[TAIPEI 台北] Day 4: Jiu Fen old street 第四天：九份老街

Jiu Fen is a mountain area within New Taipei City. The small town received huge popularity after the movie "A City of Sadness" was filmed here in 1989 and become a popular visit attraction. The name Jiu Fen, which carries the meaning 9 parts in Chinese, was derived as the early settlement in Jiu Fen during first year of Qing dynasty only consists of 9 families.

在新北市瑞芳区的一座小山区，有个小镇名叫九份，因为1980年的“悲情城市”在这儿拍摄而因此而暴红。我们想这个小镇对大家并不陌生。九份名字的由来因为清朝时只有九户人家。

After gold was discovered in the village, the small village underwent a robust development and became a town. Due to geographical reason, the town was built in an odd way, with a house could be higher than the neighbouring house and connected via steep stairway.

自从这里被发现了有金矿，这小村就被发展成小镇。因坡形的关系，这里的建筑和风情很独特。屋子与屋子都是靠着楼梯连接。

Having said that, walking around in Jiu Fen allowed us to exercise our legs and thighs by staircase climbing! (Above two pictures depicting the iconic staircase at day and night time at Jiu Fen, leng lui spotted!)

 换句话说，在九份逛很靠脚力，上面两张九份老街的标志性梯级就是最好的举例，但重点是图里有靓女。



More and more staircase ahead!

好多好多梯级呀！

Exploring Jiu Fen is not a tough task. It is a small area and walking around is easy.

在九份探索一点都不难，因为地方小而集中。















 Spectacular view of sunset is available at this observatory deck located nearby 7-11, which is one of the beginning of Jiu Fen old street. However be prepared to cramped and become human sardine.

在九份老街入口旁有个瞭望台，就在seven附近。从瞭望台可以看到壮观的日落和海景，但要有心理准备会人挤人。


In fact, Jiu Fen has been blooming in the tourism industry. The presence of high numbers of cabs provided justification for this. Hopefully Jiu Fen is still able to retain its originality despite the flooding of tourists.

其实，九份因需求的关系已变成旅游区。从瞭望台上，我们看到路上有好多德士。打从心底希望这不会影响九份本来的特色。









Recycle Truck with Music

Jiu Fen old street is actually a small alley with vintage shops at both side. Previously we thought it is like a street passable by cars. Well, only pedestrians allowed but on certain hours there will be this cute recycle truck pass by!

九份老街里的小巷旁布满了复古的店，而这些小巷只给人行走，还有台湾可爱有音响的垃圾车。
It seems that Jiu Fen is a popular gathering places for various fur kids too and they are friendly.

看来九份有好多可爱毛茸茸的动物，而且特别亲切。

So what to do at Jiu Fen other than sightseeing? Answer is to fill our stomach to the fullest as possible! Please note that most of the shops at Jiu Fen old street will close at 7-8pm, hence please come for an early dinner!

那么在九份除了走走看看，还可以干嘛呢？就是尽量把食物塞进肚子里去啦！九份的店特别早关，所以最好在七八点前来吃晚餐。






The name burning snow (40 NTD) had managed to arouse our curiosity and drove us to purchase one. It was actually ice creams and peanut powder wrapped with a smear layer of popiah alike skin.

雪在烧（40新台币）是第一个把我们给吸引住。冰冷的雪糕和花生碎被薄薄的，像似薄饼皮的皮给包起来，很爽的手拿食物。





How to get full by just having ice cream only? We had no idea when loitering around at Jiu Fen old street, thus we ended at a random shop to sample a bowl of assortment balls (60 NTD) - a pork ball, a mushroom ball, a squid ball, a meat filling ball and a vegetable ball. An interesting dish.

一条雪糕哪里能充饥呢？毫无目的的在九份老街晃，最后随便的去吃综合丸仔汤（60新台币）汤里有贡丸，三菇丸，花枝丸，肉馅丸和蔬菜丸。









A large scallion cake in front of the shop had caught our attention and we were wondering what was that. A piece of scallion cake cost 35 NTD and it tasted like yam cake for us.

