Cold and raining, this full-day tour is almost about to end with just one more stop at Jiufen Village, before coming here, we had some great time taking candid shots at Shifen Old Street. Read the article here:
Flying Lanterns and Hanging Bamboos at Shifen Old Street
Our tour guide who looks like Jackie Chan told us while on a microphone what to expect about this quaint town. His first word was "gold". This town was a gold mining village, it was a small town that developed quickly when they found gold during the Japanese occupation in 1893. The small town became so popular that although this is a far isolated area, many businesses were booming, making it a small city.
But as the gold rush declined, the town was left only as a tourist destination because it is interesting to see this once wealthy town showing Taiwanese history and culture and a taste of Japanese and Chinese style.
Our tour guide showed us a map on screen while we were almost about to reach Jiufen, there were certain areas that he wanted us to be in at this time, he said that's our assembly area, an hour after he would let us explore the small town. He was quite strict in fact and said if anyone who'd be late in returning to the assembly area, he or she will find other means to get back to Taipei. Of course, we don't want that to happen and so all of us kept in mind that we must be at this place an hour after. One hour is not even enough, I thought. This is what I don't like with tours like this, we can't have the freedom of time!
We finally reached Jiufen, we were dropped by this bus stop with an overlooking view of Taiwan's coast, there was also a statue on a red dragon on top of a roof which looked like it was looking out for something.
I researched that a red dragon symbolizes excitement and celebration, and is commonly used in Taiwanese ceremonies. Golden and silver dragons are said to bring prosperity, whilst yellow dragons are linked with the idea of empire.
But to take a shot of this dragon, you got to risk your life as tour buses are passing by and you only have this tiny roadside to keep yourself safe.
The view was truly breathtaking, we get to see the seaside area which was foggy due to the rain. I took some panoramic shots too of the coastal area, I guess the Yehliu was also in there but I couldn't figure out where. Read related article here:
Cold and Populated Yehliu Geopark
Satisfied with our photos, we progressed to where all tourists were heading - a small entrance to an alley that leads to what was considered the downtown district. It was a little darker inside, tourists and locals were all over the place, this is a spot where people do not know the word social distancing. We could hardly move fast because everyone was stopping from time to time, I couldn't remember how many times we said: "excuse us".
Numerous stalls were selling their goods, from food to calligraphy pens and brushes, ready-to-eat snacks, souvenirs, you can opt to dine in or take away the desired ones. I was hungry but we only have an hour to roam around, ordering and eating would take a lot of time plus, I was not sure what to order, there were noodles, sausages, desserts, some ducks or chicken too which were being smoked and I am not sure if those were clean!
There was one place that we were looking for, one which is a famous site in Jiufen village, it took us some walking and climbing stairs, there are so many lanes that go to different areas of the village, there were even some which can be traversed by one person at a time and we reached a dead end too, we were looking for the tea house.
After looking into Google Maps again, we finally reached the tea house, the only problem this time was there was a long line of customers. We can't stay long so we just looked for the best area where we can take photos.
If you search on Google, Jiufen tea house, there are several photographs of this area. We needed to get access to the building opposite to it but the owners won't allow too many customers inside so we were just contented being outside their entrance area instead.
Then we headed to the theatre house called Shengping Theatre, this was not too far from the tea house though but it was raining and we didn't have an umbrella with us so we ended up running towards the theater, keeping our cameras secured from the rain. There were some people inside and we couldn't understand Chinese, I don't remember if there was a subtitle but we just checked the place and then got out.
This theatre is now a museum, it has wooden benches, a show playing all day depicting the story of Shifen and Taiwan history. There were also some writings outside which we couldn't read. There were restrictions inside such as no smoking and no bringing of animals or pets.
Time passed by swiftly, it was almost time to go to our assembly area. On our way out, we found my husband's colleagues buying some snacks and they encouraged us to try it too!
We bought this A-Jou Peanut Ice Cream Roll (阿珠雪在燒)! A wrap with traditional ice cream, peanut brittle shavings, and cilantro. Boy, this was good! The vendors had fast hands too, it was fun watching them wrap, roll and cut! I bought a few more after our first try because it was very addicting.
It was finally time to go. I found a spot that I thought would be good for a photograph and asked my husband to stand there against the wood palette wall. This has a few silver Chinese signs on it, although I can't read it, I took some snaps.
It was still raining, but we were quite satisfied with our walking tour, perhaps the best part of it was witnessing how this place had shown great history and culture from their architecture, most of the buildings and houses around here were unchanged even after the years, and of course their food! There's a really different smell in any area of Taipei which has food stalls in it, I can't quite understand and explain how it smells.
But after all, surely the last stop with the ice cream roll dessert treat sealed this Jiufen visit with a smile!
J U N E B R I D E
Boholana | Cebu | Philippines | Travel | Photography Enthusiast | Calligraphy | Art
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