THE BUSTLING VILLAGE OF JIUFEN IN NEW TAIPEI CITY

Location: Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan

The 100-year Old A-Mei Tea House

Jiufen, an old gold mining town of Ruifang District in the Northeast mountains of the New Taipei City, which has turned as a must-visit destination in Taiwan. Though it has ascending narrow streets, its charm lies on its sweeping views, food stalls, artist shops, souvenir shops, saloons and authentic tea houses and one of these is the famous 100-year old A-Mei Tea House.

The breathtaking scenery overlooking from Taiyang Parking Lot

Driving near Jiufen showcases rugged mountains and cliffs with the ocean view on the other side. As we park at Taiyang Bus Parking Lot, the complete ocean scenery from afar revealed.

Another dramatic scenery captured

From the parking lot, we need to walk with our tour guide for around 5 minutes in an ascending elevation to the jump off point. Since it is an uphill walk, aged people were advised to take taxi cab which cost NT$300 for going up and NT$200 for going down. Well, as I am physically fit, I opted to take it by foot. From the jump-off point back to the bus parking lot, we were given two hours by our tour guide which is from 11:10 A.M. to 1:10 P.M.

Just one of the eye-catching building structures on my way to the jump-off point

I really did not have a research about Jiufen, so I do not have any idea of the place. If you are standing at the jump-off point, you will just see a sleepy and laid-back town. I was just intrigued why it was a part of the itinerary then.

The first shop I have seen

Walking on the narrow street equipped with concrete stairs uphill was really a surprise to me. Tourists were flooding from all directions and corners. Shops as well were crowded.

Flavored ice cream Taiwan style

Indeed, the place is so vibrant! It has changed my own perception of what Taiwan is. Aside from the fact that they have their own unique culture, looking at the food stalls around were quite inviting to taste them all.

The open plaza where taxi cabs stopped

This is the point where those who took taxi cab uphill disembarked. It is like an open space where people merge coming from their shopping spree from the different stores they bought their desired items.

The concrete stairs of the old narrow street

As we go up, shops and stores were increasing in number. Thus, you expect more tourists to crowd most particularly that the stores and food stalls would give food tasting. Most of those I have seen were delicious delicacies.

Climbing farther the old busy street

I was even amazed that some of the tourists there were speaking Tagalog or Filipino where some of them travel as a family. Like me, they also enjoyed the delicacies. I had made countless of food tasting then.

And yes, I am infront of the 100-year old A-Mei Tea House

This 100-year old A-Mei Tea House in Jiufen inspired the Japanese anime Spirited Away, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003, and is regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time.

The entrance to A-Mei Tea House (Model: Thelma Bautista)

Due to limited time, our group did not make it to enter A-Mei Tea House. It took us time to get a solo picture at the entrance of the the tea house. Luckily, I did it for my companions but they did not make it for my photo shot.

Another eye-catching shop

There is no other way to describe the place but to show it thru captured shots were you can see their most famous country snack called glutinous rice cake, taro glutinous rice cake, Hongzao (Oxo Cubes) meatballs, and cold or hot taro balls, and many more delicacies. The street is filled with delicious snacks. The following pictures will tell you better of what is in store in Jiufen.





























My expenses for this specific destination are as follows:

SN	Particulars	Amount
1.	Portion of the P1,060 Klook tour package as there are four destinations of this day tour	P265.00
2.	Lunch	163.27
3.	Ice cream	244.90
	TOTAL	P673.17

NOTE: All amounts has been converted to peso currency.

HOW TO GET THERE

For Klook online booking for this day tour, use this link Klook Day Tour Booking for four destinations.

For those who wanted it to be a DIY trip to Jiufen, You can board from Taipei Main Station any northbound train except a Keelung-bound train to Ruifang (the express trains are called Tzechiang) where the single journey ticket costs NT$82 or about P167. Thus, the round trip train fare is NT$164 or P334.

THE ENCHANTING ROCK FORMATIONS OF YEULIU GEOPARK OF TAIWAN

Location: Wanli District, New Taipei City, Taiwan

The historic rock formations of Yeuliu Geopark

My second day Taiwan trip was consist of four different locations namely: Yeuliu Geopark, Jiufen Old Town, Shifen Water Falls and Shifen Lantern Flying. This second day trip is package booked through Klook and the whole day tour is only P1,060 with the provision of a bus. My first destination in my second day Taiwan Trip was the Yeuliu Geological Park or Yeuliu Geopark in short. Yehliu is a cape on the north coast of Taiwan. It’s known for Yehliu Geopark, a landscape of honeycomb and mushroom rocks eroded by the sea. Well-known formations named for their shapes include the Queen’s Head and Dragon’s Head. The park is also home to birds such as ospreys and little egrets. In the village of Yehliu, the elaborate, 19th-century Baoan Temple was built using materials from an abandoned boat. (Wikipedia)

The comfortable Klook Tourist Bus

This day tour has started with our meeting place just three blocks away from our accommodation in Ximending. Our tour guide is Tina, a Taiwanese who speaks well in English. We left at 8:00 A.M. in the morning. It took us only 50 minutes from the point of origin to our destination at Yeuliu Geopark. I am impressed of their traffic, because it is just moderate. New Taipei City is another city of Taiwan. I noticed that the tourists inside the bus were mostly Filipinos.

