For our trip to Taipei, we were essentially given two days of freedom. Round trip transportation, a hostel, and tickets to the top of Taipei 101 were provided. The rest of the weekend we could schedule as we wished. This was great because I had spent five days in Taipei when I arrived in Taiwan, now I could venture elsewhere.
I headed to Jiufen, a mountainous area by the sea. During the late 19th century Jiufen’s population and wealth exploded as they experienced a gold rush, now it was mainly known as a pretty tourist town. Everyone knows it as the town featured on the movie Spirited Away.
The first place I went to was Jiufen’s main temple.
I checked out the old street, but I was in the mood for neither souvenir shopping nor lunch. Eventually I somehow happened upon my roommate Sam, and we took a bus to the golden waterfall (黃金瀑布) together. When we got there it was stunning, but there was a fence blocking the water. We found a way around it and got our legs wet.
After cooling off in the water, we headed down a long road towards the ocean. I couldn’t believe the natural color of the rocks (picture unedited).
On the way to the sea we stumbled upon an abandoned factories, likely left-over from the gold rush days. Conveniently there was a hole in a fence, so we headed in to check a factory out.
We ended our day by walking to the ocean and relaxing by the sea.
