Taipei Trip: Jiufen Village and Surroundings

We traveled to the northeast coast, New Taipei City. It was a part of Taipei but now this new city is independent ;) The place offers the beauty of the mountain and the sea at the same time. We can feel the wind, the sunshine and the sea 'smell'.

Not far away from the sea, we were lucky enough to see the performance in front of the temple. This event was not conducted for us, human, but for God in order to ask for the fishermen safety. People wearing costumes, praying and dancing?

Here, we found interesting yet challenging thing! Some men tried to secure the mountain! The rock can fell down during earthquakes so they need to do it.

We continued our journey to Nanya rock's formation. This place is famous as a place taking pre-wedding pics. Actually, it has several spots with rocky area. However, the yellow-brown colored rock, which has pretty stripped patterns is the most well-known one.

We also saw this rocky place near the Nanya's rock. The color is dark grey. We think this place also beautiful and deserve a visit ;) When we went there the weather is really good, we can feel the warm sunshine.

Next, on the way to Jiufen Village, we stop in 'Gold Waterfall'. It does not mean that the color is gold. It just got the name of gold since near this place there was gold mining a long time ago. Now, they do not have gold anymore in this area. When we look around, we could not see many local people in this area. The buildings looks empty, a bit creepy... but I admit that the waterfall is beautiful.

The Jiufen Village is located in the mountain. Therefore, on the way we could see the a good view of the surrounding mountains, sea and buildings. In addition, the temple gives a bit of 'exotic' Taiwanese style.

The picture below shows the entrance to Jiufen Village. So many shops!! We found restaurants sell local food, souvenirs, etc. So, we were not worry about our stomach haha. Happy stomach, happy life! We also found a shop making and selling pineapple cookies there. The nice things about the food shops here is they gave us 'food sample' to try. So, if we like it, we can buy but if do not we can leave :)

We tried these two local food: fish ball soup and tofu with meat filling and sauce. For me, the taste of fish balls soup is quite nice, not too salty, but lack of 'fish' taste. There was salt, chili sauce and soy sauce bottle on the table for self-modifying the soup. However, we decided not to add it. Tofu? I like this better, it is more rich in flavor, and the sauce is not to spicy.

In the village, we saw many old buildings with its old stuff. Some of it have been used to take a movie. There was also an old tea shop selling tea, making tea with traditional way, selling nice ceramic tea pot sets and show to make the ceramic things but it is too pricey for us :(

Walk along the main road and look what we found. Finally, here it is! The main building in Jiufen! Looks like a bit old Shanghai? From mining village into the tourism spot. Beautiful! They preserve the building so good in detail and very clean.

In the end of this journey, this cat statue smiled to us :) Hope to see you again in the future.

Taipei Trip: Night Markets

If you come to Taipei, you should try the Night Market, where you can find local food, games, and excitements!

There are many night markets in Taipei. However, we only went to two different night market in Taipei. One is called Ningxia Night Market and the other is called Shilin Night Market, which is the biggest night market in Taipei. Well, they are market which are open at night but have different 'feeling'.

1. Ningxia Night Market

   We found many stalls selling local foods, stalls for games, few stalls selling souvenirs and small restaurants. In this market, we tried to eat Taiwanese-style sausage. It is made from pork (or boar?) If you expect it to be salty, then you will disappointed. The taste is unique, a bit sweet. Even though, I am getting used to the salty sausage, but this type of sausage can make me addicted. For me, it is delicious. 

   

We went to the different small restaurants and ordered the famous oyster omelet, fried rice and fried, steam dumplings. The price is quite cheap, e.g 10 dumpling for ~100 NTD, and quite filling your stomach. The oyster omelet: I could taste the oyster and a bit sweet sour-tasted the sauce. Fried rice: asian fried rice-type. Dumpling: Inside is pork meat, leek or green onion, I guess. We like steam dumpling better as it has more meat haha ;) Dumpling sauce? You could make it by yourself there, many ingredients are offered: soy sauce, minced garlic, chili powder, etc. We chose soy sauce mixed with minced garlic.

