Jiufen - the old gold mining town

A trip to Jiufen, the old gold mining town, is a must for any tourist visit to Taipei.

You can easily reach the old gold mining town by bus in about 1.5 hours, and it stops directly at Jiufen's Old Street. The narrow streets, filled with small shops and tourists, are something special.

There is also a small gold mining museum and a very well-organized and friendly tourist information center.

Just off the beaten tourist path, you can find places with wonderful views and small cafes with excellent coffee. The view from there over the bay and the harbor is wonderful. I watched the sunset from there. If you treat yourself to a delicious dinner in one of the many restaurants on Old Street, you can catch a bus back to Taipei around 7:00 PM, when it's no longer crowded.

Motor scooters are indispensable means of transportation here as well. No matter how narrow the alleys or how crowded, you can get through with a motor scooter. And if you hear a well-known music playing, you know you have to make way, because now the garbage trucks are also driving through the narrow alley.

This is how garbage collection works in Taipei. Every evening, garbage collection vehicles drive through the streets of the city with a well-known music playing. As soon as you hear the music, you take your sorted garbage to the street and simply drop it off there - paper, recycling, or trash.