Cycle Taiwan day 5 - A Day exploring the City of Taichung

After a short distance of 600m from Chance Hotel along Jiangou Road we stopped by Minsheng Chiayi rice cakes 民生嘉義米糕 for breakfast. The bowl of rice is of glutinous type with minced meat on top which includes a meat ball, an egg and a cup of soup. It was rather unique and yummy. A good find indeed in the morning.

A rare cuisine that is not normally seen on any typical street of Taiwan, truly lucky to have such an experience.

Minsheng Chiayi rice cakes 民生嘉義米糕 is located at Jiangou Road GPS : 24.135178, 120.680624. Before we left the shop we went over to a bakery shop (Nixau) next door to "tapao" some pastry.

It was a 8km ride from Chance Hotel to the Rainbow Village (Caihoujuan Village) and a sunny morning for Day 5 in Taichung. Rainbow Village which is located at Lingdong South Road, Nantun District
GPS : 24.133916, 120.610244

These are some of the remaining villages with simple houses given by the government for the Kuomintang soldiers and their families after they retreated from Mainland China and also known as the "veteran villages". For the last 20 over years the government has been tearing down these villages for new development and one by one they are disappearing.

Rainbow Village is a small community consisting of only a few houses and we were having fun posing for our cameras.

It was crowded as usual on weekends and public holidays. Long live Rainbow Village.

 One of the last village residents is Mr.Huang also known as Rainbow Grandpa. One day he started to paint the empty and dying village. He painted animals, dolls, airplanes, manga characters, etc … All with vibrant colors, filling the walls and the alleys. It became an attraction in Taichung and protest after protest to preserve to village were made Mr. Huang's project was at last recognised by the government. It is now one of the the main attractions of Taichung and no more tearing down these old painted houses. Bravo Mr. Huang!

DaOneGong Shaved Ice Dessert 大碗公冰, 甜品 at Minsheng Road before we pay a visit to Wufeng Lin Family Mansion. The desserts were good and delicious.

In front of Wufeng Lin Family House after purchasing the entrance tickets. Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden at located at Minsheng Road, Wufeng District
GPS : 24.062725, 120.700631. Photo Credit : Jotaro

Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden (霧峰林家宅園; pinyin: Wùfēng Lín Jiāzhái Yuán) is the general name for the former residence and grounds of the Wufeng Lin family at its ancestral home in Wufeng District, Taichung, Taiwan. Owing to the great size of the Lin family clan, the site can be divided into two branches, the Upper (頂厝) and Lower (下厝) Houses. Because of this, the mansion's scope of distribution is considerably vast. The section constructed by Lin Wenqin of the Upper House (萊園; Laiyuan), it is commonly known to local residents as The Lin Family Gardens (林家花園).

One of the several passage ways linking the houses in the compound.

The courtyard at the theatrical stage.

The theatrical stage across from the Great Flower Hall

We could smell something interesting in front of us and upon seeing a crowd in front of a street stall, we stopped by to check it out.

The friendly sister entertaining friends from Malaysia and introducing her fried meat dough. Yes! One each please!

The business was brisk and good, of course the dough was gorgeous. 鄒記餡餅 Zou Kee Fried Meat Dough is found at Laiyuan Road at the side of a 7-11 Outlet (GPS : 24.064482, 120.698727).

Sitting next by the stall the three ladies enjoying their Taichung street food. Yummy...leh...

After much of cycling and getting lost in the city we stopped by at Taichung Park (GPS : 24.142956, 120.683706) before proceeding to Zhonghua Night market which was visible from the place we were resting.

We pushed through the night market observing the stalls, the crowd, sensing to the noise and smell of the surrounding.

We couldn't find an appropriate place to eat with our bicycles in the night market and went further down the street into a shopping complex. We decided to dine there for the evening.

And ordered a few dishes from two shops and sat at the common courtyard at the center. Some of the dishes were surprising good. That was a hectic day exploring Taichung.

Before we going back to the hotel we went to Nantou Bus Terminal to check on the bus schedule to Sun Moon Lake. We will be back here at 8am tomorrow and good night.