Anyway, the most important thing is that I finally finished writing it, and not about how long I took to finish it, right? hehe, ok let’s get back to my Taiwan trip, hmm, first of all, I’m quite happy with my flight with EVA Airways (長榮航空公司), well, maybe because I compared EVA Airway with Air Asia, hehe that’s y I feel it is nice and comfy.. I’m also quite satisfied with Taipei CityInn Hotel (新驛旅店), the staff there are so polite and helpful. Definitely will stay at that hotel again if I ever visit Taipei again.

We’ve visited quite a lot of places there, museums, night markets, popular tourists spots and my favorite goes to Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园)!! I don’t know why, I just LOVE that place. It makes me feel very relax and I really enjoy my visit there..Yeliu is definitely a MUST VISIT place if you ever travel to Taiwan. hehe..

As for the food, I love the A Zhong Mi Sua (阿宗麵線) and Lu Rou Fan (胡须张鲁肉饭). yummy yummy.. miss these two sooo much!!!!!

Taiwan ppl are very friendly and helpful, especially those gals voice (regardless young or old!!), sooo sweet…….Unlike HK, you can really relax and enjoy your trip, you don’t need to rush rush rush like in HK, very hectic lifestyle. Everything is perfect except, things in Taiwan are quite expensive, didn’t get to shop much also. hehehe..

I think I will definitely visit Taiwan again.. not this year.. maybe not next year, maybe next next year? who knows? hehehe…

Prev: JiuFen (九份)

The bus fare from Jinguashi to JiuFen is nt 22 per person (RM 2.60) and it only took us about 10 minutes to reach JiuFen. It was crowded, a lot of tourists and also locals!! The bus stopped in front of a pineapple tart shop （李仪黄梨饼） which till now I still feel so regret for not buying at the first place. They let us try the freshly baked pineapple tarts which was very nice, we wanted to buy but we wanted to wait till we finished exploring jiufen but at the end, we left at a different place and didn’t get to buy. So if you see something you like, don’t wait, buy first, cos you might not able to find the shop again!!

JiuFen is a small town in north Taiwan. Why is it call JiuFen (九份)? Well, apparently during the first years of Qing Dynasty, there were only 9 families in this village. Therefore, the village would request “nine portions” (九份) whenever shipments arrived from town. That is why they called this place JiuFen (九份) which means nine portions in English. It was an isolated village until year 1893, when gold was discovered.

JiuFen Old Street (九份老街)

There are souvenir shops, local snacks, cafe and tea houses here.. We tried the not so stinky Stinky Toufu (臭豆腐) here and also the Ah Lan’s Yu Guo (阿蘭宇粿/草仔粿). Both taste good!!

We also bought a lot of snacks (biscuits and etc) back for our family and friends at this shop, 阿信的店. Oh ya, don’t forget to buy some chinese tea, it’s really nice. We bought a packet of Oo Long Tea (乌龙茶), about nt 300+ (RM 35 +) from JiuFen and it was really nice!! Should have bought more!!

crowded!!

beautiful scenery, don’t you think so?

amazing view!

ahhh..breathtaking view..

here’s the famous long staircase… lot’s of cafes/tea houses along this stair case..

ppl say nv take picture of this stair case means you nv come to JiuFen before.. hehe.. actually I say lar..hehe…

At first, we planned to have a cup of tea at one of these tea houses and enjoy the amazing view but then it was already 4pm+ and it was the last day of our Taiwan trip. I wanna shop before I fly back to Malaysia!! hehe..

We took the bus from JiuFen to Taipei which costs us nt 90 per person (RM 10.60). The bus stop at one of the MRT station and we took the MRT to XiMenTing (西门町) to shop for the very last time. Bye bye Taipei.. I WILL BE BACK!! hehe.. DEFINITELY!!

Prev: Jinguashi (金瓜石)
Next: Summary of my 6D5N Taiwan Trip

We used our EasyCard (悠游卡) to pay for the train fare, therefore I don’t remember how much is the ticket fare from Taipei Main Station to Keelung.

here’s our train, arrived pretty fast, we only waited about 5 minutes..

it’s clean and comfortable

About an hour later, we arrived at Keelung. The bus stop (to get bus to Jinguashi/Jiufen) is just opposite the Keelung train station. When we arrived at the bus station, there’s a taxi driver asked us whether we want to take his cab to go to Jinguashi/Jiu Fen or not. We told him we decided to take the bus and luckily he did not bug us further. We were quite surprised to see the taxi driver reminded us when the bus to Jinguashi/Jiu Fen had arrived (and we still blur blur standing there..), he even told us how much was the bus fare (nt 55 each, approx RM 6.50) before we boarded to the bus. What a nice taxi driver!!

