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Public Zone 公開區 => Travelogues 遊記相薄 => Topic started by: hangchoi on 15 December 2011, 21:46:44
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Went to Taichung last week. There was a flight delay so that it was in the evening when we arrived at Taichung. Our first dinner there was a BBQ dinner having angus beef......The food and service were both great.
We stayed in a "business" hotel which is close to city center. We picked this hotel because it was close to a public bus terminal. The second picture is the room and the third picture was the view from our room. That is the Taichung park, which I was told that this park has over 100 year history.
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Second day: we went to Cingjing (清境), a small village on the hill, where it is also the midway to Yat Yuet Pond (日月潭). We went there by bus (2 hours+) and our first stop was to visit a farm there. On weekdays, the farm will let the sheeps wander around the whole farm so that we can even touch them, quite fun.
The first picture is the toilet of the farm plus a few picture of sheep. Unfortunately that was a rainy day and the farm, due to it altitude, was foggy.
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They had a good control of the sheep, every sheep has a numbered tag on its ear. They are well-fed by the visitor and quite sensitive to camera. The second picture seems that it knew I was taking a picture for it. The third picture was funny. I'd never known that they knee when they eat.
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A few more pictures of the farm. First is a windmill in mist. Second is a funny signage, I like the tears of the sheep. Third, you can pay NT10 for a box of this to feed the sheep.
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After visiting the farm, we walked about 3km down to our villa (民宿). There are a lot of this type of villa, which is like a small motel but with a service level like a hotel. Mine was decorated in French style. It was quite peaceful yet beautiful.
The first two pictures are the outlook of the villa, third is the restaurant and the forth one is the reception area.
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My room and its view outside.....
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The weather that day made me think of London, wet and rainy. We ate at a local booth and took these pictures. The second one is just for fun.
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We had an early dinner that day because we would then go to have hot spring. The next day morning we went to a theme restaurant called "Carton King". A cafe with lots of decoration made in card board or carton box.
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A lazy cat and the view from the Carton King, seeing my villa.
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In the afternoon that day, we went to Aowanda National Park, which is in the east side of Taichung, an hour bus away from Cingjing.
If the main theme of Tairoko National Park (our trip in March) is about rock, Aowanda's main them is about forest. Before we got there, we passed through the Lake Wanda.
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Aowanda is famous in red Maple Leaf and Sakura, but it needs an 2 hours walk to reach the maple forest and it was not an appropriate time to watch Sakura. So I just took a few pictures for something else....
There are a number of different zones / scenery to visit and the only way to get there is by foot. The zones are linked by footpath like that on the forth picture. We walked at least 3- 4 km that afternoon.
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The park is huge but part of them was destroyed by landslide during earthquake.....You can see from the following picture how large the affected area was....
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We were back to Taichung that night and we stayed in a poor hotel with lots of PRC guys. They opened the door all day, yelled in the corridor, etc. We had a noisy night.
The first picture was the view from our hotel room, overseeing the bus terminal (that's why we picked this hotel). The second picture was a sculpture on the street corner.
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The next day, we took an hour and a half ride by bus to Sitou National Park. Another park famous in pine tree, bamboo type forests.
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One of the must-see items there is a tree of 2800 years old.
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This looks like a normal wooden walkway...but in fact it is built at high level....see how high it is....
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You have to walk through a lot of pine forest and bamboo forest in order to see the old tree and other sightseeing spots. The third picture is a house made by bamboo.
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This is called University Pool but I don't know why. When we walked to the pool, we had some companies running around us and on the tree....
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Where more and more tourists went to this park, the people there built a Japanese style village next to the park. It is called Kuma (妖怪村). They put all the weird things there, even the signage......
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Visitor can buy a visitor ticket, which includes the round trip bus ticket to Taichung, the ticket to the park plus a souvenir.....You can write your wish on the souvenir and tie it on the tree.....
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Long ago people in this place were working in lumber business. One day when they were sawing the tree, the tree fell to the workers. Suddenly a mystery rock rolled down to stop the tree and saved the workers. They then started worshiping the rock and promised not to saw tree anymore. This is the mystery rock.
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We were back to Taichung at night and left the bus at Taichung train station. It is an old building and was constructed during the Japanese-ruling era. It somehow shows the Japanese style construction
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The next day we went to a square with some artwork there. It was an art gallery with some other business / shops.
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My model was showing her leg..... ;D
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After that, we rushed back to hotel and took our bags to airport. The airport is so small and I was told that it was a military airport before. We had to walk to the plane....and that's concluded our journey.....
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This is called University Pool but I don't know why. When we walked to the pool, we had some companies running around us and on the tree....
