Memories of Jiufen old streets ( Taipei, Taiwan) _Marketfriday

Hello friends

How's your day. I hope you having a relaxing weekend day 🥰

I just knew about this friday market community through @dswigle (I already followed her yesterday), And thanks to The Weekend-engagement hosting by @galenkp, I can know many amazing people through his topic.

OMG why didn't I know about this community sooner. I am a fan of street food, so when I travel in other countries, I like to experience the local markets, eat the foods they usually eat, and see the souvenirs they are selling at the market stalls... That's why this place is an ideal and great place for me to show my posts and read all the other fellow bloggers posts sharing different markets and cultures. This is my first post in this community, if there are any mistakes please let me know.

Today I would tell to you about my trip with my friend to Jiufen city, a city in the mountain of Taipei, Taiwan a few years ago. If you've ever seen the movie Spirited Away (an all-time best anime adaptation of Japanese history) and if you're a Ghibli fan, then you've definitely heard of it. We will also see a lot of Japanese tourists coming here.

According to google map, we got out from Taipei MRT, and took bus 1062 to Jiufen. You have many options for simpler means of getting there such as Taxi, private car rental, tour group... But we liked to experience with popular public transport here, so we decided go by bus. However, one thing you should note, the bus going there is quite slow, its journey takes about 1.5 hours.

We were dropped off by the bus in front of a 7-eleven store , from there, following the instructions of the homestay owner, we went through a few alleys and found the homestay that we booked easily. We have one night stay here on Friday night to experience the night market food street and went around. Then We went back to Taipei at noon on Saturday the next day. It has been a memorable experience for me ever since I decided to pack my bags and go.

This view from Homestay. You can see that the air here is fresh, partly bordering the mountains, the back is bordering the sea, with old houses creating a peaceful town.

After we packed our bags and said hello to the host, we went down the street, and started our small town exploration.

The central Old Street with foods 🥰

The Central Old Street on Friday is also quite crowded. We went here on a drizzly, chilly day. The street of Jiufen and the stores are decorated with red lanterns, inside the shops there have cats and selling a lot of cat souvenirs. For the same reason, people often call Jiufen by a dear name: Cat Village. I also bought some cute cat passport covers here to give a gift to my friends.

In the evening, a variety of street foods are sold here. I just took some food pictures ,that I have bought and tasted. Not beyond our expectation, Street Food in Taiwan did not disappoint us.

One special impression I have about Taiwanese people is that they are very friendly. When we entered a small restaurant for dinner, we were very confused because the menu only had Chinese, No a picture or a word in English. We asked a staff of restaurant to explain it for us. But they were so busy so they couldn't help us. A Taiwanese couple sat next to us, greeted us warmly and helped us translate "ALL OF DISHES ON MENU" (though we didn't need that much). They even waited for us to finish eating before going out (Because we were sitting outside the table we were sharing with them. They didn't want to annoy our meal. But We only focused on eating and talking, We didn't realised about it 😂😂 )

The 100-year old A-Mei Tea House (阿妹茶楼)

Following the red laterns of the narrow street, a tea house called A-Mei (阿妹茶楼) with a long history appeared facing down the mountain view. If you've been to Jiufen, do not miss the chance to visit Taiwan's most famous 100-year-old tea house. I think This place is also a place where the connection inspired the movie Spirited away.

A cup of hot tea in a cold weather is wonderful, isn't it?

They even gave us a photo of this tea house !






In addition, the staff here will show you how they make traditional tea. This is the best tea I have ever drank, aroma is also really good. But it's been so long since I've been here, so I can't remember the price of tea.

Looking back at the pictures taken in the past filled with the crowded atmosphere of the crowd, I feel nostalgic about the time before covid took place. Before, I absolutely hated the feeling of people jostling each other when walking on tourist roads, as well as when eating at crowded restaurants. However, now I miss that feeling again and wonder how much longer I have to wait to have those experiences again.

Thank you so much for reading and visiting my blog.

Hope you having a great day.

Much love ❤️