The bus was full of passengers, there were no place for us to sit also. After 30 minutes or so, we arrived at Jiufen. We decided to go Jinguashi first then only to Jiu Fen. Seems like 99% of the passengers were to Jiu Fen. Only left me and FL were left in the bus to Jinguashi. Jiufen to Jinguashi took us another 5 or 10 minutes. I wonder why nobody interested to go to Jinguashi? hmmmm….

and here we are…

Taipei County Jinguashi Area Plan
台北县金瓜石地区展览图

the main entrance of Gold Ecological Park （黄金博物院区）

the ticket counter

the ticket price

with the Youth Travel Card (青年旅遊卡) ,
we’re entitled to get the nt 70 (RM 8.20) tickets

it’s drizzling, seems quite empty..

nice place to pak tor hor.. hehe..

Jinguashi was once a booming gold and copper mining town. Although the industries faded, Jinguashi still hold the value and it was named a potential World Heritage site in year 2002. You can see the old mining facilities can be transformed into a recreational destination. A lot of the original buildings had been rebuilt and reused as exhibition space.

guess which one we’re going to visit first?

our first stop, The Residence of Mike Kikujirou (三毛菊次郎宅)

This is the bureau director’s house used by the second but last director of the Jinguashi Mining Bureau in the Japanese era, Mike Kikujirou. We were required to queue up in front of the house to wait for our turns to visit the house. About 8-10 ppl are allowed in the house for each visit and it takes about 15 minutes to finish the tour. There were 8 ppl in our group.

we were first brought into this room to watch a short 5 minutes film about the history of Jinguashi Mining. Then our guide brought us around to visit the house.

the living room

the kitchen

the dining room

the study room

the toilet

someone asked the guide, wah, that time they already got flush toilets ar? So advance!! hahahahaha, then the guide explained said they built this recently one. hehe.. funny lar…

the bedroom

this one i forgot what room, hehe, the wet kitchen? hehe..

this one. err.. yum cha room?

After finished visiting the residence of Mike Kikujirou, we walked further in.

some souvenirs shops

amazing view right?

this is the police station, nice hor…

Remains of the Gold Refining Building (炼金楼)

brief introduction..

Gold!!! I’m rich!! I’m rich!!!!

Next, we proceed to the Environment Education Center (环境馆). You can find exhibits on the natural ecological environment and also information on how the Jinguashi community of Japanese style buildings was contructed to meet the local conditions. Here’s some photos we took in the Environment Education Center.

Environmental Education Center (环境馆)

After the Environmental Education Center, we went to the Crown Prince Chalet (太子宾馆).

Crown Prince Chalet (太子宾馆) main entrance

This was built to welcome a visit by the Japanese crown prince. That’s where the name comes from (although the prince never actually stays there).

Crown Prince Chamber/Master Bedroom

Special Guest room

this was taken from the garden of the Crown Prince Chalet

After visiting the Crown Prince Chalet, I remembered we had up climbed a long long stairs to go to the Benshan Five Tunnels (本山五坑). So tired oh…

I like the view.. nice right?

finally…we’re here!

main entrance of Benshan Five Tunnels (本山五坑)

This is a place where we can experience going into a real mining tunnel to understand the working conditions of miners, how they extracted gold and transported it out of the mine.

we need to buy another ticket to enter

our tickets, nt 50 (RM 5.90) each

each ticket comes with this… a blue helmet. hehe..

