台北 三； 台中 一

4/4/12 Our last day in Taipei. We should have allocated more time in this interesting city. So far it has lived up to my expectations. I think it is a perfect vacation spot with the right blend of modern amenities (efficient MRT, buses, cabs, high speed rail system), culture (food that agree with us, the language, book culture, coffee culture, fashion and the civility of the people), and social conservativeness. And it is a democratic country.

We take the High Speed Rail HSR 高铁 from 台北 at 10.30am and we reach 台中 at 11.19am. At one time the train clocked 281kph. And we only pay NT$700 per pax. That's efficiency and service in action.

 The High Speed Rail carriages are so long that we could not even see the front or rear of the train!
 

 

This is an interesting ad at the Taichung HSR station. It must be at least 6.5m (22 ft) high. Needless to say I have never seen such huge advertising material before!

We check into Le Parker which is at 16 Lane 234 Chih Shan Rd, Shi Tung Area. It's in the west of Taichung near to the famous 逢甲Fengjia Night Market.

At the Taichung station we get some tourist info + maps from the visitor's info desk, on 台中. Taiwan has such info desks at every location frequented by tourists you can think of; including in each and every one of their MRT stations. Amazing. This girl recommends us to go to 無为草堂 on 公益路二段 because I ask her about the tea culture in Taichung; having read somewhere that it is huge here (and it's true!). We sit down in one of the cubicles shown to us by the waitress and look at their menu. Very quickly we know it is not for us because firstly we have to sit on this tatami bending our knees this way and that (which my aching body protests) and secondly SM is not keen because she cannot have her cup of coffee there as they only serve tea! Huh!

  Go look for somewhere else to visit

See the plants grown on the building walls?

So we move on to another place where we can get some lunch and coffee - the 勤美诚品 department store near to 草悟道。诚品 is the most popular bookstore in Taiwan where we find fantastic selections of chinese books. We have a lunch of ramen at 加部屋大口面。

At NT$210 a pax including drinks and dessert it is a steal. What we find is that there is a wide variety of foods at KL or lower than KL prices.

The 拉面， however is not that impressive. Maybe 出钱一定 is better then this.

 I like this advertising at the 勤美诚品 department store

 Trying to find my way to somewhere else .... again

After a late lunch and buying some Chinese books (so cheap) we walk on to the Taichung arts gallery which is at the far end of 草悟道 but find it closed because it is already past 5 pm. Oh well. we promise ourselves then that tomorrow we will be back to the arts gallery so we can see what tickles the Taichung people in their arts and creative life.

 This old guy gives a demo of his skills at playing the "GASING". He manages to draw a large crowd of kids who have obviously not see this before.

Entrance to the Taichung Art Gallery

At night we go to the Fengjia night market near Le Parker for dinner and join in the huge crowds of people in the atmosphere.

 I always have a soft spot for the Eiffel Tower

The day has gone by very quickly and we have appreciated some interesting things we see in Taichung. Mostly we are happy to be able to spend some time exploring new things although I have been to Taiwan many many times before but never as a tourist. It's always different huh? Although we are playing tourists we remind ourselves that we are privileged to be able to walk their streets, touch and feel their every day life.