We took a day trip along the Northern Coast of Taiwan and had three stops: Yehliu Geopark, the mountain village of Jiufen, and the small village of Pingxi, known for its sky lanterns.
Yehliu Geopark
This park is a peninsula jutting about 2km out into the ocean and is made up of both sandstone and limestone. Wind and waves have eaten away at the rock and left many strange, unique, and beautiful rock formations.
There had been a storm in the area the day before which had closed the park. It was open this day but it was still cold and windy so everyone bundled up!
Two examples of the power of the waves with a before and after shots showing how far in the waves can come. The sea was still raging after the storm.
There are a number of famous rocks, the most famous one called Queen’s Head (the day before the waves reached to the Queen’s Head!). There was a long line to get your picture taken with her. We opted to just take a picture from a bit away and the kids imitated the queen’s pose.
The Dragon’s Head.
The Fairy Slipper and the Candles.
And many more cool shaped rock formations.
The sun didn’t come out by lunch time like we were hoping but we still had a feast of a picnic lunch.
Jiufen Old Street
Jiufen village became famous due to a gold rush in the late 1800s and early 1900s. With the decline of gold, it turned into more of a tourist destination and is quite popular with the local Taiwanese and foreigners.
Steep and narrow streets, full of shops, food, and people!
And what better way to take in the sites but with some bubble tea!
We found this cool little tea shop that was both a restaurant and art gallery for all different cups and tea pots. The tea was made in the traditional way with kettles boiling on glowing coals in a bed of sand. Even some tables had some sand pit grills built into them and there was gardens and ponds throughout the building.
An overlook from the village.
The village was packed with tourists which meant that parking was hard to come by, especially for two cars. At the edge of a village there was a path up a mountain to a pagoda overlook. So while some of our party walked down the road about 20 minutes more to get the cars, Julia and I hiked as far as we could up the mountain in that timeframe. We didn’t make it to the top, but we were rewarded with the sun finally poking out for the day as it was setting and the clouds clearing enough that we could see Taipei and the 101 tower.
The kids had enough walking for the day and stayed at the start of the trail. While they waited, they decided to come up with this little routine.
Pingxi Villiage
On our way to Pingxi, my cousin pulled to the side of the road at a vendor they knew to get us some stinky tofu. I got 2 pieces down with the help of the spicy sauce, and Julia stopped after one. It felt a bit like watching people trying double zout drupies for the first time but only worse. Definitely would need to be an acquired taste, but at least I know if I drop a piece of tofu in the middle of a barn and kick it around a bit, I still might be able to stomach it.
We ended the day by purchasing some lanterns to decorate and light. You could choose the colour you wanted and different colours had different meanings but we just picked a colour that we thought would look good in the sky. The lantern comes blank and they give you ink and brushes to write/draw what you want on it. We each got one side of the lantern.
I got a little help to get the start of Psalm 100 written in Chinese.
It wasn’t a major festival with hundreds being released at once, but it was still pretty fun to do and there was a steady stream going up.
In the end a full but fun day!