Taiwan: My Home Away From Home

You're probably starting to think that I spend a lot of time in Taiwan. Well... that's true. For the last 1.5 years, I have been dating a local (Avy), so I have a bit of a bias towards visiting her! Unfortunately, my work doesn't take me there particularly often, but I can usually pick up my own cheap-ish flights when I finish in a job in Thailand or Vietnam, for example. Now that we are engaged, my other half will eventually move to Australia, so I have to take advantage of her tour guiding while I can!

One of the coolest things about Taiwan is the wide range of food that's almost literally at your fingertips. Taiwanese food is, as you would expect, pretty similar to Chinese food. But both are a bit different to what we know them to be in the take-away shops back home. Here, we have (top-left) beef and capsicum (I don't know the Chinese name), which is delicious and garlic-y; great with rice or just on it's own. Then, the big bowl to the right is my fiancée's favourite soup dish, Suan La Tung - hot and sour soup. And finally, at the top-right is spicy fried chicken; you don't have to eat the whole chilies if you don't want to! This particular restaurant is 周炒手 (sorry, I don't know the English name!), and they serve a wide range of Taiwanese dishes at very cheap prices. The menu is all in Mandarin, so you're going to need to be able to read it, or go there with a local - of course, I have the easy option available to me, here!

Taichung is littered with parks and public spaces. The photo below is from Minsu Park which is just across the road from the restaurant above. The photo at the top of this post is from a small shrine area adjacent to the park; if it wasn't such a hot day, it would've been a very tranquil place to relax!

On Sunday 18 October, 2015, Avy took us by bus into the mountains of Nan-Tou county, out to the east of Taichung. A short walk from Taichung Train Station, up Section 1, Shuangshi Road, you can find Nan-Tou Bus Company. We have used their services once before to go to Sun-Moon Lake, also a big tourist spot outside Taichung. For about 600 NTD, we were able to head to Cingjing Farm for the day.

At a little over 1700m above sea level, Cingjing Farm is quite a popular tourist spot. The views over the mountains and valleys are pretty spectacular, as I'm about to show you. From the bus stop, you can have a quick bite at a choice of restaurants and check out a few small shops. Then, adjacent to the small car park at the top of the restaurant area, you can find the start of the 499-steps trail. Of course, you can also choose to take the bus all the way up to the farm and then walk back down the trail, but where's the fun in that??

Needless to say, we certainly got our exercise that day, as walking up 499 steps in the humidity of Taiwan is bound to get your sweat glands working.

Totally worth it, though, as the views along the trail are very nice - despite the road being just a stone's throw away, you really feel removed from the world and a bit more in touch with nature. It didn't even take that long to get all the way up - maybe 20 minutes or so.

Once you get to the top, it's just a short walk for a little bit further (on level ground, this time!) to get to the farm and start enjoying the views back down. This area is also colloquially known as "Little Switzerland", I think mostly due to the hills and valleys; there are some windmills and various other European-type structures around the place, but I think it's mostly the landscape!

Beyond the first section of the farm is the "Green Green Grassland", where there are a few dozen sheep and a few hundred people watching said sheep. Before you get there, though, you can take a quick stroll past a nice long line of one of the things Taiwan does best - street food! As we'd eaten at the bottom of the hill, we didn't taste any of the stuff on display, but it did look like there were some good things on offer.

As an Australian, I guess it's hard for me to get excited about sheep. It's just part of the culture back home. But as you can see below, this wasn't so much the case for my fellow visitors, who were all lining up to find the best position for the Sheep Show, which I think was going to be a shearing demonstration. We just wandered through the crowd and out the other side to continue on our merry way!

And then eventually, you will make it to the top, and can take in the stunning views back down to where you started - a very satisfying feeling!

After I had completed my job in Taichung, I had a couple of days to rest before flying home (so as to spend a little extra time with my other-half). Of course, she still had to work on the Thursday and Friday, but we arranged to meet up for lunch so that I had an excuse to get out of the hotel.

I opted to walk from my hotel, the Royal Seasons (see this previous post) to meet Avy near her workplace - a distance of about 4km. I checked out the route on Google Maps, and worked out that I really just had to follow two or three main arterial roads to get me there. This gave me a chance to stroll through Taichung and take a few photos if I found some sites worth snapping.

