TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Jiufen is a mountain enclave built around former gold mines and regularly tops the list of popular tourist attractions in northern Taiwan.
This is due to its close proximity to Taipei, ensuring a regular flow of day trippers and creating bumper-to-bumper traffic jams on weekends. The sustained drawing power of Jiufen is remarkable, as foreign visitors never seem to tire of the gift and snack shops that populate Jiufen Old Street.
Maps are useless here. Jiufen is a maze-like network of alleys, lanes, and staircases, making straight-line travel impossible. Instagram-worthy angles also abound and one should expect lots of selfie-sticks and momentary disruptions as tourists arrange for group photos.
Great ocean views from Jiufen. (Taiwan News photo)
What to Buy
Jiufen’s high foot traffic ensures that every store sells the latest tourist-worthy trinkets and baubles. Expect to see lots of Taiwan Beer-themed products like magnets and bottle openers, and retro postcards.
Snack samples are also available at every corner, ranging from freeze-dried strawberries to preserved plums, and even high mountain oolong tea.
Wood products of every imaginable size and shape, ranging from simple drink coasters to Buddha statues, seem to be popular. Even shavings from cypress or camphor trees are sold in plastic pouches for their refreshing fragrance. Shavings can even be lit as an aromatic incense.
Taro balls are a popular treat in Jiufen. (Taiwan News photo)
Taro Balls
It’s hard to go 10 minutes without passing a shop specializing in taro balls. This semi-sweet treat with a chewy consistency is served either hot or cold, and flavored with a brown-sugar broth. Taro balls can come in different colors, ranging from purple to white, and are a favorite amongst students and young adults.
Grandma Lai’s Sweet Taro Balls is perhaps one of the two largest purveyors of such treats on Jiufen Old Street. It occupies two shop fronts, one for hand rolling fresh taro balls and another simply set up as a dining room with a cool breeze provided by ceiling-mounted fans.
At the top of Jiufen Old Street is the other major business dealing in taro balls, A Gan Yi Taro Ball. This business is no more than a shop front offering takeout paper bowls of hot or cold taro balls.
On a typical weekday afternoon, the line can snake well down the steps with 50 or more customers waiting in line, many ordering on behalf of friends and family who are resting comfortably under the shade of trees at the top of the steps. Expect a very lengthy wait for this snack.
Lots of souvenirs are for sale on Jiufen Old Street. (Taiwan News photo)
Lunch-type fare
After having a snack, the next thing on the list might be something more satisfying, like a bowl of noodles, fried rice, or a set meal. Despite being close to the ocean, there’s very little seafood available in Jiufen, as most of the food offerings are traditional fare typical of mountain villages.
The most popular dining establishment in Jiufen is A-mei Tea House (阿妹茶楼), a three-story establishment with a distinctive green siding and red lanterns. The tea house was made famous by the Japanese anime film, “Spirited Away.”
One can easily locate this tea house as many signs and handwritten notices on Jiufen Old Street point tourists in the right direction. After reading briefly about the history of the tea shop, visitors are typically ushered up to the third floor, which has a green tarp fluttering noisily in the wind.
Diners are presented with set-menus averaging around NT$300 (US$9) per person, including a main course such as three-cup chicken or stewed pork ribs with a small assortment of three side dishes. The food is simple and reasonably priced, and probably of similar quality to other tea shops in the area.
Drinks are priced separately, and can range from a small pot of fruit tea or chrysanthemum tea for NT$250 (US$7.50), or a tall bottle of Taiwan Beer for NT$180. Second-floor seating is limited to only about six tables.
Art galleries abound in the Jiufen area. (Taiwan News photo)
Art galleries
Shop fronts that are neither gift shops, cafes, or B&Bs, are typically art galleries. They come in all shapes and sizes, either on Jiufen Old Street, or hidden from view down a darkened alley.
The latter is how one might describe Paco Photo Gallery, which is operated by an elderly resident of the area who also lives in the gallery. Cans of kerosene and a fuel heater indicate he’s a year-round resident despite the chill and rain in the winter months.
While billed as a photo gallery, Paco mostly sells his paintings in this quaint space. “I stopped taking photos in 2015 after my heart attack. This is what caused me to take up painting, which I found to be much easier than photography, which requires lots of equipment, the right times, and calculations to take the right picture,” said Paco Chiu.
“We get lots of tourists here. Many come from Korea and Thailand now, and there are also some Japanese tourists but they don’t seem to have any money anymore. Most tourists just make a day trip out to Jiufen now, spending 2-3 hours in the area.
Other art galleries in Jiufen are similar labors of love, operated by an individual artist or a retail space that could only nominally be called an art gallery, as other tourist-type items such as postcards, posters, and calendars are also for sale.
Getting to and from
If you are not sold on spending your next day off in Jiufen, then here’s the thing that may seal the deal: Convenient transportation via inter-city bus 965. Getting to Jiufen is no more difficult than boarding a typical bus around Taipei Main Train Station and sitting back in air-conditioned comfort for the low cost of NT$120.
If there is a caveat to this cheap coach ride, it is the number of buses that operate only every 30-40 minutes. Furthermore, the popularity of this route means one might not be provided a seat at stations mid-way along the route. Boarding outside Banqiao or Wanhua MRT station will give a higher probability of securing a seat.
Another reason for taking the bus to Jiufen is the bus visits multiple tourist destinations in the Jiufen area, like Baomin Temple, Jinguashi Gold Museum, and Guashan Elementary School, the site of a former prisoner of war camp. Tourists can hop on and off the bus to travel between these destinations.
Do heed the advice of a local resident of the area who advises against visiting Jiufen on the weekends. Taking the bus during the weekend can also lead to traffic jams and slow travel, which may require double or triple the typical travel time.
