Let’s examine the value of a trip to Jiufen, often called “Hellfen.”
When traveling to Taiwan, there are famous tourist destinations that you might want to visit at least once.
These places mostly appear on social media; they are generally highly sought-after areas that attract a lot of interest.
However, a skeptical eye might arise at some point.
Is it really a good place?
Some claim it is the location that served as the inspiration for the movie *Spirited Away*, but there is no proven connection to the actual creator of the story.
The place I am discussing today is Jiufen in Taiwan.
Jiufen is a place akin to a mining village created by the Japanese during their occupation to exploit coal. Although its value diminished as the coal reserves were depleted, it began to gradually gain recognition, centered around the market established by the remaining residents to make a living.
To be frank, it is not a place created for tourism purposes or one with outstanding scenery. It is simply a place where poor locals, struggling to make ends meet, engaged in trade just to survive.
Therefore, visiting this place requires enduring a somewhat arduous journey.
Transportation is not convenient. Even if you take the bus, there is no convenient place to park or get off. You simply have to carefully disembark on the side of the road where cars are passing.
Additionally, while regular buses do run here, they are so crowded that sitting down is out of the question.
In other words, transportation convenience here is not very good.
So why do people flock here despite this?
I suspect that most people come simply to take a few “proof shots” out of curiosity.
This is a market district. Although there is said to be a movie screening space for the miners, it is located at the very top, making it difficult to access.
It doesn’t have a particularly cool or retro feel. It is simply a shabby space dedicated to forced labor and miners during the Japanese colonial era.
The paths leading through the market are very narrow. Trying to walk along them means constantly bumping into people coming from the opposite direction.
This place is a chaotic, noisy, and unclean space with a distinctly Chinese vibe, and it is not particularly interesting to explore.
It is a place where the only realization is that a single photo captures the atmosphere of the space, so I would not want to visit a second time. I hope you do not waste your precious travel schedule in such an annoying space.
