DAY 06 - 台中, 继光&电子街, 台中公园, 逢甲

Left 高雄 today and headed to 台中. Eugene bought a packet of carrot cake at a small shop in front of the 高雄 main station and surprisingly it tasted GREAT and very appetizing !!

It did not look as good as it taste and I had my reservations when Eugene passed it to me. The shop looked simple without much décor and the carrot cake looked like simple fare to me. It was white carrot cake and the shop owner merely poured some soy sauce and sweet chili over it and served it to us.

But upon the first taste .. wow .. HEAVEN !! haha .. it was REALLY nice .. the best food I have eaten in 高雄. The skin was crispy and the carrot cake was tender, very delicious.

It once again proves that as long as you have the right skills, your stuff can still sell despite poor packaging haha ..

Proceeded to Platform 2 to take the HSR to 台中 and I was really glad that we were leaving 高雄 haha ..

Ooh .. after about 40 mins, we FINALLY reached 台中, the 3rd largest city in Taiwan!!

Upon exit from the train station, we deposited our bags in the locker and got some maps and tourist info from the Tourist Information Counter.

When you talk about 台中, you will relate it to sun biscuits, 太阳饼. 台中 is the city of 太阳饼 and from the research that we have done, the first bakery to sell 太阳饼 in Taiwan is 太阳堂.

More info on 太阳堂:
o http://www.sunbooth.com.tw/
o 台中 Address: 台中市西區自由路二段23號 (directly in front of 台中车站)
o 台北 Address: 新光三越信義區A8館B2 (near台北101)
o Price: NT$600 (a box of 30)

As we did not plan 台中 in our itinerary, hence it was a truly exploration trip and we could only follow the map blindly and check out places that “might be” interesting. Nevertheless this is what backpacking is all about isn’t it? =)

Saw some old photos of 台中车站 at the train station and realized 台中车站 is actually a VERY OLD station. It was completed in 1917 and they still preserve its historic charm till this day. No wonder it easily stands out from the train stations of other cities. Old buildings are really more exquisite in their architecture and design, don’t you agree?

To our pleasant surprise, before we can look elsewhere, we saw 太阳堂 waving at us directly opposite 台中车站! Wow, we did not even have to spend effort to look for it and there it is, awaiting us haha ..

As we have a couple of places to explore, hence we decided to get some 太阳饼 after our exploration.

From the map, Eugene saw 台中电子街 and 继光商店街 and his eyes brightened up once more *sigh*. Yes, IT stuff again, guys are always attracted to IT gear and technology just like girls are to bags and shoes haha ..

Both streets are opposite 台中车站 and are within walking distance.

台中电子街 is on the left of 台中车站 and from the picture, yes only a couple of uncles shopping here haha ..

继光商店街 is on the right of 台中车站 and it is another dead street like 台中电子街. Both are of very small scale and there was nothing interesting that caught Eugene’s attention.

Look at the empty street, some shops were not even opened, gosh ..

The shops here sell mainly IT accessories and not top of the notch products. Maybe that explains why the streets were so quiet.

Never mind, our stomachs have started to growl. To fill our stomachs is of utmost priority hehe ..

Loitered around the street and saw a restaurant which was quite packed. Prices looked reasonable and the restaurant’s beef dishes and steamboat seem to be very popular. A lot of customers ordered that and it attracted us to pop in to have a look. However, there were only the 2 of us and to order a steamboat for lunch might be overkilling hehe .. Hence we ordered a plate of 锅贴 and 榨菜面.

This is the yummy 锅贴, very tasty and the filling was very succulent and nice .. =)


The 榨菜面 was very disappointing though, oily and bland, not recommended.

After lunch, we decided to check out the landmark of 台中 - 台中公园. Based on the tourist info, this park has a long history of 100 over years and that attracted me to pop by to have a look. Wonder will the scenary be fascinating and charming enough for me to trigger-happy hehe ..

After a short walk, we reached 台中公园. It is a small park with a pavilion by the side. This pavilion is the “poster girl” of 台中公园 haha. You will see it in all the pictures of 台中公园 =). There were some boats by the pavilion which were for rental but as it was mid afternoon, hence the pond was empty and peaceful.

Besides the pavilion, another feature of the park that attracted me was the bright red bridge. Other than that, there was nothing else about the park that made us stayed hehe .. =P

Next on the agenda would be 一中街 which is very near the park. However, as we were not familiar with the area hence we walked ONE BIG ROUND and asked a lot of locals before we finally found it *sweat*. The 锅贴 and 榨菜面 were long digested *pant pant*.

一中街 is the shopping area of 台中中区 and there are a lot of hippy boutiques and shops here. I bought another dress here for only NT$295 (around S$13) and I thought I heard wrongly when the salesgirl told me the price! The cheapest dress I have bought for this trip *happy*.

Look at the posters and graffiti on the wall and the motorbikes in the alley. A typical portrayal of the young punk of Taiwan.

Due to the long walk, we took a break at McDonald as well as to plan where to head next. It was a truly spontaneous day trip in 台中, exciting hehe ..

Saw on the map that there is an IT Mall called Nova. There is a Nova in 台北 too and the IT stuff are of reasonable price there. Wonder will the price be cheaper in 台中 and we decided to check it out. Walked back to 台中车站 and took Bus 81 to Nova. The bus stop was so difficult to find. It was located opposite 台中车站 yet it hid in one small and dark corner. To make it worse, the bus sign was not obvious at all. Really did a lot of walking today *sweat*.

