Up the Hill of Jioufen

This is Jioufen (九份), a former gold-mining center on a highland located in New Taipei City (新北市).

On a busy and crowded afternoon in summer along the corridor of shops.


This place attracts many visitors during the weekends and holidays. I was there on a Saturday. From my brief observation on the day of my visit, the visitors comprise mainly of local people from around Taiwan itself, overseas Chinese, Chinese from mainland China, and some Japanese.

Non-foodie talking food
I'm neither a foodie (except for milky, fishy and spicy foodstuff) nor a specific fan of Taiwanese cuisine, but nonetheless had an enjoyable time trying a few things at a few stalls in Jioufen. :) Among them:

Dessert
I'm unsure of the name of this, but I call it the beancurd dessert. The white portion of it is it is "tau-hueh", silky-smooth and soft... nice!

The coloured little chunks looked like fruits, but actually they're not. They're sticky in texture, made of glutinous rice flour. This dessert is sweetened with gingered-syrup.

I generally enjoyed this dessert, except that I omitted most of the yellow-coloured chunks because I do not quite fancy sticky stuff.

Lunch

Cold Chicken...
This is steamed chicken with wolfberries and ginger. Do you know that the chicken is served cold as opposed to hot, contrary to our impression on typical Chinese food? To my delight, this dish was surprisingly tasty.


I like this vegetable very much - it's crunchy and fresh.


Meatballs in soup, and rice with minced and braised beef. Not bad too... The portion of rice is pretty small, but I think it's just nice because it doesn't fill up the tummy too heavily and thus still leaves enough "room" for if you'd like to try out other food.



On Taiwanese sausages:
It is one of the famous snacks in Taiwan. They are a common sight along local food stalls. There are a variety of them with different flavours and sizes. However, I did not try any (I seldom consume sausages), so I do not have any picture of them.

At one of the souvenir shops...


Other food that I came across

This reminds me of "popiah" because it looks somewhat similar to one.


Some "kuih". Wonder how they taste...


Meatballs...

Another type of "kuih"...


Barbequed mushrooms


Cutie...
So cute and gentle a dog, I love! :P


Away from the crowded corridors, the street of Jioufen suddenly reminded me of Japan, specifically the hilly town of Hakone （箱根). High on a hill with cool breeze, little shops and wooden buildings.


In the bus that ferries visitors up and down of Jioufen:


A view of the gloomy sky and the sea from the hills...