The main gate says it's also an experimental plantation of Taiwan University.
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Thanks for the report. The lodges in the first half of the report looks very Euorpean, and those in the 2nd half Japanese...
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Thanks for the report. The lodges in the first half of the report looks very Euorpean, and those in the 2nd half Japanese...
Cingjing was known by the Taiwanese as a "miniture Swizerland". In fact they have a number of villas of different styles. We just picked an European style one, they also have some other styles like Yunan, Japanese, Taiwanese, British, etc.
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I like to bamboo forest. Like 臥虎藏龍
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We had slight shower that day. The path was wet . When I walked through the pine forest, I just wished I had a bottle of Chambolle Musigny ;D
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We had slight shower that day. The path was wet . When I walked through the pine forest, I just wished I had a bottle of Chambolle Musigny ;D
With Tina, Les Amoureuses !!!!
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I went to Tai Chung and Koahsiung during CNY this year. The reason was that I got a rather cheap air ticket to Europe last year. The ticket was a bit funny because it required you to depart from any airport in Taiwan, then transit in HK to any European city. The final destination of the ticket is HK. Since I had planned to go to Europe in March, I decided to buy a one-way ticket to Tai Chung during CNY and used this cheap ticket back to HK from Taiwan, using its first part. Then I stayed in HK for a month or so and went to Europe in the end of March.
In addition to Tai Chung, Koahsiung was another place that I went to. This was my first time to go to Koahsiung.
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We arrived at Tai Chung Airport in the early afternoon. After we left our bags in hotel which was located somewhere near Tai Chung train station, we went to shopping first, as we had booked a restaurant for dinner at six. There was not much time for us to tour around.
This first picture was the sculpture I saw during last trip. It is still there.
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Due to the limit of time, we only went to buy pineapple pastry (鳳梨酥). Dawn Cake (日出) is a famous shop as they used 100% pineapple for making their pastry. We bought quite a lot for souvenir. They set up a shop in a former hospital building. The shop was well decorated.
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We booked a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant name is Umai (屋馬燒肉町). We went there during our last trip to Tai Chung and we found that very good. After that, the shop went more popular and people now needs to book 2 months in advance. Somehow we found a special way to make the reservation a bit more easy and we had succeeded to book it.
The food was up to its standard, very good and yummy. You can refer these pictures with those posted at the top of this thread.
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Our second day was a busy day. We went to National Art Gallery (台中國立美術館) in the morning. They had a sculpture exhibition at the front door.
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After the visit, we took the public bus to Tunghai University (東海大學). This is an old university which built in Japanese style, tho some rather modern building was added in later days. The university was quite and beautiful. A good walk.
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Most of the teaching facilities were moved to the modern buildings. Those Japanese style ones are for faculty administration now.
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The main reason for us to visit this University was to see the Luce Chapel (路思義教堂) built in the garden area. The chapel was designed by I. M. Pei.
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Next stop was Gaomei Wet Land (高美濕地). This is a large piece of wetland located at the northwest of Tai Chung. We went there to see the sun set but the cloudy sky blocked most part of the sun. The scene was still beautiful tho.
Different sunlight gave a different feeling for the scene. There were a lot of people hanging around there.
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We went back to the city at night to dine at Tripod King (鼎王). A hot pot place which was very good value. Food was very good but we cannot order too many dishes as there were only two of us. It would be a good hotpot place for party. Their famous pot was Super Spicy which I dared not to try. :P
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Next day morning, we went to Rainbow Village (彩虹村). This is a village full of colourful graffiti. The painting was made by an old man who is somehow Hong Kong related. His aim was to cheer up the childer thereby. I found that his paintings are colourful, with childish brushtouch, quite interesting.
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After that, we went back to hotel and took our bags because it was time for us to go to Koahsiung by train. I took a picture of Tai Chung train station at night-time last time. This time I took it again, but in day time. You can still see trace of Japanese style in architecture.
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It took us 2-3 hours to Koahsiung. We checked in the hotel, then went to eat. My wife's friend recommended a place to us and it turned out that the place was wonderful for hanging out. The place was MLD. This is a building complex which is divided into 3 parts. MLD reading, a big big big book store, which I found it even better that Eslite (誠品). MLD food, a food plaza with fine restaurant, coffee shop and food court. MLD cinema, a movie house.
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Night market was almost a must-go place for visiting Taiwan. Instead of going to the tourist spot night market, we went to a more local night market. This market is full of localist and the goods / foods are very local as well. I found that it has stalls for food, cloths, accessories, and even game.
