Taipei 台北遊 (Dec-2010)

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We went to Taipei from 19-24 Dec, with a few families from the kids' school. This is actually my first time to Taiwan, although I have attempted twice before.

For this trip, we did not go out far from Taipei city. We stayed in the Grant Hyatt. Before we went, I checked the hotel web site, and they say the hotel is in the same complex as the Taipei 101. It's true that the hotel is only 5 min walk from Taipei 101, the hotel building itself is quite old with low ceiling. Whilst Taipei 101 is very new.

With so many kids around, we chartered a small bus to take us around.

The food in Taipei is generally very good. From upscale restaurants like 高記小籠包 & 欣葉台灣菜 to street food in the various night markets. Even simple soy milk breakfast in small shops were good.

I got many chances to take taxis in Taipei - when I did not feel like going to kiddie places or after the other families left after 3 days, we took taxis everywhere. And it's very impressive that we almost all have good & friendly taxi drivers. Most of the drivers were almost too keen to help and recommend places to go, or things to do, or bits and pieces of information about Taipei. This contrast very sharply to the taxi drivers I encountered in the mainland China (and the very few times that I used taxis in the US.)

I almost never shop for 手信 when traveling. But after I came back to HK, one of my regrets was not buying some 太陽餅 & 鳳梨蘇 freshly baked from some of the shops we saw. The almost only purchase was some whiskies from the airport duty free.

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Before going to Taipei, my friends who had been there told me Jiu Fen is a must see. I think there must be enough Hong Kong people telling their friends that same, such that I heard lots of Cantonese in the street of Jiu Fen. I even bump into the owner of Sai Sha Cafe, Mr Wong. Probably half of the visitors were from Hong Kong.

The small town was a prosperous gold mining area during the Japanese colony period. The town is perhaps only a few km from a sea port, build on the slope of mountain. Large clear land was limited and the roads are very small.

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Two more pictures of the narrow street. On the first is probably the local postman. The second was peeking from a narrow alley into the main street full with tourist shops.

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Most tourist would go to 九份老街 which is really the "main street" for tourists, especially those only had a very short time in Jiu Fen. I believe the official name of the street is 基山街. For the kids in our group, the first stop and the shop that they spent most time was this magic shop. I think our group ended up spending a few thousand NT$ learning magics.

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Two views of a lookout at the end of the "main street". The nearby port can be seen upper right on the first picture.

In the second photo, the hill side decoration depicts the gold mining operation of years ago.

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Gold mining was organized in a large scale under the Japanese occupation. From what I read, the whole gold mining area was divided into two patches with mining rights went to two different Japanese companies. This is the entrance to one of the mines. The naming of the mine is very Japanese - it means mine no 5. Some of the nearby businesses was named after the mine.

When I took this picture, I heard birds inside the old mine.

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There were lots of tea houses and coffee shops along the hill side. I took this picture sitting in the balcony of one cafe, overlooking another cafe and the valley.

Besides cafes, there were also many 民宿 - bread & breakfast type of small hotels. Many of them very Japanese in style. (And one of the strongest impression from my first Taiwan trip was the very visible strong Japanese influence in almost everywhere.)

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The streets of Jiu Fen were actually very interesting. As soon as we arrived, the kids went to the magic shop, and I went around into the side road and small alleys.

Among the first buildings I saw was this shop with very nice and artistic front. Too bad it wasn't open so I don't even know what they sales. Note the deco in the store front was the tracks and carts used in the gold mines.

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Nice mail box was not only limited to stores. This home has another nice hand made one.

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And the mail box above belongs to this nice looking home.

In Jiu Fen, everywhere you go, you see greens.