05/04/2019 - Keelung / Taiwan

Looking for gold...
First, we went to the small town of Shuinandong today. We had a very strong coffee in a cafe with a view. The special thing here is the coffee cups. They are shaped in such a way that the taste of the coffee is different depending on which side of the cup you drink from. In addition, there is a very delicious pineapple cake. The coffee cups and the furnishings of the cafe were made by an artist, whose studio we visited afterwards. Gigantic tables made of tree trunks, teapots, hairpins, paintings, and many lovely individual things are exhibited here. But we haven't found any gold yet. On the way to Jioufen, we passed a waterfall. You might think there's gold in the rocks, but actually it's copper that has accumulated. Now we went to the gold mining town. We could spend a whole day here. Great landscapes, beautiful views, and memories of how people used to live here and how gold was mined. We have finally found some and taken a whole cart full of it ;-).
In Jioufen, we now have to climb many many stair steps. An old town adorned with lanterns and many small shops. All kinds of souvenirs, culinary delicacies, and lots of visitors crowd through the narrow streets.
Then we went to the city of lanterns, Shihfen. We wrote our own wishes on a lantern and sent it into the sky. Every year, a festival takes place here, where thousands of lanterns with good wishes rise into the air.