It was a cloudy Tuesday morning. We were heading to Jiu Fen today, it was little sis's and my number 1 place on the list to visit when we were in Taiwan because it's the "Spirited Away Town" that Hayao Miyazaki got his inspiration from. Knowing me, Spirited Away is my most favorite animation film of all time so I had to go.
We made our way down to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing Station by train to wait for the bus to take us to Jiu Fen but ended up taking a taxi because my dad is an impatient man. It started to rain when we were on our way to Jiu Fen. It rained almost everyday when I was in Taiwan.
I loved the scenery while we were driving up to Jiu Fen, you could see temples, old houses, the sea and the mountains. It was so cloudy and misty that really felt like we were on the road the somewhere out of this world.
More photos after cut >>
Once we arrived, we went straight to the Old Street which was a long street aligned with souvenir and food shops. Dad was too excited (and annoying) so he jumped on almost everything at the beginning of the street. We tried smelly beancurd which was surprisingly really good with chilli, coffee, fish balls (curry, original and chill flavored), fried squid, fried mushrooms and tea eggs. Fried squid was my favorite out of it all.
We also came across some food that looked like the ones in Spirited Away. There were some pretty interesting shops as well. We stopped by a small restaurant halfway down the street for lunch. Yes, I know we eat a lot. We had fishball noodles, something I really miss from Singapore though Jiu Fen's one is a little different.
After lunch, we continued walking to the end of the street. I wanted to check out some temples and tea houses further away but it was raining so heavily, mom and dad decided to head for shelter. Little sis and I didn't bother that much and went ahead anyways which led to me slipping down the steps and my phone flying to the drain. My phone is completely alright but it's owner had 3 bruises from slipping off the stairs. The biggest and most painful one was on the left side of my hips.
My parents being total tourists.
The places away from the old street were more interesting honestly though I must admit it was really difficult to walk under the rain because it was windy as well. Little sis and I didn't manage to go too far but only stumbled upon a small temple, a tea house and a photo studio.
Since it was almost impossible to walk in the rain, little sis and I decided to head back to the old shopping street. We discovered several interesting shops along the way as well. My parents were hiding from the rain in a cafe nearby.
I really liked this vintage, I'm not sure if it's pseudo candy store. It sold a lot of candy I had from my childhood and even a Flame of Recca poster? YES, childhood. Also, those pigs in the photos above were the very first piggy banks my parents bought for me and little sis. We would put a $1 coin every day into them. If I remember correctly, I had a green one and she had a red one.
I bought a lot of candy at this store, they had some of my favorites. I loved this sour candy when I was a kid, and a honey made candy with a sour plum center was my absolute favorite.
We gave up halfway trying to explore the rest of Jiu Fen because the rain was really unbearable. Little sis and I went to find our parents and we had bubble tea while waiting for the rain to pass and also, our ride back to the city.
I was pretty bummed out it was raining because on the way back to Taipei Main city, the driver drove past a little part of Jiu Fen that really looked like something out of Spirited Away but because of the rain, most of the shops in that street were closed and it was impossible to walk or even find that tiny street because it's a flight of stairs down the old street. At least, I could take a photo of the tunnel that Chihiro and her parents walked through at the beginning of the film.
I hope to visit Jiu Fen again sometime in the future with little sis, hopefully, the next time I am here, it won't be raining.
It took about 45 minutes to get back to the main city and I was having a really bad headache due to motion sickness. Luckily, the headache went away after an hour. The whole family decided to go to Shilin Night Market for dinner.
It wasn't that impressive to me, more of a letdown really. I don't know if it's because of the rain that a lot of stores were closed but the food we had weren't that good. We walked around the street some more for an hour before deciding to head back to the apartment. Little sis and I were just chatting away in our room and I realised how much I have missed her.
Though I really love the rain, I wish it didn't rain every single day when I was in Taipei.
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