SengkangBabies, Author at Sengkang Babies

Taiwan day 7b – Shifen attractions

Continuing from our Jiufen exploration, we headed to Shifen attractions.

Referring to Google Map below (Link), Shifen Old Street is about 20km away from Jiufen Old Street. You may visit nearby 猴硐貓村 Houtong Cat village too.

*Our Taiwan Maps are all documented in this post (and Gdrive).

Instagram Sneakpeak of our Jiufen Shifen tour

#jiufen #九分 #shifen #十分#latergram #sengkangbabies #sengkangbabiesTaiwan Blog 👉 https://sengkangbabies.com/holiday/taiwan-day-7b-shifen-attractions

A post shared by Andy Lee (@sengkangbabies) on Jun 11, 2018 at 8:40am PDT

We will share some of the 十分 Shifen attractions in this blog post.

If you are lucky, you might spot the train rumbling across the river.

十分瀑布 Waterfall

This is Taiwan’s mini Niagara Falls. Quite impressive, just listen to the endless storm of water pouring downwards.

The trail to the waterfall offers good workout, with flights of steps, but visitors get to enjoy the greenery and fresh air. (GPS 25.049165, 121.787412 )

There are a few visitor’s points to admire the waterfall. It was too misty when we visited, due to the rain.

Photo below is taken during another trip, when the sky was much clearer.

From here, take a leisurely 15 min walk back to Shifen Old Street.

The second Shifen Attractions are the 天燈 Lantern

We pen our best wishes and auspicious couplets on our own lantern.
Not to worry if your Mandarin is weak, there is a sample template for you to copy and paste the idioms 🙂

You can choose to draw on only one side or all four side, let your cartoon creations dot the lantern.

Our 李家 lantern (and gif below)

They were still releasing the lanterns in drizzle, a novelty for tourists.

The lanterns are cheap, and the helpers will help you take your family photos. 1, 2, 3 Let IT Go! Huat Ah!

There are actually two famous spots to release lanterns, 十分 Shifen and 平溪 Pingxi. Most tourists will be letting their lanterns soar in bustling Shifen, Pingxi is normally a quiet town

Train map below, Pingxi is 3 stops away from Shifen.
Can you spot Ruifang and Keelung station?

Ruifang Station is the interchange for the region.

The “1000” lanterns in Pingxi are only released during special occasions, like Chinese New Year or Lantern Festival (Mar). What a sight!

Real trains cut through Shifen old street very hour.

Train rumbling across Shifen Old Street is the 3rd Shifen Attractions

Someone will whistle a warning before the train arrives. The crowd would instantly disperse to the sides. We would recommend waiting to pose with the trains (Please be safe!)

Bring out your cameras! Do take note this train is notoriously packed during holiday seasons, some tourists actually miss the last train due to overcrowding.

The 4th Shifen Attractions must be the festive atmosphere along the train track (十分老街)

Families would be jostling for family portraits, trying their best Instagram angle. When we are hungry, snacks line the street too.

Maybe this suspension bridge can be a mini attraction too?

靜安吊橋 (Jinggan) links you to the old town, and we can see the spans of the river on both side. You can see the lanterns floating away towards the forest fringe.

We pass by this mini cafe on our way back hop in for some hot chocolate.

Ok #TrueStory. The lanterns look good for photos, but they are not good for the environment. What happens if they caught fire or drop into the sea? The plastic components will contaminate the surroundings.

We are guilty.

After Jiufen and Shifen (both venues were raining), our driver from Round Taiwan Round brought us back to Taipei. I am going to miss the Great Outdoors 🙂

Photo albums :

–Day 1 Aowanda, Cing Jing
–Day 2 Cing Jing
–Day 3 Xitou Nature Education Area, Monster Village, Sun Moon Lake
–Day 4 Taichung (Zhongshe flower, ShengXin station, Cycling, Fengjia)
–Day 5 Taichung (Animation Lane, Rainbow, Miyahara)
–Day 6 Keelung 基隆
-Day 7 Ruifang, Jiufen and Shifen
–Day x Taipei HomeAway and Neighbourhood
–Day 8 永康, Xi Men Ding, 象山, 饒河 Raohe
–Day 9 and 10 北投 Beitou, Toyshop, 士林 Shilin

Blog posts :

** Taiwan Itinerary for families
–Day 1 Google Sheet, Aowanda, Cing Jing
–Day 2 Cing Jing Farm
–HomeAway Recommendations for Taiwan
–Day 3a Xitou Nature Education area (溪頭)
–Day 3b Monster village 妖怪村 and Sun Moon Lake
–Day 4 Cycling Taichung 台中
–Day 4a 台中 Taichung attractions
–Day 5a 台中 Taichung food Ice cream and Bubble Tea
–Day 5b 台中 Taichung Fengjia night market
-Day 6 基隆 Keelung
–Day 7a Jiufen attractions
–Day 7b Shifen attractions
–Taipei Neighbourhood around our HomeAway Vacation Home

Instagram Hashtag #sengkangBabiesTaiwan — Instagram #sengkangBabiesTaiwan

Taiwan Day 7a – Jiufen attractions

From Keelung (blog post), we engaged Round Taiwan Round (RTR)’s service to tour Jiufen and Shifen. We will share some Jiufen attractions and neighbouring sightseeing spots.

