Thursday 8 January 2015

Jiufen Old Street

My visit to the wonderful coastal town of Jiufen.


Jiufen, which literally means, 9 portions, is located in the North east area of Taiwan in Riufeng District. To get there you simply take a 1 hour bus ride from Taipei which takes you directly to the entrance of the busy shopping lanes. 


The popular old streets is always full of busy tourists from Taiwan and around the world ready to catch a glimpse of the preserved old streets and alleys. Now however, the roads have become littered with small shops ready to fulfil your tourist dream. Quite frankly the area is a tourist trap, where you can find numerous souvenirs and eat some local snacks. 


We stopped at the famous Jiufen tea house where I saw them prepare traditional Taiwanese tea as well as spot some humongous Koi fish!


Jiufen is mostly popular at night when you can see the various red lanterns light up the streets and give a beautiful view of the coastal town looking on to the pacific ocean. It was also weird walking through to see a small canteen set up around an old temple (which is still being used!) 

 

It is said that the shopping streets on Jiufen also stand as inspiration for Hayao Mizayaki's award winning movie, Spirited Away, particularly the flurry of Red Lanterns and the lanes lined with numerous tea houses.
Not far from Jiufen Old Street is an area called Jinguashi, an old mining town known for it's gold. The area was surrounded by mountains, all of which are very popular climbs for the locals. I spoke to one women of 60 years old who said she'd been climbing the mountain everyday for 20 years! 


the tall.

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