When we reached Taipei Main Station 臺北車站, we just bought train tickets from the manual counter because we cannot afford to waste anymore time on learning to use the machines. We didn't even have time to take picture with the iconic 臺北車站 sign. We didn't use Easy Cards because you cannot reserve your seats using Easy Cards. This means that you can only take those seats which are not taken and you might have to give over your seat to another passenger who reserved the seats by buying a ticket even though you took the seat first. Yeah, so since the journey to our next destination would be taking around 45 minutes, I figured we should get reserved seats. I think Easy Cards will give you discounts but after a long day of walking I prefer to have a reserved seat. But be careful though! Not all trains allow you to reserve seats! The Local Train 區間車 in particular is on first-come-first serve basis. That's why its cheaper.

The railway system in Taiwan needs time to get used to because it can be quite complicated for new users due to the many types of trains they have. They have the Chu-Kuang Express 莒光號, Fu-Hsing Express 復興號, Local Train 區間車, Ordinary Train 普快車 and etc depending on the route and stations. Different types of train operated at different speeds and different ticket prices.

Remember to check the schedule before you buy tickets if you want to save time as much as possible. Or to make your life easier, just ask the staff at the counter to recommend a train that gets you to your destination fastest. Also remember to ask whether you can reserve seats if this is important to you.

I actually forgot all about what I researched online because I was too tired from all the stimulation but luckily we got the train with the fastest speed --- Chu-Kuang Express. Haha but we met so much trouble finding the platform because the signage was not clear! We had to ask around and until now I still wasn't sure how to look for the platform.

Train ticket to Rui Fang Station

All I know from the train ticket was that our train number was No.562, my seat was Seat No.22 in Car 4 and the train's departure time was 5.10 PM. There was no mention of the platform and I couldn't find it anywhere in the station. Or maybe I missed it? Anyway, the ticket verification staff told us to go Platform 4.

The train was clean and new and it was a comfortable 45-minute drive. By the time we reached Rui Fang train station 瑞芳車站, it was already 5.55 PM. I immediately rushed to the luggage storage area because we didn't want to carry our luggage to Jiufen. However, we just missed the operating time. The staff told us that they don't receive luggage anymore after 6PM and they only allow luggage collection. He advised us to search for other options around the area. We just went to the nearest stationery shop that had a big sign on for luggage storage. They charged more expensive than the luggage storage area but we just didn't care anymore because we were exhausted and so behind our schedule. We were charged NT$ 100 for each luggage / night.

Then we went to grab a taxi to Jiufen because it's faster than taking a bus. The taxi fee was at a standard price of NT$205 for journey from train station to Jiufen and vice versa. The taxi fees for different routes were clearly stated on a board so do check it out. The taxi brought us through mountain roads and the view was quite nice. We could see the lights from Jiufen even though we had not reached yet.




  JIUFEN 九份  

We reached Jiufen around 15 minutes and the sky was already starting to get dark. I had a quite amazing feeling when the place I had imagined for months suddenly just appeared in front of me. Everything was just like what I had read online. I guess this is the fun part of self-planned trip. Although to be honest I lose a lot of the surprise part of travelling because I planned too thoroughly.

Jiufen was quite crowded but I think it's quite okay. We're lucky because we chose to visit Taiwan on weekdays because the crowd can be quite unbearable during weekends or holidays. Although we were starving, we had to find our homestay to check-in first. It was quite a challenge to find the homestay because the buildings in Jiufen were quite packed. We somehow missed the signage of our homestay. Eventually I had to call the host for him to find us and the homestay was actually just few steps away from the place we waited for him lol.

The homestay we stayed at was called Shi-Jia B&B 施家民宿. There were many homestays at Jiufen but I chose this one because it's located inside Jiufen Old Street where all the shops are literally. Its convenient for photo-taking session in the morning and at night. The hosts were friendly and helpful. The check-in process was fast and easy. If I'm not wrong they only accept cash. They gave us a tour of the place and suggested us to go have our dinner quickly because the shops were closing soon. The room was as expected and same as the pictures online. We were generally statisfied.

We didn't have much time to window shop that night because we arrived too late. I initially planned to reach Jiufen around 4-5 PM and at least we would have around 2-3 hours to shop around because the shops there usually close around 7-8 PM. But too bad because of the flight delay, difficulties in finding Easy Cards and mistake of taking wrong Metro at the airport, we wasted around 2 hours. Quite sad... but we tried to make the most out of the last hour before the shops close! Luckily, I made a thorough research of the must-eat food in Jiufen and listed out their shop names in my detailed itinerary so we could focus only on the ones I planned. We managed to eat almost 50% of the food on my list on that night.

First street food we ate was.... smelly tofu 臭豆腐! Coz our homestay was just upstairs of the tofu shop haha!

港式脆皮臭豆腐 (Cui Pi Chou Dou Fu) NT$ 60

深坑紅燒臭豆腐 (Hong Shao Chou Dou Fu) NT$ 60

We ordered the crispy skin and the soup-based one. Hmm... the taste was not bad for both... but... they weren't smelly at all! Quite disappointed because I wanted smelly tofu that are actually smelly. However, if you just treat it as normal tofu dish, they're quite nice... or maybe I was just too hungry. Mum was not impressed at all haha. Anyway its one of the famous shop in Jiufen.


Shop name: 食謎店 九份第一家臭豆腐 Jiu Fen Di Yi Jia Chou Dou Fu (No. 106, Jishan Street, Ruifang District) 





We walked around and we reached the entrance of Jiufen Old Street.

The tourist shot

Then we saw a roadside stall selling fried prawn balls 炸蝦球 and my dad wanted to try. Ermm tasted not bad.

