13th Apr 2018, Friday
We planned to leave our hotel at 9am. Before that, we had free breakfast provided by the hotel. The service staff there is really polite and they would greet you when they see you.
Sad to say, the buffet breakfast didn't have a lot of vegan options outside of salad (I don't eat salads for breakfast?). Anyway I decided to grab rice and lots of broccoli.
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| My first helping. |
小许 (I'm going to type Xiao Xu from here onwards because it's a hassle to type in Chinese) arrived way before 9am and he hung around the hotel lobby waiting for us to be ready. He helped us load our luggage into the car and we were off! Most of Hsinchu's buildings are old. And they are made of brick.
Our first stop is Hsinchu's 城隍廟 (cheng huang miao/city god temple). The area has lots of small stalls which makes up their 夜市 (night market). The opening hours stated online is 10am-10pm. We were there at 9+am so there weren't that many stalls open for business.
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| Entrance |
One of Hsinchu's specialty is 米粉 (beehoon). So it was not surprising that the store just beside the entrance was selling that.
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| Different beehoon |
With so many different types/brands/etc of beehoon, we were spoilt for choice and decided not to buy any. 😅
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| Actual entrance to the temple |
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| What a small pagoda (and dragon) on the roof! Must take a lot of skill to make |
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| Inside the temple. There are other sections of the temple to explore too. |
So.. Some background into the temple (info from an info board):
Hsinchu's Chenghuang (City God) Temple is located in the center of the City, at a place described by fengshui practitioners as a "carp cave". Belief in Chenghuang derived from Nature worship, later evolving into a worship of a deity with jurisdiction over the human and nether realms. Cheng refers to a city's walls; huang is its protective moat or ditch. Chenghuang Ye (Lord of the City Wall and Moat, or simply City God) has divine status equivalent to province, prefecture, county or city governor. Hsinchu's Chenghuang Temple was built in 1748 as a county-level temple for official sacrifices. It was dedicated to Sianyou Bo (Earl Manifesting Divine Assistance). When, in the late 19th century, the seat of government was transferred to Taipei but temporarily stationed in Hsinchu, the temple was Suijing Hou (Marquis of Pacification). Worship of "grandfather" Chenghuang of Hsinchu became as popular as that of "grandmother" Mazu of Beigang.
Following successful supplication of rain in 1887, the Temple was bestowed a horizontal placard inscribed 金门保障 ("Gold Door Protection"; i.e. protector of the nation). The following year, officials and people from throughout Taiwan gathered to hold a ceremony, and a second promotion of the nation and blessings for the people. This ceremony, and a second promotion of the temple to county capital status and of the deity to Weiling Gong (Duke of Awesome Spirituality), established their reputation as second-to-none throughout Taiwan. This statue of a City God is awe-inspiring, solemn and lifelike. It glows as the sun sets in the west, like a carp spitting pearls, for which the temple is known as Carp Cave.
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| "Hawker" within the Cheng Huang Temple area |
Most of them were selling meatballs:
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| These are uncooked. The symbols on them is meant for differentiating different flavours |
My mum wanted to try the meatballs, cooked. We spotted this stall and since it's 郑家(zheng family), my dad got all excited. He's always excited when he sees a stall with his surname. Futhermore this is a 百年老店 (100 years' old shop).
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| Because my mum saw people eating there, she decided to buy from this stall. haha, cos customers = food is nice. |
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| Mum ordered these. She thought she ordered meatballs, but these were actually just fish balls! Partly because the Auntie's mislead her by saying meat balls and fish balls. |
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| Auntie checking out the TWD$2000, wondering if it's genuine or fake |
So apparently, the $2000 note is uncommon and we actually got our notes all in $2000 denomination from the money changer back in Singapore. $2000 is the biggest denomination they have there and because it's so uncommon, most of the people we gave $2000 for change kept wondering if it's real. Big notes usually raise a flag for money laundering so you've got to wonder. It's kind of like receiving a SGD$10,000 note. It exists and is legal tender, even though SG already stopped issuing and I've never seen an actual one.
