Traveling Around Hsinchu 新竹

It is time to come back and continue the once forgotten adventures. After getting a new laptop, it took some time to recover old files that were in the old hard disk. Time has passed but with photos, those memories still remain fresh in my mind. The last time, it was a few photos taken at Hsinchu at the park.

All we need was a bench and the camera goes click click click. After all the initial breath of fresh air and some photoshoots, it was time for lunch. Walking around the town, I focused my eyes on this shop lot which was selling something.

Ah Pei Oyster & Braised Intestine Mee Sua (Taiwanese Mee Sua 麵線) was what printed on the signboard. Since in Taiwan, do what the locals do (eat what the locals eat). It is time to taste some local food.

Note: Mee Sua are actually Vermicelli noodles

The noodles are actually bathed in broth filled with spongy intestines and oysters. Yes they have this dish in Malaysia, but…… there are a lot of ingredients in this one. The amount of oyster in this dish is simply a lot.

I thought that this would be one of the few times I would eat this dish, but little did I know that this would soon be my staple food while in Taiwan.

After the lunch we had, it was time for some walkabout. The weather was very windy during the time I was in Hsinchu. I would not want to stay in the hotel for the whole day without visiting the town I am in. What better way than to walk around the town. While walking around the town, there seems to be an array of cars and vehicles with pounding drums.

Seeing that I had a DSLR with me, the candidate and his contingency posed for me. Ahhh.. the benefits of having a camera.

Side note: Little did I know was that it was a whole nationwide thing. It seems that election is coming.
Side Side Note: The wind I said earlier was strong, was really really strong. It actually blew up some skirt walking girls (pretend you never read this)

Didn’t really know where I was walking, so had a walk around the town and somehow managed to stop at a location. The location was the Hsinchu Municipal Government Hall. A magnificent structure, I decided I just had to have a post with a land mark like this. The question was, how to pose? I have friends who do jumping poses, planking poses, head hand stand pose, so I just want to be a bit different from what I used to pose (the typical Daniel Chew looking elsewhere pose).

I settled on this.

After about 20 minutes around the Government Hall, it was time for some walking. There were buildings worth taking photos of, but this next one caught my eye.

The lone tree. (If you noticed the cone, it was blown over by the wind).

It is nice to visit places that are not so ‘touristy’ and to visit the old market lanes. This is definitely something a wanderer should do and did.

In Taiwan, this special character can be seen very frequently around the country.

Being in another country, it is good to observe the different culture in terms of people. Another set of difference is the way the people here thinks and I can say, if the below advertisement ever actually appeared in my home country in Malaysia, the majority of the people will go bonkers and start campaigning against such advertisements that were deem normal here.

Yes, the Qeauty Bra ad, a mixture of both Cute and Beauty all in one.

While traveling, it is always a good thing to be on the lookout for out of the ordinary structures (don’t just look at buildings).

This water meter looks pretty sophisticated.

After walking for quite a distance, let us see how far did we cover in Hsinchu. Here is a sample map of the places that we have traveled by foot earlier.

The Journey So Far
The East Gate – Hsinchu City Hall – Cheng Huang Temple

After a long day walking, there are some needs to be taken care of. All travelers would wonder if they do not have their power banks with them, what can they do? Fret not, there are shopping malls here that provide battery charging stations.

A nicely pit stop to charge them phones and then it will be traveling and walking once again before we call off the night.

Sometimes a photo just popped in in certain ways that would not expect it to be.

Time for some commercial shots. Well sort of.

As a tourist, going back to the hotel seems like a far fetched idea. Walking in the town the whole day seems like a better idea though. As a wanderer/traveler, it is always good to experience not only the day time activities in the city but also the nights.

As always it is now time for some hungry stomachs to feed. The up side of going to a place on your own, is getting to eat whatever you want at your own budget. The downside is having to choose what to eat.

Warning: Food Post with Photos Upcoming

Surprisingly there are a few stalls open at 6pm (yes it was getting dark at that time). And we so happened to come upon this small shop lot with food right to eat.

Andrew then proceeded to have a closer look at what is over there.

3 hungry people finally decided on the food they wanted.

This beef ball noodle soup seems to be a favorite. There are spring onions, fried onions, yellow noodle and of course the lone big beef ball.

Wanton Noodle time came with beansprouts, spring onions, fried onions and of course at least around 5 to 6 wantons. Call it value for money.

I think it cost us 40-60 yuan per bowl eating there. An okay dish for dinner if you are going on a backpacking journey and looking to eat the local food aside from the night market area.

After dinner, it was time for some desserts too.

What appears to be a bowl of ice (5 inches tall) with sugar coated topping on top was actually hiding multitude of delicious food stuffs below.

Ahhh, it felt just like Snowflake dessert. Oh yeah, then I realized Snowflake came from Taiwan. It was around 100 Yuan for this.

Soon it was time to call it a day. After all those walking and desserts, the time has come to get some sleep and perhaps continue the journey once more in Hsinchu and back to Golden Swallow Hotel.

Yes, Hsinchu has a lot of attractions just waiting to be explored. If you wanted to know more about what Hsinchu 新竹 has to offer, subscribe to my blog on the right side of this page.

Upcoming post: attractions in Hsinchu (新竹). Signing off with the handstand pose.