Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 25: Taipei 台北 (Shifen Old Street 十分老街, Shifen Waterfall 十分瀑布 Shifen Waterfall, Houtong Cat Village 猴硐貓村, Ximending 西門町, Ding Xi 頂溪: 好客鐵板燒)

July 22, 2016

Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 25: Taipei 台北 (Shifen Old Street 十分老街, Shifen Waterfall 十分瀑布 Shifen Waterfall, Houtong Cat Village 猴硐貓村, Ximending 西門町, Ding Xi 頂溪: 好客鐵板燒)

As expected, once I got back to Taipei the weather was back being on a horrible mode again. As I woke up in the morning I was greeted with another bout of pouring rain which further motivated me to sleep in until 10.30am lol. I still forced myself to get up and headed towards my destination of today: Shifen. Initially I wanted to visit Jiufen as well but with the weather like this I changed my mind haha.

My day was made worse as I had no idea I needed to buy a dedicated ticket to board the Puyuma express train at Taipei Main Station so I had to wait for another hour for the next train before it brought me to Ruifang station. From there I bought the Pingxi day pass which allowed me to board the trains along the Pingxi line for a fee of NTD 64. Do keep in mind that the distance between each stations is about 15 - 20 minutes apart and it can be really packed and the train only comes every hour for certain stops. It was also due to this that I realised making it to Jiu Fen seems pretty impossible under this weather, which was still raining very heavily at this juncture. And at this point of time, news of the TransAsia plane crashing into the Keelung river made headlines throughout the world.

My first stop of the day was Shifen (十分), which I missed back in 2012. I made my immediately towards the Shifen Waterfall which was a good 20 minutes walk away. Even with an umbrella my shoes were thoroughly soaked.

Seemed like forever when I finally reached the main entrance haha. From there it's another 10 minute walk to the waterfall area. Thankfully there were proper staircases throughout the journey.

With the current pouring rain the sight of the waterfall was much more grand and a little bit scary. The waters were raging pretty fiercely and it was impossible to take a photo of it upfront without completely drenching my RX100. I wouldn't describe it as beautiful under present conditions but I've seen pictures of the waterfall during calm weathers and it was certainly was more prettier hahaha.

Raging Shifen Waterfall

I then headed back to the town area for a quick lunch before heading to Houtong Cat Village. Still raining. I was surprised people were still trying to light up lanterns in the middle of the train track. It was also worth noting that most stalls here were selling street snacks and finger bites so it was a bit challenging to find a proper meal.

Houtong ( 猴硐) station is just after Ruifang station so it would probably a good idea to make this your first or last stop along the Pingxi Line. This place is famous for its roaming cats but on a cold rainy day, most of them prefer to just curl up and sleep. =(

One of the rare cats awake

Zzzzzz

Hardly any cats were seen that day. If they appeared they are most probably dozing off.

All asleep

Snooze

Yawn

At this point I already lost all motivation to travel further and headed back to my unit in Taipei for a rest and dinner. For my few nights here I never failed to return to this shop selling one of the best teppanyaki I've ever tasted. The price was very reasonable and you get free vegetables refills!

Later that night I then headed to Xi Men Ding. I think this area needs no further introductions. While on one side Xi Men Ding is filled with shoppers, the other side behind the Red Building houses a variety of bars for homosexuals alike. Quite a contrast between two areas.