店面前的大大像似蛋糕样的油葱粿，钩起了我们的好奇心。我们点了一片（35新台币），吃起来感觉像芋头糕。



They even have an English menu, probably due to presence of large amount of non Chinese tourists.

餐单还有英文说明，很方便不懂华语的旅客。

There is people saying that the best Taro balls in Taiwan is available at Jiu Fen. Some people say "Granny Lai" ones is the best, while some people prefer "Aunty Ah Gan" ones. To solve this long term dispute, we decided to try both!

对于九份的芋圆，有两种说法。一些特别爱赖阿婆芋圆的，而有些较爱阿柑姨芋圆。为了解决这段长期的“纠纷”，让我们来做个和事老，就两个都试吧！







Granny Lai's Taro Ball shop is located somewhere along Jiu Fen old street (please refer to the map we shared earlier). There is option to pick between either hot or cold version for 45 NTD each bowl. The taro ball is chewy and the soup has a pleasant taste.

赖阿婆芋圆店就在九份老街某段路（请参考我们前面贴的地图）。赖阿婆提供我们选择喜爱的芋圆口味，还有热或冰的，一碗要价45新台币。芋圆很Q，而汤很清甜。





To get to Aunty Ah Gan's Taro Ball shop, we have to go through a series of staircase next to Jiu Fen primary school. Of course good food only come after some effort. The verdict? The taro ball is sweeter but the soup has no taste.

阿柑姨芋圆店，就在九份小学旁的楼梯，跟着告示牌爬上去。好吃的食物，得费些劲才吃到嘛！我们最后的结果，就是阿柑姨的芋圆较香，而汤则过于清淡。

Thus, there is no loser nor winner in this competition. Both are equally good! Haha!

所以，没有绝对的赢家和输家，两家都很棒！哈哈！



Till now we still cannot explain why there was a shop for Aunty Ah Gan's taro ball but we opted to sit on the staircase to finish the taro balls.

到现在，我们也不懂为何那晚我们不在店里吃，而偏要坐在楼梯上吃芋圆。


Coincidently there was a family with all cats opposite the place we sat. All the cats were grumpy, fluffy, and arrogant too as they ignored us when we trying to pat them.

可能是因为那里有一户人家养了超多猫咪吧。可是这些猫都不鸟我们，我们都很努力示好了呀？



The dogs with all short legs were cut too.

短腿狗狗也很可爱。



Hei Jing Zhuan promoter promoting this special black peanut to us. It tasted pretty good actually but unfortunately peanuts were too high calories for us so we decided not to buy. Sorry boss!

黑金钻的店员让我们试吃这特别的黑花生。其实，很好吃，可是我们不想多吃这么高卡路里的零食，所以我们就决定不买了。老板，多不起哦！

I think we were overloaded with starchy food by finishing two bowls of taro balls at one shot. Probably more than 2000 calories just for the night itself. Too sinful!

一次过吃了两碗芋圆后，我们有点因为淀粉食物过多而肚子胀得不得了。可能这一晚我们就吃了两千卡路里食物了吧？好内疚哦~





The night at Jiu Fen was really enjoyable, with cold breeze touching our warm cheeks and neck. It would be the most enjoyable thing to do if you have a group of friends, having steamboat or barbecue together, while enjoying the beautiful and stunning scenery. The sky was serene, the trees were greenish and the environment made us unstrained.

九份的夜晚美得不得了，凉风吹向我们的脸颊，好写意。如果这时有一堆麻吉一起滚一滚火锅，或者烧烤，然后一边欣赏这惊叹的美景。幽美的天空，被灯照亮的绿青树，还有平静的环境，让我们脑子里的所有烦恼暂时都抛开了。



Our company when we were taking picture of Jiu Fen night view.

在我们享受着九份的夜晚，被这可爱的黄金猎犬给分神了。






We guess this was the memorial mural in Jiu Fen to show people the history of Jiu Fen.

我们想，这壮观的壁画是要纪念及描述九份历史。



Well, you know what. After finish taking photos and enough walking in Jiu Fen, we felt hungry again but the shops were all closed! Hence we walked around and found there was a 24 hours (we supposed so?) Hi-Life mini mart along the main road.

