13.09.2016 - 14.09.2016  25 °C

After a slow yet scenic train trip I arrived in Ruifang and then jumped on a local bus to go to the small town of Jiufen. It was a old gold mining town up until the 1950's and has since become a popular tourist town following the release of the movie 'City of Sadness'. The movie was a hit and since it came out in 1989, people from Taipei and abroad have been flocking to the city. 

It's a small town with great views over mountains and the ocean with narrow winding streets and traditional building scattered on the mountain side. The 'old street' is full of local eateries where you can sample loads of Taiwanese food from a peanut ice cream wrap to stinky tofu (smells terrible, tastes a little better) and everything in between. It's a great place to wander and sample the food and admire the views.

I stayed at the Flip Flop hostel which is fantastic. The guy working there takes people on nightly walking tours, giving guests some pretty cool insights into the town including it's history and it's local artists. One day was enough but it would have been great to stay longer to just relax and soak up the culture.

The next day the owner of the guest house told me that typhoon Meranti was due to hit Taipei on Friday, the day I was due to fly out. Taiwan is used to typhoons however Meranti was classified as the worlds largest of the year and was almost guaranteeing the fact that I was not going to catch my flight out of Taiwan. Luckily the typhoon ended up going west towards China and not up towards Taipei however I still felt the edge of the typhoon which had incredibly ferocious winds.