Jiufen, Taiwan
Time passes like a dream at A-Mei Tea House. Overlooking the Pacific and lush green mountains, A-mei provides the perfect view to watch the sky turn from foggy gray to baby blue and back again. Light rain drips down paper lanterns lining the alleys. The few tourists who journey the winding market streets in the daytime speak in quiet conversation. Another cup of oolong tea is poured and savored. The soft rain stops. It picks up again.
As the ocean fog begins to settle in and the paper lanterns flicker to light, Jiufen awakens. The nocturnal market is known for its likeness to the ghost town in Spirited Away, but not just in terms of architecture. Like the movie’s dramatic arrival of ghosts when the sun sets, visitor after visitor arrives to wander Jiufen Old Street. Stray cats dart around legs to pick up dropped bits of battered seafood. Shop vendors speed through orders of famous bubble tea.
The sky is black, and it is now impossible to move on Old Street without bumping into fellow travelers. Escape from the hectic mass is only found a few streets above, where the market transitions to a small neighborhood. The saturated glow of the paper lanterns allows perfect visibility of Jiufen’s movement. Watching over the town, time passes like a dream.
