Taipei Day 3

DAY 3 ITINERARY

Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园 > Golden Waterfall 黄金瀑布 > Yin-yang Sea 阴阳海 > Jiufen 九份 > Shifen 十份 > Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Due to the number of places we wanted to go, I hired a private car driver to get us around these places. His service exceeded all expectations as he went out of his way to bring us to as many places as possible within the 8-hour trip. During the trip, our driver will explain to us almost everything he knew about Taiwan, which I felt was great for my parents who knew nothing about this country.

To go to the places I mentioned above, it will cost you NTD 4000  (~SGD 185) for 5 pax. It may seem a little costly, but I believe it's to pay for his 3 meals, petrol and parking fees. If you'd like to hire him to bring you around Taiwan, feel free to drop me an email so that I can provide you his contact!

✉: minz.0996@gmail.com

YEHLIU GEOPARK (野柳地质公园)

ENTRY FEE NTD80 (~SGD 3.70)

Yehliu Geopark is a 1-hr drive from Taipei Main Station

Once again, this tourist spot was packed with Koreans & Chinese tourists, usually in tour groups. It was so noisy, and people there were really misbehaving. There were signs of "no crossing" and also red markings on the rocky floor, but no one seemed to bother. People started touching the Queen's sculpture, and also stepping on the natural rock formation that were beyond the markings.

Right after this photo, I went up just on the rock behind me (I swear there were no markings around this block of rock, by the way, and it wasn't even high!) and immediately got whistled at by the security. Such bad luck and totally ruined the mood for awhile.

After that, a series of whistles were crazily blowing away at those misbehaving tourists. I wouldn't come back again! For first-timers, you might be interested to come and take a look yourself. 

SEAFOOD LOVERS might want to drop by Yehliu for their seafood market; FAMILIES WITH KIDS might also be interested to bring their kids to the Ocean World which is just outside the entrance of the Geopark.

JIN GUA SHI (金瓜石)

Our car passed by this area so the driver briefly explained to us the history of the Gold Mining industry. The holes you see in the rocky building were where the locals mined at.You can google more info online, so I'll spare the explanation here.

GOLDEN WATERFALL (黄金瀑布)

We then spent a couple of minutes at the waterfall just so we could take some touristy shots. A lot of tourists were there as well, but it wasn't hard to take a proper shot of this place.

YIN-YANG SEA 阴阳海

Due to the nature of gold mining nearby, the impurities can't separate from the water and hence the sea is partly yellow. The color would appear different, depending on the sunlight on that day.

JIUFEN OLD STREET (九份老街)

The place to get your street snacks, buy souvenirs and enjoy the scenery over tea

My family decided to stop by this dessert shop for some bowls of taro balls. You can have it icy or hot, and there are different types of bowls to choose from, depending on what toppings you want. I picked the wrong one which has got taste of ginger, so I swapped mine with my sister's. My parents didn't like their taro balls as they were quite flat and thick, so it doesn't taste that nice.

Finding it not satisfying enough, I went to the 2nd shop which was just 2-3 shops away from this first one. It's the shop I went 3 years ago, and the taste was still the same. The taro balls were rounder and tasted fresher. The only difference was the design of the paper bowl, but the layout of the store and its concept remained the same - you choose your own toppings at the same price of NTD 50 (~SGD 2.30). I chose the usual - green bean, red bean and black pearls!

Photo credit: Danielfooddiary

My second time coming to Jiufen and it got much more crowded as compared to my first visit. I finally get to try the famous Ah Zhu's Peanut Ice Cream which has got so much great texture - that crunch from the crushed peanuts with double scoops of ice cream - all wrapped with a popiah skin, what a great combination!

SHIFEN (十份)

The place to release sky lanterns as a way to make your wishes come true

Our private driver brought us specifically to this shop in Shifen to release the sky lanterns (天灯). The lady in the shop suggested we take 1 lantern with 8 colors (each color represent a certain meaning. E.g. Pink for romance) for NTD 350 only! By doing all colors, it would mean we have a complete set of wishes - health, wealth, career, romance, education, success, happiness and popularity.

Their service was beyond our expectation as they kindly instructed us to hold the lanterns the way it should be for photo-taking purposes before we release the lantern. They will take 2 photos each with a pose - 1 landscape, 1 portrait. Just before you release, they will record a video for you, of you releasing the lantern. To end it off, a proper group photo will be taken again. You'll also have to wash your hands for hygiene purpose after everything has ended.

SHILIN NIGHT MARKET (士林夜市)

Jiantan Station Exit 1

A must-eat at Shilin Night Market would be the huge Fried Chicken (either from 豪大大鸡扒 or the underground market stalls) and Coffin Bread (NTD 60) - fried bread with filling of your choice and additional NTD10 for cheese.

Also, many would buy the torched beef cubes at the night market, as well as the mashed potato with cheese. I was too full and tired from the entire day of walking, so I skipped the potato dish and fried chicken, and just have the coffin bread from Shilin.