mshuiling : Day 6 of 8 in Taiwan: Jiufen & Shifen, Shilin Night Market

I gotta complete my taiwan travelogue asap or else my Japan travelogue will be delayed as well... 😆

We spent our sixth day at Jiufen + Shifen + Shilin Night Market. Initial plan was to travel to Keelung Miao Kou night market near Jiufen (I heard they have lots of seafood there) but our plans got crashed...

Basically, we went to Jiufen > Shifen. This is absolutely wrong if you wish to make a trip down to Keelung Miao Kou night market after that. There is a bus which goes to this night market from Jiufen bus stop! 😐 and we weren't aware of this until we asked for directions at Ruifang station...

Anyway, you have to buy a train ticket from Taipei main station to Ruifang station as shown:

Do remember to seek help from the locals if you get lost. There are many platforms at Taipei Main station so don't board the wrong train!

And we've arrived at Ruifang station! :)

Here's the train map for your reference

As you can see, Ruifang is 11 stops away from Taipei station so I would suggest bringing some snacks on board or else you'll get hungry like us... 😅 FYI, Shifen is located along Pingxi Line.

As reiterated, it would be better for you to head to Shifen first, then Ruifang for Jiufen old street and followed by Keelung Miao Kou night market (1 station away from Ruifang only). It was such a waste that we could only explore Jiufen and Shifen that day as it would be expensive for just the 2 of us to hire a private driver to visit more interesting places such as Yehliu Geopark, Golden Waterfall and Gold Ecological Park. Moreover, we went the wrong way and did not make it to Keelung Miao Kou night market 😢

Just wanna share with those travellers who are having the same issue - you should try Tripool service with RoundTaiwanRound, a travel agency that introduces the service in Taiwan.

This service is perfect for travellers who enjoy the cost-benefit of carpool yet having the luxury to customize the itinerary for the scenic areas chosen - similar to a shared tour but even better, you get to select where you wanna go!

Are you confused? Take the Jiufen Custom Shared tour for instance. You may select up to 6 awesome tour spots in Jiufen and I would definitely make full use of this shared tour the next time I visit Taiwan. They cover tour spots such as Keelung Miao Kou night market and Jinguashi leh... 😱 why did they only introduce Tripool after my taiwan trip??? Priced at only USD30/pax with mandarin-speaking driver (additional USD40 for english-speaking driver, perfect for non-Chinese travellers)

Simply quote "mshuiling" before you check out your cart to obtain 10%* off! One person only needs to pay USD27 after applying the discount code 😊

* Discount code ends on 31 December 2017. Fastest fingers first! Please also refer to the terms and conditions before confirming your shared tour. They have this pop-up chat located at the bottom right-hand corner to answer every queries you may have.

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The signage shows the direction from Ruifang station to the bus heading towards Jiufen

You'll walk pass a beancurd store, please buy something to fill your tummy!

You'll walk pass a police station. Yes look at the crowd ahead 😦

We're here!!!

Here's a glimpse of the bus directory.

Depending on where you're heading to, you may alight at your own destination. For us, we alighted at Jiufen station but we couldn't find Jiufen Old street... Hence, it would be better to clarify with the bus driver if he is friendly enough. Otherwise, just look for the crowd as I believe there are quite of handful of people going to the old street..

If only Tripool service existed at that time...

On the way to Jiufen old street!

We alighted too early 😱 which is why we were walking against the crowd flow haha

Tea leaf egg for you?

Tried the famous Jiufen peanut ice-cream!!! Not sure if this is the authentic one but we enjoyed our ice-cream so much 💜

I got too excited and forgot to take a photo before munching on it haha

We took the same bus from Jiufen bus stop back to Ruifang then took the Pingxi Line to Shifen station.

Damn... we wanted to visit Shifen waterfall but I gave up as it was raining quite heavily and I guess we need to walk at least 20-30 minutes eh.

That's the Pingxi train haha. We gotta move away whenever the train is approaching!

The friendly Tian Deng assistant will spam pictures like mad. I appreciate this service a lot because sometimes candid photos are more memorable right?

JY: Huh our money is flying away liao? NOOOOOOOO

Yes darling, our ~350NTD is gone (I can't remember the exact price)

There are different lanterns for you to choose. We chose the "assorted" at a higher price. Other lanterns have only 1 colour. In our case, pink represents love, red represents health, yellow represents wealth and blue represents career.

See, the assistant even offered to take photos like this. Got MTV feel anot 😜

Next up, Shilin market!!!

We took the Pingxi Line back to Ruifang, then travelled all the way to Taipei Main station. From there, we took the red line to Jiantan station (north-west side).