Hello itinerants all over the world & hive community! My love for storytelling and sharing my experiences has always been alive. It gives me different sense of fulfillment every time I'm able to tell my stories and help my readers learn something by providing informative travel guides in preparation for their trips. I really do hope this one could help. For this episode, I am bringing you to one of the most popular tourist destinations in Taiwan, Taipei, the Jiufen Old Street.
Taiwan is popularly known not only for being the Home of the milktea but also for its mouth watering local dishes, street foods, picturesque sceneries and beautiful temples which showcase its unique cultural history.
Jiufen (also spelled as Jioufen) is famous for its variety of street foods, tea houses, souvenir shops & a must try local cuisines. It's an almost two hour trip from Taipei City to Jiufen by train or bus which you'll really fall in love with how their transportation system works & how safe it is for solo travelers. The moment you arrived in Taiwan make sure to secure an EASY CARD or EZ CARD , taiwan's ezlink card system which is used to purchase in convenient stores & shopping marts and to different transportation modes like local trains, bus and rent bicycles.
The place might be very familiar to you because you've probably watched the popular Japanese animated film "Spirited Away." The place tells us the historical relation of Japan & Taiwan which Miyazaki has drawn the inspiration to feature the wonderful Jiufen Old Street. I've read somewhere that Taiwan became a colony of Japan (correct me if I'm wrong).
I can say that it's one of the busiest tourist destinations in Taiwan. I had my trip on a weekday but still there were a lot of local & foreign tourists. I highly recommend if you plan to visit this place and not resist the temptation of the foods everywhere do make sure to bring more than enough money so you'll be able to treat your appetite as much as you can.
It may just take so much of your time because you'll probably get a little lost since it has so many open corners and they look most likely the same. The photo shown above is the popular tourist spot in Jiufen. For solo travelers it might be a little difficult to ask for directions in Taiwan since not most people know English language so if you think that you're having problem finding your way in and out just follow an herd of people.
When I said you might get lost finding your way in & out, I meant it. I stumbled upon this temple somewhere on the upper area of Jiufen old street while I was lost. This temple is called "Fushan Temple", it's situated on the top of the hill & just one of the temples you'll see there but I didn't have much time to visit them since I already got exhausted by the unlimited stairs in the area.
If you're already amazed how interesting & instagramable Jioufen is during the day, you'll surely get the feeling of not leaving the place when you get to witness how majestic it is at night. I am hundred percent dead sure that Jiufen is worth spending your time until evening. The place is lit with hundreds of lanterns and more tourists prefer visiting it at night. As what I've noticed, it's only open until 10PM. It's highly advisable to visit around 6PM and leave at 8:30 PM if you're still going back to Taipei because transportation isn't always available during these times.
The lanterns make the place vividly amazing it feels like it's leading you somewhere beautiful and gives you good luck. This tells people of Chinese humble cultural and traditional beginnings which if I'm not mistaken is inspired by Buddha.
Have no worries of exploring the country at night because Taiwan is a very safe country with the best people and transportation system. You can also manage your trip by going to Shifen in the afternoon till 6PM and have your Jiufen trip in the morning and in the evening since they are just a few minutes away by train. If you guys find it informative & want me to feature my Shifen Trip on my next blog just kindly give a like and comment below so we can have the conversation going and let's grow together.
That's basically it for my HAVE YOU BEEN HERE? episode. See you around!
Regards,
@itinerantph