TAIWAN SMALL TOWN RAMBLE
Taiwan is well-known for
places – Kaohsiung (orchards), Taipeh (shopping), Tainan
(historical) and the Alishan Mountain.
This island has become a
popular holiday destination for Malaysian for the past few years.
Little did I know, that
there are many hidden jewels in Taiwan's tourism industry, until I
was invited for a 6D5N tour themed “Taiwan Small Town Ramble”,
sponsored by Golden Century Tour & Travel Sdn Bhd, here.
The trip was organised
solely for four bloggers from either personal blog or magazine blog.
During the almost one-week
stay in Taiwan, I have got to know there are really hidden beauty of
the many “small towns” in this country.
I believe there are much to
offer in Taiwan after discovering these “unknown” inland areas,
and these places need promotion to attract more tourists, here.
DAY 1
Our journey started from Ipoh-Kuala
Lumpur-Taoyuan. We reached the City Suites Gateway Taoyuan, at about
7pm – ready for dinner, held at the city centre. The locals
recommended me to try out the popular mee suah soup (flour vermicelli) dish that goes well with a bowl of tofu fah (beancurd dessert).
DAY 2
Our first stop was a visit to the a
cultural village called the “Town of Wanderings” located in the
old Guanxi Town, in Hsinchu County. We were allowed to spend one hour
here, exploring the local Hakka culture and history, Japanese-built
colonial architecture, cultural-creative houses in renovated old
Chinese shop houses, and iconic eateries selling Hakka broad noddles,
stinky tofu and grass jelly.
Something amazed me was the colorful
cultural-creative houses found here whereby tourists would stop over
to take photographs.
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| TOWN OF WANDERING - A TRADITIONAL LOOKING HOUSE |
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| WRITER (R) POSING WITH HER TOUR GUIDE TAMMY |
We also dropped by the Chocolate Hotel
also known as “Schokolake Vacation House” for a brief outlook on
what it has in store for tourists in this cute “all chocolate”
decorated hotel. The owner even prepared a few popular dishes for
food review by the media, including chicken chop and steak topped
with chocolate flavor followed with chocolate cakes and drinks.
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| SCHOKOLAKE VACATION HOUSE OR CHOCOLATE HOTEL |
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| ALL THINGS (FOOD) LACED WITH CHOCOLATE FLAVOUR |
Next, was my favourite place named
“Miaoli – Romantic Highway” where we had our 10-dish sumptuous
lunch located at a hill side. After lunch, the restaurant owner led
us to her orchard just opposite the restaurant to participate
hands-on picking fruits such as strawberry, carrot, ginger, cherry
and vegetables. I really have “fun” in this place, as I also
participated in plucking a large white carrot for photography
session.
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| PICKING FRUITS AT MIAOLI ROMANTIC HIGHWAY |
|
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| ME AND MR WHITE CARROT |
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| BLOGGERS SHOWCASING THEIR PLUCKED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES |
After a heavy lunch, we proceeded to
Sanwan Township Park, a new tourism product which has yet to be given
a name by the government. Here, we were required to take a 20 minutes
stroll to see a mass growth of the golden colored leaves tree named
as 'bald cypress tree'. Tourists here, took photographs with the
newly planted cypress trees, and also the presence of duck, swan,
chicken and goose around the park. To me, this place looks more like
a “farm”, where one can view all kinds of bird species, plants,
flowers and trees.
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| SANWAN TOWNSHIP PARK |
We then check into the Zhuo Ye Cottage
located in the mountain area, at the Miaoli County. This cottage
looks very traditional, peaceful and village-like atmosphere with the
presence of chicken, duck, dogs and cats around the place. Later, we
had our steam-boat dinner held at the cottage's restaurant.
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| ROOM THAT I STAY IN ZHOU YE COTTAGE |
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| ZHUO YE COTTAGE |
DAY 3
Could not wait to
view the Shen-Shing Station – a site of an old Japanese Colonial
era train stop along the old North-South route to Kaohsiung was
completed by 1908. Tourists were happy to see the old version of
train exhibited in this station.
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| SHEN-SHING TRAIN STATION |
In Shen-Shing,
visitors are encouraged to walk the old cobbled streets, enjoy the
beauty of traditional sight and enjoy authentic “local Hakka
culture”, eat authentic food sell along the streets.
We also get to
experience a detour to the Brands Factory, Ribbon Museum and Taiwan
Glass Gallery – to have a look at the latest products manufactured
in these three places, located at Changhua County.
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| WRITER POSING WITH BRAND'S OLD DELIVERY CAR |
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| BRANDS FACTORY |
At the Ribbon
Museum, we were introduced to a variety of ribbons and how to make
ribbons, here.
Visitors also
learn the trade of making a decorative item using ribbons.
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| RIBBON MUSEUM |
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| RIBBONS IS A FORM OF ATTRACTION FOR XMAS |
We then had our
lunch at the Taiwan Glass Gallery before we were ushered to
experience a walk at the Glass 101 building to view the different
types of products that Taiwan's glass industry creates. The gallery
also showcase wide variety of art glass, household glass, and
engineering glass displayed throughout the exhibition area. Opposite
the gallery, visitors can take a walk around the Glass Mazu Temple.
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| TAIWAN GLASS GALLERY |
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| GLASS MAZU TEMPLE |
When afternoon
comes, we adjourned to the most interesting outdoor place where we
get a chance to pick oysters, organised by Wong Gong Picking Oysters.
We took a rugged van out to the shore – to experience what it is
like to pick oysters. The organisors had already tied up a row of
oysters for the tourists to pick on it. There were a variety of
activities for the tourists to indulge such as picking and tying up
oysters found on a rope, a talk on oyster cultivation and methods to
find oysters in the sea.
