Guangfu

While Taipei has lots to offer, there are also a number of day trips within about a 1 hour train or bus ride from the city. Today, we traveled to Houtong by train to visit the Cat Village. The village is tucked away in the hills of Northern Taiwan and is home to about 200 cats and only about 400 humans. Houtong was a coal mining village until the last coal mine shut down in 1996. At this point in time, the population dwindled to only 100 people. Houtong was home to hundreds of stray cats and in 2008, a local resident, who happened to be married to a vet, began posting photos of the villager’s efforts to look after the strays. This of course attracted visitors and volunteers to help the stray cats. Within two years, Houtong reinvented itself as the Cat Village, with many little shops selling cat themed items as well as restaurants and cafes. Each of the cats is vaccinated and spayed/neutered.

Houtong is set along the Keelung river, so it is not only beautiful to walk through but while strolling along, you can stop and pet the cats if they let you, sit down and hope they come to you for some snuggles, or admire them from a safe distance. All the cats are super friendly, and for the most part, get along quite well with each other. We did see a few play fight, but I wouldn’t expect anything different with this many cats living together. We really enjoyed our visit and it was super fun going through all of the cat boutiques to check out cat themed items. In the end, we decided to buy cat themed socks and a cat themed reusable grocery bag. It was a puurfect way to spend a morning.

ClarindaRead more