Here, you also might want to try other local food, like smelly tofu ( I haven't tried it yet, not mentally prepared for the smell), braised pork rice, noodle, flavored-shaved ices, exotic fruits, etc. Or you can try to play games: dart, shooting balloons. Warning: It is not free! If you are skillful enough you can get a prize! However, even you are not skillful for the games, at least you can release your stress and get happiness, right? ;)

2. Shilin Night Market

   It is really huge market! If Ningxia market mostly selling food then here, we could find almost everything here: from food stalls, many souvenirs, accessories, shoes, clothes shops, food courts, games booth, etc. If Ningxia market has many local people then here, you may found many tourists.

  We did not neither buy many things nor try many food here since the stuffs are more or less similar with other night market or shopping areas. At that time, we just bought water guava or bell fruits and grilled beef for our dinner.

TIPS:

> Most of the sellers in night markets could not speak complicated English, e.g if you order food, you may choose based on the pics. So, if you want to order specific food in the small restaurant, it is better to have translations in Chinese words or pics prepared.

> Many restaurants has Japanese translations. So, if you can speak or read Japanese, it is good for you ;)

> If you travel using public city bus, sometimes they don't have English translations for the stops. Just in case, prepare the map apps. How to pay for the bus? They have two payment systems: 1) Pay when you get in (Above the driver seat, it will be written:上, pronounced "shàng") 2) Pay when you get off (Above the driver seat, it will be written:下, pronounced "xìa"). For the details, refer to Taipei public bus website :) The bus will be operated until midnight.

Taipei Trip: City Tour

In 2007, I have visited some places in Taipei. So, this time I decided to join the city tour program from local travel agency in order to compare and see what do they have and what's missing from my previous trip. The cost is about 1200 NTD and it took 4 hours.

Ready? Let's start!

1. Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

 It is dedicated to Mr. Chiang Kai-Shek, the founding father of Republic of China (Taiwan).

There are 3 main buildings inside the complex with a beautiful garden surround it. There are three gates to enter the complex. The one that I entered is the Gate of Great Piety (大孝門)

 If you enter through the Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness (大中至正), you will see the National Theater and National Concert Hall buildings which have red color.

Inside, there is the main building. The structure of the roof is octagonal. The number represents a good fortune in Chinese. The guide told me that the white color means freedom like clouds in the sky and the blue color means equality. The number of the stairs is 89 which symbolized the age of Mr. Chiang Kai Shek when he passed away. ( The original age is 87 years old, but in Chinese traditional culture, it must be added 2 years more for heaven and hell). The wall is mainly decorated by white marble and the roof is made by sapphire blue glass. At the time when I visited this place, there was construction to fixed the marble wall due to the typhoon :(

Inside the building, I could see the big statue of Mr. Chiang Kai Shek sitting looking outside. So many people waiting for the  changing guards performance!

As I can expect from the tight schedule of the city tour program, I cannot look around inside the garden. All I have is the picture of the garden entrance. Maybe, next time...

2. National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine
 

  Here, ROC government put the spirit tablets of 390,000 people killed during the wars. So, the guard will ask you to take off your hat during summer to respect them.

I could also find the statue of the martyrs inside the building with their name and how they contribute during the war written below.

The attraction that visitors could see is the changing of guard, similar with the one in Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

3. National Palace Museum

This time, I went to three main exhibitions categorized by its collection's material:

 a. Jade

   Here, I could see the history how the jade was processed and the collections, such as vases, ornaments, etc. The most famous ones are jadeite cabbage and the meat-shaped jade. Even sometimes, you could not see them since too many people inside the room. ( We could not take pictures inside the museum. So, I took all pictures from the museum's website: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/)

 b. Bronzes

    Here, I could see many vessels made from bronzes for offering, cooking, etc. The most interesting thing about this vessel is I could see the Chinese characters carved on the surface inside as long time ago they do not have paper for writing.

