Therese in Taiwan: Taro and sweet potato balls at Ah Gan Yi Yu Yuan 阿柑姨芋圓

In keeping up with the "Jiufen" theme, this post is about another famous dessert that can be found there. The first time I ate it, I was with my sister Tiffy and our cousins.

The place is a bit hard to find because it's sort of hidden, but once you find it (and taste it), you won't be disappointed! It really is yummy - if  you're into chewy taro and sweet potato balls. Think of the Philippines' bilo-bilo and that's sort of the consistency that these ones have.

You could choose between the cold order, and the hot order. We decided to go with both. I don't know how much it costs because our cousins footed the bill, but I'm guessing that's it's probably more than 60NT (Php 90)? It's good for sharing though. There are also red beans, mung beans, etc.

As you can see from the picture, the cold order (bowl on the left) doesn't come with "soup", but instead it is on top of a bed of ice. Brr! The hot order (bowl on the right) comes with a lot of "soup".

Name: 阿柑姨芋圓 (Ah Gan Yi Yu Yuan)
Address: 台北縣瑞芳鎮褔住里豎崎路5號 (It's located somewhere in Jiufen Old Street. Ask around!)
Phone number: (02) 24976505, (02) 24966964

Therese in Taiwan: Peanut and ice cream wrap 花生捲加冰淇淋

Obviously, I'm not good with "technical terms." I don't actually know how this is called in English, but I'm calling it the peanut and ice cream wrap, because it literally is that.

I was able to try this at Jiufen Old Street, located in Keelung city (north of Taiwan) but I think they're also available in some night markets here in Taipei.

There's a bed of crushed peanut topped with 2 scoops of ice cream, and wrapped with what I believe is rice paper. They're yummy! It sounds crazy but even if it's cold outside, ice cream is still ice cream, and I believe that ice cream is a must-eat!

I think this costs around 30 NT (~PhP 45) but I'm not sure. It's worth a try though!

How to get to Jiufen from Taipei:

Take the train from Taipei Main Station to Ruifang Station, and then look for the Keelung bus (across the street) bound for Jiufen

Get off at MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing station and take the bus bound to Keelung. I think you can take buses 1815 and 1810.

Therese in Taiwan: Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園

As I mentioned in my earlier blog entry, my friends and I went to Yehliu Geopark. It is a 1, 700-meter long cape located at the north coast of Taiwan. The entrance ticket costs 25 NT (~PhP 37.5) for students/children above 115cm/senior citizens and the regular price is 50NT (~PhP 75), if I'm not mistaken. The entrance is waived for disabled people.

I did not take up a lot of science courses back when I was in university because I belonged to the College of Arts and Letters, but let me try to sound a bit knowledgeable in the field of geology for a moment.

Yehliu is full of seawater-eroded holes as well as numerous rocks in various shapes due to the rock layer of the nearby seashore containing limestone subject to marine erosion, weathering, and earth movements... Yes, you caught me! I actually just copied that statement up there off the official brochure.

There are actually a lot of rocks in the area - mushroom rocks, candle rocks, honeycombed rocks, ginger rocks, tofu rocks, etc., so I'm pretty sure you're going to see something you'll find interesting.

Mushroom rocks

One of my friends really like hiking, so we decided to walk the entire cape up to the scenic outlook. We didn't regret it because the view was amazing! We stayed there for quite some time, just taking in the fact that we were surrounded by this immense body of water. I found it to be very peaceful and relaxing.

The main attraction of Yehliu is the Queen's Head. The first picture below is how it originally looked like (picture taken from the brochure), but because of the continuous eroding process, the neck is slowly becoming narrower and narrower (see second picture). There are some people who fear that after a couple more years, the Queen's Head might totally be deformed. Be sure to look at it yourself before that happens.

How it originally looks like

Back of the Queen's Head, how it currently looks like

Operating hours 8:00AM-5:00PM

How to get there via public transportation:

You actually have a lot of options in getting there. As for us, we got off at the MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Exit 2 (捷運忠孝復興站，出口2). Nearby is a bus stop with buses heading straight to Yehliu (I think it's bus number 1815, if I'm not mistaken. You should check out the signboard just to make sure.)

More information can be found in their website: http://www.ylgeopark.org.tw