One Night in Jiufen

Jiufen (九份) is known as a rainy town, and not surprisingly, it rained every time we went there. This time was no exception.

We followed the teeming crowds in.

Food, food, glorious food! The alleys of Jiufen are packed with not just people, but street food. My favourite is the braised pork rice (滷肉飯), simple but delicious. One small bowl is never enough! We also had peanut ice-cream popiah, handmade fish ball soup, and other snacks as we walked around. You’ll never go hungry here!

During a short respite in the continuing rains, we quickly ran up to snap some photos. It was still a bit misty though. And it rained again a few minutes later. We took shelter in a teahouse since Jiufen is known for their tea. Turns out not all tea is as cheap as Lipton tea. We paid 1,000NTD (S$43.14) at the 2nd teahouse we ordered from. Luckily it’s refillable!

The servers also taught us how to properly brew the tea. it takes a lot of patience as you have to first wash the cups, then pour the first batch of tea in (but not drink it), then pour the drinkable tea into the tiny cups. You can finish it in one gulp, but of course, you’re supposed to sip it! The teapot is tiny too, and you have to refill it very often. Each scoop of tea leaves placed inside the teapot can only be brewed 6 to 7 times for the best taste.

We spent a long time in both teahouses, chatting away and soaking up the atmosphere (and making our money spent count). And when we left, it was pitch black save for the few lights still turned on. It felt kind of creepy with the wind blowing through the many alleyways and hardly another soul around. I was holding WJ tightly as we lit the way with our iPhone torchlights and made our way back to our minsu.

And he still had the mood to play. TSK.