Here is the interesting animal statue! It is not a pig, not a dog, not a rabbit, not a turtle, and not a horse. Quiz! Why they make this statue?

Don't forget to see the Buddha's statue too..

c. Ceramic

   So many statues, vases, ornaments, glasses and caddies for tea or alcohols with different shapes, colors, designs.

4. Temple

   It is said to be the fist temple built in Taipei, which has unique combination between Buddha's and Taoism religion. There was another temple on the other side, but it was destroyed during WWII. I could not find many information for this... Inside I could see old Chinese and Indian? writings.

 The four God's and Buddha's statue in the garden.

5. Taipei sightseeing and souvenir shop

   I also could see the presidential office building and Grand Hotel, which is built by Madame Chiang Kai Shek as the first 5 star Hotel in Taipei. (I just pass by) We also went to souvenir shop as a part of the program.

Overall, it was a nice English travel program, recommended especially for the ones who have limited time, tight schedule, want to safe time and only see the 'outline' of Taipei. However, if you have leisure time and want to see everything in detail ( especially for the museum), it is better to go by yourself.

PS: Always check the opening time of the museum! Mostly they will have holiday on the first Monday of the month or national holiday.

Taipei Trip: Tamsui District

On second day, I decided to travel alone in Tamsui since my husband has a meeting to attend :( Tamsui or Danshui is the northern city of Taipei which was the centre of shipping in 19th century. It has many local attractions, historical spots and food!

It was easy to go there. I took a subway from Zhongshan station and change once at Beitou station to Tamsui station. All you need is a magic card: EASYCARD!!

There are a lot of alternatives to pay the subway, but we choose this card since it is more convenient to use: no need to go back and forth to buy the tickets, can be recharged (with money..), match our need that does not have many travels using bus and subway in a day and even can be used in the convenience stores. There are two types of EASYCARD: with deposit or without deposit. Ours is without deposit. If you want a card with deposit, you need to go to Ximen station to buy it ;)

Back to the journey.....

After I arrived, I could see the old Tamsui station dominated with red bricks color.

I could see the map of the attractions at the station's main entrance.

Here are some places that I've been visited:

1. Tamsui Wharf

   A fishing spot near the Tamsui river with mountain around; famous for its beautiful sunset scenery. Unfortunately, I could not experience it as I came during morning and could not stay until night :(

PS: If you are hungry, don't be sad, there are a lot of places for eating nearby. However, mostly will open about 10-11 AM. To kill the time, you also can rent a bike and take a boat tour to Fort San Domingo with your EASYCARD^^

2. Aletheia University and Oxford College

  One of the oldest higher education institutes in Taipei, founded by G.L. Mackay.

I walked from the Tamsui Wharf to this place, I found many interesting places and I could see how local people live.

PS: If you could not stand hot weather during summer, I suggest to take a bus since the attraction places are quite far each other.

3. Old street of Tamsui
 The street is filled with shops for decades.

 The famous iron eggs and snacks made from fish...

I tried a taiwanese cookie, outside is crisp and inside containing egg's yolk? and dried meat. Quite interesting taste! There are many other choices even for vegetarian.

I could find temples too... (Sometimes, they will have performance)

In the middle of the street, I went to the Tamsui Red Castle, a colonial building located in a hill area ( you need to climb! Up up!!) which now serve as a restaurant with the best view in Tamsui. 

Next is shopping time! Time is almost 12 AM and the stores in the area near station are open. They sells many stuff from ginger tea, souvenirs, nougats, traditional cookies, fruits, grilled squid etc. Don't worry if you cannot speak Chinese. Be confident and speak English! Some people will understand haha..or use your body language and calculator to tell the price!

Before go back to Zhongshan station, I tried another brand of milk bubble tea but for me, the C**o brand milk tea is closer my style ;)