Yehliu Geopark (野柳地质公园) is as one of the famous eroded rock formations in the world. There were some unique geological formations such as Queen’s Head (女王头), Fairy Shoes (仙女鞋), etc. Before sharing the beautiful photos of the rock formations, there are some tips that we thought you should to know before visiting Yehliu Geopark during a summer season.
- Apply plenty of sunscreen on your face and body similar to going to the beach. This place was extremely hot. It doesn’t have any shady area and it is right next to sea.
- Bring umbrellas or hats.
- Drink more water to prevent dehydration.
- Go as early as possible to avoid the huge tourist crowds (shorter queue time to take photos with/of the rock formations).
Getting there was relatively easy. You can always engage a taxi driver to send you there directly. But, we chose the most economical way which is to take the Kuokuang Bus (国光客运).
Route No: Kuokuang 1815
Bus Schedule: From 5.40am – 11.00pm
Bus frequency: Every 10 – 20 minutes departing from Taipei Main Station
Bus journey: Approximately 1.5 hours (From Taipei Main Station to Yehliu Geopark)
Bus fare: TWD96 (one way/pax)
English version of Bus Route (1815):
Chinese version of Bus Route (1815):
Note: The drop-off point was not at the main entrance of Yehliu Geopark. You would need to walk for about 5 – 7 minutes before reaching the park. Just make sure that you are aware of the announcement of Yehliu Stop (野柳) in the bus.
Initially, we planned to take the Kuokuang bus to Pingxi (平溪) area which includes Shifen and followed by Jiufen. Given the long travelling time due to bus transfers of getting to both locations, we decided to take the offer of TWD2,300 by the taxi driver at Yehliu Geopark. A premium price was paid in exchange for a shorter travelling time, comfortable seat and a little bit of guidance from the locals (the taxi driver).
Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布)
Shifen Old Streets (十分老街)
This place was famous for releasing the Chinese lantern (with wishes written on it) into the sky along the Pingxi railway station track. We did not join the trend as we felt that it wasn’t environmentally friendly.
The scenery view while on the way up to Jiufen (九份), the mountain town in the east of Taipei.
Jiufen is one of our favorite places in Taiwan. Apart from the delicious foods, Huang Mama Jelly as souvenir, and the beautiful scenery view, the town actually has a great history. This town was actually founded during the Qing Dynasty and was built by the Japanese after the discovery of gold.
There were many Taiwanese snacks and foods that you could get from here. In fact, Taro Balls was actually originated from Jiufen. Obviously, we would not miss the opportunity of trying it out.
Our first food stop was Uncle Fish Ball. It was actually quite close to where we were dropped (in front of 7-11). This was one of the must try food in Jiufen. They were famous for their fish ball soup, dry glass noodles, as well as the toufu stuffs with fish paste. In terms of food taste, it was not bad but the fishball wasn’t as bouncy as those in Malaysia. It was worth the try especially the glass noodle’s sauce and the toufu. Bear in mind that the menus were all in Chinese. They were written on wooden boards and hung up the wall. The interior of the shop is made up of old style furniture.
Jiufen Uncle Fish Ball (鱼丸伯仔)
Address: No. 17, Jishan Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City (新北市瑞芳區基山街17號)
Operating hours: 10.00am – 7.00 pm (Weekdays); 10.00am – 8.00pm (Weekends)
Must order: Dried glass noodles (干冬粉), fish balls soup (鱼丸汤) and fried toufu stuff with fish paste (豆干包).
Total price for 3 items: TWD90.
This was a traditional handmade glutinous rice cake. We bought the red bean and Chinese dried radish fillings at TWD 10 each. Tourists and locals tend to buy a lot of these since it was mouth-watering at a very the reasonable price. The most famous one is their yam filling if I am not mistaken. The texture was really chewy but most importantly, the glutinous rice cake have a generous amount of filling even though the skin was very thin. Thumbs up!
From left: Salted Green Bean filling, Red Bean filling, Chinese dried radish filling and yam filling.
Ah Lan Hakka Glutinous Rice Cake (阿蘭芋粿草仔粿)
Address: No. 90, Jishan Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City (新北市瑞芳區基山街90號)
Operating hours: 9.00am – 8.00 pm (Daily)
This was one of Taiwanese snacks and each part of the Taiwan has a different cooking style (either fried or steamed) of this meat ball with glutinous rice skin. We didn’t remember how it tasted like since it wasn’t to our liking. Hehe.
