Letters to Taiwan: Day 9

It's finally come to the last Taiwan travelogue (after 4 months). Jiufen was more of a last minute decision, with the plan finally falling into place only the day before we made the day trip. But we still woke up (relatively) bright and early on the 17th of March, and made for the bus taking us to the mountains. The ride took close to 3 hours, if I recall correctly. It could be longer than that, but it was good for some shut-eye.

Spot the Lun in the photo on the left. This was how it was entering the Jiufen market.

Jiufen sits in the mountainous regions of Ruifang, Taipei, and is an extremely touristy spot. When we visited, the alleys and streets were practically overflowing with people, and they weren't very spacious to begin with. We had to literally squeeze through the throngs of human bodies. It was extremely cold because we were up on the mountains. That coupled with light rain made Jiufen feel almost like the insides of a fridge. I guess the mass amounts of people squishing you isn't so bad in that respect - at least you got a little bit of body warmth LOL.

I slipped on the wet cobblestones more times than I would like to admit, and since it was a sloping hill, I almost fell to my death (or maybe just a painful bruise). Note to self: never try going up slick slops with plimsols that provide little to no friction.

The tales were true. Jiufen really did give me serious 'Spritied Away' vibes. Cue the traditional red lanterns, sloped pavements, and tightly-packed shops. It was a little too crowded and misty that day, we even looked out to a view that was supposedly of mountains and the seaside, but the mist was so thick it was practically all we could see. But the overall ambience was still amazing. I've only witnessed such atmospheres in shows or in books, but Jiufen's streets was like something out of some old-school Chinese drama. Case in point:

Gotta have tea eggs! And they're perfect for the cool weather too. One of my biggest regrets is not buying one for myself. :')

Yup, that is one of the most Tumblr-worthy sex store signs I've ever seen on the left. Quite funny how they have something like that right smack in the middle of the Jiufen streets too haha.

Everybody has that one friend that's absolutely in love with Adidas, and I guess we found ours. Urrr, the human on the right I mean, not the cat. He got that jacket at the start of our trip in Taichung and he wore it basically 90% of the time after that. Also not pictured: his Adidas superstars.

The snaps almost depict how misty it actually was that day. Sharpening the picture just made it more pixelated. You can also see that we couldn't see anything else past the trees that were near us.



When you see a Vespa that isn't yours.

Jiufen's streets were utterly beautiful. Alvin also mentioned that this store did some pretty good red bean dessert. It was almost like Taiwan's version of our bobochacha, with tapioca jellies, beans and sweet soup, minus the coconut milk. It was quite a good treat for such cool weather!

After our quick dessert pit stop, we then started squeezing making our way out of the bustling streets. Instead of taking the bus down to another part of Jiufen, we just walked down the roads. It was a 20-30 minute walk, and the roads were also slippery and pretty dangerous, because it was basically a cliff. The road was tiny, so we had to stay well away from the buses or cabs that zoomed by. But if not for the walk, I'm sure we wouldn't be able to catch some of the views, or the life in the streets that we did. 

Also, I got so many shots of the boys carrying red plastic bags (they were these little peanut biscuits that they all bought), so I decided to put them here under a little 'series' called the Journey of the Red Bag Travellers:

The Red Bag Travellers begin on their walk to the next city.

The Red Bag Travellers pose for a 'fun' group shot, then continue on their 20 minute hike, disappearing into the mists of the mountains.

Two of the Red Bag Travellers make a quick pit stop to ensure all their peanut biscuits are still intact.




Along the way, the Red Bag Travellers pause to take a look at how far they've come.



Alas, the Red Bag Travellers are nearing their destination. They gather around to make sure everybody made it safe and sound, and also that their peanut biscuits are still intact. It's important that they make it back to Singapore in one piece.

The town was so quiet, I'm guessing because of the rain. It was peaceful but creepy at the same time.

We came across these little houses that were apparently preserved from the olden days. The houses' original structures were kept, and they were holding little tours of the interiors, so we decided to go in and take a look. (It was free anyways)

Is there honestly any better way to take a group shot?

The little village wasn't entirely entertaining, but we still managed to get some pretty good shots out of it. it was also less crowded, so we could slowly roam and stroll around.




I'm so thankful that we were able to visit such a tranquil location in Taiwan. Everything about the country is a farcry from Singapore, but spots like Jiufen really takes you to another world. Life is so slow-paced there. Can you imagine living in one of those houses, and experiencing the different climates when the season changes? It's nothing like I've ever seen before.

We didn't get to let lanterns fly in Shifen, unfortunately. But that gives me more reason to come back.

Can't really remember where this is, but Alvin also brought us to this mantou store in Taipei afterwards. They were arguably the best ones I've ever tried. The texture is so fluffy! There were many more flavours, like the one with pork filling inside, similar to our usual da bao here. Lun tried that, but I still preferred the original plain one.

We went to our last night market in Taipei, which had uh-may-zin fried dumplings.... I initially got 10 to share with Lun, but then went back for another 10 more to snack on when we were back at our Airbnb. It was that good. 

And just like that, 9 days came to pass. Leaving a country will always be bittersweet. By the end of our trip, I felt myself craving for some good ol' chicken rice and briyani. And most of all, I missed being able to see English signs everywhere! It's true what they say, that language must be practised, if not you might just lose touch of it completely. After graduating with my O Levels cert, I never really used Chinese anymore, simply because my course did not require me to. The people I met all spoke in English too, so I was rarely ever in touch with the Chinese language. Fast forward 3 years and I can't even read simple signs or menus in Taiwan anymore.... Just imagining being in such a country on my own without anyone to guide me scares me to no end, and I can only be thankful that I have people like Alvin with us during our trip. He was basically our translator/guide, planning where we went and taking care of us like the mother LOL. So thank you very much Alv. Let's all go for another trip again when you're back from the seas.

Things are set to change from here on out. Lun is enlisting tomorrow, and we are both feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. The future seems uncertain, not in the sense that anything is rocky, but more unknown. We don't really know where army will take him, but all I know is that I'll always be right here waiting for him to come back.

In the meantime, I'll try my best to keep myself busy. I've had many personal projects planned and devised, so now's finally the time to put them to work. Belle and I have also just booked our tickets to Japan and Korea this coming October, and words cannot describe how glad I am that this is finally happening. The land of sushi and ramen has always charmed me, and it's probably the one place that I desire to visit the most. Seeing the plane tickets that we bought makes things real. It's finally happening, and I cannot be more thrilled.

Sorry for the word vomit.