Day 3+4: 九份老街、金瓜石黄金博物园、十分老街、瑞芳老街
Rose and shone early again...got a train to catch! Headed out after breakfast, 阿姐's husband (阿姐夫? lol) drove us to the train station. Can always trust Taiwanese trains to be punctual so yep, wasn't long before we were on a 2.5hr journey to 瑞芳, where we can catch a bus to our next destination - 九份!









Missed the Jiufen bus stop (the famous 7-11 bus stop at the beginning of the old street) so we had to walk back around 300 metres...was expecting minsu owners to meet us there but when we called the lady told us to meet her in front of the house instead, and gave us directions there. So weaved through the old street crowd, while getting a bit excited about the stalls in the old street..."oh must come here later" "this one looks interesting..later later!" Finally found our room at almost the end of the old street. Waited a while for the owner to come over to check us in...as usual, details about the minsu in another post!




Settled in, and it was past 2pm before we headed out to explore the old street. Original plan was to explore it the day after as we expect to reach there late afternoon, and Jiufen Old Street shops generally close at 5-6pm, and to go 基隆 at night to visit 基隆庙口夜市....but change of plans..so we had one extra afternoon in Jiufen. Discussed and decided to make a trip to 金瓜石 by bus, and to explore Old Street on our way out. Somehow have high expectations of this place and I think I rather like it in the end even though I find it kind of crowded with tourists. Tried several of the famous food stuff there and I think most of them lived up to their fame.










Initially chose to go 金瓜石 over 十分 coz all were interested in gold mining..filtering gold dust and we supposedly get to keep them. Got ushered into this building in the park called 四连栋...Japanese style huts built during World War II..video screening and guided tour about to begin when we reached so just joined in  lor. Not too interested coz we just visited a Japanese style attraction the day before mah. And to add on to our disappointment, saw a notice informing visitors that the Museum of Gold in the park is closed to facilitate some conference or sth like tat. Aiks. Randomly roamed around the park...before deciding not to waste time and chiong to 十分! Caught a bus to go down the mountain to Ruifang...can only catch the 5pm train to 十分! Consulted the tourist info centre in Ruifang train station who told us there shops there close depending on the crowd, if there is a demand then they will stay open longer into the night..and told us they are likely to close late today. So yep...another 40 minutes of train journey to 十分 station.






十分 is famous for sky lanterns...the place where old shops line either side of the railway track and when there are no trains, people are allowed onto the track for a leisure walk or to set off sky lanterns! A similar place would be 平溪, which is a couple of stations further. Walked down the street, buying snacks from a couple of stalls before reaching the sky lantern zone, and we waste no time. Hehehe.










Went back to Ruifang, and explored the portion of Ruifang near the train station, which is also labelled as an old street. So that's the third old street we have been to on this day...although our main focus is really just the bubble tea stall and some other snacks plus of course, supermarket. Swept a fair bit of stuff and head back to our minsu, because "we paid so much for it so must spend more time there". And it's really a night to remember too :)





Slept in a little and decided to just check out since we are going over to the minsu "office" for breakfast. Left our luggage there and revisited the Old Street with the intention of buying souvenirs and more food heh. And the rain which we have avoided for the past two days finally arrived. And it wouldn't leave us until a few days later when we were in Taichung. Sigh.



Next up: Taipei!

Labels: taiwan