What has changed in two years? As far as I remember Jiufen has always been a tourist trap. Always crowded. I still kinda enjoy walking down those streets, but maybe no more than once or twice every other year. Thereâs a coffee shop and arts gallery that I like too.
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I donât see why to change anything there. Have you seen the rest of the country?
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I visited Daxi during the height of no one traveling, and indeed they were working on a lot of the old houses there it seemed. Not sure if that Old Street is now any better or not of course.
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I went to Daxi for the first time last year so Iâm not sure how it was before but I liked it. There was still some work going on some buildings on one of the streets. The area outside the âOld Streetâ was nice too.
As for JiufenâŚwent 2/3 times already. After the 1st time though you really have to drag me there. Itâs one of those places that I felt once is enough. The other times I went were taking some friends or family that were visiting and even then I wouldnât have even bothered if we werenât staying for Taipei for a couple of days anyways.
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I was going to say Daxi too, just for the old buildings and surroundings.
Maybe Pingxi and nearby towns for a more old-timey feel, a little.
I never went to Shenkeng I think. Need to stop by some time.
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Shenkeng twenty years ago had one old building in the old street. Now it has 30. Remarkable.
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Whatâs remarkable about that? We all get old as time goes by. Same with buildings.
Hukou old street in Hsinchu County. Itâs not over-restored, and many of the buildings retain their original structures which can be seen in some of the shops and restaurants. The shops and eateries are decent, too, not just all selling tourist tat. Good Hakka food. Well worth checking out.
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I actually appreciate what they did with the buildings there. Problem is always what happens after the renovations are done. Vendors come in, putting up all kinds of advertising banners and crap like that, then come the tourist hordes, and the atmosphere is changed, and not to the better.
It is what it is, people need to make money, and preserving old buildings in their original state is not what makes people money, at least not in Taiwan.
Nice:
Less nice:
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I always say the same. In some areas of the world, buildings, villages and even small cities can make a remarkable natural landscape even more beautiful. Taiwan is not one of those areas.
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Maybe some type of regulations similar to Kyoto would help? Would also restrict businesses from building bigger, brighter, louder, signs to compete with one another and create a more visually appealing environment that would make it more unique in Taiwan and attract business/customers that way.
EDIT: I mean for mostly old street areas.
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IDK about this. It would be like to make Taiwan less Asian/Chinese⌠less Taiwan.
Iâd start by forbidding people from leaving their junk in front of their homes; you still see this here and there. I guess itâs much better than a decade ago. Then I would also ban loudspeakers on the streets, those that play some marketing bullshit in a loop in front of some stores.
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I shouldâve mentioned I meant for these âOld Streetâ areas mostly, but I do think most of Taiwanâs cities could use some âcleaning upâ so to speak.
Also I donât think it would make Taiwan less Asian. It didnât make Kyoto less KyotoâŚit just made it more KyotoâŚif that makes sense.
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Daxi is nice . I went there last month. But again, it was so crowded and most shops arenât so fancy.
And then there are idiots who drive cars in the old street full of pedestrian.
Taiwan has all the architecture. It just need people with brain cells to make it better and pleasing and have proper planning
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As great as this sounds, itâs not traditional Taiwanese/Chinese culture to use black/monochrome signs on storefronts. Thatâs a very Japanese Zen thing.
Problem is local tourists are used to/in love with the ârenaoâ experience (colorful, noisy, crammed, cheap). And business owners want to do what is good for their business, not what is pleasing to the eyes of foreign visitors. So convincing both of these groups is quite hard to achieve.
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Kyoto evokes cherry blossoms and wooden temples in green parks. Jiufen is near Keelung, and Keelung evokes rats fighting for the best chunk of sashimi leftovers in a postwar rusted metal junkyard.
I say letâs keep the neon lights.
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Foreign visitors are clearly less important for them.
In 2016 it sucked. Way too crowded. Like you said, itâs not about it being worse now⌠itâs about when you go. Off-season is obviously best. 2020 was probably just an anomaly because people were freaked out about COVID.
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The comment in the original post about the off smelling drain could be anywhere in Taiwan really.
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