#2taiwanmei DAY V: Jiufen x Shifen

Early start to the morning, we stopped by to get some shengjianbao for breakfast hehe. 

Waiting for the bus that would take us to Jiufen. I've long forgotten when and where it sets out from but it was a pretty smooth journey, no hassle. 

Beautiful Jiufen! 

Getting the famous ice-cream popiah from a friendly vendor. 

Loads of food and kitschy touristy stuff. Apart from the food, there isn't really much to buy unless you're into generic tourist gifts but there were some shops that were more interesting. It was still very nice to stroll down and soak in the atmosphere though.

They have fantastic tea, not that I would be a good judge of it.. But the people I bought it for were impressed (maybe they were doing it to spare my feelings but I don't think so... right??).

Adorable chocolates that I got for friends! I later found out that they're also available in Singapore though. 

Chanced upon a store that was guarded by this beauty. 

And three of its twins!!!! There was also another large dog of another breed <3 

Lin purchasing some famous dessert. 

Not really my kinda thing but she reported that it was very yummy. 

Fatty always eating 

Time to leave Jiufen and onwards to Shifen! 

We hopped onto a bus and got to the main station to transfer onto a train. 

Got here in a jiffy! Loads of tourist despite it being a Monday afternoon though. 

Spotted a sweet little pupper poking her head out. 

She was peddling milk tea!! 

Got our lantern and was reminded about how bad my penmanship is, for both the English alphabets and Mandarin characters lol. 

Far cry from Lin's dainty and beautiful writing. 

Totally botched up "jia" which is literally one of the simplest words that kids learn in primary school lol. Relied on drawings which... weren't great either, oh well lol. 

This was my other side haha. 

Off it goes!

Trying to take a romantic pic hahaha. 

Sending postcards

Kind of a creepy store. 

Doggo eating lurou fan. 

Which is what we ate for lunch, haha. 

Our last stop was Hou Tong (I think?), the cat village!

Multiple attempts to take a happy jump shot with the lovely skies and mountains. 

We were successful eventually even if our backdrop was suddenly filled with people. 

Sweet little bebby

She LOVED the sayangs

There were happy doggos too! 

They seemed really chill and did not disturb the cats (or vice versa). 

Checking out the old mine trains. 

And took it! 

To tour the underground tunnels and old mines. 

Had to rush to catch the train back to the city because it was getting dark quickly. 

Went to fill our tummies. 

We were not disappointed :3