The
city tour may not be appealing to some tourists that some may opt to travel for
hours and visit the nearby provinces and towns from Taipei City. A bus or train ride may do, even it takes
hours, for as long as, the breathe of fresh air, the scenic mountains, endless
meadows, lakes and the ocean view serves as a treat en route and as a
destination in itself.
JIUFEN
A
week before we went to Taipei, my friends and I watched movies whose
cinematographic setting is at the northern part of Taiwan, or as some may
claim, inspired by the laddered streets and antique homes of Jiufen.
Jiufen
is an old gold mining mountain town and originally built by the Japanese. The maze of alleyways and lanes is home to
varied tea houses, souvenir shops, traditional restaurants, small museums and
stylish coffee shops.
I was able to
visit Jiufen on two occasions, under a gloomy winter season and a non-stop
rainy season. I have yet to discover how
it feels to be there during the summer or dry season. Though on both visits, my expectations were
met.
Anyone
who watched the award-winning Japanese animated fantasy film, Spirited Away,
would see the resemblance of the setting in the movie to this town. It felt surreal. With the number of visitors swarming in this
area, it becomes a challenge to navigate around especially when with senior
citizens and children in tow.
If
given the chance, I would have made an overnight stay at Jiufen for a more
relaxing visit. We stayed at one of the restaurants which has a good vantage of the area and tasted their version of xiao long bao - it was a perfect way to lounge in Jiufen.
How To Get There:
By
Train:
1. From Taipei Main Station, take the train north of Ruifang Station
2. After exiting the station and facing the Wellcome supermarket,
take a left and walk 200 meters down Mingdeng Road.
3. Next to the police station is a bus station (named Local Residents
Plaza) with routes 827 and 788 heading towards Jiufen.
By
Bus:
1. From MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing, Brown and Blue Line interchange, leave
from Exit 1.
2. Take bus route 1062 (Keelung Bus) to Jinguashi, alight at Jiufen.
Note: Exact amount of fare should
be given at NT$102 and Bus 788 is also available from Keelung.
YEHLIU
GEOPARK
Home
to a number of unique geological formations, we visited the Yehliu Geopark and
the nearby fishing village, which as my companions exclaimed is one of the film
locations for the hit Taiwanese television series, Meteor Garden.
We
had a 10-minute walk towards the gate of the Geopark and paid for the entrance
fees of NT$80. As expected, the hordes
of tourists nearly blocked the attractions and natural formations that should
have been revealed naturally on a wide landscape. The challenge then was how we could get
images of the geological formations on our own.
But we still managed anyway.
In
the olden days, Yehliu was a key channel of the trade route between mainland
China and Keelung harbor. The waters
around are actually torrential and dangerous.
A portion though appears to be a calm beach.
A
number of sedimentary rock formations surround the Geopark and notable ones
include the ginger rock, Japanese geisha and the queen’s head. With a limited time, we were not able to roam
around the whole vicinity and get near to each rock formation identified.
How
To Get There:
By
Bus:
From Taipei West Bus Station – Terminal A (located at Taipei Main
Station), go to the KuoKuang window and purchase a ticket for NT$96 to Yehliu
Geopark
Note: Travel time is
approximately 90 minutes
2 comments
cute nung mga aso sa jiufen!
ReplyDeleteMuch better to take taxi pag group noh?
ReplyDelete