First Stop: Jiufen Old Street

​​Today was my day to plan! Being a little more adventurous, I decided on traveling all the way to Jiufen and then from there end our day at Keelung. Instead of taking the taxi, which is too costly, I led the group to take the train to Ruo and from there take a cab at a fixed rate to Jiufen. I was nervous the entire day because I was afraid we would miss the train or the tickets would be sold out.

We ate breakfast at a restaurant at Jiufen Old Street with a pretty splendid view. After we shopped around the Old Street before we headed to our next stop: Jiufen Golden Waterfall and the Yin Yang Sea.

Next Stop: Jiufen Golden Waterfall and Yin Yang Sea

We walked down from the Old Street to catch a cab. On the cab, the driver told us that it would be difficult to catch a cab back to Taipei so he recommended us to pay a fixed price for a planned itinerary. After a period of bargaining, I finally got it down to 2400 TWD, so 800 TWD per person. We would go from Jiufen Golden Waterfall to Yin Yang Sea to Shifen Waterfall to Releasing Sky Lantern and lastly to Keelung Night Market. We realized we made the right choice because it was also a national holiday in Taiwan so the trains would be crowded or tickets would be sold out. I also saw many people asking our cab driver to drive them but he had us so he had to refuse.

Next Stop: Shifen Waterfall

The cab driver dropped off us again and let us walk to the attraction. It was humid so we stopped for some smoothie to hydrate our bodies. As expected, the waterfall was cramped with tourists but we were still able to take the photos we wanted. It reminded me of Niagara Falls but I personally think the Niagara looks much more beautiful?

Next Stop: Sky Lantern

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The place was packed with people but we managed to write our lantern and released it.

Last Stop: Keelung

The cab driver dropped us off near the night market around 5:30 pm. He was super friendly; I found out he has a son and a daughter. He also told me a lot facts about the places we have been to.

At the street, a variety show was being filmed and I recognized one of them in one of the Taiwanese dramas I’ve seen. I didn’t get to see any celebrities in China or Hong Kong but we coincidentally encounter some celebrities in Taiwan.

We took the train back around 9 pm, which wasn’t really crowded but we still had to stand for 45 minutes since we didn’t get seats.