The town of Jiufen sits high in the mountains, high in the circle of lush green forest that surrounds the big city. Steep steps, narrow winding streets and hundreds of red lanterns. A perfect place to sample the coolER (notice I didn’t say cool it was still a million degrees up here) mountain air, marvel at the views, sample the traditional food, and take a breather from the beautiful orderly “chaos” of Taipei.
In 1890 gold was found in these hills. This coincided with the colonisation of Taiwan by Japan in 1895, developing Jiufen’s industry further and resulting in it becoming a booming mining town under Japanese influence. At the end of WWII, Japan lost its colonies, it was a time of terrible upheaval and hardship for the Tiawanese and the town of Jiufen, like many, fell in to decline eventually becoming a ghost town. It would have been forgotten had it not been the inspiration for a monumental cultural movie, A City of Sadness, a film by Hou Hsiao-hsien and then 10 years later Hayao Miyazaki used downtown Jiufen as inspiration for the awe-inspiringly beautiful and celebrated anime Spirited Away in 2001, The town was put back on the map saved and is so worth visiting.
The grand Amei teahouse decked out with lanterns. There seemed to be so many monks here, of course we stepped aside for them to pass, it was a good chance to catch a rest on those steep steps. I have to admit in that humidity, I was constantly out of puff.
Traditional food including dried fish squid, a dazzling array of dumplings, barbequed whelks and lance and his strange unsweetend ice cream in a thin pancake with peanut shavings and cilantro. 🙂 You know what… it was pretty good. Not sure if it would catch on in Canada tho’.
Xiahai Chenghuang Temple so intricate and ornate it was hard to fathom how it was built. The roof alone with its intricate sculptures of various Deities it would take a lifetime to research who they were and their meaning.
Every corner was carved and decorated, truly spectacular. Throughout the building you could hear a loud recorded chanting of prayers. Oh and those yellow columns if you zoom in you will see each cell contains a little seated figure which prays for you. You have to buy him but how comforting to know you are always protected 🙂 A beautiful town well worth the visit.
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