Regarding the fish balls that my mum tried, she was disappointed that it has no meat in it (obviously, because she thought they were meat balls and you know how Singapore has those kind of fish balls with meat inside..? They look very alike, so can't blame her for not knowing). She said she didn't like the taste of these fish balls and preferred Singapore's fish balls which is more unhealthy. See, she likes the unhealthy taste. Haha.
On our way back to the car from the temple where Xiao Xu was waiting, we passed by this hundred years' old store - 新復珍餅店 (Xin Fu Zhen cake shop; the shop has no English name unfortunately so I'm providing the han yu pin yin). The shop was established back in 1898 according to their website.
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| Building from a distance |
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| Entrance |
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| Just some of the stuff that they sell... |
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| Samples |
Their specialty/top-selling cake is the 竹塹餅 (Zhu Qian Bing), which is the front-most plate in the above samples pic. It is not vegan, so I didn't try it. Not sure if you can tell from the picture above, but there's meat in it which I find a little weird for cakes? Anyway their stuff has no preservatives so my mum did not buy any as it was just the start of our trip and would definitely not last till we return. They do have outlets also in Taipei, but the stuff they have there is quite limited although they definitely do sell their specialty there. You can purchase them as a box or individually. There's no discount if you get them in a box (it's still TWD$35 each). Just think of it as them giving you a free box.
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| Their specialty. Okay they named it chu chan cake; Taiwan does not use han yu pin yin, which gets confusing. |
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| 美祿柑 金桔麻糬 (kumquat mochi) |
This kumquat mochi is vegan, and it's pretty tasty. Didn't buy though because again, it can't last for too long.
I was hungry by then having had very little for breakfast (as compared to my usual breakfast of oats and berries, etc). The counter lady was very helpful in pointing me to a place across the street where there were vegetarian buns for sale. The place is called 西大发城隍包 (xi da fa cheng huang bao)
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| Store front |
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| Menu |
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| Menu options |
The Taiwanese are all very helpful whenever I ask whether something is vegan or not. I actually have no idea what a vegan dietary preference is called in Chinese (I really should ask my Chinese friends). So anyway, whenever I needed to ask if something is vegan, I ask if it's 全素 (pure vegetarian) and that means no meat, dairy products, eggs, onions, and garlic. I doubt it excludes honey though, but honey is not a common ingredient and one can usually tell if something might contain honey.
I bought a 高丽菜包 (cabbage bun) to try. It tasted decent. Price was decent too at TWD$22.
My mum had indicated 北埔老街 (Beipu old street) and 内湾老街 (Neiwan old street) in our itinerary. Xiao Xu told us that both the streets are almost the same in terms of what the vendors sell. So it would save us quite a bit of car time (at least an hour) if we pick just one to go to. We agreed, although I could see my mum was a bit hesitant at first. Basically it's the older generation's principle - 'Since we are already nearby and we flew all the way here, we must go and see it'. Well, I think differently. There's so much to see, and something that has not been visited acts an incentive for me return. 😋
I helped to choose and I picked Beipu old street just solely because it saves us a bit more time than going to Neiwan old street. Along the way, Xiao Xu pointed out to us the Hakka's floral cloth. The print is unmistakable even if they come in different colours and we will continue to see them during our trip.
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| Hakka floral fabric |
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| View from car. Love the mountains! |
We reached Beipu old street which is in Hsinchu, but not in the city. It's actually quite a small street, similar in size to Neiwan old street (from Google maps). It was quite deserted given that it was a Friday morning and also because Taiwan is experiencing less Chinese tourists than 2-3 years ago. Nevertheless, there are still things to see! The street vendors were mostly selling 擂茶 (lei cha, literally ground tea although Singaporeans also call it Thunder tea) and 柿子 (shi zi, or persimmon), the dried kind.