A brief introduction was given to us before we enter the tunnel. We were also required to wear a REAL helmet before entering the tunnel. hehe..

here we go.. it’s working time!! let’s go dig some gold!!

in the tunnel…

is this gold? OMG!! I found gold!!! wuahahahhahaa…

some fake miners working… hehe…

it is quite deep ..

it’s time to rest!! hehe.. a resting area..

the exit..we spent about 10 to 15 minutes in the tunnel..

all miners will need to be checked to make sure they nv steal any gold out..

this is to record the working session and it’s used to calculate the pay..

amazing amazing view outside the tunnel…

beside the tunnel is the Gold Ecological Park Museum/Museum of Cold (黄金博物院)

By visiting the museum, you will understand the development of Jinguashi’s mining culture.

miner’s tools

transport cart rail

We also got the chance to see and touch a 220 kg gold brick. Picture of the gold brick were not taken cos too many ppl surrounding it. hehe… Everyone loves gold…

At first we plan to visit the ruins of Gold Zen Temple which was built in 1897 after visiting the museum but the temple was situated above the museum and it was way too high. We still need to go to JiuFen (九份) so we decided to skip that one. I heard the views up there were spectacular!

Look at this picture.. don’t you think this is a MUST visit place?

Prev: Wufenpu & Raohe Street Night Market (五分埔 & 饒河街觀光夜市)
Next: Jiufen (九份)

You can get to Wufenpu by MRT, Houshanpi station (台北捷運藍線後山埤站) or by Train, Songshan station (松山車站). If you take the MRT, you will need to walk about 5 minutes to get to Wufenpu. As for train, Wufenpu is just opposite the Songshan station.

We took the MRT to Wufenpu and before we start shopping, we stopped by 胡须张鲁肉饭 to try out their famous lu rou fan (鲁肉饭). Oh yes, this is also another strongly recommended place to eat by the forumers. hehe.. and yes, I also strongly recommended this place, their lu rou fan is sooooooooooo tasty!!

And here we go…Wufenpu!!!

All food stalls? Where are all the clothes?
Actually we were not very sure which is the main entrance. hehehe..

clothes!! finally we saw clothes as we walked in deeper.. hehe…

I thought I was gonna buy a lot of clothes back at Wufenpu but ended up I bought nothing. Maybe because it was winter and they sold all kinds of jackets, long sleeves clothes which not really suitable to wear in our country. I did ask a few shops and they wanted to sell in bulk. Too bad I haven’t started my JY Shops back then, else I will buy some back to sell at my shop.

There were really a lot of choices, for adults, for women, for men, for kids, for babies, and besides clothes, there are bags too! Although we didn’t buy anything there, but still we make sure ourselves finish walking the whole WuFenPu.

After Wufenpu, we proceed to our next destination, which is the Raohe Street Night Market(饒河街觀光夜市). It was about 15 minutes walk from Wufenpu to Raohe night market.

Raohe Street Night Market(饒河街觀光夜市)

the entrance

this temple is just beside the Raohe night market,
it looks really grand and beautiful right?

lot’s of ppl..
see all queuing up to buy the Pepper Biscuit (福州胡椒饼).
Luckily there’s a stall near our hotel and we’ve tried,
else we will queue up as well lar. hehe..

lot’s of food too..

We only tried the Zhuang Yuan Biscuit (状元饼) from the night market cos we still want to have our dinner later. hehe… So what we ate for dinner? hahahaha, beef noodle again lar, my very last bowl of beef noodle for this Taiwan trip…

Prev: Taipei 101 (台北101)
Next: Jinguashi (金瓜石)

So FL said gonna bring me shopping on the 4th day. So right after we finished our hamburger and egg biscuit breakfast (汉堡和蛋饼) (my favourite!!), we took the MRT to the longest underground street(忠孝东路地下街) to shop. There were quite a lot of shops there and the shop I like most is those cube shops, each cube selling different things. There are so many cute cute stuff but too bad, all very expensive, so I didn’t get to buy anything there.

Next, FL brought me to a shopping centre, sorry, forgot the name of the shopping centre. I wasn’t into high class branded stuff so again, I did not get to buy anything. Since there are nothing nice/affordable to shop, we decided to go Taipei 101(台北101). We took the MRT to Taipei City Hall station (市政府站) and right outside the station, there’s a bus waiting area. We waited for like 5 or 10 minutes at the bus stop and took the free shuttle bus to go to Taipei 101.

Free shuttle bus

the bus is very new and clean

we arrived at Taipei 101 after 5 or 10 minutes ride

it’s like our KLCC, mostly branded stuff

without wasting much time,
we headed right up to 5th floor to get our tickets to the observatory

the ticket counter

the ticket price

out tickets, nt 350 each (RM 41.10)
Again, we flashed our Youth Travel Card (青年旅遊卡) and got a discounted price.

we are not allowed to bring big bags up there

lockers provided for us to keep our bags here, yep, it’s free.

