I don’t quite remember when I first heard Jiufen’s name, maybe it was because I happened to see the night scene of Jiufen, or maybe it was because everyone said he was the prototype of Hayao Miyazaki’s "Spirited Away", or What about other people? The name Jiufen mysteriously appeared in my mind like this, but what I can't forget is the night view there and the taro balls in the mountain city.

Don’t eat too much fat, you can’t live without Jiufen

Standing at the intersection, we happened to see a bus with the words Jiufen written on it. My friend from Taiwan and I rushed over to get on the bus immediately. My friend signed up for the EasyCard first, and then ran to the back seat. Since I bought a 5-day EasyCard, only some Taiwan buses can be used, such as Jiufen This one cannot. I failed to swipe the card, and stood there blankly. The driver said impatiently that my card was not acceptable. I asked how much it was to go to Jiufen, and planned to give the money by coin. Unexpectedly, the driver was very irritable as if he had taken the wrong medicine, and said loudly that the car was less than Jiufen. I immediately waved to my friend. My friend looked at me inexplicably, and I was helpless. Finally, I asked the driver how much the trip cost, and he let us get off at the next stop with disdain. Because I was kicked off the bus, my friend who hurriedly got off with me forgot to swipe the Easy Card again, so that his card was locked later, and he could not use the Easy Card to swipe this train again.

After we got off the bus, we felt very inexplicable. It was clearly written on the front of the car that it was Jiufen, but when we got on the bus, we were told that it was less than Jiufen. After thinking about it, maybe it is the loop line, it seems to be to Keelung. Since we didn't know the way, we could only ask someone for directions, and we were later told that we had to go to the terminus to take a bus.

I turned my head and walked straight ahead until I arrived at the terminus, which was just opposite the police station, but I didn't expect that my Taiwanese friend had never been to Jiufen, and I still had to ask for directions when I went out.

Finally, we managed to reach Jiufen before dark. When I was traveling in Chongqing, another friend told me to go to Jiufen, saying that Jiufen is a bit like Ciqikou in Chongqing, and it is also a mountain city. 

According to the documents in "Taipei County Chronicles", in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there were only 9 households in the village here, so every time you go out to shop in the market or when the cargo ship comes, you need nine copies of everything. , and then Jiufen naturally became the place name here; in the 19th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1893 AD), gold placer was discovered in Jiufen area, and the crowds of gold panning and gold mining gradually poured into this place, so the history of gold panning began. After the recovery of Taiwan in World War I, the gold rush boom subsided, and the crowds gradually dispersed. Finally, mining officially ended in 1971.

This way of naming is really funny, but it feels really good to look far away from a high place. Unfortunately, the weather in Taiwan is cloudy these days. If it is sunny, the sunset here must be unforgettable.

Start to enter the pedestrian street, surrounded by all kinds of shops on both sides. A variety of snacks and delicacies are oncoming. Shuttle in the alley, I was a little dazed, and suddenly everything had a Taiwanese flavor.

Night fell quickly, and the area was dotted with lights. Nowadays, there are some small art shops in tourist attractions, and you can really come to Taiwan for reference.

Every time I travel to Taiwan, I will be very happy, because the prices in Taiwan are really cheap. Just like Thailand, I really like to spend money in this place. No matter how much I eat, I feel that it is not expensive. Even if I eat bad food, my heart does not hurt so much.

I have heard that there are many people in Jiufen, and I think it is enough, but my friend told me that it is not enough. Sometimes there are so many people in Jiufen that people can't walk.

Taro balls are a famous Taiwanese traditional dessert. Steam taro and mash it, add sweet potato powder and water, mix well, knead into long strips and cut into small pieces, boil in boiling water until it floats, remove and serve as taro balls. Adding sweet potato powder will make it softer, and using cornflour powder will make it softer. Similar foods include mung bean balls with mung bean paste instead of taro paste. Both are one of the famous snacks in Jiufen.

I always hear them talking about QQ. When I mention QQ, it only reminds me of Tencent’s QQ, while Taiwan’s QQ means playing teeth.

This is one of the scenes in the movie "A City of Sadness", but I haven't seen that movie, so I don't understand it. I heard that because of this movie, Jiufen became popular. There is also another saying that Jiufen is the prototype of "Spirited Away", but after all, it is just a legend. In the end, Hayao Miyazaki was forced to come out to clarify that it was not. However, Jiufen also earned enough exposure during the period, and there are still many Few Japanese and Korean tourists come here especially.

I saw it on the Internet before I went, and found that many girls were taking selfies with him biting. I don’t know if it’s because people now have a heavy taste, but my colleagues in Hong Kong also posted on my Facebook to ask me to buy it before I went. I didn't look for it deliberately, but just around the corner of Jiufen, I saw this legendary big carving.

Unmissable night view of Jiufen

After going down a few flights of stairs, I found a good platform to watch the night view. The night view of Jiufen is also worth seeing. Looking into the distance, I looked at the yellowed lights below, and with the faint cool breeze, the surrounding suddenly became quiet, and the corners of my mouth raised unconsciously, thinking to myself, no wonder everyone is obsessed with the night view of Jiufen.

Suddenly I heard the sound of firecrackers, and when I looked up, someone was setting off fireworks.

Take a break, then spread out again. All kinds of fireworks and firecrackers are now banned in cities, and it has been a long time since I saw them so close. The sight in front of him was also blurred with the fireworks, and disappeared into the night.

Start to go down the mountain and pass this transit intersection. It suddenly turned into a wooden house. If it is like Ciqikou, I guess the scene in front of me is pretty similar at this point. But for the rest, it feels more like a commercial street, which is full of commercial flavor. However, my friend told me that Jiufen is actually very big, and we only walked a small part of it, but not all of it. I don't know how it is.

There was no one on the way down the mountain, but there were a bunch of Japanese tourists behind them, who were almost overtaken. Quickly get away from the crowd and speed up the steps down the stairs.

In fact, we didn't know where we were going after going down the stairs. On the way, we passed a small shop selling tea sets. After we went in, the clerk greeted us in Japanese. On the other side, I also saw that they communicated with Japanese tourists freely in Japanese. They were very tough and scared me away immediately. It seems that many Japanese people go to the store to buy tea sets, but the tea sets are very delicate. And in the end, after we went down the stairs, we arrived at the bus stop. When we were about to go back, we saw the police sign in Taiwan. We had a strange feeling, but we couldn't tell.

If you have plenty of time, I still recommend staying in Jiufen for one night. One day is a bit too rushed, and you can't fully experience the quiet night of Jiufen.