拍拍照片，到处乱走，我们又开始饿了。可是现在没有店还营业了，所以就走去找二十四小时Hi-Life迷你杂货店找吃的。


Then we settled with a bowl of cold noodles (42 NTD) and a bottle of coffee (30 NTD). The cold mee was heavenly taste with splashes of onion scent in the mouth!

我们就买了麻酱香蒜凉面（42新台币）和一瓶贝纳颂咖啡（30新台币）。凉面的麻酱很香，还有一股蒜味。

Left with limited choices, we head back to Jiu Fen old street in the next morning for breakfast again. We realised there was more shops operating in the morning compared to last evening, most likely we went there pretty last yesterday at about 6pm.

没有选择的关系，我们在第二天到回去老街吃早餐。发现比起晚上，原来早上比较多店营业。可能我们昨天太迟去老街逛了，大概6点左右。



This time we saw another burning snow, A-Zhu peanut ice cream roll which seemed to attract a larger crowd compared to previous stall we tried. Selling at the same price, this stall offered a better peanut ice cream roll with a more aromatic peanut scent.

又看到另一档卖雪在烧，阿珠店的麦克风叫卖好像比昨天我们吃的那档还厉害，吸引了很多顾客。同样的价钱，我们认为这档的花生来得香。

九份阿珠雪在烧
电话：02-2497 5258
手机：0935- 925 120
地址：新北市瑞方区基山街20号
No. 20, Jishan St., Ruifang St., New Taipei City 224, Taiwan
Email: [email protected]







We were looking for a proper staple breakfast thus we stopped by a random stall for a bowl of noodles.

为了找更有饱足感的食物，我们随便在古早味的店吃。







Dry Noodles (45 NTD) was too sticky, assorted balls (100 NTD) came with a lot of balls but it tasted plain, and the cabbage (40 NTD) was tasteless. It was a disappointing choice.

干面（45新台币）有点太粘，而综合丸汤（100新台币）是有很多料，就是太淡。汤青菜（40新台币）却没味道，好失望的选择。





Better for us to stick with snacks. The fried mushroom (50 NTD) was fried to cubes and chewy.

我们还是找些小吃比较好，这盐酥菇（50新台币）被切成块状去煎，很Q。


We saw mochi then Shirleen could not resist the temptation of Taiwan's mochi. Ended up buying a big box of mochi for 150 NTD and cannot finish it. Nevertheless, the mochi was chewy and it has no fillings.

我们看到手信档口卖麻糬，Shirleen顶不住诱惑，而下手买了一大盒麻糬（150新台币）。麻糬是有不同口味，很Q，可是没有馅料的。





The peanut cakes we tasted here was totally amazing. The peanut scent was overwhelming and we could not stop eating one piece after another. Ending up some money for it.

试吃了郭金山的花生，爱不释手的立马买了三包。那花生香味让我们吃了停不下来，就算高卡路里量也不理了！









There were still many interesting food to try at Jiu Fen but our stomach has signalled us to put an end of this, otherwise we would have burst our stomach.

九份老街还有一些很特别的食物，可是我们肚子已装不下了，肚子告诉我们该回民宿了。





 The only cinema in Jiu Fen previously, Sheng Ping theatre was even said to be the first cinema in Taiwan built by the Japanese. It has now turned into an exhibition area to showcase the history of Jiu Fen. It would have been better if there was a short film depicting how Jiu Fen has evolved over time...

昇平戏院是以前九份唯一的戏院，听说是台湾第一家戏院，日本人建的。戏院现在已变成展览九份历史的观光地。如果能播放一些短片描述九份的进化史，应该更吸睛。





Ever thought of what will happen if cats conquers the world? This is how it looks like at Jiu Fen. A very cute illustration.

有没有想过如果世界被猫小头给占领了呢？这图画很可爱的画出如果九份被猫咪霸占了。其实，九份的猫儿也蛮多的。







Some shots at Jiu Fen, including a selfie of us which ought not to be missed.

分享一些在九份的街拍和我们的自拍纪念照。







What a cute dog at Jiu Fen!

更多可爱的毛小孩！