The entrance to the park

Upon arrival to the park, I can see huge number of tourists with around 100 tourist buses parked at the carpark. Our tour guide was so firm in telling us the exact time to be back to our bus for they will not wait if somebody does not arrived on time in the bus. First, we were instructed to urinate because there is no available comfort room inside the park, and mind you, the park is too big where it is within a cape 1.7km long.

The park's signage

Due to the crowding tourists, I was not able to capture a better picture of the park's signage. Tourists were just endless. They came in groups and each group has its own tour guide. Our tour guide just stayed outside the park. However, she collected in the bus on our way to the park the entrance of NT$80 or P163.27. Not bad.

Huge crowd at the park entrance

Our group of five had difficulty to enter the park because we were asked to show the QR Code of our online payment of the tour package either from our mobile phone or a printed copy but we cannot produce. Good that Tina, our guide, assisted and so we were finally allowed to enter but it took us 15 minutes to wait and the time allotted for the trip is only 70 minutes.

A clean and green park

I was quite impressed when I entered the park. Everything was clean and orderly. Although roads were passable with vehicle, none of it were allowed inside. No vendors. The vendors and coffee shops were outside the park. What were inside are purely attractions. Pavements and pathways were developed and concrete. One cannot see any litter or trash.

My first solo picture with the Cute Princess rock formation

On January 20, 2010, a part of this rock split off from its head and formed a shape like a princess. The newly made landscape is known as Cute Princess. After an internet poll, "Cute Princess" officially become the successor of the "Queen's Head."

Impressive landscape

Indeed, the park was an impressive landscaping development. Although tourists were crowding, there is still fresh air to breathe. Wooden benches were just so inviting for those who wanted to take a rest.

Staying from the viewdeck

The viewdeck offers a 360 degrees view of what is below the rock formations. On it are labels and names of rock formations you will see in the park. Other aged tourists just don't climb to the viewdeck though its stairs are footstep-friendly.

Overlooking the park cape's tip point

Going to the tip of the park's cape is such a long walk and I only have 55 minutes to finish all other attractions and so I just watched it through the viewdeck. Besides, the thousands of crowd makes it annoying, since you cannot capture the raw scenery.

Below the viewdeck are the Candle rock formations

Since Candle rocks was the nearest, we stayed here. The rock formations actually look like mushrooms. It is so difficult to capture a part of it without photo bombers at the background.

My second solo picture in the park

At long last! I happened to have a chance to have solo picture with much effort. But this is just in a split of second because other groups arrived on this spot.

Captured it without photo bombers

Somebody has to be a model in the name of Janice Esgasane Pulido

Just to show how tourists crowd the rock formations

Just to show a variation in my shots

VTime to take a rest

Every move I made was very quick to beat the time. My companions had already left going to the bus. I just had then 20 minutes to walk back to the bus parking lot.

Capturing a detail of the park

A photo taken by a stranger

I really would like to have a picture like what you see above. Fortunately, a certain Filipino tourist approached me and take a shot like what I wanted. So, I told him, to take me also a shot like what I took him.

Another scenery captured from a viewdeck on my wayback

Finally, with no photo bombers near!

The park's signage before exiting the park

I really wanted to have a shot in this signage, but people were rushing alternating to take shots. The problem was, my companions were not around. This time, another Filipino stranger tourist took this photo after I took her solo picture.

A magnified shot of the park's signage

Finally! I was out of the park and headed to the bus parking lot.

I thought then, I was the last to arrive the bus but my two companions were not yet there. We left already but Tina suggested to the driver that he should have just one round of the huge parking lot. So, I went down the bus and shouted for my two companions. Fortunately, they were on those market shops nearby and so they responded. At exactly 10:10 A.M. our bus left and drove to our Jiufen destination.

My expenses for this specific destination are as follows:

SN	Particulars	Amount
1.	Share in the P1,060 Klook day-tour package good for five persons with four destinations	P265.00
2.	Entrance fee	163.27
3.	Bread	102.04
	TOTAL	P530.31

NOTE: All amounts has been converted to peso currency.

HOW TO GET THERE

For Klook online booking for this day tour, use this link Klook Day tour booking for four destinations.

For those who does not want to avail of the Klook day tour and would wanted to have a DIY trip to Yeuliu Geopark because you wanted to stay longer there to buy many products, you can use this link to get there How to get there by yourself. As of this writing, the bus fare (single journey) from Taipei Main Station to Yeuliu Geopark is only NT$96 or P196, so the round trip is NT$192 or P392.