A Day in Taichung

Taichung is the second largest city in Taiwan and has a very warm climate compared to Taipei. Taichung is a major political, economic, transportation and cultural hub during the Japanese occupation. The city was able to preserve many of its historic sites and retain the original “chessboard” street plan from the Japanese era. We spent a day touring the sunny city of Taichung.

Taichung is a city with a lot of things to offer. One of the most popular places to visit is the Houli Flower farm. Houli Flower farm is a picturesque farm known for its different flowers and instagrammable spots. You will spend hours just taking photos in this place. Most famous spot to take photo is beside the windmill and the piano in the middle of flowers. Aside from the vast span of flower fields, there is an area where you can eat. The entrance fee to Houli Flower farm is NT120 and you get to be surrounded by beautiful flowers.

If you like ice cream, Miyahara is the place for you. Miyahara is a red brick architecture built by an ophthalmologist, Miyahara Takeo in 1927. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the building became Taichung Health Bureau. However, the Heath Bureau got suspended and the building became unused and started to decay. Fortunately, a pastry company acquired the building and preserved the original red-brick wall and archway. The Miyahara building became the home for Dawn Cake’s famous pineapple cake and signature ice cream.

The Miyahara ice cream parlour is outside the building but you will never miss it because of the long line of people buying ice cream. Try the assorted flavors of ice cream and choose various toppings like pineapple cake, cheesecake and many more! Since Miyahara is a popular place, it can easily get busy and lines can get very long. There are many signatures ice cream flavor that it is hard to choose which to pick. They have wide array of tea-infused flavor ice cream, chocolate flavors, fruit flavour and the Miyahara Special. The staff will hand you the menu while waiting in line. One scoop of ice will cost you NT$90 and you get a free topping. Two scoops are NT$160 which will get you two toppings. If you order three scoops, it will cost NT$225 with three toppings. You also have an option to add a waffle coin which is NT$20.

After having ice cream at Miyahara, we went to Rainbow Village. The Rainbow Village is a former military dependents' village that was converted into street art in Nantun District. Huang Yong-Fua retired soldier began painting the walls of his home and surrounding buildings in 2010 in an attempt to have them preserved. Rainbow village consists of a few homes with different colorful mural painting. You can go around the place and take your photo in ten minutes. The Rainbow Village became a popular instagrammable place because of its colorful paintings. Aside from taking photos there are no other activity in Rainbow Village.

The last place we visited is the Gaomei Wetlands which is located on the south of the mouth of Dajia River. The soils in Gaomei wetlands is mixed with mud and sand which made is a very good breeding place of diversified organisms of both plants and animals.

Gaomei Wetlands is characterized by a row of wind turbines. There are patches of sedge grass which is one of the few plants that can survive on a water with high salt content. I was hoping to see the sunset during our visit but it was cloudy on that day. Gaomei wetlands is a windy place and can become a bit cold. There are some food stalls near the parking area. The best sun cake in Taiwan is located in Gaomei Wetlands. The store is just in the entry of the parking area.

A day is not enough to see the beauty that Taichung can offer.