Taiwan: Yehliu, Jiufen, and Shifen
For our second day
in Taipei, what I planned was to go to Yehliu Geopark, Jiufen, and Shifen. I
mean what's a trip to Taiwan without these 3 right? Whenever I see people
posting about their Taipei trips, these 3 destinations are always in their
itinerary.
I'm just not sure if
these 3 destinations can be enjoyed in 1 whole day but I found a tour in Klook
that have these 3 destinations. Unfortunately for us though, the only time
slot remaining for the tour is at 10AM and I'm pretty sure that's already late
but we really have no choice since I cannot also put these tours on another day
because it won't fit by then.
Going to the meetup
area is easy breezy because it's just near Ximen station's entrance. Tourists
are mixed with some are from China, and most are from the Philippines just like us.
Prior also to this trip, I already bought our Yehliu Geopark tix from Klook to
avoid the lines and it's also a little bit cheaper on the website than buying
it on the location itself.
We are riding a
shuttle so the travel is really comfortable except for the tour guide who keeps
on talking. I mean most of the guests wanted to sleep but she just couldn't get
a hint. LOL. It's okay at first but it gets really annoying throughout the day.
So yep... Here we go.
Our first stop was
Yehliu Geopark which we roughly only had 1 hour to see everything. The guide
keeps on telling us to move faster. We cannot blame her though, we're limited
on time. It's quite annoying to hear that we need to walk faster but it gets
funny whenever she keeps on repeating it.
We went to Taiwan around July and the weather is really humid. At one time, it's hot, and on the
other, it will rain. Unfortunately for us, it was super hot when we arrived in
Yehliu. We are sweating like we just went for a 5k run and it's just our first
stop! I think we didn't stay long enough to appreciate the place, it's like we
just went there for the sake of seeing it and taking photos.
The reason why this place is a must for every Taiwan tourist is because of its geological
formations. I didn't have any info on how these rocks (should I call it rocks?)
formed and how long it's been there but one of the most iconic rocks in the area
is called "Queen's Head" and yep, it's named after Queen Elizabeth.
There are other rock formations that have names too but I think this one is the
most famous. I would have appreciated this more if we had more time but then
again, we are in a hurry.
After a super duper
quick stop at Yehliu, we then went to Jiufen which is one of the spots I'm most
excited to see primarily because I wanted to see that real-life spirited away
location. Most people would relate this place to a fictional place in Spirited
Away though it's not certain that the creator of the animated film based the
fictional place in Jiufen. It could be a coincidence but whatevs. As usual, the
place is freaking crowded. The narrow passageways remind me of Macau en route
to Ruins of St. Paul. Souvenir shops everywhere, street food, milk tea.
It's an old town and
the charm is there but rain kind of ruins the experience.
When we arrived, we
ate our lunch first because it was already past noon. There is a lot of stuff to
see here but what I'm most excited is to see that certain tea house that's the
look-alike of the fictional place in Spirited Away. My boyfriend helped me find
the place and when we found it, there's a queue for picture taking like
whuuuut? When we also found the place, we are already limited on time so I
didn't bother taking a photo but yeah it's fine.
Along the way to
Shifen, we stopped for a while to see the Golden Waterfall. Afterward, we went to
see Shifen waterfall then the last stop of the day, the Shifen old street.
Shifen old street is
most famous for its lanterns where you can write your wishes then release it in
the sky. The location is charming too and kind of Instagram worthy. We were
able to see a train passing by too! I thought that the rail wasn't in use anymore
but we were wrong. The rail track is so narrow that the train could almost
touch the shops along it. There are a lot of souvenir shops. Some shops sell
beers and it was nice to just chill after a long tiring day in this place.
After Shifen, we
were dropped off to Ximen and for dinner, we decided to try the night market
outside our hotel.
On our first dinner
in the night market, the street vendor seemed overwhelming but over time it
during the course of our stay in Taipei, the choices seemed limited by then.
We first tried a
street food house. Not sure if I should call it restaurant lol. The food, of
course, is delish and at a reasonable price! If there's one reason I'll go back
to Taiwan is because of the food. Milktea here is also so crazy like there's a
milk tea shop everywhere! So yep, it was one tiring day. As always, life sure
is fun discovering new places.
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