Have you ever been to Chuifen? If not, you should,
if you have, you'll know what I'm taking about.
Although it sounds like there's not much to
do there, there is more than enough to keep you busy
for a day and it's really worth the trip!
Chuifen is a little town in the hills, north east
of Taipei, with an amazing view of Fulung bay. The
hills are dotted with temples, quaint teahouses and
old houses whose traditional architecture has been
preserved. It's really pretty.
The town originally became famous because people found
gold there, but when the gold dried up, the town died.
In the 80s it was made popular after Hou Xiao
Xian chose it as his location to shoot his film "City
of Sadness". Legend has it that originally nine
families lived there, and worked together as a small
community. The families would take turns getting supplies
for the community, hence the name, Chuifen: nine parts.
Chuifen is really quaint, dotted with teahouses. You
can sit and sip any imaginable flavour of tea there
and absorb the incredible view of the ocean from high
up in the hills. We went on a drizzly grey day, but
still had a great view. I can imagine it's spectacular
on a clear day.
When you've had your fair share of tea there are a
lot of art galleries, souvenir shops and a colourful
market. The shops are reasonably priced, in fact some
deals are too good to be true, and so it's a great
place to do some shopping for the family before you
head home. There are beautiful crafts and fantastic
pottery. If you're looking for traditional tea
pots, this is your place. The choice is a little overwhelming
though! Amongst the interesting shops and stalls,
in an alley near the market, I stumbled upon a theatre
mask museum of sorts. The owner has the most amazing
collection of masks, defiantly worth a visit.
They have an amazing selection of traditional tasty
treats, and since we went just before the moon festival,
we saw every flavour of moon cake. It was a rather
busy weekend, as I'm sure it'll be on any long
weekend. When looking for a restaurant, be careful,
some restaurants near the main road are a tourist
trap. Their prices are really exaggerated, but remember,
you're in Taiwan and there's always a cheap
decent meal about. In fact, you could easily find
one with a free tea and ocean view!
Nikki McLeod |
