Taiwan Itinerary

Day 3 and 4

Check out of Hotel in Taipei and take train to..........

Jiufen 九份  (about 40 minutes from Taipei Train Station)

Jiufen Street

Tea Houses

Night View

Street View

Sea View

It is said that long time ago there were only nine families in Jiufen (Jioufen). Before the roads on land were built, all materials were transported via ships. Thus a habit was formed that nine pieces of same object were purchased at one time for reservation. Hence, the place was called Jiufen (Jioufen or 九份 Nine Portions in Chinese).

Jiufen (Jioufen) used to the center of gold mining. It is located within the hills in northeast of Taiwan. The village is next to the mountain and facing the sea. In 1890, someone struck gold near Jiufen (Jioufen). The poor village with only nine families soon attracted prospectors of 4,000 families. The village once was gold city of Asia and called little Shanghai or little Hong Kong. However, with the decline of gold mining activities, Jiufen (Jioufen) fades. Later, several movies chose to shoot here and the movies won international acknowledgement. For example, the film the Sad City has won first prize in Venice Film Festival and awakened people's memory of Jiufen (Jioufen). It seems that the prosperous old streets, buildings, mines and the glamorous gold digging days are flashing before our eyes. The place is whispering its golden past. Now, there are many unique teahouses in Jiufen (Jioufen). These teahouses are best stops during visit to this mountain village. Also, there is the beautiful ocean view of Keelung outer sea.

The most prosperous shopping district is Jiufen (Jioufen) Old Street. It goes through most of the village. There are many visitors on the street. Along the street there are shops vending the most famous country snack of Jiufen (Jioufen), yam dish and various local dishes. There are some historical items well reserved. The trip to Jiufen (Jioufen) is full of fun and delights. Jiufen (Jioufen) has many accommodation places provided by local residents. If you were not in a hurry, you may want to pick a nice inn and stay for the starlight and fishing lights at night.

 

Our hotel for 2 nights at Jiufen - Windsor B&B



Room for Day 3:

Room for Day 4:



Jiufen’s unique street view was the model that was used in a very famous Japanese animation movie – “Spirited Away”.

 

 

 

Day 4 Itninerary

 

We will visit the GOLD museum at Jin Gua Shi Gold Mining Museum (金瓜石金博物館) ........

 

200Kg Gold Ingot

 

 

 

 and visit SHIFEN waterfall (十分瀑布) and release the Sky Latern (天灯)

 

 

十分瀑布

 

 

天灯

Sky Lantern Festival

Cute Lantern

 

 

The Kongming Lantern (Chinese: 孔明燈) was the first hot air balloon, said to be invented by the Chinese sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang, whose reverent term of address was Kongming. They were first deployed at the turn of the 3rd century as a type of signalling balloon or, as it's said, as a type of spy blimp in warfare. Alternatively the name may come from the lantern's resemblance to the hat Kongming is traditionally shown to be wearing.

According to the sinologist and historian of science, the Chinese experimented with mini-hot air balloons from as early as the 3rd century BC, during the Warring States period, which suggests that the Sky Lantern may have been invented long before Kongming's era.