Taipei
Jiufen
This summer, I decided to go to Taiwan to visit my family there. After a 11+ hour plane ride, my first stop in Taiwan was Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Before going further down south to visit family in Tainan, I stayed in Taipei with my immediate family for about a week, doing activities such as window shopping, taking the subway around the city, and eating.
However, the most memorable activity I did up north was visiting a mountainous town called Jiufen. The place was really crowded as we visited the town on a weekend, a busy time for tourists coming from the city area. It was an uphill climb as numerous shops lined both sides of the pathways, full of souvenirs and snacks. Part of the reason Jiufen is so popular is because it’s known as a place of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s film, Spirited Away. After trying a bunch of different foods such as sweet taro ball dessert soup, fish ball soup, and shark (not my cup of tea, I just took one bite), we walked a little more in the unbearable humidity of Taiwan. Almost all tired out, we headed back down and took the bus back to the hotel.