Taiwan 2017 Day 3: Jiufen, Shifen & Tonghua Night Market
DAY 3: 8 DEC 2017
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| Grilled Beef Cubes at Tonghua Night Market |
A day of adventure!
I planned for a day trip out of the city to Jiufen (九份) and Shifen (十分).
As my mum wants to release the sky lanterns in Shifen at sunset, I decided to take the
train at a later timing since there isn't much to do at these two locations.
There are other places to visit along the Pingxi line such as Houtong and Pingxi,
but we decided against it and focus on Jiufen and Shifen.
From my previous experience, there wasn't much to eat at Jiufen.
Or perhaps the fishball noodles didn't entice me much.
So, I planned to have a quick brunch at Ah Chung Mian Xian (阿宗面线) instead.
After that, we took a train to Taipei main station to get our railway tickets to Ruifang.
Our train to Ruifang departed at 11.20am and it was a local train,
which means no reservation of seats.
Our ticket costs NT 49 per person.
The train ride was supposed to only take 50 minutes.
However, due to a train fault, we arrived at Ruifang station at around 1pm.
Nevertheless, at least we got a seat and sat throughout the entire train journey.
To get to Jiufen, we will need to exit Ruifang station and take a bus.
Not to worry, there were plenty of signages and we found the bus stop really easily.
Walk straight, cross the road, turn left and continue walking till you see a bus stop.
The bus to Jiufen was waiting for more passengers when we arrived at the bus stop.
Hence, we didn't have to wait and boarded the bus immediately.
The bus ride was winding and really fast.
We arrived at Jiufen within 15 minutes, all thanks to the driver who drove at the speed of light.
Although it wasn't raining that day,
the temperature dropped to 14 degrees as we were on a mountainous area.
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| Jiufen Old Street |
Finally a day without rain and the old street was bustling with tourists.
It was way more crowded than my previous visit.
There were many stalls selling fishball noodles and beef noodles, so you could actually
settle lunch here.
If you wish to get some souvenirs or gifts, you can get some ginger tea here.
The shops here often offer testers before you decide to purchase.
My family jumped to the free testers as it was really cold and
a warm cup of drink does wonders.
Unlike them, I hate the taste of ginger which explains why I didn't take a cup to try.
The lady was really nice as she knew that I didn't like ginger the moment I rejected her offer,
and she offered me some osmanthus tea instead!
There were many street food stalls along the way.
Some of which sell Taiwanese sausages and redbean pancakes.
But do not fill your tummies to the brim because there is another place which you definitely
must try when you are in Jiufen.
That place is 赖阿婆芋圆 which sells taro balls!
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| Taro balls in warm green bean soup |
The soup was delicious and not too sweet.
The taro balls were chewy and a generous portion was given.
Loved it!
Definitely warmed me up a little.
We continued to walk down the old street.
One of the must see attractions in Jiufen is Ah Mei Tea House (阿妹茶馆).
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| Ah Mei Tea House |
The tea house in the manga Spirited Away was inspired by this place.
That is why it is so famous and a must visit.
I have not gotten a chance to see this at night as I have only visited Jiufen in the day.
Shall make it a point to visit Jiufen at night if I were to visit Taipei again!
We just took a quick photo as the entire stairway was flooded with tourists.
At this point, we have explored the entire old street and we made our way back to
Ruifang station to catch a train to Shifen.
As the trains only come every hour, do check the schedules before you exit the station.
The train ride to Shifen takes about 30 minutes.
Be smart and head towards the front end of the platform at Ruifang station.
That will guarantee you a seat as the train is pretty short.
I remembered this time round, haha.
That is why it is so famous and a must visit.
I have not gotten a chance to see this at night as I have only visited Jiufen in the day.
Shall make it a point to visit Jiufen at night if I were to visit Taipei again!
We just took a quick photo as the entire stairway was flooded with tourists.
At this point, we have explored the entire old street and we made our way back to
Ruifang station to catch a train to Shifen.
As the trains only come every hour, do check the schedules before you exit the station.
The train ride to Shifen takes about 30 minutes.
Be smart and head towards the front end of the platform at Ruifang station.
That will guarantee you a seat as the train is pretty short.
I remembered this time round, haha.
We arrived at Shifen during sunset and the track was bustling with people!
The most popular part of the track is definitely the middle portion.
I managed to purchase the sky lantern at one of the stalls in the middle
and we proceeded to write our wishes on our lantern.
A single coloured sky lantern costs NT 150 while a multi-coloured one costs NT 200.
It was my parents' first time and so we decided to get the multi-coloured one.
The experience was wonderful.
A staff will be stationed there to help with photo and video taking.
So, please don't worry about not being able to capture the entire moment.
As the wind was strong at that time, a group's sky lantern caught fire and it burnt to ashes.
Thankfully, ours was fine.
After releasing our sky lanterns, we headed over to the suspension bridge where
people were releasing fireworks.
We could also see the numerous sky lanterns floating above us in the sky.
Although this activity is definitely not environmentally-friendly,
I recommend you to try this once just for the experience!
Thereafter, we headed back to Ruifang station to catch a train to Taipei.
For dinner tonight, we decided to visit Tonghua Night Market instead of Raohe Night Market.
Tonghua Night Market is less crowded and usually patronised by the locals.
To get to Tonghua Night Market, alight at Xinyi Anhe station and use exit 3.
After a 10 minutes walk, you will arrive at the night market.
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| Egg tarts |
My brother's friend recommended this glutinous rice ball shop and
it was located in one of the food alleys linked from the main food stretch.
You can either choose to dine in or take away, but having walked the entire day,
it was nice to have a seat and enjoy a warm bowl of goodness.
Another must eat at the night markets is grilled beef cubes.
Usually they go at NT 100 for 1 serving and NT 200 for sharing.
Please do try it with rose salt!
Another common street food is the sweet potato balls.
I didn't manage to snag a photo of it but the stall which I patronised made the
bigger sized sweet potato balls.
It was really interesting to see how it was made.
From a tiny ball of sweet potato paste, he moved on to deep fry it and then squish it to expand it.
After repeating this several times, it was finally ready!
I was a little worried that I will not be able to finish the entire packet on my own.
However, when you bite through the sweet potato ball, you will find that
the middle part is empty!
And I loved the texture.
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