where there are a tank, artillery and amphibious landing vehicles.

A sign post indicated another trail straight ahead but we didn't see it and I couldn't find it on the map. Later I watched a video by Tony Huang, a well-known Taiwanese hiking vlogger, which indicated that the road itself is the trail. There are some other sites of interest on this road but we did not go that way. 

We took the Hanqing Historic Trail back to the road. 

On the way down our conversation went something like this: Oh, more mosquitos. (slapping). I haven't felt any. How are your new boots? Good! They feel fine. Oh! What's wrong? An insect. This is very slippery. I don't think it's slippery. It's dry. It could be slippery if raining. Heavy rain.  Oh, we are already back at the road.  

At the road we turned right ---now walking on the right side of the highway. 

There were a few groups of walkers coming the opposite way down the road. We passed two tombs and Wanshan temple but I only took a picture of the second tomb.

When we passed the Lou Family Columbarium, I remarked that it looked like an interesting tomb and started to climb the steps but my wife, who can be superstitious and nervous about this sort of thing, instructed me to not even look in that direction and walked away quickly. I took a picture of the second one, I thought surreptitiously, but she noticed and told me it was rude to take a picture of it and again walked ahead quickly.  Outside the small Wanshan Temple there were some people praying and burning ghost money. She told me that it is a temple for people (deceased) who don't have families to pray for them or who are unidentified.

We came to an elevated HSR railway that went into a tunnel in the hill. Renhe trail starts just before getting to the HSR line. At first we continued on the road and up a hill but soon realized our mistake and started walking back to the trail.

Ren He Historic Trail

As we were walking back, we heard a high speed train coming. The sound of the approaching train grew and grew in volume until suddenly it burst from the tunnel, shot by and seemed to be gone in just a moment. 

We got back to the fork and started walking on the well-maintained path. Shortly we came to a junction. The path on the right is Jinshi Trail but we went straight.

 

Next we passed Maiden Shrine. There was a sign with information but I couldn't make out what it meant even after using an app to translate it into English and was left illuminated.

In fact most of the sign talked about how this was a well-known place to appreciate tong blossoms-- and in just a few minutes we passed a tree with a spray of fallen white blossoms all around it.

The path went straight, still near the highway and then turned sharply right where stone steps went up a hillside. This was the most strenuous part of the hike. It was humid and warm for April and we started to sweat. But even this part was not too hard. There were a couple of rest spots with benches. 

 

 
It wasn't long till we reached the top then went down the other side and came to a T-junction. 

We turned left and came to the Tea Garden trail. There were rows of tea bushes and a red earth path. We could hear birds singing in the trees surrounding the tea fields and saw a colorful Taiwan Barbet in the top of one tree. We walked around a bit but didn't explore much because it looked like it went on for a long way and kind of all looked the same. 

We went back to the entrance of the tea trail and straight down a road. (If facing the tea field when coming from the Ren He Historic Trail, this would be a right turn)

Walking along the road we could see Jinshi Temple below. When we came to another road we turned right and following the road around a curve to the temple where we stopped for a short rest. 

Jinshi (Golden Lion) Temple

We walked back to the bend in the road. There were two trailheads parallel to one another.  The trail on the left is older and shorter but made from rounded, moss covered stones that look like they would be treacherous when wet. 

We took the longer but easier trail on the right which passed through a shelter house and curved down a hill next to a stream bed. 

We passed the ruins of three structures. The first was obscured by leaves and had a small statue of Christ in front of it. Looking inside it appeared that it was a small abandoned chapel.

Next there was a dilapidated toilet and a small building across a deep, dry culvert. 

At the bottom of the hill was an arched stone bridge. 

To the left there was a pond with lots of fish, and an archway leading into a derelict garden. This is Yihe Villa. I tried to find out more about it but only read that it was a "former residence." One blog referred to it as a monastic residence. In the garden there were busts of Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yet Sen.

We crossed the bridge and it wasn't long till the dirt path led us back to the junction we had passed earlier.

We turned left and followed the road back to the old street. There were a lot more people than in the morning. Day trippers were strolling down the street snacking and and several restaurants were crowded with diners. We had a lunch of Hakkanese noodles and vegetables. After lunch, we borrowed Ubikes and cycled back to the train station. All in all, Hukou exceeded my expectations and it was a really enoyable day. 

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Map and GPS coordinates:

Hukou Old Street: 24.87678, 121.055181

Google maps link

map:  http://rblr.co/op5VM