Jiufen

I got to Taipei a few days before the rest of the group, so I planned some mini-adventures to nearby cities that I could get to and back in a day. My first stop was Jiufen, a magical little town set in the mountains. The day I was exploring, it was cloudy and rainy all day, so a stop at teahouse seemed like a good idea. A-Mei’s Tea House is rumored to have inspired the bathhouse in the movie Spirited Away, but that’s apparently not actually true. The idea of this, however, does seem to bring in lots of tourists. Their standard tea includes a set of snacks and a giant bowl of tea leaves. A staff member walked me through how to wash the tea leaves and then prepare it. I’m not sure I got all the steps down correctly, but I did enjoy the respite from the rain.

A-Mei’s Tea House: snacks, tea, cloudy view

Jiufen is a maze of streets going up and down the side of a mountain. The stores are right next to each other and mostly protected from the weather by overhanging awnings. In the morning when I first arrived, not much was going on, but as the day went on, it got busier and busier. By evening, it felt like I was walking through a Moroccan souk: crowded, noisy, and alive.

Every Taiwanese town has its specialities to try and I’m a sucker for new foods I’ve never eaten before. The Jiufen streets are a foodie paradise. A lady was hawking drinks, so I stopped and bought a drink made from apricot kernels, which I didn’t know were even edible. Apparently, the Southern Chinese variety of apricot have less toxins than other varieties, and the drink is made by grinding up the kernels into a fine powder. I also tried the famous Jiufen peanut ice cream roll. It’s basically a very thin crepe, covered with chopped up peanuts, two scoops of peanut ice cream, and a dusting of cilantro. Then it’s rolled up like a burrito and cut in two for the customer. It’s a yummy, savory and sweet dessert all in one.

apricot kernel drink, ridiculously healthy veggie noodle soup for lunch, peanut ice cream roll

Some other food highlights were barbecued mushrooms with a spicy seasoning sprinkled on top and tiny waffle-cake desserts stuffed with different fillings. Jiufen is also famous for its taro balls, topped with a sweet sauce and a variety of beans. I had high hopes for this last one, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

bbq mushrooms, cake stuffed with taro filling, sweet taro balls mixed with beans

Almost accidentally, I ended up climbing a mountain. I took a bus to the nearby museum about gold mining. As I was wandering around the huge park, I saw a sign pointing up to Teapot Mountain. I’d read about it, and even with the drizzling rain, decided to go for it. I don’t usually hike with umbrellas, but I did on this walk. Taiwanese hikes seems to come in only one variety: straight up with lots and lots of stairs. Fortunately, this one came with nice views. The teapot name seems to come from the shape of the rocks at the top and most of it is roped off for safety reasons. I scrambled around on the new path and made it about halfway up the rocks before I decided they were too slippery to proceed.

lots and lots of stairs, the teapot shape of the rocks, view from the top over the sea

Before it got dark, I did manage to walk through the old tunnels they used for mining gold. I also touched the world’s largest solid gold block, weighing at an impressive 220 kg. Nearby was the Cyuanji Temple with a giant golden sculpture on the roof of General Guan, a Chinese general who lived around 200 CE.

golden mining tunnel, world’s largest gold block, Cyuanji Temple

Zhengbin

This is a sleepy waterfront town that doesn’t have much going on except for its vibrantly painted buildings. There’s a variety of fishing boats parked inside the harbor and the fascinating ruins of a former shipyard, where large boats were once built.

colorful waterfront, old abandoned shipyard

piles and piles of nets, metal squid sculpture, view of the harbor

Heping Island

I stopped in Zhengbin on my way to Heping Island. There’s a large ocean filled swimming pool, but the view of the rocks was my main reason for visiting, They are made of red sandstone, but because of the wind, they have been eroded into some really fun shapes, including one that looks like a nudibranch.

view of rocks, nudibranch shaped rocks, more shoreline

Keelung

As I hopped off the very tiny bus I took from Heping, I heard music and noticed a crowd gathering at the train station. One of my travel rules is to always follow the music, so of course, I went to investigate. After a lot of sleuthing and Google translating, I figured out his name was Qiu Jun (邱軍) and he had won second place on a TV talent show called King of the Voice. After the performance, I headed towards the Keelung Night Market, which is known for its rows of yellow lanterns.

tiny bus to Keelung from Heping, Qiu Jun, second place winner of King of the Voice, view of Keelung Night Market

As with most night markets, there are only a few vegetarian options. I ate passionfruit pao pao bing, which is a shaved ice that tastes like a sorbet. I also found vegetarian spring rolls and scallion pancakes, my go-to when there aren’t too many choices. The Keelung Night Market is several blocks long and in addition to all the food for sale, there are whole sections of carnival games where people can win prizes.

At one point, it was raining pretty hard, so I stopped to watch one game I’d never seen before. After all these years of traveling, I still love the puzzle of trying to understand what is happening, even when I don’t speak the language. Although I’m not entirely sure of all the rules, it seemed like a bunch of mahjong tiles were shuffled around and then the player picked a certain number of them. The player then matched them up on what looked like a bingo board and based on the pattern they made, the player won or lost. I didn’t stick around long enough to see anyone win, but this booth had a steady flow of customers.

passion fruit pao pao bing, spring roll, mahjong-inspired night market game