Luckily the bus driver was a kind-hearted soul, he told us where to alight for Nova and gave us very clear instructions. Despite our great efforts to come to Nova, it is merely a 2-storey mall, not as big as that in 台北 =( Some items are cheaper than 台北 whereas some are more expensive, hence if you want to buy IT gear here, do your research first .. =)

Sky turned dark very early and as 逢甲 is very far hence we decided to take a cab there. Transport in 台中 is still not as advanced as 台北. There is no MRT line here and you have to either take a bus or a cab to wherever you want to go. Best would be to drive around as there are a lot of interesting places in 台中 and some are located in the outskirts of the city. However, in view of the speedy development of 台中 lately, I believe when we return a few years later, there would be MRT lines connecting all over the place hehe ..

On the way to 逢甲, we got to admire the nice street scene of 台中. To our surprise, the famous 太阳堂 is actually EVERYWHERE. We lost count of the number of 太阳堂 that we saw but it was definitely more than 10 outlets. Chatted with the taxi driver and he recommended another brand, Ah明师. Ah明师 was the creator of 太阳饼 and he used to be the main chef at 太阳堂. But he has left 太阳堂 to start out on his own and he adopted his own name as the name of his shopfront. Taxi drivers are always a good source of info .. haha ..

Before we reached 逢甲, we went through 精明一街 which is similar to Singapore’s Orchard Road. There are a lot of branded outlets here and I bet the rich and richest all gathered around here hehe .. *bling bling* ..

Finally reached 逢甲 and the myriad of streets was really daunting. Asked the taxi driver which street was 逢甲 and he said “This is it. This whole place is 逢甲.” MY GOD !! Did not know 逢甲 is THAT BIG. All along we thought it is like 士林 with all the snacks gathered at one location but we were SO WRONG! 逢甲 is at least 3 times bigger than 士林 and in fact it is much more happening and interesting. There were a lot of hippy shops and all the lanes were packed with stalls selling local and overseas snacks.

Paid the taxi driver NT$155 for the taxi fare which was merely S$7.75. Gosh, the entire ride was about 20mins and yet it only cost S$7.75?! How I wish taxi fare in Singapore can be as low as 台中 haha ..

Before we alighted, the taxi driver even stressed to us once more to buy 太阳饼 from Ah明师. Wonder did he earn any commission from Ah明师? Haha .. anyway the taxi driver was kind enough to tell us which is the most rowdy street in 逢甲, it is the street before the 逢甲 university and we can walk there from where we alighted .. =)


Slowly strolled through the lanes, everything looked so interesting to us and we did not know what local delights to try. Saw the 豬血糕 which is a local favourite and decided to give it a try. It cost NT$30 but yucks, it tasted very bland like a lump of plain rice. Very disappointing. Eugene saw the LONG queue at the tako balls stall and decided to queue up for it and we had no regrets! It tasted very nice and chewy and it cost NT$40 only. Yummy !!

Saw the crowd? I had been praying that a stampede will not happen haha ..

We window-shopped for a while as we had no time to check out all the shops one by one. Finished a few lanes and emerged at the main street and alas, more lanes in all directions of the main street! We felt so lost haha .. guess the next time we come back, we will have to shop for a few days before we can cover all the shops and lanes haha ..

Look at the bright neon lights, they almost blinded us haha ..

As it was getting late and we need to catch the train, hence we took a cab back to 台中车站. Along the way, we asked the taxi driver again which 太阳饼 does the locals prefer? Ah明师 or 太阳堂 and he exclaimed “Needless to ask? Of cause it is Ah明师!” haha .. alright, we got the verdict and hence we told him to drive us to any Ah明师 shop to get some 太阳饼 as souvenirs. The taxi driver understood that we need to catch the train and he drove us to the first shop of Ah明师 at 自由路 which is nearer to 台中车站. 自由路 is a street where the big brothers of 太阳饼 gathered, Ah明师 is next to 太阳堂 and at a glance, you can tell which is the winner. 太阳堂 is empty whereas Ah明师 is packed haha *phew* .. I hope we made the right choice .. =)

1 box of 20 太阳饼 cost NT$400 and we bought 4 boxes of 10 (original flavour), 1 box of 20 (original flavour) and 1 box of 12 (honey flavour).. hehe ..

We were so happy to settle all the souvenirs and I even gave the taxi driver 1 太阳饼 to show our appreciation. Wah you should look at his big wide grin haha .. and maybe because of that 太阳饼, the taxi driver drove at F1 speed and we were even early for the train *happy*. In total, the taxi fare cost NT$255 including waiting time at Ah明师, cheap !!

With 6 big boxes of 太阳饼 with us, we could not wait to go back to 台北 asap and luckily we could change our HSR ticket to an earlier timing and we reached 台北 at 940pm instead.

So relieved and happy to be back to 台北 as we could not wait to unload all the barang barang haha .. It was a really hectic day today with a lot of walking but 一中街 and 逢甲 really spiced up our day. So happy to buy the cheapest dress in Taiwan, so happy to shop at 逢甲 and so happy to take many happy shots today, will have sweet dreams tonight haha ..