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Before we headed back to hotel by MTR, we specifically stopped at Formosa Boulevard station (美麗島站). The ceiling of this station was famed by its beautiful mosaic glass ceiling, which a lot of tourist would go to this station merely for seeing the ceiling.
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Last day morning, we went visit Westbay area (西子灣). There was a long queue waiting for ferry to Chichin (旗津) so we decided not to go there. We toured around various spots with some historic or cultural value. This first stop was the Takao Railway Museum (打狗鐵道故事館). The old train station now turns to a museum. It is quite large with some obsolete rail tracks, now a place for the residents to hang out.
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Second spot was called Wude Martial Arts Center (武德殿). Built in Japanese-occupied period, this place was for the people learning Kendo. The disciple of Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武藏) once stayed here to teach. You can still see the Kendo class there.
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There is a statement talking about the meaning of Kendo. The next pictures are the entrance stone pole. Some words are engraved at the back.
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The next stop was Takao British Consulate (打狗英國領事館). It is a famous tour spot with its history about the dealing between Qing Dynasty and British Government. The consulate building was not big but the living place of the ambassador was huge. You have to walk up the hill to reach the ambassador's house.
The first two pictures shows the existing decoration of the consulate. There is an air-raid shelter next to the consulate.
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This picture was taken at the ambassador's house to oversee the consulate.
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Another place to go was the Pier-2 Art Center (駁二藝術特區). This was a quayside godwin which was renovated to house various art creation center. It has a cinema, some restaurants, book store, art gallery, etc. The food path around those storerooms has various sculptures or model and the facade of the buildings are full of painting.
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This artwork is made of straws. I like the narrow and deep toilet of this area as the layout fits perfectly.
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After that, we walked back to our hotel area. We en-routed to the Rosary to take a look, but it was close on the day we visited.
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Before we took our bag to airport, we went to a bakery named Wupaochun (吳寶春). This guy won an international competition in bakery. Then he was invited by an entrepreneur to open a shop in Koahsiung. He was given a lease of the shop for 3 year rent free. His bread is famous and you will see a long queue waiting to go into there to buy.
The shop even has a list telling you which type of bread would be finished at what time. :o
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The shop is well decorated. Breads are yummy and nice. I found that he used some out-of-box ingredients to make bread. We bought a few as our afternoon tea.
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That concludes our trip. I found that Tai Chung and Koahsiung are two vibrant cities in Taiwan. People are friendly and nice, very forthcoming. The government is trying to consolidating the use of electronic money and the entrepreneur is willing to take business venture. I look forward to seeing these cities going prosperous in near future, especially after the change of government.
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I went to Tai Chung and Koahsiung during CNY this year. The reason was that I got a rather cheap air ticket to Europe last year. The ticket was a bit funny because it required you to depart from any airport in Taiwan, then transit in HK to any European city. The final destination of the ticket is HK. Since I had planned to go to Europe in March, I decided to buy a one-way ticket to Tai Chung during CNY and used this cheap ticket back to HK from Taiwan, using its first part. Then I stayed in HK for a month or so and went to Europe in the end of March.
In addition to Tai Chung, Koahsiung was another place that I went to. This was my first time to go to Koahsiung.
What airline?
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The next stop was Takao British Consulate (打狗英國領事館). It is a famous tour spot with its history about the dealing between Qing Dynasty and British Government. The consulate building was not big but the living place of the ambassador was huge. You have to walk up the hill to reach the ambassador's house.
The first two pictures shows the existing decoration of the consulate. There is an air-raid shelter next to the consulate.
What's the history of the dealing between Qing & British?
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Taiwan is really more like Japanese than Chinese.
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What airline?
The power of Facebook. There is a page that my wife has subscribed which tells you any recent special offers of air tickets, hotels, etc.
The tickets were bought at Expedia. The airline from Koahsiung to HK is Dragonair. From HK to Paris and Amsterdam to HK, the airline is Lufthansia, both transit at Munich.
BTW, this is the first time I flighted by Lufthansia, I found it quite good. Very soft landing, spacious seat (My flight was A330 to Munich. If you fly to Frankfurt for Amsterdam as first stop, you will fly A380)
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What's the history of the dealing between Qing & British?
Nothing special actually. Koahsiung was a big port at that time and it was all about import/export business after the signing of Tianjin Treaty (天津條約).
You can see a copy of the 馬關條約 between Qing and Japan there too.
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Taiwan is really more like Japanese than Chinese.
I concur. It had a rather long Japan-occupied period. Culture-wise, it is a mix of both Chinese and Japanese. Use of words, translation, architecture, life style etc. Indeed during the WW2, Taiwanese was a source of military force of Japan, so there were some Taiwan indigenous actually took part in the invasion to South East Asia, or even China.