炸蝦球 (Zha Xia Qiu) NT$ 100

Basically we just bought small portions of every famous food we saw that we wanna try and took pictures at picturesque places along the way.



We reached the most famous food shop in Jiufen 阿柑姨芋圓 (Ah Gan Yi Yu Yuan) famous for their Taro balls and sea view.

Mixed Taro Balls (Cold) 綜合芋圓 （冷） NT$ 100

The shop looked emptier than I expected. Probably because it was a weekday and it was already late. We managed to get a place by the observation deck but the view was very disappointing for me because the glass was dirty lol. The taro balls were so over-rated also. Or maybe I should have ordered hot one instead of cold one? Coz I can hardly taste the aroma of yam. But well, as a person who doesn't like the traditional glutinous rice balls 湯圓, I actually prefer these Taro balls because they're not as chewy as glutinous rice balls. However, because I chose the cold version, if felt weird to eat a lot of ice chunks and the soup became diluted I think. The staff was not friendly and helpful when I was trying to order. There wasn't a clear instruction sign to order or menu or whatsoever. All I saw were just bowls of balls with different colours and also some beans. I was confused on how to order and the staff didn't offer any suggestion. I just tried to learn from the previous customer and when he finally asked me what I want, I just said I want to mix all the stuffs. Then he asked me cold or hot? I chose cold because I was thirsty at that moment lol. Bad choice I think because the whole thing was just quite tasteless maybe because there was too much ice chunks in it lol.


Shop name: 阿柑姨芋圓 Ah Gan Yi Yu Yuan (Ah Gan Taro Balls)





After that we just strolled around Jiufen Old Street to take pictures.

Red lanterns that can be found in every corner of Jiufen Old Street (Words on the lantern says Golden Town on a Mountain)

The only picture of me with the famous Teahouse 阿妹茶樓 that looked like scenes in Spirited Away.

*Facepalm* my sis didn't focus the camera on me and hence this failed photo that I had to brighten up my face and edit the tone of the photo. It looked like I wasn't belong to this photo and I was cropped into it lol.

Many shops were already closed

I actually saw the famous braised food shop 護理長的店 Hu Li Zhang De Dian (Nurseleader Luwei) still open but the choices of food that were left looked quite pathetic so I decided to visit the next morning. BAD DECISION that made me regret because this shop doesn't open early so we didn't get to eat the next morning T.T This was one of the shops that my sis who visited Taiwan before highly recommended.

Night view of Jiufen from one of the observation decks

Can see the sea from here (my hands were shakyyyy)

Around 9 PM we went back to our homestay to clean ourselves up and rest. Of course, that's not the case for me and my sis. After we rested for a while, we went out again for some night photo-taking session!

While we were strolling around Jiufen Old Street, every now and then we could feel the cold night breeze.

There were still some tourists walking around

The whole street were so red in colour that it gave me sort of a dangerous vibe.

Sis posing with Taiwan's iconic scooter 小綿羊 Couldn't get a clear shot because the light was too dim here and I couldn't stop my hands from shaking as usual

All shops were closed (mostly)

Posing with the retro pole lol

Finally a photo of the Teahouse without crowd

The cinema museum was closed

An alley with feels

After we're done with taking pictures, we went back to homestay to shower. After that was the time that I loved the most on my first day in Taiwan. Supper time at the top floor lounge! The lounge had an amazing view of the town and the sea. On top of that, I enjoyed the quietness and the cold breeze that came in from the windows. After a whole day of rushing here and there, finally I had time to chill and relax!




Then we ate the food that we bought but didn't have time to eat on the spot.

金枝紅糟肉圓 (Jin Zhi Hong Zao Rou Yuan) NT$ 45

This one was the very famous food of Jiufen it even had a vegetarian version of the shop. I don't even know how to call it in English. We'll probaby call it Taiwanese meatball for now. I didn't really check what it was made of when I was planning our itinerary. I didn't even know how it looked like! So when I first saw it I was disgusted by the look of it lol. It looked nothing like any food I've seen before in Malaysia. It looked like a skin-coloured semi transparent ball with some stuffs in it. The smell was also very peculiar. I found some meat, mushrooms and some unknown vegetable in it. The taste was also very weird but not that bad. I think its that kind of taste that some might like and some might not.

After I did some Googling, now I know what I ate! lol The skin was made of glutinous rice. Inside the dumpling, there were red yeast meat, mushrooms and the unknown vegetable was actually sliced bamboo shoots LOL. Yeah very very Taiwanese. Apparently Taiwanese like bamboo shoots so much that it's a common dish in many restaurants.


Shop name: 金枝紅糟肉圓 Jin Zhi Hong Zao Rou Yuan (No. 28, Jishan Street, Ruifang District)

菜脯米口味 菜仔粿 (Cai Ah Kuih) NT$ 30

油葱粿 (You Cong Kuih) NT$ 40

Shop name: 郵局前油葱粿 You Ju Qian You Cong Kuih (No. 224, Jishan Street, Ruifang District) 


Yep and with this we ended our first day in Taiwan having sweet dreams in Jiufen.





Our accommodation in Jiufen: 施家民宿 (Shi-Jia B&B)


Shops we visited in Jiufen:

食謎店 九份第一家臭豆腐 (Smelly Tofu)
阿柑姨芋圓 (Ah Gan Taro Balls)
金枝紅糟肉圓 (Taiwanese Meat Dumpling)
阿蘭菜仔粿 (Hakka Glutinous Rice Cake)
郵局前油葱粿 (You Cong Kuih in front of post office)



Next: TAIWAN TRAVELOG 2018 臺灣寶島之旅 DAY 2: Jiufen