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| At Beipu old street |
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| Temple area where cars are not allowed in (except those with permission I'm guessing) |
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| The first stall we came across. Friendly uncle! |
In Taiwan, it's quite common to be offered samples. It doesn't apply to all stalls, but most will offer. It's actually one of the things I like about Taiwan, because at least you know what you are buying and it's free! This stall uncle offered us (just me and Xiao Xu because my parents wandered off already) 苦瓜茶 (ku gua cha, or bitter gourd tea). I was quite skeptical that it would taste nice because I really don't like the bitterness of bitter gourds. I tried it anyway and the tea grew on me with each sip.
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| The bitter gourd came in packets and you are supposed to brew the tea yourself. |
I ended up buying it because I really liked it. But I was reminded by my mum that it is considered cold food (in Chinese, foods are classified into different types which are suited for different types of bodies) and I should not be taking cold food in large quantities. So I exchanged it for the 肉挂皮 (cinnamon) because I've never seen that before. Okay that was before I translated it. We totally can get cinnamon powder here toooooo. 😅 My dad helped me to grind it into powder today. I actually do not like cinnamon..... but I tried some by mixing it with a lot of water and it doesn't taste that bad. I'm not sure I'll use it for cooking though..
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| The stall uncle also let us try his 麦芽糖 (maltose candy) |
Even though I had lei cha rice before, I had no idea that lei cha is any combination of the following:
The only time I had ground tea was with rice and other veggies back in Singapore, and I remembered being quite put off by the taste. It was bitter. However, knowing that ground tea is a combination of different things, I thought to myself that it could just be that particular combination that was horrible and was willing to give it a second chance.
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| What's used for grinding. The pestle is missing though |
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| From another stall |
There were so many combinations, thus flavours, to try and I ended up liking them all. hahaha and I felt quite full from all the samples. They are after all beans and nuts. I almost bought one of them but thinking of all the tea I still have back in Singapore, I decided not to.
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| This shop allows people to DIY their own ground tea |
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| Turning back to the very much deserted street |
I ended up at this shop selling oils. Apparently my mum bought a bottle of oil for motion-sickness, which I didn't see her using for our flight back home.
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| It looks like a really old shop |
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| It reads 樟脑油 (Camphor oil). The essential oil has lots of uses. |
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| I believe this is the Camphor bark and balls (no idea how it's made). There's a nice smell to it |
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| 香茅油 (lemongrass oil) |
I ended up purchasing the middle bottle (all natural) which is quite effective in repelling mosquitoes. Unfortunately, despite it being wrapped in lots of bubble wrap, it leaked. My luggage ended up smelling like lemongrass. I didn't throw it away until back in Singapore when I found the entire bubble wrap and plastic bag were soaked entirely in it and there's no hope of recovering any of the oil :(
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| Different kinds of dried persimmon. What fascinated me were those things swinging wildly above the persimmon which are a means of shooing away flies. |
We were done walking around the street and of course, my parents needed to go to the washroom. The washroom is near the temple so I waited for them with Xiao Xu nearby. We chit-chatted while waiting.
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| Tourists from Hong Kong |
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| Shop next to the temple which sells Taiwanese childhood games |
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| I don't recall playing any of these games in my childhood, but Xiao Xu mentioned that he did. 😄 |
Next place on our itinerary was in 苗栗縣 (Miaoli county) so goodbye Hsinchu, hello Miaoli!
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| Traffic is pretty light |
At 苗栗特色館 (Miaoli cultural park):
Me: What's there to see here?
Mum: I don't know.
Me: Huh... Why you never do your homework? Later very boring.
I was wrong. The place looked small from the outside, but it was actually big. We spent about 2 hours there! It was really empty and except for us.
