Chilly Cold Day In Gaomei Wetlands, Taichung

CHILLY DAY... After three days of hot weather, it was a wet day on the fourth day and I was glad I brought out my jacket.  There was rain but the drops were super fine, we did not get drenched but it was quite cold and the hoodie jacket helped a lot... 

I did not take much of the food pictures, maybe it was because we did not eat fancy food in restaurants.  We took mostly local food in shops and their main dish is normally rice with minced meat...

The tour guide cum driver took us for local food... 

It was raining "finely" and I did not capture the name of the shop....

Plate of rice comes with braised minced meat and one beancurd....

We ordered two bowls to be shared... 

Soupy noodles with braised egg and meat...

Dry noodles with the same condiments....

Mixed condiments all soya based....

and two types of vegetables...

Our simple lunch....

And the next destination... Gaomei Wetland...

We did not see these here cos it is not autumn or winter yet.... 

but there were a lot of tiny crabs cos of the low tide...

We walked quite far out cos it was low tide.... 

Kind of windy and chilly.... 

We walked and walked...

The route seemed endless 

and then we turned back after taking a number of pictures....

Our Visit To Rainbow Village, Taichung

THE NEXT MORNING.... after having our breakfast at a small stall, driver took us to Rainbow Village, one of the most popular attractions in Taichung.

This is my second visit to this place, my first time was in 2019, some five years ago.   I wrote this in my post in 2019....

There is a history behind this brightly painted village, a cluster of houses was in fact a veterans village back in the 1940s.  Huang Yong Fu also known affectionately as Rainbow Grandpa was one of the last remaining veterans living in this area.  He is a military veteran who was born in Hong Kong and fought against the communists in the ROC army.  Rainbow Village was started by Mr. Huang who came up with a way to protest against the demolition of this small collection of houses.  The government began an aggressive program of demolition the villages in the 1990s and replacing them with new high rise apartment buildings for the displaced families.  Rather than fighting with the government, he decided to paint so as to brighten up the village, starting with his own house and moving on to the next house and soforth until the whole village has turned into a colourful sight.

This time 2024, we were told that Rainbow Grandpa has passed away... he passed away in January 2024 at the age of 101.  RIP... His legacy lives on though.... tourists swarmed into this place, no entrance fees, just a donation to the "Superhero" who was still around to take pictures for us....  

We lingered around for a short while and off we went for our dessert Ice Cream cafe... 

The Superhero entertaining the tourists with his songs....

And here we were in 2019....

And now in 2024....

Oh... his attire has changed color...

So has my hair....

From black to white... 

LOL....

Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan

NO TREMORS FELT ON THE FIRST NIGHT... or perhaps we were too tired to feel anything when we hit the pillows....

The next morning our day trip began at 9am.... tour guide cum driver was waiting for us at the hotel and we were taken to Sun Moon Lake in Nantou.  It is one of the most popular scenic attractions and we went island hopping for a fee of 300NT per person.  

I am amazed to see so many tourists in Taiwan overall, people are like endless, as the Chinese saying goes, "mountains and seas are full of human beings".... something like that.  I would say this is good for the country's economy.  Despite the major earthquake in one part of Taiwan, people are still swarming in.... 

At the mainland before boarding the ferry.... 

A very scenic place to visit...

Inside the ferry... 

one side air con and one open air like this....

Hot weather but not as hot as in Malaysia...

Ferries are ongoing... 

At one of the islands...

Bustling with people ....

We have to find a place to have lunch...

Milk tea is famous everywhere...

Long queues are worth the wait for many...

We entered into one of a small shops and had these for lunch...

This is not to be missed...

Pork belly with scallion and peanuts as fillings...

We had these too... froggy cakes... 

And we went back to mainland around 3pm....

First Dinner Meal In Taichung, Taiwan

BY THE TIME we came out from the airport, it was almost 6pm in the evening. 

After getting everyone settled comfortably into the big MPV van, the tour guide cum driver took us to our first destination.... Taichung.  On the way, he stopped at a restaurant for our dinner.  A modest restaurant frequented by locals and by then, I was too hungry to stop and take photos of the place.

Good that service was fast.... initially ordered 4 dishes and midway, we ordered another two... just in case, our tummies were not satisfied... LOL.... 

After our dinner, the journey took another one hour to reach our hotel for the next three nights... Talmud Hotel, a very strategic place cos it is just right in the midst of the night market.  That is where we love to be... 

First four dishes....

Famous for their signature dish... meehoon with minced pork as toppings...

Minced pork is common dish...

Rice and noodles are often topped with minced pork...

Taiwan vegetables which we could not catch the name....

Pork balls in hot soup....

Crispy and salty Pork belly

Added this dish while eating halfway...

Yellow noodles... and minced pork... LOL

Oysters fried eggs....

Total cost around RM130 according to my son...

One for the camera before we dig in the food!

Miyahara Best Ice Cream In Taichung

BEST OF THE BEST...

Before we left for Taipei, my son requested one last destination in Taichung, he said we must not leave Taichung without trying the best ice cream in town.  It is called Miyahara, one of the most popular retail stores in Taiwan.  Well, it is not surprising that it would be crowded and to be IN the crowd as a tourist even though the prices can be "sky-high" to me.  Let's join the crowd... see what they have in store. 

No regrets, Miyahara is indeed very impressive, from an old eye hospital and now being recreated into something really charming, selling their house brand ice cream, pineapple pastries, chocolates, tea, cookies and snacks.  All these suit me real fine especially the Ice Cream, which is their most popular item in the store.  To our shock, the queue was really long, the whole length of the building from the back to the front, we lined up for our turn.  Well, if we can't beat them, we just simply join them... after all, it is ICE CREAM!  LOL...

Nice ambience and desserts!

I resisted these... 

We queued for the ice cream instead... 

Not too long we got ours..... maybe half hour or so.... 

The End! 

LOL...