Jiufen Old Street lives at the rhythm of the tour buses that come bearing tourists on day excursions, crowding the narrow alley from midday to mid-afternoon. That was one of the reasons I booked a night here at the Chiu Chunt Dint Inn, to be able to enjoy the village when it’s quieter. It’s already paid off yesterday evening, letting us get the full spectacle of the strings of pretty red lanterns lining the streets in relative tranquility, and now I’m excited to see what this place looks like in the daylight.
There’s no hurry, as most shops only open from 10-11am, and the buses are a while away from arriving, so we get to enjoy our included breakfast in the hotel - an odd mix of western and eastern staple dishes, including scrambled eggs, potato salad, and shredded cabbage, with jam and rice soup on the side. After that, our first stop is another visit to the Amei Teahouse - and this time, we’ll go in!
The building is very picturesque, with the beautiful red and green wooden decor clear in the daylight, and I can’t resist another set of pictures before we enter. We’re here for a tea ceremony: Amei do this in style, with a good serving of local tea, unlimited hot water, and some typical sweets to accompany the brew. But really the star of the show is the incredible view their top terrace (reserved for tea aficionados) has of the valleys and coast below Jiufen. We’re just early enough to snag the best table in the whole house: right on the corner of the terrace, with an uninterrupted panorama framed by Amei’s beautiful wooden building and the ubiquitous red lanterns - turned off while it’s light.
It’s a menacing day today and the sun-streaked view under roiling grey clouds is absolutely spectacular. The contrasting colours between the emerald mountains and the sapphire sea have a rare intensity, and we can see a slew of white ships moving around in what seems from this distance like absolute silence. It feels like this picture perfect scene could all just be a drawing lifted from one of Miyazaki’s anime, and I’m mesmerised for a while.
Soon our tea-set arrives and we get drinks and snacks to accompany our contemplation. The hostess walks us through the steps of traditional tea brewing: no large mugs and pot here, it’s all about precision and good things in small doses. Our cups are slightly smaller than shot glasses, and the tiny teapot holds just enough liquid for filling about three. Preparing the drink is a whole ritual: a huge kettle on an open gas flame right by our table provides a supply of hot water, which we use to first warm the teapot, then rinse the tea leaves, before filling the pot and letting them brew for precisely 20 seconds. At that point, it’s time to transfer the tea to a serving jug, and to pour it out: first in a “smelling cup” with a tall narrow shape, to help us appreciate the aroma, and then finally in the small round drinking cup - which holds about two restrained sips. And then you start all over again!
It’s not Ollie’s thing but I find something quite soothing about the whole involved ritual - and the tea does taste better when the leaves have been rinsed first! Luckily we’ve got a lovely selection of sweets to go with our drink, and he makes short work of the candied plums, sesame crackers and various bean-based biscuits, while I continue getting lost in the surreal view. We’re glad we came this early as less than half an hour in, the rain starts, and the furthest reaches of the landscape start fading into the mist. We’re nicely sheltered here though, and it almost makes the experience even more peaceful to be sitting nice and dry watching the drizzle slowly change the light.
We spend almost two meditative hours there - some of it even jokingly passed composing some haikus about our trip, in preparation for our Japan finish. But once we’ve finished all the sweets, and squeezed all the flavour from the tea leaves, it’s time to go. Jiufen Old Street is mostly covered and the wet weather isn’t too much of an issue as we stroll around ducking from shop to shop, while it’s still quiet. There’s a wealth of quite adorable trinkets on offer and I do come away with a few purchases to remember this frankly enchanting stop - including our very own Chinese seal! Exploring the edges of the tourist neighbourhood, we find a couple of other viewpoints, an old cinema with the ancient projector still on display, and another beautiful temple covered with carved dragons.
As the bus-tour crowds start trickling in, we retreat in the heights (steep stairs deter most people!) and find another restaurant with a view to have lunch. It’s a lovely, quiet place where we get some delicious dishes while watching the clouds rise from the forest. The roasted aubergine is our special favourite - it’s sometimes quite hard to find nice vegetable-based fare as we travel and this recipe is outstanding. Once full, we’re pretty much done here - time to start heading towards our next stop! Jiufen is a tiny place, and we could of course have seen it much faster - it is definitely possible to visit as just a day trip, as many do - but I’m very glad we took our time here, and got to enjoy some of the less obvious sights.
Our next goal is much further south: Hualien, famous for its proximity with the Taroko Gorge Natural Park. We’ve planned to spend two nights there around a trip to the gorge, and I’ve already booked the trains to and from - apparently seats sell out fast in Taipei. We get back to Ruifang station on a much more safely-driven bus, despite the rain making the roads slippery, and easily get on our train. The journey itself is through stunning landscapes, as we snake through the mountains and then along the coast. Beautiful forest, crashing waves, and large deltas with pretty bridges: there’s never time to get bored with the scenery on this island!
We get to Hualien at night-fall and after a bit of floundering around the bizarrely decorated station (there’s a couple of giant ducks on the entrance square), we finally find our hotel in an industrial back street. The room is small and windowless, but it’s got what we need and there’s a common area downstairs where we can eat - handy as we’re quite far away from any restaurant, and just end up get a bento box from the local supermarket. After twenty-four hours of quite special restaurants in Jiufen, it’s almost nice to have an understated meal while we reflect on the wonderful experience of the past couple of days!
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