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| 苗栗特色館 (Miaoli cultural park) entrance. |
The first area allows visitors to experience the three treasures - 香茅 (lemongrass), 樟脑 (Camphor), and 苦茶 (Camellia).
On site, there were 2 kinds of lemongrass. One is the Indian lemongrass, and the other is the Indo lemongrass.
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| Indian lemongrass; blades are thinner |
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| Indo lemongrass |
A bit of history (from the info board there, with some edits from me as the English phrasing is awkward)...
The history of lemongrass can be traced back to 1911 when Japanese people first imported it to Taiwan. The mass production of the lemongrass oil made Taiwan the biggest producer in the world since the 1950s. Of the production island-wide, Miaoli produces 80%. Lemongrass oil was used as an ingredient in perfumes in Paris. It is also used to prevent mosquito bites. There are two kinds of extraction, the traditional method, and the newer method. The traditional method requires cutting the grass into pieces and heating them. The steam which rises is then cooled to produce oil.
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| Exhibition of traditional method used in extracting lemongrass oil |
Next, we were introduced to the 樟脑树 (Camphor tree) which apparently was used to build houses in the past.
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| Camphor tree |
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| A small piece of the camphor tree |
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| Camphor oil |
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| Oil for sale |
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| Camphor oil beads |
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| Camphor tree rings |
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| The interesting thing is that the smell comes off stronger when it is damp. |
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| Camphor oil products |
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| Camphor tree |
Some info from the info board... (with some edits by me again)
The fact that Hakka people rely a lot on Camphor trees can be seen from the thriving camphor business in Miaoli. Because of the numerous camphor oil factories in Miaoli, the fragrance of camphor trees has the fragrance of the camphor trees. There are many uses of camphor - it is used to make records, films, ping pong balls, etc. Because of its unique aroma, it is used as a repellent fro insects, a deodoriser for the environment and is also used to treat wounds. The traditional method of extracting pure camphor oil is by distillation.
We moved on to the next exhibition which was on Camellia oil. The oil is made from the seeds of Camellia sinensis.
The seed's waste has uses, such as in gardening as a natural way to prevent(maybe even kill) pests.
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| Waste |
According to the staff, the oil is superior to olive oil for cooking. He gave me a cup to try. It's well.. quite oily and I still prefer the taste of olive oil to it.
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| This chart shows the % of different kinds of fats found in different oils. |
He showed me another kind of oil, hemp seed oil, which is popular in France and Canada too.
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| Slightly blur photo of hemp seeds |
Back to Camellia oil... they use its powder as soap. That was before chemicals were invented as soap!
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| Soap for sale. Can be used to wash pots and pans, as well as vegetables and fruits. |
Was quite tempted to buy but it's 1kg. Too heavy. :X
We were done with the oil exhibition, but there was more awaiting us. We headed to the Miaoli Ceramics Museum.
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| Garden - pond area with ducks and geese |
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| Spot the little duckling! It was swimming so fast... Young and energetic |
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| We could see a strawberry field from the 2nd floor of the museum |
We also visited the tetrahedral kiln which is no longer in use. Lots of cobwebs x.x
Next we headed into this shop where my mum spent a lot of time looking at souvenirs to buy.
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| Souvenir shop |
The shop has quite a lot of stuff for sale. It carries lots of teapots and tea sets too.
One of the makers happened to come in to pass on his new wares. We chatted and he shared with me all about making the process of making his tea cup. Quite the honor since I thought his work is really good!
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| His work |
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| Also his works. I really like the middle pot! |
We returned to the car, realising that we just spent 2 hours in the place. I asked Xiao Xu if he was hungry but he said no. Must be all the lei cha we had. hahaha.
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| Car ride to our next location |
We arrived at 大湖草莓酒庄 (Dahu strawberry winery).
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| Behold, massive strawberries! |
It's quite disappointing though because it's the end of the strawberry season so there were not many strawberries left. I thought there would be strawberry tasting but nope!
We first walked through their store.
