Taiwan Part III

The next day was spent at the old town of 九份 (Jiufen). It’s name came about because it was said that a long time ago, there were only nine families in Jiufen, and a habit of placing nine orders for goods to be shipped over to the town was formed. Haha, that’s interesting! Besides that, it used to be the centre of gold mining, and because of this, it attracted many people to reside in the area. The town faded when gold mining declined, but was more recognised when Jiufen was featured in several internationally recognised movies.

Jiufen is surrounded by mountains and facing the sea, and it has a beautiful scenery. It is known for its quaint teahouses (with a great view) and laidback atmosphere. It’s famous for it’s Old Street too:

It can get very crowded in the day because it’s quite a bustling tourist attraction, but I would think the teahouses would be more empty and relaxed than the busy Old Street. Some sights along the street:

 
I’m not exactly sure what that is but it’s something to do with pigs’ innards. It had a bit of a stench and the first thought that came to my mind was that it’s quite unhygienic to display it in the open like that :/

Colourful popsicle sweets :)

It was in Jiufen that we stayed in a 民宿 (homestay), Winsor B&B, and the accomodation was very comfortable, with a modern design and a great, great view :)

 
 
 

Although my parents found Jiufen quite boring, I really liked it because of how it’s so old-town and simple. Oh Jiufen is also known for their long stairways.

 

Jiufen just oozes rustic charm.

We left Taipei in the morning and so reached Jiufen before lunch. After spending a whole day there, we realised that a few hours is good enough for a Jiufen experience. We booked the B&B already though, so had no choice but to stay there for the night. It got boring in the afternoon because we walked the Old Street about three times already, and lazed around in our room for a few hours before heading out for dinner and a glimpse at Jiufen’s night scenery, which was really beautiful :)

Backtrack to lunch – so this was our lunch, fried rice, some veggie (I’m not sure what it is but it came with vines, and I think it’s a wild plant but it tasted fresh and succulent) and XIAO LONG BAO :D

The boss recommended us to try it, he said, “比鼎泰丰好!” And on the first try it really tasted better than Din Tai Fung’s! The soup was perfectly flavoured and hot and the meat was juicy, and the skin was soft~ One of the best xiao long baos ever. The second one I tried wasn’t as good as the first, I guess this probably means that you’ve got to eat xiao long baos while they’re still hot.

 
We bought this peanut roll, it usually comes with ice cream (but we decided not to, it was a rainy day) and it’s a delicious snack. The stallholder was grinding the peanuts from a huge peanut cube/block, I didn’t know they were made like that! The skin’s like popiah skin. Nice combination :)

 
 
We bought this snack – Taro balls – from a crowded stall at a corner near the top of one of the stairways. It’s supposed to be yam-flavoured balls I think, but I couldn’t taste the flavour much. I wouldn’t recommend this because it was very starchy. Oh, the bowl looks big but underneath the taro balls are red beans and lots of crushed ice, haha. So don’t be deceived! This snack is a popular Taiwan snack though, or at least in the Jiufen area.

More photos of Jiufen’s old town:

 

Most of the stallholders live in the old town itself. The people there were so friendly when we talked to them. No, they talked to us first – there was an old man climbing the stairs when we were headed out for breakfast (for exercise, he chirped) and asked us where we were from. We met a group of Taiwanese aunties during breakfast who came up to Jiufen for a getaway, and they really know how to appreciate life in Taiwan or make full use of their time (they woke up at 6 plus to walk the quiet streets of Jiufen about three times before breakfast).

 
Our healthy breakfast prepared by the owners of the Minsu we stayed in :) Their milk tea was gooooooood.

The stalls along the old street close at about 7pm, and the streets become quite deserted except for a few tourists who stayed on to take photos. Jiufen is so pretty at night, because the streets and teahouses are decorated with red lanterns which are lit up, illuminating the town in red. It’s a little spooky but gives the mysterious vibe. Oh have I mentioned, the set of Spirited Away got inspiration from Jiufen, see this and you’ll know why:

 

The last photo looks really good, but I didn’t think it looked as good in real life. The camera effects (starburst) gave it the sparkling lights, which is really cool. The previous two photos are really how Jiufen looks like at night. The teahouses are brightly lit, though the empty streets can be slightly eerie. It’s quite like how I felt when I watched Spirited Away way back, a little scary though intruiging.

In Jiufen, there’s this relaxing vibe and the feeling of simple-mindedness because everything is simple. We walked around some houses and saw old ah gongs lazing on the couch watching TV – I think they’re really bored, but maybe that’s their way of life. It’s so different from the city. It can get boring to people who love being busy, but makes quite a nice place for a short one-day getaway :)

I hope this won’t take too long to publish!