Red Wine Meat Ball with Glutinous Rice Skin (金枝紅糟肉圓)
Address: No. 112, Jishan Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City (新北市瑞芳區基山街112號)
Operating hours: 10.00am – 8.00 pm (Daily)
Must try it! In mandarin, taro ball is pronounced as yu yuan. Taro ball was originated from Jiufen’s Ah Gan Yi. We ordered the cold version with a mix of taro balls and it cost us TWD45. The texture was perfect and it was very “Q” – bouncy. It was truly enjoyable to have a bowl of cool taro balls dessert in front of a wonderful scenery view.
Ah Gan Yi Taro Balls (阿柑姨芋圓)
Address: No. 5, Shuqi Road, Ruifang District, New Taipei City ( 新北市瑞芳區福住里豎崎路五號)
Operating hours: 9.00am – 9.00pm (Daily)
This is a must buy in Jiufen as well. Unfortunately, we did not take any photos of it even though we actually bought quite a lot. We’re too busy in choosing the different flavors such as lychee, passion fruit, brown sugar, etc. Not too sure if you can get this at other parts of Taiwan, but we surely couldn’t find any in Taipei. This snack was a healthy snack which consists of a lot of fiber. Most importantly, there was no coloring in the products!
Jiufen Huang Mama Jelly (九份黃媽媽蒟蒻專賣店)
Address: No. 74, Jishan Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City (台北縣瑞芳鎮基山街74號)
Not too sure about the weekend crowd but the weekday crowd was fine to us.
Of course, there were some nice views from the viewpoint. In fact, Yehliu Geopark can also be seen from here.
If you could remember, Ah Mei Teahouse (阿妹茶樓) was where they inspired the Japanese animation film, Spirited Away.
We took the bus back to Taipei but we got down at Songshan Station (松山站) which was right in front of the entrance of Raohe Night Market (饶河夜市). The entire journey took us about an hour at the cost of TWD 95 per person.
Bus operator/no: Keelung Bus No. 1062 (基隆客運1062)
English version of Bus route:
Chinese version of Bus route:
Last departure time from Jiufen Old Street: around 9.30pm
Waiting point at Jiufen Old Street: The bus stop is opposite 7-11.
Note: If you are taking the train back to Taipei, this bus also stops at Ruifang Rail Station (瑞芳火车站)
It is the night market again. The culture over here is all about night markets. We visited at least one night market every night in Taiwan. Before we started our food journey in Raohe Night Market, we paid a visit to Songshan Ciyou Temple (慈祐宮) right next to the night market’s entrance.
With a sleepy and tired body, the food will definitely wake us up. Hahaha…
The first food was the pepper bun (TWD50) right in front of the Raohe Night Market’s entrance. We quickly joined the queue before the crowd started to build up. The first bite of the bun would give you the similar feeling of biting a freshly baked Heong Peah in Malaysia. But, this was a salty version of Heong Peah since it was stuffed with meat and scallions. It was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. As the sky got darker, the queue became longer as well.
Fuzhou Shizu Pepper Bun (福州世祖胡椒餅)
Address: No. 249, Raohe Street, Songshan District, Taipei City (台北市松山区饶河街249号)
This was the first time we tried something like this and we found it quite special. The crispy pork ribs were well marinated and you can even eat the bone. The flavor of the crispy pork ribs certainly mix well with the clear soup.
Yang Crispy Spare Rib Noodles (楊記排骨酥麵)
Address: No. 62, Raohe Street, Songshan District, Taipei City (台北市松山区饶河街62号)
Operating hours: 4.30pm – 1.30am (Daily)
We love the oyster noodles (TWD60) here. They were really generous on the ingredients plus the oysters were really fresh and juicy too.
It was written that the shop has been operating for over 100 years!
Tung Fa Oyster Noodles (東發號蚵仔麵線)
Address: No. 94, Raohe Street, Songshan District, Taipei City (台北市松山区饶河街94号)
Operating hours: 8.30am – 12.00am (Daily)
Mango ice is the must try dessert in Taiwan especially during the summer season. We must say that this is the best mango ice that we ever had in Taiwan. It was cheap (TWD135) and yummy. The shaved milk ice was really smooth and there was a generous amount of mango cubes on top. It was definitely a perfect dessert.
Dessert (巷口亭古早味甜品店)
Address: No. 106, Raohe Street, Songshan District, Taipei City (台北市松山区饶河街106号)
Note: You can visit their Facebook page to check out their English menu.
Taiwanese sausage for TWD 20. No wow factor but who wouldn’t buy this in Taiwan? Haha.
A cup of bubble tea to end the night.
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