Sunday, July 16, 2006

Day 3 : Jiufen, Shifen and Pingsi

i got to sleep in late since both of them wanted to go for a church service in the morning haha...initally we were supposed to go to Yeliu (野柳), but then had to skip it due to time constraint...packed up our stuffs and took a train to Ruifang (瑞芳) train station...our minsu host from 龍門客棧 came to fetch us with a mini-van...龍門客棧 is located almost near the peak of Jiufen (九份)...so there is a very good view of Jiufen and surroundings from our minsu top floor balcony...rested a while before we head to the crowded Jiufen old streets...the small alleys are really full of people...and i really like those traditional decorations, especially the chinese laterns...bought foods and stuffs before we took a bus back to Ruifang train station...after which we took a train along the Pingsi Line to Shifen (十分)...we had to walk quite a distance to reach the Shifen waterfall and it is funny that every Taiwanese we ask along the way keep telling us that we are just 5 minutes away when actually we are still very far from it lol...we also joke about the literal meaning of its chinese name..."十分大瀑布" for those who understand chinese hehe...but the waterfall was really nice and magnificent and luckily for us it didn't rain as the sky was looking threateningly dark and grey...took our time to walk back to the train station and took another train to Pingsi (平溪) stop...the town was pretty small and looks very unique during the night...we found a shop which was displaying lots of antique stuff...we figured that it was quite interesting...so we just hopped in and had our dinner there while enjoying the oldie songs and ambience...seems to have brought us back to history haha...later we set off a huge Tian Deng(天燈) at the nearest shop from the train station...it was very fun...and we wrote loads of rubbbish on it haha...一路順風 etc...and it is quite a new experience i will say...the shop owner was really friendly and we stayed around the shop eating ice-creams and taking pictures while waiting for the 2nd last train to come...back to Ruifang and then took the bus up to Jiufen...most of the stalls are already closed by around 9pm...but the night view of Jiufen town seem to give you a totally different feelings as compared to during the day...and that was why we wanted to stay overnight there too in the first place =) ...went back to our minsu to take a hot bath and rest...then went to the top floor balcony to brew tea...relax and chat while enjoying the nice night scenery of the surroundings...

Travel Informations
Ruifang Scenic Area Brochure (Inside)
Ruifang Scenic Area Brochure (Outside)


our lunches for the day with lots of dumplings

chilli oil as appetizer? lol

views of the surroundings from Jiufen town


our minsu (民宿)

Jiufen old streets

at the back alley of the Jiufen town...i wanna get my class 2b license soon haha

at Shifen town

walking the railway

the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布) and we keep joking about the literal meaning of it haha...if u understand chinese that is

me and the waterfall =)

and you can actually fish there!

the side view of it

surrounding of the Shifen train station at dusk

Shifen train station at dusk

here comes the train =)

the oldie shop that we had dinner...that 100+ year old antique can actually still play!

sort of bring us back to the past hehe

our dinner...looks messy lol

hello...is this errrrr....上海灘???

trying to strike a cool pose hehe...and Huiting caught in the act!

drawings showing the dos and don'ts of the town...SAY NO TO DRUGS!

our "一路順風" on the 天燈...sorry for my ugly handwriting lol

and it's flying!!!

posing with those cute yummy icecreams...and they are really cheap and tasty!

night view from Jiufen


our minsu at night

drinking tea and relaxing =)




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