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| Strawberry jams |
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| No idea what these are. Probably candy. They are adorable! |
Then we had wine tasting. Actually it was just me, my parents weren't interested.
They had quite a lot of different alcohols, and I think I tried all of them because my impression of fruit wines is good. I didn't really like any of them though and I felt that they were pricey.
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| 草莓淡酒 (strawberry wine) and 李子淡酒 (plum wine). These are wine in low alcohol concentrations of 6.5%. The other alcohols that they have are way higher in concentration |
My parents bought strawberry ice-cream to share and we wandered around. We enquired about buying/trying fresh strawberries and were directed to the farmers of the strawberry fields nearby.
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| Farmer's stall |
Only one of the farmers offered to let us pick our own strawberries. But I found it rather expensive? It was TWD$150 per 600g. I was comparing the price to strawberries from France where I only paid CHF $2-3 for 1kg or 2kg nearing the end of strawberry season!
There were more shops to explore but we were not interested in buying strawberry-flavoured stuff with the expensive prices.
We walked back to the meeting spot and Xiao xu was surprised that we were done with the place so quickly. I think he had just returned from his lunch.
During the car ride, Xiao Xu asked about the strawberry winery and I mentioned that I was disappointed by the lack of fresh strawberries. This prompted a discussion surrounding what fruits are currently in season. Xiao Xu mentioned 琵琶果 (pipa) is in season and I told him that I've never tried the fruit, only the medicine. 😂 We expressed interest in buying it if there are any along the road (because fruits at night market are expensive) and it just so happened that we saw an uncle selling them at the side of the road, and so we stopped to buy.
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| The pipas are in different baskets according to their sizes |
The uncle gave us each a pipa each to try. Xiao Xu taught us how to peel it. He's quite the pro at peeling. We all peeled but failed to peel it as nicely and as fast as he did. The fruit tasted nice and sweet 😋 so we bought the big-sized ones at TWD$160/600g. I know it's more expensive than the strawberries but we hardly ever get pipa in Sg and even when we have them, they are expensive!
We originally planned to go to 苗栗好望角 (Miaoli hao wang jiao) which is a scenic spot with huge wind turbines offering walking paths with broad coastal views. Xiao Xu told us that it's not as impressive as another place on our list, 高美湿地 (Gaomei wetlands) which is a natural wetlands park with walkways, offering scenic views of the water and sunset.
In view of time, we decided to drop the hao wang jiao and just go to the wetlands. Thus we exited Miaoli county and entered Taichung county where the wetlands is located.
It was really overcast as we headed south. The wetlands is known for its crabs and the first thing my mum asked was "can ppl catch (the crabs) and eat them?" 🙄 my mum seemed to be always thinking about food.
It was still very early, about 4+pm when we reached the area so we chilled in this cafe nearby next to the parking lot (which I think Xiao Xu brings everybody to when he's there). We were the only customers.
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| Lady boss preparing our order |
We ordered the 宜兰葱饼套餐 (Yilan onion cake set) which comes with a drink for TWD$200. Decided on 香柚茶 (Pomelo tea) for the drink. Price is decent, given that it's a cafe. The presentation of the food and drink is awesome!
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| Iced pomelo tea |
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| Onion cake |
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| Lots of onions inside |
It was tasty so we bought two more onion cakes at TWD$110 each and we were given free fruits !
Started walking towards the wetlands at 5.15pm. It was still cloudy but there were parts of the sky that didn't have clouds. Xiao Xu set up a tripod and he told me that he wanted to do a timelapse of the sunset.
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| Lots of people |
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| Crabs |
We were out of luck that evening. It got so cloudy at the horizon that there's no chance of seeing the sun set. It was still nice though for the period that the sun was out :) no regrets.
