First stop is to Yehliu Geopark!
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Travel tips
From Taipei Main Station West Terminal A, take the bus 國光 1815 to Yehliu. The ride is about 1h 10 mins and it costs NT96.
Once you alight, you'll see this sign on the opposite side, so just follow the arrows and turn left to walk in. It's about a 10 minute walk into the coast.
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After purchasing tickets (NT80) at the entrance, we proceeded in amongst truckloads of tourists! I'm serious, there were so many tourists there, especially those from China and Hong Kong.
Yehliu Geopark is famous for its sea-erosion landscape, with the rocks looking very peculiar in shape and sizes. All this is due to erosion by wave attack, rock weathering, and even earth movement and crustal formation. The end product --- the formation of a rare and stunning geological landscape!
Yes the Geog nerd in me strikes again. Haha. I'm very amazed by all these natural formations. Really, can you imagine how strong and powerful nature's forces are? Over thousands of years of erosion and weathering, you get to see such formations.
All the holes remind me of honeycomb weathering haha.
These rocks are nicknamed 'mushroom rocks' and I think it's so cute!
The whale-fin structure. Along the 1.7km stretch of the park, there are a few rock structures that resemble certain things. This is one of them. It's quite fun to go in search of these structures haha.
Ah it was a lovely time out at the coast! The sky was blue (I'm so thankful) and having to view these landscapes and touch the rocks is amazing!
This is another structure, and what do you think it looks like? Haha they call it the 'fairy's shoe'. I don't know why it's a fairy but I know there's a legend involving a fairy trying to escape onto this island, and then she left her shoe there during the struggle or something. Haha I overheard it from a tour guide.
I'm trying to think of the kinds of weathering that could result in this. Hahaha trying to make use of my Geog knowledge but apparently my brains are kinda rusty now so I can only think of salt-weathering and honeycomb weathering! (Pardon the Geog nerd in me thanks.)
And ta-da! The 'highlight' of this park is the Queen's Head structure! They are rather specific, this queen is none other than Queen Elizabeth II. Lol, but I think it really resembles a queen's head, especially from the above angle. It's the side profile btw.
Because this structure is so famous in Yehliu Geopark, there's a queue to take pictures of it! And there's even someone handling the queue to make sure it doesn't get messy. Aaaand there's even footprints on the ground to indicate the best spot to stand for the picture! Lol I was quite amused. Since we were all the way there already, might as well queue right? So yeap we joined the queue and I was really hoping that there'd be no one behind in the background when our photo was snapped. Sigh, looks like we aren't that lucky after all. :( The couple behind spoiled our nice photo boo. >< Haha but I guess it can't be helped, because it was really crowded then.
Talk about the crowds, you actually see the umbrellas rather than the people themselves. Because it was so, so hot! The sun was blazing right down at you and I think the temperature was easily 34 degrees Celsius. Yeah almost everyone was carrying umbrellas so whenever I take photos you can see tiny humans plus the umbrella above jutting out.
Second stop: Jiufen Old Street!
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Travel tips
From Yehliu Geopark, there isn't a direct bus to take to Jiufen. Instead, walk back out to the bus stop that you alighted and take bus 790 to 基隆車站 (Keelung Bus Station). The bus will display the sign 基隆-金山. Bus fare is NT30, but it'll be slightly cheaper if you tap the Easycard. Journey time is about 40 minutes
After alighting at Keelung Bus Station, cross the overhead bridge and take bus 788 to Jiufen. Journey time is around 20 minutes.
Upon arrival you'll walk up the hill for a little while before you see this crowded entrance to the Jiufen Old Street.
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Jiufen is a small town located on a hill. It was a relatively isolated village until the discovery of gold during the Japanese occupation in 1893, quickly developing the town due to a gold rush. Many buildings in the town remain unchanged to this day, reflecting the Japanese influence on both architecture and culture on the island. During the 1990s it suddenly experienced a tourism boom, I guess because of its Japanese architecture and its unique location on a hilltop.
I was rather excited to walk the streets because I just like that feeling! It was very crowded, again, but I don't mind, because the crowds add to the atmosphere! (:
There are many food stalls and souvenir shops along the street. And I just snapped whatever photos I could and being a typical tourist haha.
We stopped by at this shop for lunch. We ate the fishballs and vermicelli which was quite nice! The noodles I mean.
And this was what I wanted to try in Jiufen --- the ice cream popiah! Basically it's two scoops of ice cream atop peanut shavings and wrapped in popiah skin.
Ahhh just bite into it and the ice cream will ooze out! The sensation was great because the weather was hot and it's always nice to have a chill food!
Fried mushrooms which we didn't try. And below is the 茶葉蛋 tea eggs.