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| READY FOR THE PICKING OYSTER TRIP |
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| SHOWING OFF OUR SUCCESSFULLY PICKED OYSTERS |
Another
interesting place to visit is the “Lukang Culture Village” -
where one gets to see the Old Streets of Taiwan comprises of old,
tiny and abandoned kind of shops selling biscuits, souvenirs, toys
and textiles, and the oldest Tin Hau Kong Temple.
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| TIN HAU KONG TEMPLE AT OLD STREET |
A must not missed
- is the Lukang Lung-Shan Temple, an awesome temple rich in
history.
The temple was
built in the late 18th century remains a showcase of
southern temple design. Highlights include the front mountain gate
(special bracketing system for Chinese architecture) and sweeping
eaves, carved dragons (front of Hall of Five Gates), two fish curl
each other (Yin Yang Symbol), and the resident deity Bodhisattva
Guanyin. The temple's brackets and beams carved in symbol of clouds,
dragons, bats, lions, melons, elephants, phoenixes and fish.
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| LUKANG LUNG-SHAN TEMPLE | |
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| LUKANG LUNG-SHAN TEMPLE - REFLECTION FROM THE TOP |
Get on a
tricycle ride to visit the old streets namely Mo Ru Lane or
Touch Breast Lane – where a man and a woman walk through this lane,
they might touch each others' breast as the lane is too narrow. This
so-called lane is a fire lane where it started once there is a fire
hazard, and the people use these narrow fire lanes, along the stores
to escape. The lane has air circulation and lights, and it forms an
easier access to the larger streets. The lane is 70 cm at narrow west
place.
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| MO RU LANE |
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| HERE WE GO MR TRICYCLE - LUKANG CULTURE VILLAGE |
We then check into
Child Story – another traditional accommodation, located at the
mountain site.
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| AN OLD FASHION ACCOMMODATION - CHILD STORY |
DAY 4
A series of visits awaits us on Day 4 -
namely Shing Long Textile Yulin, Chiayi Bantaoyao Art Village and
Eirakucho Tea House.
At Shing Long Textile located in the
Yulin County, whereby we were provided a detour to see a range of
textile and towel products, the weaving factory, tower museum, towel
cake kitchen, warp-yarn factory and the towel shop. Visitors were
given a hands on to make a doggy using Shing Long textile at its Do
It Yourself (DIY) area. The textile factory was found by Kuo-Lung Lin
and Su Lin with 24 traditional looms in 1979.
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| SHING LONG TEXTILE FACTORY IN YUNLIN COUNTY |
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| HAND MADE DOGGY USING SHING LONG TEXTILE |
A visit to Chiayi Bantaoyao Art Village
was an eye-opener to me where I got to view numerous art pieces and
ceramic products. The village was opened in 2005, located at boundary
of Chiayi County and Yunlin County. The chairman, Jhong-Jhang Chen
devoted himself to the art of cuting and pasting Koji Ceramic
figurines, for some 30 years. Chen created the Banto Kiln Park
comprises of Koji Ceramics Museum, a workshop, a shop, a restaurant
and classical eastern garden.
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| BANTAOYAO ART VILLAGE IN CHIAYI |
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| CAT CERAMIC TILES SEAT |
We ended our tour in Tainan City, where
we visited the Eirakucho Drum Tea House - for a detour of the tea
house. Dinner was provided by the tea house as we were entertained
with a live Hokkien show of a couple depicting their livelihood.
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| EIRAKUCHO DRUM TEA HOUSE AT TAINAN |
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| GUESTS POSING WITH PERFORMERS AT THE TEA HOUSE |
We then check into the Tainan Fushin
Hotel before we proceed with a free and easy session.
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| GUESTS POSING WITH TAINAN FUSHIN HOTEL MANAGER (R) |
DAY 5
The famous “Bopiliao” here I come!!
The Bopiliao in Taipei City's Wanhua District comprises the area
enclosed by Kangding Road, Guangzhou Street and Kunming Street. The
neighbourhood around the intersection of Kangding Road and Guangzhou
Street was formerly a major coal market and distribution point. This
Coal Market was an important business district, and to this day one
can admire a lot of Western-style architecture in this area.
Historically, this place began almost 200 years ago, during the late
Qing dynasty, and throughout Japanese colonial rule and later the
Nationalist era.
A stroll down Bopiliao, one can view
the various mural art, fast rickshaws (tricycle), walls of different
surfaces (To-Ga wall/Wooden Plank Wall and Traditional Wall), tea
house and Junks.
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| YOUNGSTERS POSING WITH OLD BUILDINGS AT BOPILIAO IN TAIPEH |
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| A VISITOR POSING WITH THE MURAL ARTS AT BOPILIAO |
Nearby the area, we also visited the
Manka Longshan Temple and Di Hua Street.
Manka Longshan Temple is the first
temple in Taiwan to have been built with palaquin-type bell and drum
towers and bronze dragon pillar exemplifies integration of Buddhinst,
taoist and Confucian beliefs in Taiwanese folk region. This temple is
listed in the Top 100 Religion Scenes of Taiwan on November 22, 2013.
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| MANKA LONGSHAN TEMPLE IN TAIPEH |
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| WRITER POSING WITH THE GRAND MANKA LONGSHAN TEMPLE |
Dinner was held at the Slow Food
Restaurant.
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| SLOW FOOD RESTAURANT |
Check into Taipei Saual Keh, before we
continued a free and easy shopping, at the crowded Night Market.
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| TAIPEI SAUAL KEH HOTEL |
DAY 6
Before sun rise we already check out
the hotel. Proceed to the airport for departure back to Malaysia.
