Location: Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 | |
| 2. | Lunch | |
| 3. | Ice cream | |