highlights of "nine portions" and "ten points" :)

did you manage to guess the places from my subject title? well pretty easy isn't it *wink* yup they are 九份 and 十分 … prior the trip, my friend and i were feeling kinda torn over which b&b to choose from. we had a tough time deciding because of our concerns over the legality, cleanliness and safety of the 名宿. in the end, we decided to trust tripadvisor and go with good times b&b (美好时光). it was not too bad after all :) the place is clean and within close proximity to jiufen old street. however there are 3 pointers to be mindful about:

1. there is no tv in the room >o< … so make sure you are well equipped with your tablet if you are a tv junkie (like me). alternatively you may catch the un-cut "national geographic" channel live from your room window hiakz hiakz.
2. some of their rooms may have one side of the windows facing tombstones. if you find that disturbing, you may check with the b&b boss in advance to pick a more appropriate room. 
3. last but not least, the most traumatizing item for us … there is no toilet door !!! hahaha not sure if this is an intended design of the "bali" room meant for honeymoon couples. do let me know if you have inputs on the other rooms.

so here's the highlights for our last 2 days in jiufen:

• jinguashi: visited the gold ecological park, notable for its historic gold and copper mines (already depleted in current days la…), toured around the well-preserved 4-joint japanese residences. also gotta hopped on a tourist bus that drives us around jiufen mountains for only 15 NTD, definitely worth it !!! during the ride, you can check out the 金瓜石黄金瀑布, Cyuanji temple (with a huge Guan Gong statue *o*), yin-yang sea (with 2-shades of sea color) … and if you are lucky on a clear weather day, you may even find the 黑金刚 !!! heehee don't worry that's just a mountain with a shape that look like a king kong from afar.

jinguashi - gold waterfall

• ah mei teahouse: finally gotta leisurely enjoy a cup of tea with my book :) no worries on when to set off from jiufen since our b&b is just a stone away *yippee* this teahouse is known for its japanese architecture and rumored to look like the building of Yubaba in "Spirited Away". unfortunately i did not get to capture any picture as we were there quite late (you may check out this link for more details of the teahouse) and the night view is probably best viewed in person heh heh.

• houtong cat village: this station is a must for cat lovers … cats, cats, and cats everywhere!!! a lot of local/foreign photographers came here to capture the best moments of these cuties. 

houtong station - one of the stations along pingxi rail tour

十分瀑布 (note: quite a distance from shifen station)

• pingxi rail - pingxi, shifen: tired but fulfilling rail tour. visited the suspension bridge, pingxi old street, shifen old street, 十分瀑布 (yea another waterfall haha) … and the most important itinerary of the day has to be 放天灯咯 !!! sent all our well-wishes to ourselves and our family up, up, up into the sky … all-rounded wishes for family blessings, career, love and luck !!!!

another great b&b stay away from the city hustles-bustles and a step closer to the mountains and blue-blue sky \(^-^)/