Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 22: Taichung 台中 (Fantasy Story 范特喜-綠光計畫, Taichung 5th Market 第五市場, Anime Lane 動漫彩繪巷, Budokan Martial Arts Hall 臺中刑務所演武場, City Hall 市政府, 2nd Market 第二零售市場, Ai Yu Dessert 愛玉冰, Ciji Hospital 慈濟醫院, Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村, Miyahara 宮原眼科, Yizhong Bazaar 一中街商圈)
For my last day in Taichung I had really not much of an idea what to do next, so I decided to join the cycling tour around the city which was organised by the hostel's owner. For a small fee he rented one of his collection of bicycles to ride about. Personally this one was one of the most comfortable bicycles I've ever ridden on throughout my journey in Taiwan. Small and extremely easy to maneuver. Of course everything nice comes with a huge price tag LOL.
Alright back to my exploring. After grabbing a quick breakfast from a burger shop nearby, we then headed out. Our first stop was an area known as Fantasy Story (范特喜-綠光計畫). This gazetted area was old residential structures and ex-police squatters and they were given a new life through this project. There are many cafes and sights waiting to be explored in the area. Unfortunately I was only able to visit these shops from the outside since this was after all a cycling tour.
My guide mentioned that some of the cafes were actually owned by Taiwanese artists so if you are lucky, who knows you may bump into the them.
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| Isabella cafe |
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| My trusty bike of the day |
Next up we passed by Taichung 5th market which is essentially a row of stalls selling food. =(
Then we dropped by this street called Anime Lane ( 動漫彩繪巷) whereby an artist had single handedly painted anime drawings all over the walls (with the permission of the respective owners of course). It was the first time I actually heard about this street. For anime lovers this place is a must visit as all the drawings are fantastic. Kudos to the artist for making such a huge effort to brighten up this street.
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| Pikachuuuu |
And what more, the artist herself was present that day showing her artwork to two personalities whom I could not recall their names anymore around. I could only remember the lady is a popular travel program host in Taiwan.
Passing by Budokan Martial Arts Hall... a place for Taichung citizens to chill during their off days.
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| Archery area |
Passing by the City Hall which still retains the original architecture from the Japanese era:
Finally after just breezing through multiple sites, we finally made a pit stop at the 2nd Market (第二零售市場).
Here you could also find many stalls selling food as well as fresh groceries for consumption or to be cooked at home later. Our mini entourage patroned a stall selling Braised Pork Rice (滷肉飯). There are two stalls here. The popular stall was quite obvious with the long queue.
How'd I wish I could get fresh salmon from the morning market back in Malaysia every other day. So tempted to buy some of the those huge scallops as well!
Quite amazed to see clothings being sold right next to vegetables. Won't the shirt smell of greens? o_O
Fun fact: the famous Taiwanese dessert, Ai Yu Jelly (愛玉冰) actually comes from a fruit! Over the past 20 years or so I've always thought it was made out of jelly hahaha. The juice of the fruit will be mixed with some ingredients to solidify it which gives it its jelly-like texture. It is very easy to differentiate the real thing and just plain jelly: the real Ai Yu will definitely float on top of the drink whereas the jelly will usually sink to the bottom.
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| Authentic Ai Yu Jelly. NTD 35 |
After visiting and passing by so many restaurants and cafes and I can truly agree with my guide who mentioned the Taichung is the place to be if you are looking for food.
In the afternoon I had no other plans too so I joined my Hongkie friend who decided to visit to famous paintings at the Rainbow Village. Unfortunately our bus was heading to the opposite direction which brought us all the way to the Taichung Tzu Chi General Hospital LOL. Should have checked when we boarded the bus. Oh well. But it was also nice to see another Tzu Chi hospital. If only more of our hospitals are of this standard.
We then waited another 30 minutes before the bus started to move again and another hour to get to this place hahaha. Honestly there is nothing really special about the Rainbow Village (彩虹眷村) and it is only good for taking photos. The place is rather out of the way and unless you have your own driver around in Taichung I wouldn't recommend visiting this place.
After hanging around for 30 minutes or so we then boarded the bus which brought us back to Taichung Train Station. We then headed to the famous Miyahara (宮原眼科) to try their ice cream.
My friend and I ordered one to be shared. I couldn't remember which flavours that we ordered but it was probably the recommended ones. Unless your mission is to try every single flavour on offer, personally I don't think their ice-cream is that great either. Heck I'd rather go for Coldstone Ice Cream,which is not available in Malaysia.
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| NTD 100. 3 scoops ice-cream plus a couple of toppings. |
Our final visit of the night was at Yizhong (一中街商圈) shopping district. Generally I think the prices at Fengjia Night Market are slightly cheaper compared to here. So if you are the really thrifty type then I'd suggest that you shop at Fengjia instead haha.
The whole shopping circle is pretty small and can be completed around 1 hour probably. After grabbing our dinner we then called it a night and headed back to NJoy hostel. This finally marks the end of my stay in Taichung as I head to Cingjing tomorrow! It felt a bit sad, to be honest. I had been really enjoying the constant company of humans for the past few days and now it's back to travelling all alone again. Oh well. Still enjoying my solo trip!
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| Pork chop hot plate noodles. |
- Day 22 end-
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