Our Life Together: 9D8N Trip to Taiwan

It's day seven of our taiwan trip and the way I plan our trip today was that it's a 火车 day since we're gonna be on the train most of the time. We'll be going to JiuFen (九份), thereafter to Shifen (十分) to see the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布) before putting our first ever sky lantern (天灯) together :)

Lalala time for our 火车 day. Took the metro train from Ximen station to go to Taipei Main Station. Once you arrived there, you'll have to look out for the signs stating TRA (台铁) and you won't be lost.

Once you're there, you just need to tap your EasyCard at the TRA Ticket Gate to go to the Platform. There's no need for you to get a ticket at all so convenient right.

So once you enter, just go to up the escalator in the direction of the sign stating North-Bound (北上) Trains to Keelung, Yilan, Hualien, Taitung. You won't want to be in the wrong train for such a long journey.

So happy when the train finally arrives, but the crowd really gave me a shock as there are lots of students taking the train too. The train was so packed like how it is in Singapore that we had to stand throughout the 50 minutes journey.

Imagine the joy on our face when we finally arrived at Ruifang (瑞芳) station.

Once you arrived at Ruifang (瑞芳) station, you'll see this signboard right outside the station directing you on where the new bus stop is for anyone travelling up to JiuFen (九份). So basically we just walk in the direction of what was shown on the signboard and tadah we're here in less than 10 minutes.

Look at the long queue of the people waiting here for the bus to head up to JiuFen (九份). And so after waiting for about 10 minutes, the bus arrived and initially we don't even know what are the buses to take to head up there but there will be a bus conductor there shouting out JiuFen (九份) lol. The journey to go up to JiuFen (九份) will cost you NT15.

Lalala we're finally here at JiuFen Old Street (九份老街) after a 15 minutes uphill journey. Do you know that 九份 was founded during the Qing Dynasty, where this small town was a relatively isolated village until the discovery of gold during the Japanese occupation in 1893, quickly developing the town due to a gold rush.

The many alleys leading into JiuFen Old Street (九份老街)

The girlfriend's favourite fishball soup that we came back for second round.

The girlfriend's favourite Black Balls Taiwan style with the many yam, red beans etc.

I really love walking through the alleys at JiuFen Old Street (九份老街) because through every alleys you walked, you'll discover new places at every corner. There's even a shop that allow rentals of traditional costumes for you to change into and take photographs and a shop that sort of display lots of ghostly photographs. Not forgetting the many stalls selling lots of Taiwan food and lots of souvenir shops here.

Love the small little town with the little alleys connecting them together

It's time for our next destination which is Shifen (十分). So initially we thought we just need to head back to where we alight to go back down to Ruifang station but we were wrong. The correct way to head back down was to walk uphill about few metres till you see a bus stop where there will definitely be people waiting for the bus to head back down. Lalala good timing again as we only waited for awhile and the bus came with the sign stating Ruifang (瑞芳).

Once we got to Ruifang Station (瑞芳), we kinda missed the train and had to wait for about 20 minutes for the next train. So plan your trip well so you wouldn't have to wait for a long time at the station. Click on the link to look at the various timing of the train.

So happy to get a seat in the train, like finally.

Lalala time to enjoy the scenery from the train as we travel from JiuFen (九份) to Shifen (十分). Really love the view from inside the train of the water flowing from the river, the mountains and the old traditional houses here. One thing though, the trains are all air-conditioned which is good just that somehow deep inside my heart, I really wished I could hope on those very traditional train for once in my life. You know, those with no air conditioning, and there'll be smoke coming out from the front of the train and you can just wind up the window and look outside hehe :p

Yipee we're finally here at Shifen (十分) station. Time to begin on our very very tedious journey of 40 minutes walk just to see the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布).

Being forced to take a photo when she just woke up :p

The cute girlfriend holding her mini sky lantern

Here we are at Shifen (十分)

Pretty good art work done up to show case the tourist attraction here

The sleepy cat

I'm so excited because I can finally see the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布) that I've been waiting to see all these while. Finally a real waterfall lol because I've never ever seen one before other than the man-made waterfall at Singapore's Jurong Bird Park lol.

Wah I can tell you it's better to stock up on a bottle of water, and maybe get a stick of Taiwan Sausage before you begin on your journey to see the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布) because it's really a long 40 minutes walk from the station although there are some good scenery along the way.

One word of advice though. When you walked to the T-junction where there's a stall selling some food at the side of the road, and you can either turn left to walk uphill or turn right to walk downhill. I would advice you to turn right first because you would rather suffer first and get a better view of the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布) from the top.

And so after 40 minutes of walking and seeing all the fallen sky lanterns stuck on the trees in the forest here, we're finally here at the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布). Glad we took this route because it allows us to see the waterfall from a higher view and thereafter walk down a flight of stairs which is one way only which means you are not allowed to walk up from below thus the reason why I suggest to turn right earlier on.

After sticking around for close to 30 minutes there just to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布), we decided to head back to Shifen Station to put up our very own sky lantern (天灯). So happy that the route back is now downhill and it's not as tiring as compared to earlier on.

The scary bridge that we had to walk to cross over to the other side. It's so scary because it was so shaky due to the number of people using it.

Walk around the row of shops and along the railway to find a suitable spot because there's really alot of people putting their sky lanterns too. Lalala finally we're putting our very own sky lantern (天灯) in Taiwan lo :)

Bye Bye lo 天灯. May all our dreams and wishes come true :)

It's now time for us to head back to Xi Men Ding lo. Decided to head back earlier due to the long travelling distance from here to Ruifang and thereafter to Taipei Main Station. Was shocked when we board the train back to Taipei Main Station from Ruifang Station, mainly because we are using our EasyCard to board the train and not like the others who purchase the reserved seats tickets. In the end we kept changing seats when people with the reserved seats board the train. Luckily towards the end of the journey some of the cabins are empty and we get to sit for awhile.

So sad that I actually caught a flu and fever towards the end of the day, perhaps due to the change in weather and the long walk for the whole day lol. In the end the girlfriend has to take care of me by buying the Cool Fever to put on my head. Really lucky that I brought along some panadols and flu medicine from home. Can't wait to get well soon :(

Had our dinner at 馬辣頂級麻辣鴛鴦火鍋 again but I can't really enjoy it due to my body ache and feeling so cold all over. It's really sad when you can't enjoy the food you like don't you think so :(