Cxindy Chin: Taipei 2013 - Day Four (实在好湾)

Today I am going to share with you a time saving way to get to ShiFen(十份) and JiuFen(九份).

As ShiFen(十份) is well known for writing your wish on a sky lantern(放天灯) and the waterfall (十份瀑布), we decided to go there first before JiuFen(九份) as we can see the scenery better in the morning.

We woke up at 6am and bought coffee from the 7-11 (one of our favorite store which we visited every day and night haha).

You don't have to worry about breakfast as the railway station sells the famous railway bento (火车便当) selling at NT60 (SGD2.50) only!!!

It comes with a piece of chicken chop, salted vegetables, tofu skin and an egg.

Totally worth every penny.

Not to say it’s really a whole new experience to dine in a train.

Poor P & I couldn’t understand how the train works and we ended up in MuDan(牡丹) station.

Which means we overshot the place we are going.

So here’s the trick.

You have to alight at San Diao Ling (三貂领) station and switch to the train the other side to get to ShiFen(十份).

And at MuDan(牡丹) station, we had to wait for 45 mins before the next train arrived.

There is nothing to do there and the station is filled with insects.

We took our time to enjoy the scenery and took pictures of the station.

After a good 45 mins wasted, we finally board the train back to San Diao Ling (三貂领) station.

And over there, we have to wait for another 30mins for train to ShiFen(十份).

A lot of time will be spared if we were to alight at San Diao Ling (三貂领) station in the first place.

And finally we are at ShiFen(十份).

The view makes every wait worth the while. :')

People there are very nice and helpful.

Really in love with the place.

An uncle offered to teach P how to capture the picture above.

It would be perfect without the guy walking past. -.-

A station filled with bliss. :')

I've been dreaming to come here with the love of my life since I was in secondary school.

幸福车站要两个人才能达到~ (It's a song by OCEAN)

And this is of cos the love of my life, my soon to be husband. :)

Just walk straight from here and you’ll see a lot of shops selling the sky lantern.

The prices are about the same, we picked a shop that with the friendliest owner.

As different colours indicate different wish, so we kaisu like a Singaporean should.

We picked the sky lantern with 4 colours costing NT150 (SGD6.25).

It was really fun, spending time thinking about what we want in the future and letting our hopes fly high up in the sky.

I wish for a better job and when I came back to Singapore I got a call from the company that I was hired.

Orange for love.

Blue for career.

Red for health.

Yellow for $$$

I think it's really awesome that they offered to take our pictures as part of their service.

Bought little sky lantern as souvenirs for the co-workers at NT50 each. (SGD2.10)

Buy 5 get 1 free. :P

P & I got ourselves the one that can light up.

The shop owner is kind enough to give the 2 light up one to us for free~

So we only paid NT300 for 8. ^^

After this we hike up the mountain to see the waterfall.

The hike was cooling but it started to rain halfway through the trip. -.- Sian.

Saw a lot of people on the way complaining as the distance were really long.

Luckily we brought an umbrella.

After you see a suspension bridge, good news, you’re about to reach the waterfall.

There are a lot of road signs and don’t be afraid to check with the locals.

Wasn’t expecting that they are charging for us to go in just to see a waterfall, but we paid anyway.

It cost NT80(SGD3.40) and a lot of effort to hike up there.

But it was worth the trip. So in love with the magnificent view.

It’s my first time seeing a waterfall in real life.

I shall not spam too much pictures of the waterfall as they does not even justify how beautiful it is.

There is also a mini zoo inside the attraction but we skipped the tour as it is still raining.

We went all the way back to the railway station to purchase a ticket to RuiFang(瑞芳).

Yes, in order to get to JiuFen(九份), you have to take the train to RuiFang(瑞芳) and then switch to a bus that will bring you up to JiuFen(九份).

While waiting for the train, we bought the best fried cutter fish I’ve ever eaten in my life to munch on.

Sigh why Taiwan food so nice, even you anyhow pick one of the street foods also nice.

When you reached Ruifang, you can follow the crowd out of the station and you have to cross the road to get to the other side of the road to catch the bus up to JiuFen.

The bus will come to a stop near the 7-11 and that is when almost everyone on the bus will get down.

And there you go, you’re at JiuFen.