Taiwan Trip 2013 Day 3: Yehliu, Keelung, Jinguashi, Jiufen, Shifen &Shenkeng

Day 1 and 2 itinerary can be found here.

For our day 3 itinerary, Pat and I went to explore 野柳，基隆，九份, 金瓜石，十份 and 深坑. We engaged Mr Ernest Sung as our cab driver to drive us to the aforementioned places. Mr Ernest Sung is a highly rated taxi driver in tripadvisor. The rate that he quoted us was NTD$3,500. Initially I find that the rate was a little bit overpriced and hence wasn't really inclined to take up his service. However, after much persuasion from Pat who told me that we would be very worn out from the long hours of traveling, we finally decided to engage him. I was so glad that we made the RIGHT decision. Phew man!

When we arrived at the hotel lobby at 9:15am, Mr Sung was already standing beside his Toyota Wish awaiting for our arrival. He is a very friendly and chatty driver, who makes the additional effort to explain to us the places that we pass by and allow us time to take a few shots of the beautiful view.

Feeling very tired

Trying to open my eyes for the camera

Why is Pat so happy?

She is always a happy kid

Back view of Pat

Our first destination was Yeliu Geographic Park. Both of us were very worn out and hence we didn't manage to enjoy the Yeliu trip as much as we expected ourselves to do so. Neither did we take much photos there too. However, after grabbing some light snacks at the snack bar there, we felt more energized.

One of the places we went is Keelung. Mr Sung told us that Keelung was previously called 鸡笼 which literally mean 'rooster cage' in English. Later on, the name was changed to the 基隆 because it sounds more auspicious. Afterwards we went to 九份. We visited the 九份老街 which was flooded with tourists coming mainly from the various tour groups.

A dog that we saw while walking through the streets

Busy Keelung street

We tried the oyster omelette in Keelung too. We didn't really like the oyster omelette in Taiwan because we felt that it's too starchy. We prefer the Singapore's version instead. Heeeheee.

Pat has been eating smelly tofu for the past two days in Taiwan. Actually I was kinda worried that her breath would stink as a result of the continuous intake of smelly tofu. But she claimed that she wants to try the most smelly tofu there and hence I didn't stop her from doing so. Afterwards, we found out that this stall is a very famous one, and according to Pat, the tofu there was indeed very smelly and delicious. (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ Other food that we ate there include 山猪香肠 and 赖阿婆芋圆.

Fruits in Taiwan are just so fresh

Jiufen old street

Pat's favorite food there

Another dog that we saw

After some hours of sight seeing and shopping at Jiufen, Mr Sung proceed to bringing us to the Gold Ecological Park. He told us the history of this park and the golden waterfall down from the park. Frankly speaking, I was quite tired from the previous sight seeing and wasn't able to concentrate on what Mr Sung was talking about. Oops hehehe. But I managed to catch some main points like: the yellowish color of the waterfall is as a result of iron and other contents present in the water.

The golden waterfall

Water gorging through the rocks

Water flowing down from the waterfall

Mr Sung told us that this hill looks the right profile of a king-kong

Me posing with the waterfall

Cultivating a peaceful mind

The yinyang sea got its name from the contrast of yellow and blue in the bay. I couldn't remember the reason for formation of this sea and so I googled for the answer: the yellowish-brown water is natural runoff from the Gold Ecological Park located uphill. The yellowish-brown water does not mix readily with sea water, hence the formation of the yinyang sea. Pretty interesting uh? 

What is Pat doing? (Secret) ٩◔‿◔

After that, we went to Shifen and light sky lanterns! There is a railway running through the village, and hence every now and then you would hear the sound of trains coming. *make way for the train* 

After releasing our lantern, Mr Sung told us to wait for him while he surprised us with some 'mini firework displays'. Although the fireworks were not very grand, we were still VERY touched by his gesture. What moved us even more was that Mr Sung even bought us some firecracker shooters upon hearing Pat's casual remark to try them!! (I was too timid to try them though) (●*∩_∩*●)