Sunset in a Reverie

*backblip

I think this was taken in Jiufen (九份), Taiwan. Jiufen is a very small village (?) dating back to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912). Jiufen translates to "nine portions" in Mandarin. According to Wikipedia, the village was given this name because initially, there were only 9 families that lived in the village. When shipments (of what, I'm not sure) arrived from town, the village always asked for nine portions of things.

The village was an inspiration for the setting of the film "Spirited Away". When night fell, I could really see the similarity. (More thoughts about Mr. Miyazaki and his films can be found in this entry.)

The sunset was beautiful. I wish that I could go back there today to take a picture of it. Technology and my photography skills have improved considerably in 5 years...

Extra Photo:

This was also taken in Jiufen. It is a teahouse located in the village. It was very beautiful, otherworldly, compared to the architecture that I usually see where I live. If not for my dissatisfaction with the angle of the photo (I should have taken a wider shot...), I would have had a difficult time deciding which photo to use as the main one. 

Supposedly, the teahouse was an inspiration for the bathhouse in the film. Maybe the feeling and colours were an inspiration, but Wikipedia says that the Dogo Onsen on the island of Shikoku in Japan was a key inspiration for the bathhouse. There are definitely similarities between the bathhouse and the onsen. Perhaps Mr. Miyazaki based the structure of the bathhouse on the onsen, and the colouring of the bathhouse on the teahouse.

I greatly enjoyed walking around the old village. I didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked. Maybe I can visit again someday...