Back in July 09, a little over a month after I came to Taiwan, Ling and I decided that we should check out one of the nearby attractions. It was around the same time that her professor moved to the US, giving us his trusty old Ford. I was keen to take the car for a test drive, preferably for a longer stretch of time and distance than what driving in Taipei city affords. Incidentally, one of her lab-mates suggested that he has been to this wonderful place called Jioufen and he knew the way to get there and more importantly get out of there.
So on a Sunday morning, think it was July 19th, we set off to Jioufen.
Jioufen is a little hilltop town that is known for its breathtaking views of Taiwan’s northern tip and the Pacific. It’s a little over an hour’s drive from Taipei and is also supposedly renowned for a narrow street adorned with shops on either side. Apparently, looking through the shop’s front windows, one can see the Pacific Ocean through the window at the back. I frankly didn’t know to what to expect, as I was more keen on testing the car on a hilly road, but once I got there, the views blew me away. Without me rambling too much, I’ll let the pictures speak the cliched 1000 words.
The last picture is a composite of three images shot separately. I tinkered a little too much with the color balance and the disastrous results should be evident even to the blind!
There isn’t much you can do there (at least to my limited knowledge and research) besides trekking through the hills and wandering around the narrow alleys soaking up the view. I read in another post that there is a nice place to stay and dine that provides the great view all the while.
How to get there
Besides driving, one can get to Jioufen by public transport as well. There’s a city bus from Taipei that goes all the way to Jioufen. I think it’s number 1062 and it plies along Bade Road(八德路) and then Nangang Road(南港路). An alternative is to take the suburban train to Riufang(瑞芳), another small town close to Jioufen, and then take a bus from there.