Leefoo Village Theme Park

Taipei - We woke up early to spend a day at Taiwan's theme park - Leefoo Village Theme Park.   We took a bus @ Jing-An station.   This e-go bus goes directly to Leefoo Village Theme Park and we bought the package which is cheaper and includes the entrance fees to the theme park.

Leefoo village is the first fantastic theme park combining wildlife zoo and amusement park in Asia.  This 100-hectare park is divided into four themed villages.  It is home to the island's only wildlife park - African Safari, the Wild West, The South Pacific and Arabian Kingdom.

We left @ around closing time which is 5pm and took around 1hr to get back to Jing-An Station and then to our Hotel.   We freshen up and took a taxi directly to the airport.

Keelung city

Keelung City - This is Taiwan's northern most city.  Located at the northern tip of the Island and is a busy shipping port, with its downtown huddled around the harbour.   We visited their night market - Miaokou Night Market which is large and many people throng the streets.

Jinguashi township

Jinguashi - We took the bus from Jiufen town to Jinguashi township.    This town was once a gold mining town but the resouces are now depleted.  Tourist still comes to this town and visit the Gold Ecological Park. The park is free to visitors and open during weekdays 9:30am to 5pm.

1st stop was the Tourism Information Center.   This is in the park's first main building.  It was originally a Taiwan Motor co. bus station.  It provides tourist information and leaflets.

2nd stop:  Four joined Japanese-Style Residences.  This is one of the few remaining Japanese building of this type in Taiwan (during the colonial era it was a domintory for high level Japanese company employees.)  The existing space has been turned into display and living art experience.   We had to queue as only a small number of people are able to enter at anyone time.  Once in, we are ushered to a room to watched a brief documentary of this bulding. 

Gold....

Abundant of grass

made into a peacock



The legend of the "Gold Carrying Beast"





Next stop:  Jinguashi Crown Prince Chalet.  It is built in 1922 and is one of the finest surviving wooden Japanese buildings in Taiwan.  It was built by the Tanaka Mining Co. to host the Crown Prince (later Emperor Hirohito) during a planned visit to inspect the mining industry in the Jinguashi area.  

Garden in the Crown Prince Chalet

View from the back of the Chalet

Walking out of the Chalet we came across a number of Gold mining carts...

Next Stop:  Benshan Fifth Tunnel.  We have to pay NT50 per person to enter the mining shaft. It involves walking through wet and slippery tunnel to discover the mystery of past gold mining. 



Our next stop: An old Jinguashi Shinto Shrine.   It was way up a hill and it was an arduous climb up.
The view uphill was worth the effort.

Ruins of the Shinto Shrine

Jiufen township

Taipei - From Banciao railway station we took the communter train to Ruifang station.  From outside Ruifang station take the bus to Juifen - NT15 per person.

Jiufen is famous because of its quaint streets, tea houses and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.  Also many movies were made using Jiufen as the backdrop.  Jiufen is an old hillside town of long narrow alleys, winding stone steps, and restaurants.  

so many tourist walking the narrow Jiufen streets

Famous yam desert

Sweet potato, pearl balls and soya 

Yam, sweet potato and soya desert

We walked to another store for quick meal..

Soya with fish stuffings

Cooked version with fish ball noodles

So crowded...

Jiufen Post Box

What are they looking at?

Jiufen Teahouse

A curious table for a restaurant

Walking around Jiaoxi city

Jiaoxi City - After our breakfast, we walked around Jiaoxi city. 

Jiaoxi Visitor centre

Jiaoxi Public Hot Spring

We walked around Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park.

We checked out at 12 noon and catched the 1pm train bound for Banciao station.  Here comes our train....



Hot Spring @ Jiaoxi city

Jiaoxi City - We took the train from Hualien city to Jiaosi about 1hr 40mins.  When we reached this city, just outside the Jiaosi railway station was a hotspring which is used very often by local residents.  This city is famous for hot spring.

Jiaoxi Railway Station

Jiaoxi station public hotspring

We patronise this old lady's titbit store...

By that time, it was time for dinner.

Our restaurant for dinner

We ate lots and lots of dumplings....

Back at the Hotel we swam at the roof top hot spring swimming pool. 

hot spring tub in our bathroom