Since drivers' working hours are around 10 hours/day, meaning that Xiao Xu's service ends at 7pm, our last stop is our hotel for the night at 逢甲 (Fengjia). Our hotel 葉綠宿旅館 (Green Hotel) is within walking distance to 逢甲夜市 (Fengjia night market) which is on our itinerary.
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| My mum read it as Greek Hotel. 😂 |
Xiao Xu dropped us off and we were promptly greeted by what felt like a horde of their staff. The place is really green, like its name suggests.
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| Green wall that is 13m tall, 3m wide with 7 different types of plants |
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| Even the water dispenser had plants around it... |
We were staying at the hotel for two nights and it was unfortunate that the room was small. I couldn't find a better place to stay in Fengjia that is decent (no transparent glass doors for toilet) and cheap. This place wasn't cheap when I booked it, at ~S$265 for the two nights with no breakfast provided.
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| It is very greeeeeen. |
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| My parents like that the sink is outside of the toilet. |
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| Their soap and shampoo had green tea as ingredient. Very inline with the 'green' theme 😂 |
We settled in quickly and left for the night market! I was quite excited to see for myself the famous night market. Before Xiao Xu left, he told us that Fengjia night market is really big, and it'll probably take us at least 2 nights to finish it. The hotel gave us a map and I led the way. It's supposed to be a 10 mins' walk.
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| View along the way |
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| Looks kinda like Mr Bean's pancakes 😁 |
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| Diagonal crossing!!! My mum was hesitant to cross the road diagonally at first 😆 |
So I got to admit, I was lost. I couldn't find the entrance to the night market. There are no signboards that points you to the night market. You must know where it is. I checked Google maps but it was quite vague on the area of the night market and I did not have any connection to the Internet. We ended up wandering on the outskirts of the night market, thinking that it's the main area of the night market.
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| We covered the orange area, but the green area is the main area, which we covered the next night 😊 |
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| No business because everyone is queuing up at the stall opposite... |
The above 大腸包小腸 (literally large sausage wraps small sausage) is something that almost all night markets has. It's something that is unique to Taiwan, and is exactly like what its name suggests: a segment of Taiwanese pork sausage is wrapped in a sticky rice sausage to make this delicacy, usually served chargrilled. It may be compared to a hot dog. Thanks, Wikipedia. It comes in different flavours.
It was a Friday night and I thought that the place is crowded, but I was told later on that the main area is much more crowded.
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| Lots of dream catcher stores like this around, but hardly anyone plays. |
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| This is the only night market that we have been to with cotton candy |
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| And wow, animal-shaped cotton candy! |
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| Popcorn with hand-carved pens |
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| There are bubble tea stalls of course! |
Lots of game stalls in the night market too...
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| No idea what game this is |
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| Pop the balloon by shooting |
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| Finally a sign that says it's the night market (although it's not the main area!) |
There was hardly any vegan food (in all night markets, not just this). Bought an onion pancake again but this pancake is of a different style. You can even choose to add extra ingredients. By default, there's pepper.
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| Sign reads onion pancake |
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| Vendor preparing my onion pancake which he took out of the fridge 😅 |
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| You can ask for more onions (for free) |
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| Found a stall that sells vegan food. Most of the stuff on the menu are mushrooms |
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| Bought the chicken ball which is made of mushroom (right-most in the pic) and also the assorted fried mushrooms (2nd bowl from the left) |
My mum also bought some fries from another stall with plum sauce TWD$40 for small packet which is heavily fried.
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| I'm not sure what this stall sells... |
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| Seems to be sticky rice |
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| The area is next to the university of Fengjia |
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| Guy was singing a Jap song |
I was quite tired from all the walking especially in my boots which are not meant for heavy walking. We went into the nearest convenience store... and was I glad to see seats!
After my parents were done browsing in the convenience store, we decided to head back to our hotel. We passed by what seemed to be a Karaoke establishment? I'm not sure.
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| Places visited for the day |
That's it! What a long post of ~4.7k words 😅 Check back for my post on the next day!
