Soaked in Hakka Land

We left a surprisingly dry and cold Taipei back to a rainy and even colder Hsinchu. A great start to our journey around the island of Taiwan. Thankfully, we didn’t bike or even rent a motorcycle. The cold wetness would send us back to Taipei in a hurry. On the other hand, arriving here in this weather meant staying indoors. However, Vicky’s cousin Che was available to pick us up and show us around town. Score! And also, we’ll be staying at his folks place. Bonus!

From the station we headed out to Beipu where Vicky’s grandmother lived.

Along the way we went by a few interesting spots. First being his school, Chinhua University, where Che was graduating with a PhD in Fuel Cell Technology. Interesting fellow. He had just returned from a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) conference out in France where he had given a presentation. Anyways, he was out tour guide and offered plenty of history around his University. Next was a small stop to a public well of a town with the largest population of twins. People believed it was in the water and visitors were free to siphon water. In our case, there was enough water falling on our heads to warrant a taste. Up the windy road was a nice view of the city reservoir. We had to enjoy it form the interior of our car. Bummer, but soon we were in Beipu.

Beipu was small and had a area catered to tourists. Cobble stone streets crossed in front of the temple aligned with vendors selling foods and souvenirs. Not many were opened obviously, but we found a small tea shop where we tried our hands at Hakka tea. It’s pretty intense and quite involved. You basically grind tea and nuts in a special ridged clay pot to the point you got a thick paste, made possible by the oils in the nuts. After a good 15 minutes of taking turns, we were finally able to add hot water and enjoy our tea. I can see how this could be fun if we had more people. More people to do the dirty work that is.

After saying bye to grandmother we headed back to the city.

For dinner we went to, you guessed it, Chenghuang Temple Night Market. And oh man, it’s small compared to Taipei’s night markets. And I have to say, this one was very disappointing. Bawan was pretty disgusting and the rice noodles that every vendor was selling looked unappetizing. We didn’t eat much. Che didn’t want us to eat-eat there. Instead, he took us a few blocks away to a place that specialized in duck. If you heard of Hainan Chicken, where the chicken is cooked with the rice, well, they do this with duck. And it’s divine. The duck itself was well prepared too. Simply roasted and served in its oily goodness. If you’re a fan of tripe, try the duck version. The texture is thinner and, for a lack of a better term, crisper. This meal made up for all the crap I had been eating.

My thoughts on Hsinchu City…

Food:
Good if you stay away from the crap night market food, but I’m sure you can find some gems in there. Wish I had more time to find them.

Getting Around:
Can’t say, we were driven everywhere.

Overall Feel:
There are sections of mom and pop shops but it has a main area for all your trendy shopping needs. No high end stuff though.

Travel Cost(s):
$177NTD by Tze-Chiang train from Taipei to Hsinchu (limited express)