As in Keelung, Rain followed us along the way! Scenic sea view along the coastal route to Jiufen. The waves are huge but we still spot anglers at the edge!

It might not be suitable for bikes along this coastal route as we noticed the trucks are fast and they keep overtaking. The strong winds might unbalance new bikers .

We visited Nanya Rocks (南雅奇石) first. As it was the onset of winter, the wind was chilling too.

Around the coastal region in Taiwan North Coast, the rocks have been shaped by 1000 years of wind, forming unique shapes.

Nanya rock GPS (25.119735, 121.892811).

Along the route, visitors will also see cemeteries along the hills.

We head back to the 陰陽海 Yin Yang Hai Carpark GPS (25.121756, 121.864562) . The sea is Golden brown due to the heavy metal from the hills .

We can see the old smelting plant (水湳洞精炼厂) in the background. It used to be 13 storeys but now lies in ruins.

Southpark’s Kenny taking a wefie.

Further up, 黃金瀑布 Golden Waterfall (GPS 25.117368, 121.861475)

This is one of the popular spots for tourists… and we are already resigned to the fact that rain will stay with us the whole day!

Our spacious VolksWagen Caravelle from Round Taiwan Round (RTR). They had sponsored our trips around Jiufen and Shifen.

金瓜石勸濟堂 (GPs 25.110133, 121.859780)

This is the 关公 Guan Gong at Jiufen (Chuen Ji Hall). You can also walk about 15 minutes to reach here from the Gold Museum (金瓜石黃金博物館).

We were supposed to visit two other spots but the rain disrupted our itinerary.

In case you have more time, do consider Buyen–pavilion 不厭亭 (GPS 25.089343, 121.847490 ) and Gold Ecological Park 金瓜石黄金博物馆.

We headed straight to 九份老街 Jiufen Old street for some food to warm ourselves.

Taro balls, the adults prefer hot version. Kids did not find the chewy taro tasty.

Fish balls and squid snacks, spotted around many corners.

Pig blood 豬血糕 is not for everyone. the very thought of this ingredient chills my blood (no pun intended).

This traditional stall has a monopoly look-alike table.

If it rains, use the umbrellas or raincoat, but avoid looking like those tourist who cover their legs with plastic bags haha! It does not look good for photos and I thought it would be slippery too!

Traditional Taiwanese meatballs and popular cream puffs.

We went for the cream puffs as the queue was longer.

Candy for the kids.

You can see more Jiufen snacks on our Fanpage album. Besides the snacks, there are many souvenir shops too.

Some will buy Li Yi snacks (太陽餅 sun cake and 鳳梨酥 pineapple tarts) for souvenirs too.

Visitors come to Jiufen because it resembles a Japanese neighbourhood. The Red lanterns and steep stairs are iconic too.

There is a rich cultural identity about Jiufen’s mining history.

We heard Jiufen’s popularity drops when the mining stops. Fortunes have changed again, Jiufen is now a popular tourist stop.

Many Instagramable corners.

An old cinema, 昇平戲院 Sheng Ping theatre.

The posters are so old-school, nostalgia.

The scenic views from the balconies.

More about Round Taiwan Round, if time permit, we can cover 5 or 6 destinations. But this might be too rushed around Ruifang, Jiufeng and Shifen hilly terrain.

Our original plan was to visit the following Jiufen attractions and scenic spots ( prioritised).
=== === === ===

2 buyen–pavilion 不厭亭

3 Golden Waterfall 黃金瀑布

4 Gold Ecological Park 金瓜石黄金博物馆

1 Jiufen Old street 九份老街

1 Shifen Waterfall 十分大瀑布

1 Shifen Old Street 十分天燈

=== === === ===

One good thing about RTR’s Tripool programme is you have a list of spots to choose from. A few groups of visitors can car-pool and share a similar itinerary (consensus)

If you wish to charter your own vehicle, you can opt for RTR’s private service.

You may read about our Taichung RTR experience in this blog post, I also covered another beautiful hiking spot (light house) which is relatively near to Jiufen.

Read my experience about 鼻頭角 BiTouJiao (blog post) from 2017 Feb where I covered more Jiufen attractions. And it was RAINING too!

Diy Travelling Taiwan

It was a cool 8 to 13degrees when I visited 6 months earlier. Too cold! Instagram hashtag #SengkangBabiesTaiwan

Additional tips :

1)If you have the time, do stay one night in Jiufen. The town has a mystical feeling, especially when mist floats in and out.

There are two hills nearby to hike too, Keelong and Teapot. Both offers a good view of the surrounding landscape, and a good workout.

2) We would not advise self driving. The road up and down is very narrow and steep, and we have to look out for tourist coaches. First time visitors might find it hard to spot the mini-carparks too.

3) Bring your umbrella (raincoats preferred) along, the rain will always shower Jiufen.

4) Ruifang is the nearest train station to Jiufeng. A bus trip will be 20 to 30 minutes up Jiufeng.

Photo albums :

Blog posts :

Instagram #sengkangBabiesTaiwan