FL and I forgot which locker we put in and we ended up trying one by one. Wuahahahahahaha.. so please remember the locker no, else you will end up like us.

the lift to the observatory

there aren’t many ppl that day, but still we need to queue to get into the lift

It was fast, we were up at 88th floor in 6 seconds. Wow!! I’ve been to KL tower, and another tower in Singapore (long long long time ago lar, not sure now they got upgrade or not..) but none of them can compare to the lift at Taipei 101.

There’s a lady in the elevator giving brief introduction on Taipei 101. She speaks in Mandarin, then English, then Japanese. The minute she finished, we arrived. Geng!!

and here we are, Taipei 101 indoor observatory

day time Taipei 101

night time Taipei 101

Free Audio Tour
give them your passport and you will get a headset

The view should be nicer at night but since we have other plans at night so we came in the afternoon.

the city

i prefer this side..

buildings, buildings and more buildings…

wahseh, cleaning 88th floor window.. damn scary man…

you can send a post card to your family while u’re up here

greetings from the sky
it’s not free, but i remember it’s not very costly too. sorry, forgot the price..:p

we wanted to mail a postcard to FL’s mum but he forgot the postcode. hehe..

no wonder lar, it’s the world’s fastest elevator.
6 seconds from 5th floor to 88th floor. Cool!!

the outdoor observatory is closed, so we proceed to see the wind damper

Damper baby

This damper baby is to protect the Taipei 101 from typhoon or earthquake. It prevent damage to the structure due to strong wind loads.

it’s huge!!!!

out of a sudden, we found ourselves surrounded by corals..

some of these really nice…

and the next minute, they selling coral jewelries…
hehe.. we just walked passed these lar, not interested..

in the lift, on our way down…

Although the entrance ticket is quite expensive, I still think it’s worth it. If possible, try to arrange to visit at night, I think the view will be amazing!

Prev: Keelung, Miaokou (基隆庙口)
Next: Wufenpu & Raohe Street Night Market (五分埔 & 饒河街觀光夜市)

So did I meet up with him? NO!! He FFK me!! I called him when I was in Keelung and then only he told me he’s having exams and don’t have time to meet up. Ya.. don’t even have time for lunch wor..

Well, study is more important lar, so no choice. Since we were already there, we decided to go to the famous Miao Kou(庙口) to find food. I heard there were lot’s of food at night at Miao Kou so we were not sure whether we can find anything to eat or not during day time.

Miaokou (庙口)
the round round thing on top of the stalls one looked like pamelo right?
hehe.. it’s actually tanglung lar..hehe..

really no need to worry lar, lot’s of stalls…

Finally we had oily rice (油饭) and meehun with pork (肉焿米粉) for lunch, and we tried the buy 10 free 1 Shanghai Fried Bao (上海生煎包) as well. Both taste great!!

There were nothing much in Keelung so we decided to go back to Taipei after our lunch. We took the train instead of bus back to Taipei.

Keelung Train Station (基隆站)

paid with our EasyCard (悠游卡) (nt 39 (RM 4.60) per person)

We waited for about 20 minutes before our train arrived and it took us another 45 minutes to reach Taipei. We were so tired to go anywhere else so we decided to just walk around our hotel. We managed to try the famous hok chew pepper biscuit (福州胡椒饼), had our dinner at a 30 yrs old shop and tried Taiwan’s famous dessert (鲜宇仙) before we headed back to our hotel to rest.

Prev: Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园)
Next: Taipei 101 (台北101)

We asked which bus to take to Yeliu at the customer service counter, they said we can take the Guo Guang bus (国光客运) to Yeliu.

Intercity Bus Terminal (Taipei Main Station) 國道客運台北總站

the Guo Guang (国光客运) bus ticket counter

our one way ticket to Yeliu (野柳), from Taipei Main Station (台北车站)
nt 102 per person (RM 12)

According to the person in charge, we can board to any Guo Guang bus that goes to Yeliu (野柳). The minute we got our tickets, we saw a Guo Guang bus heading to Yeliu leaving the bus station! We ran out and the bus driver saw us. He stopped and wait for us. How nice! We managed to board the bus to Yeliu without having to waste our time waiting at the bus station. There were only 3 passengers (including us) on the bus. We passed by Keelung (基隆) on our way to Yeliu and about an hour later, we arrived at Yeliu.

here we are!