Perhaps this was my downfall - as I was checking around for various things to delight my lens, I managed to continue one way down an arterial road when I should have turned. I didn't notice this until about 30 minutes later when I was expecting to arrive near Avy's work. I'd seen various landmarks along the way that I had misinterpreted as things I thought were along my route, so I hadn't thought twice about it. Anyway, by the time I checked Google again on my phone, I was on the other side of Taichung to where I needed to be! Luckily, though, I was able to flag down a taxi and show him a photo Avy had sent me of the address of the restaurant where she was, and he got me there, about 15 minutes later than we were supposed to meet. Better late than never! At least I still got to enjoy a nice stroll through the city.

On Thursday evening, we were out and about for some dinner, and I was able to try another new dish - goose meat. Served in a noodle soup (as 97% of things in Taiwan are served), it was actually very tasty. The side dishes seen here are water spinach (very tasty, cooked with garlic and a meaty gravy), bamboo shoots (soaked and cooked so they are soft), and an old Taiwan favourite: rice and congealed blood cakes! On this occasion, it's goose blood. Yummo!

Friday was another big food day - Avy opted to take the afternoon off so we could do some stuff together. We met with her colleague and went for a bit of Thai food for lunch - we can't eat Taiwanese food all the time! Some Thai food can be ridiculously spicy, but this one - a beef and vegetable soup - was just right.

After lunch, we went to visit one of the Bike Week shows that was happening - Avy used to work in the bike industry and so she has some friends still involved. I'm not a cyclist, so the expo didn't really mean anything to me!

After that, we wandered for a while through the parks nearby Hotel One - known by the locals as "Greenland". This is a popular area for shopping, restaurants and foreigners; apparently, my kin all stick together in Taichung!

Heading down a side street next to Vapiano, we came to a brunch cafe called Hecho. We opted to stop in here to beat the heat for a while, and what better way to do that than with iced fruit smoothies with a hint of vodka! I opted for the grape flavour at the front; Avy had kiwi at the back; and Avy's workmate (hi, Ellen!) had a non-alcoholic lemon drink (she was driving).

From Hecho, we went back to the hotel for a short rest. We then jumped on the local bus, number 81, and headed down Gongyi Road, which is home to hundreds of restaurants, one after the other. We met with Ellen and her partner for dim sum dinner at TJB (The Jeans Bar). My local chaperones took charge of ordering from the menu (it does have English titles, but it's just easier that way!), and after 10 minutes or so, our table started gathering various tasty dishes.

In the foreground of this last picture, we can see a new dish for my taste buds: the ever-so-popular Chinese dish of chicken feet. I'd never thought these would be the slightest bit tasty, expecting them to be chewy and rubbery. The truth, however, is that the meat is extremely tender and the sweet sauce in which they are cooked is very tasty. The downside, though, is that they are riddled with tiny bones - not long bones, but little knuckles all the way through. So, while tasty, they are a bit of a pain in the ass to eat!

On my last day for this trip, Saturday 24th October, Avy and I went out to the area near her old university. Here, we stopped in for lunch at an old favourite spot, Charming Collection (採茗雅集人文餐飲空間), where her and her classes used to go regularly. She enjoyed one of her favourite meals (besides Suan La Tung): kimchi hotpot, while I got stuck into some delicious fried chicken with rice and various side dishes. For less than 300 NTD each, we got a very good and tasty feed.

From there, we proceeded to an old mostly-ruined town known as Wufeng (光復新村). Because of the rows of streets of run down old houses, most of which are unoccupied, this has become a popular place for people to come and take reminiscent and poignant photographs. A lot of people come here to find nice backdrops for their wedding photographs, too. Spattered around the streets, you can find splashes of modern additions and colour, as if the town is saying "I'm not dead just yet!".

However, it's not a great place to go if you are one of those people that mosquitoes find tasty; the whole area is littered with tiny black mozzies that had a field day, chewing on Avy!

Isn't she gorgeous? :)

And so, with that, I bring to a close yet another visit to Taichung and Taiwan. On Sunday 25th, I flew out and back to my home town in Australia, ready to plan and count down to the next adventure... stay tuned!