Trip to Taiwan – Part 3
… continued from Part 1 and Part 2.
Chuifen is a small village on the northeast of Taiwan, next to a mountain and facing the sea. It used to be a center of gold mining when gold was found near the hills in 1890.
With the decline of gold mining activities, Chiufen faded. Later, several movies chose to shoot here and the movies won international acclaim. For example, the film the Sad City has won first prize in Venice Film Festival so Chiufen gained some fame and become a tourist attraction.
There are many unique teahouses in Chiufen, below is a picture of the oldest one (no pictures allowed inside).
Today, Chiufen features an old street that is full of local snack vendors and special accessory stores. Various foods such as “Yu Yuan” (taro balls), fried meat balls, steamed taro cakes and herbal rice cakes are the Chiufen’s specialties.
Nanya is noted for its fantastic rock formations and sea-eroded coral shore.
The patterned stone topography of Nanya, unique in Taiwan, was formed through the weathering of the sandstone that lines the shore.
Yehliu is a cape on the north coast of Taiwan in the town of Wanli between Taipei and Keelung.
The cape, known by geologists as the Yehliu Promontory, forms part of the Taliao Miocene Formation. It stretches approximately 1,700 meters into the ocean and was formed as geological forces pushed Datun Mountain out of the sea.
A distinctive feature of the cape is the hoodoo stones that dot its surface found at the Yehliu Geopark.
A number of rock formations have been given imaginative names based on their shapes. The most well-known is the Queen’s Head, an iconic image in Taiwan and an unofficial emblem for the town of Wanli.
Yehliu is full of seawater-eroded holds as well as numerous rocks in the shape of mushrooms, candle, ginger and chessboard.
Chung Cheng Park is situated on the side of Ta Sha Wan Shan, which is at the east of Keelung City.
The 25 meter high white statue of Goddess of Mercy is the landmark of Chung Cheng Park. It is the biggest Goddess statue in Southeast Asia.
A Buddhist library and the Chung Lieh Temple can be found inside the park area.
The park overlooks Keelung City and the harbor.
Finally, as we were visiting during the Christmas holidays, there were lots of Christmas trees to be found, below are several from our hotel and Taipei 101.
Pingback: Trip to Taiwan – Part 2 « Konnichiwa
Pingback: Year In Review: Asian Trips « Konnichiwa
bartman905 – This is an interesting blog. Crisp and beautiful pictures.
I am going to Taipei next month and wondering if you have been to Danshui and Bali? Wish to have an opinion whether it is worth the ferry ride across to Bali or Fisherman’s Wharf.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for visiting my blog and your very nice comments. No, we did not visit Danshui or Bali while we in Taiwan (we did visit Bali in Indonesia, but that is another country all together).
I’ve been to Chiufen just this weekend. It was great, just too foggy, I couldn’t see the sea. But the tea was top.
Just checked your blog and looks like you are having a good visit in Taiwan. I’ll start following your blog as I am also interested in traveling.
Thanks. I just been to Macau and wrote a whole lot about it. But recently I’m writing about Taiwan a lot, the places I visit, because it’s all so new to me… I wonder, what I’ll write in few months.
Yes, I have been reading your blog post about Macau … when we visited HK, we stayed at Macau overnight – a very interesting place.
Happy travels.