Jiufen is also famous for its taro balls! I don't really like taro balls or yam or whatever, but since it's famous I just shared a bowl with my mum. Because my mum has been here before, she brought me to the shop where she ate two years ago. The locals all come here so we thought it should be good.
You have to climb some stairs to get there, and it's away from the main street of all the eateries and shops.
We got the 芋圓+綜合豆 which is the taro balls and chapalang beans.
Look at the amount of balls they're making!
We decided to walk all the way up the hill (where there is a an elementary school) and sit on the steps to eat. Haha! It was a really great feeling, with the slight breeze and the peek of sun shining through the clouds and just taking in the sights and sounds around us... ((: It made me feel suddenly very relaxed and really having a holiday. It was a bit like our local hobo style where we'll sit randomly to eat but here we weren't afraid cos there were people doing it too LOL.
Wow, that moment was really one to remember.
The iconic shots of Jiufen Old Street. (:
Third stop: Shifen
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Travel tips
From Jiufen, we took a bus from the bus stop further up from the 7-Eleven entrance to Ruifang station. There are a few buses that go there, just read from the board which ones go to Ruifang station. Journey about 10 mins.
At Ruifang station, buy the train tickets to Shifen. I forgot how much it is, but one thing to note is the train timings. The trains don't come as frequently as the buses, in fact they come around once every 50 minutes. So do check out the train timings on the Internet or something because I think they're the same for every day. Yeah this will help in your planning so you don't waste time waiting for the train. The journey is about 20-30 minutes.
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Unfortunately for us, we just missed the train so we had to wait for another 45 minutes or so for the next one.
Another unfortunate thing for us is that it started to rain as we were travelling to Shifen! :( The sky was very gloomy I was so scared we weren't able to let off the sky lanterns... :/
Shifen is a town popular for tourists to release the sky lanterns. I think most people do know about this, that we write our wishes on the lantern then light it up and release it into the sky. I know that even though the wishes may not come true, I still find it symbolic because that's what people used to do long time ago.
The whole street is lined with shops selling these lanterns haha. The prices are the same, (Sorry I can't remember exactly how much.) You can opt for a single coloured lantern or one with four colours. Each colour represents different things. E.g. red for good health, pink for happiness, blue for career, and yellow for fortune. We bought the four-coloured one.
It was quite fun writing it especially since I've not used a Calligraphy brush for so long haha.
After writing, we wernt out to the railway tracks to take photos! The shopkeepers will always take photos for you, one for every side of the lantern..
And it's time to release! The whole process happened quite quickly, from the moment they lighted the lantern to the taking photos to the releasing... Well they said we can't hold it for too long after it's been lit, so it's time to let go~
It was still raining slightly when we released the lanterns, but I'm glad we still managed to do it!
The train tracks make very nice photographs haha I love it!
Saw a lot of cute mini lanterns along the rows of shops.
Shifen is a very beautiful town, even though it's quite commercialised as tourists often flock here to release the sky lanterns. But I find these places very cosy and warm! The mist in the above picture made it even more... magical somehow! Sadly, we didn't explore more after that because it was getting late, so we went back to the train station again.
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Travel tips
To get back to Taipei from Shifen, take the train back to Ruifang station. Then buy a ticket or use your Easycard to board the train back to Taipei Main Station. The journey is around one hour.
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Upon arriving back at Taipei Main Station, we went to 永康街 (Yong Kang Street) again for dinner! Nearest MRT is 東門 (Dongmen). This is the same location as last night's DTF dinner. The area around Yong Kang St has lots of cafes, but because it was quite late and we were hungry, we didn't bother looking for any cafes haha.
Instead, I had a craving for shaved ice dessert because I saw it last night! But was too full from DTF haha. So today we had a lighter dinner then went to Smoothie House for their shaved ice dessert! :D
And because I also saw this stall last night, this became my 'light dinner' lol. It's basically like our prata, but less crispy but I still like it a lot! And to eat it hot from the stall is just *inserts emoji* ahhhh so yummy!
This Smoothie House is just opposite the 'prata' stall. There are many shops selling this dessert, but I think this location is the original one that's famous.
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| Mango Shaved Ice (NT180) |
Yay and so we ordered this Mango Shaved Ice dessert! :D As you can see it's hugeee!
Oh my, just looking at this is making me drool haha! The shaved ice was sooo fine and it just melts in your mouth! The mango sorbet was also very nice, coupled with the fresh mango cubes. The whole combination was just so good, I kept digging for more! Haha, and even though you may think it's just ice/water, you can actually get full from this because of its size lol.
That was a sweet ending to our long day! But before we went to our hotel, I was surprised my mum had the energy to accompany me to shop around Ximending! Haha, we reached back at Ximending past 9.30, and the place is still full of life! The energy surrounding us was quite contagious, I think that's why we felt like we should do some shopping too LOL.
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