The bus stopped at the main road.
The locals told us the Yeliu Geopark is at the end of the street.
So it’s walking time!!

Shops along the street

There were a lot of seafood restaurants along the street. At first we plan to have our lunch there but at last we changed our mind, scared being slashed by them la..tourists area, eat seafood some more.. we’re like water fish to them lar. right?

a lot of ppl fishing..

15 minutes later, we arrived at the Yeliu Geopark entrance

Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园)

the ticket counter

nt 50 (RM 6) for adults and nt 25 for students (RM 3)

Again, we flashed our Youth Travel Cards (青年旅遊卡) and we got a 50% discount for our tickets.

nt 25 per ticket (RM 2.90)

What is so famous in Yeliu? It is famous for the curious shapes carved by sea erosion. They even name a few rock formations based on their shapes such as the Queen’s head, Fairy’s shoe, bee’s hive, ginger rocks, sea candles and etc.

I know we’re here to see rocks and I didn’t expect much but I was totally wrong about this place. I LOVE this place! I don’t know why I love this place, could it be the fresh air? or the nice sea view? or the rocks? I really don’t know, I just know that I LOVE this place A LOT and it’s really worth to travel so far (one hour by bus, quite far mar. hehe..) to this place.

If you plan to visit this place, please remember to wear a cap, or tie your hair (if you have long hair)r, or gel your hair. I took a lot of photos at there but none of it looks good. The wind was so strong and it messed up my hair. I looked like a mad woman in every photo I took. ~sigh..

Let me show you some photos and you will know why I LOVE Yeliu!

I saw a lot of tour guides brought their group straight to the Queen’s head. There are actually a lot of other things to see besides the queen’s head. We decided to explore other places first then only come back to the famous queen’s head.

there are holes on the ground everywhere

that’s where the tour guide brought their group to..we’ll go there later.

nice sea views..makes me feel very relax..

seeing these pictures makes me feel good too. hehe..

Statue of a fisherman who sacrificed his life to save a college student who fell into the sea.
Both of them died, how sad..

Lover’s Cave (情人洞)

I don’t know why they called this the lover’s cave. There’s nothing inside lar..

we walked and walked and walked..

and we took pictures.. and more pictures…

then we walked again…where is the end?

We saw more and more locals when we walked deeper in. There were no more tourists, all locals, fishing there. We both would like to walked towards the end but we don’t know where is the end. After walking for an hour, we decided to walk back. We still not yet see the famous queen’s head ler, need to save some energy. hehe…

is this the fairy shoes? I don’t know.. what you think?

this is the famous Queen’s Head (女王頭)

I like these rocks, it looks weird.. and nice..

We spent about 2 hours + here. Although it’s windy, we both still sweat. A few more pictures to show you, taken before we left the geopark.

What are these?

When we came out from the exit,
we saw a few locals climbing in.
This is the way to get in without buying tickets!

Sea World, opposite the Yeliu GeoPark. We did not visit this..

There is a “Gift of Yeliu (野柳特产街)” just beside the exit. We tried the Stone Flower Drink (海底石花) and bought some seaweed and fish floss there.

As a conclusion, I LOVE this place! I think I will visit this place again if I have the chance. Don’t forget to visit Yeliu if you plan to visit Taiwan. You will love this place too!

Prev: Taiwan Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)
Next: Keelung, Miaokou (基隆庙口)

I still remembered I asked FL this question. How come we want to go to Shilin night market （士林夜市） but we don’t stop at Shilin station? Shilin night market （士林夜市） should be nearer to Shilin station mar, if it’s nearer to Jiantan station (劍潭站), then they should called it Jiantan night market (劍潭夜市) mar.. wuahahahahaha.. Ya I know, I’m quite stubborn sometimes.. FL also don’t know how to answer my question. I think he feels I got my point also lar.. hehe…

That is why, instead of stopping at JianTan Station, we decided to stop at Shilin Station. And again, we proved ourselves wrong and blamed ourselves for not taking ppl’s advise. hehe.. It took us about 15 or 20 minutes to reach Shilin night market from Shilin station. If we get down at Jiantan Station, it probably only take 5 minutes to reach the night market!! Perhaps they should consider changing the name of Shilin night market to Jiantan night market to avoid confusion . wuahahahahahahha..

Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

How do I feel about this night market? Well, first of all, it’s crowded, then there were a lot of things to see, a lot of things to buy, and a lot of snacks to try!! It was so crowded till I found it’s a bit difficult to shop. There were a lot of cute cute stuff but too bad, too many ppl there, that is why I didn’t manage to stop. But we did buy something from there too, something for me, something for FL and something for our family.

Besides that, we also tried a lot of famous snacks such as the original XXL Fried Chicken (豪大大鸡排), BIG Sausage(大香肠), Big hotdog wrap small hotdog (大肠包小肠), Ai Yu Bing (爱玉冰) and Ah Zhong Mi Sua (阿宗面线). Yummy yummy!!

Prev: DanShui, Fisherman’s Wharf & Lover’s Bridge （淡水, 渔人码头&情人桥）
Next: Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园)

A lot of forumers said it’s better to visit the Fisherman’s Wharf & Lover’s Bridge （渔人码头&情人桥） first before heading to the DanShui Old Street (淡水老街) but we decided to go the other way round. And of cos, we regret for not taking the advise from forumers. hehe.. blames who? well well, blame ourselves again lor.. really “dai sei”!!

DanShui Old Street (淡水商店街/淡水老街)

There were already a lot of ppl (locals..tourists..) when we reached there, really mountain ppl mountain sea (人山人海).

you can find lot’s of snacks here…

and also can get all kinds of souvenirs here..

I bought myself a name card holder.. nice nice name card holder..nicer than the one I bought for FL at the National Palace Museum (国立故宫博物院). hehe…

We also tried the famous Ah Gei (阿給) and Hong Ma Sour Plum Soup (洪妈酸梅汤) which highly recommended by forumers.

there are also a lot of shops there, quite happening

Ah Po Tie Dan (阿婆铁蛋)

There are a lot of shops at DanShui selling tie dan but according to the forumers, this shop is the original/real shop. So if you want to buy ‘tie dan’, you must buy from this shop. What is ‘tie dan’ (铁蛋)? Seriously? I have no idea. We did bought a packet for our friends to try but I did not try lar. According to FL, it’s cold, and I won’t like the taste. hehe…

See the ah po in the shop?
I wonder is she the “ah po” (阿婆) from the “ah po tie dan” (阿婆铁蛋)? hehe..

There were a lot of stuff and I wanted to buy but I did not buy. Why? Cos we’re going to take the ferry to the Fisherman’s Wharf and it’s very inconvenient if we carry too much things. See, ppl said go Fisherman’s Wharf first and we don’t want to listen.. ~sigh..

Danshui Ferry Pier (淡水客船码头)

We can take the ferries/speed boats to the town of Bali and the Fisherman’s Wharf. We were not sure what to see at Bali so we decided to just go to the Fisherman’s Wharf. We did not get ourselves a return ticket as we plan to take bus back to the DanShui Station to save cost. hehe..

The one way ticket from Danshui Ferry Pier to Fisherman’s Wharf (渔人码头) is nt 50 (RM 5.90). We did not buy any ticket as they allowed us to pay by the EasyCard (悠游卡).

Fisherman’s Wharf..here we come!!

this picture was taken from the boat, a bit shaky.. nice right? the lover’s bridge!!

we arrived after a 10-15 minutes ride

wow..really nice.. no wonder a lot of couples like to ‘pak tor’ here. hehe…romantic mar..

going up!!

The wind was very strong and it was really cold up there.

picture taken from the bridge

I wonder what it is like during sunset, ~sigh, should have come earlier. Although we didn’t get to see the sunset, we still think this is a very beautiful place. There were nothing much to see there besides the bridge. That is why we left after 20 minutes. We met a very nice bus driver, he was about to leave the bus stop but when he saw us running towards the bus stop, he decided to wait for us. We took about 5 minutes to run to the bus stop, hehe, quite far lar.. There were only 2 of us on that bus all the way from Fisherman’s Wharf to Danshui Station. Oh ya.. we only paid nt 15 (RM 1.80) for the bus fare. I think we’ve made a right decision for not getting a return ferry ticket. Don’t you think so?

