Jiufen, New Taipei City - Spirited Away teahouse

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Jiufen (Jioufen; 九份) - the town which may or may not have been an inspiration for Spirited Away. The streets are full of stands/stores and are decorated with red lanterns. I guess it has a "classic Asian" look, for lack of a better descriptor. 

To be honest, Jiufen was a little too crowded with tourists for me, though I guess it was worth going once. My friends went to the teahouse and learned how to properly make tea - they enjoyed it a lot! I probably should have made myself join them in the teahouse too, since I'm unlikely to visit again... but I needed a break from being around so many people. Instead, I went to a little crane game place more on the outskirts of the town (I was even able to win a bunch of souvenirs to take back for friends/family/coworkers :). October 2019.

This might be a little confusing, but Jiufen is technically in New Taipei City. We didn't go there directly from Taipei, but if you do, it sounds like it's pretty straightforward to get there; a little more than an hour bus ride each way.

The teahouse! Took us a little bit of effort to find (the rain didn't help)...




Temple close to the place we stayed overnight

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