Prev: XinBeiTou Hot Spring & Hell Valley (新北投温泉 & 地狱谷)
Next: Taiwan Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

We took the MRT to XinBeiTou station (新北投站), I like to travel by MRT, it’s fast and clean and comfortable. We do not know which direction should we go, luckily there are sign boards everywhere. We followed the sign board to the Beitou/PeiTou Hot Spring Museum (北投温泉博物馆).

This is the first thing we saw after 10 minutes walk from the MRT station.

What place is this? Looks like a ship to me, don’t you think so?

it’s a library, nice right!!

BeiTou Hot Spring Museum (北投温泉博物馆)
it is just beside the library, admission is free.

It was built in 1913 during the Japanese rule and has been restored after they’ve neglected it for years. This is a very good place to learn about Beitou’s rich hot spring culture and history.

Before we entered the museum, we were required to take off our shoes and changed to the slippers provided. This is to prevent scratches/damages to the museum’s wooden floor.

history of the area’s hot springs

large tatami room

see, got movies some more..

tv room, showing the movies

more history..

and more..

you are allowed to step into the pool and use the headphones provided to listen to beautiful poems and songs

the private hot spring pool

the miniature of BeiTou Hot Spring

the public hot spring, nt 40 (RM 4.70) per person

They are on the roadside just after the BeiTou Hot Spring Museum. The pools are communal (men and women together) so you will need a swim suit for this.

If you don’t wish to pay for the hot spring, you can try this. This is FREE! See the lady down there? She’s soaking her feet in the water.

you are not allowed to soak your feet in the longkang!!

I found the sign board quite funny.  The sign board is placed here cos there are a lot of ppl sit beside the road and soak their feet in the longkang. wuahahahahhaa…

I told FL, really got ppl will sit along the roadside to soak their feet meh? Guess what? we really saw a family of 4, took their shoes off, sit at the roadside and enjoy soaking their feet into the longkang water… wuahahaha dun play play…

It took us about 10 to 15 minutes to get to Hell Valley from Beitou Hot Spring Museum.

Hell Valley/Geothermal Valley
(locals refer it as the source of sulfur water(磺水头) or ghost lake(鬼湖))

it’s a natural hot sulfur spring where the water temperature can reach up to 100°C (212°F)!!

I like the view, it’s like fairy land but beware!!
Hell Valley’s hot springs are sulphurous and extremely corrosive.

when you walked towards the end, you will feel yourself surrounded by misty steam. everything else seems blur….

see the steam?

After visiting the Hell Valley, it’s the Hot Spring time!! There are a lot of hotels around the area, we wanted a private pool but we don’t want to pay a lot for that.

凤凰阁

This is the first hotel we asked but they only provides rooms (with bed) with hot spring. Why don’t we take the rooms + bed + hot spring? Well, it’s more expensive mar, some more we only plan to soak for an hour or so. The person in charge then introduce us to another hotel which provides private rooms for hot spring.

He told us it will only took us 5 minutes to reach that hotel but it actually took us about 15 minutes. The hotel is quite deep inside.. We did asked a few other hotels along the way and none of them provides rooms for hot spring only.

Shallow Grass Hot Spring Hotel (direct translation..hehe..)浅草温泉馆

looks quite ok to me..

The hotel is very quiet, maybe it’s because of the location. There are so many hotels out there which are nearer to the main road, not much ppl willing to walk so far to this hotel (except us.. hehe..).

Like the previous hotels, the person in charge introduce us to their rooms with bed + hot spring. We told her we want a private room for hotspring, then only she showed us another brochure with the picture of the private hot spring room. The room looks ok to us and the price is ok too, nt 200 (23.50) per person for 2 hours. So we took the room and paid nt 400 (RM 47) for 2 person.

While we followed her to the private room, I noticed the hotel is actually quite OLD.. hopefully the room is clean lar..

These are the toilets in front of the private hot spring room, luckily it’s clean.

and there u go, our private room for hot spring..
With that kind of price, I can’t complaint much lor, right?

We don’t feel the water is very hot, probably becos of the cold weather. They said the water can cure skin problems wor.. hopefully my skin will be smoother and all pimples will go away after soaking in this water. hehe…

PH : 4.5 – 5.5, 39 – 42 degrees

We left after 1 hour++ feeling fresh. I do feel my skin is smoother.. hehe… It’s time for next destination!!

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