PACIFLY

Hsinchu, including Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City, is one of the big cities in Taiwan. It is loated in Northern Taiwan and is only an hour train ride from Taipei. 

Forty years ago, the world was amazed at the ‘economic miracle’ happened in Taiwan. When it comes to 21st century, Taiwan still arouses attention with its high quality 3C products and continuous industrial growth. How does it happen? The answer is the establishment of Science-Based Industrial Parks and the earliest and also the most important one is in Hsinchu. 

Now, if you ask any Taiwanese this question, ‘What do you think that can best represent Hsinchu?’ You have a 50% chance to get ‘the main location of science and technology companies and young wealthy engineers’ for an answer. And the other 50%? Well, I bet they are wind, noodles and Hakka culture.

How does wind best describe this city and even let it get the name ‘Feng Cheng’, the Wind City? In short, the terrain is like a ‘dustpan’ with an open side facing the Taiwan Strait. Wind can easily get through. When northeast monsoon blows in winter, it first reaches Ilan and Taipei, causing gloomy and rainy days there. However, once the wind goes over mountain ranges, the downward airflow will be dry and then hit Hsinchu. With this strong and dry wind, Hsinchu has the best noodles and rice noodles in Taiwan. 

Even though I’ve passed this city every time I travel between North and South, I never got the chance to stop and have a look. Thanks to ‘Animal Parade’ held by the Jane Goodall Institute on 1^st of October, I got two chances to walk out Hsinchu Train Station and have a close look at this city. The first visit was for volunteer debriefing and the other was for the parade so my visits were only around Hsinchu City.

First visit—24/Sep/2011, Saturday, with Wu

Volunteer debriefing took place at Hsinchu Zoo. I planned a half-day trip around Hsinchu City with Wu afterwards. Wu is a friend of mine for more than 7 years and one thing I didn’t know about him is that he likes to take pictures with EVERYTHING. That was quite annoying but he was a good model so I forgave him.

*The Jane Goodall Institute has been running ‘Roots and Shoots’ projects around the world. In Taiwan, they cooperated with schools in Hsinchu and taught students to model and paint animal masks out of waste cardboard during last semester. ‘2011 Animal Parade’ is an exhibition of this project. Students will be wearing these masks and parading the streets.  

The debriefing began from 10am. We arrived in Hsinchu at 9:30. A weekend flower market was right outside the zoo. A vendor gave us directions when we got there. “Where is the zoo?” I asked.

"Well, do you see the gym? Go straight and turn right there?”

"Is it far?”

 "Wow, that’s at least ten minutes walk.”He said with sly look.

We soon found out it is only 100 meters away.

No wonder they said, “Never believe in businessmen!”

*Volunteers were preparing stuff for next week.

We had a quick look of the zoo afterwards. Hsinchu Zoo was established in 1936. It is the oldest and smallest public zoo in Taiwan with over 250 animals categorized into approximate 70 species. It is designed to create an atmosphere for visitors to be able to feel closer to animals. We all know what it is all about a zoo but Hsinchu Zoo stands out just for its small size which is perfect for a leisure day.

*Racoon.  

     
*Racoon's tail reminds me of Cupid’s.

  
*Pelican. I like its big beak but this guy was busy grooming.

  
*Goose or gander. My mom was once attacked by geese and she said that was frightening and painful. Thus, I asked Wu to get closer to the goose but he refused. I must think too loud!

  
*Goodbye Hsinchu Zoo. See you next Saturday.

Hsinchu Glass Museum locates next to the zoo. To be honest, we went in because it was so hot. Museum, aka strong air-conditioning provider, was a wise choice. Glass Museum is a two-story building built in 1936. It was once used as a guesthouse for the royal family and high ranking officers during the colonization by Japanese. After restoration, it had been the office of Takeover Committee, American army consultant legation and military police station in succession. The interior design had changed a lot to meet the demands of different users. 

Not until December 1999 did it appear as a Glass Museum. It preserves a chamber referring to confinement cell which was once existed in this building and an artist designs glass art works such as blanket, pillow, bin, washbowl and simple toilet. Visitors nowadays are allowed to see what a military confinement cell is like in an ‘elegant’ way. A building with histories is always appealing to me. Imaging each step I make could echo with residents here decades ago fulfill my ‘nostalgic tendency’.

You don’t expect to see huge amount of glass works but they are all good quality. To an outsider like me, the delicate, refined and glamorous art pieces here are definitely worth visiting. In addition, it is also a good place to gain knowledge about glass craft from raw materials and techniques, to finished works. We went in for air-conditioning but came out with more than just cool air.

 
*Hsinchu Glass Museum.

  
*A glass work in the shape of Taiwan with main mountain chains. The artist names it ‘Mother’.

  
*Glass scooter.

  
*Wu bought an ice cream form a granny. He invited her to take a picture with him but granny was so shy. Thus I got this photo.

 
*The installation outside Glass Museum.

Lunch Time

Hsinchu noodles get reputation from wind so there is no reason we miss it. My colleague recommended us a noodle bar with no name.

  
*The noodle bar. The appearance is no difference to the other traditional noodle bars, simple, hot and a bit messy.

  
*Pig’s chitterlings stew with soy sauce. My favorite!!!

 
*Soup rice noodles with pork meat ball. Meat ball is also a specialty of Hsinchu.

Lunch was great but it also told us it could be quite expensive living here. A medium bowl of noodles costs 50TWD that is 30 percent more than average. We both ordered one and didn’t feel full at all. Thus it didn’t surprise me that the man sitting next to us had two. 

We then went to a very famous shop for meat buns. Meat buns are steamed bread with mince pork inside. This shop has quite controversial appraisals. Some loves it but some thinks it is too greasy and salty. As a tourist, we did what we were told to have a bite and it was not my thing either.

  
*It's called 'black cat bun', one for 20TWD.

  
*Dessert!!! Iced tapioca with sweetened pineapple slices. I will come back for this!!!

On our way for food, we walked around Central Hsinchu City. Unlike the stereotype of big cities, old houses and narrow streets are the main scenery. Modern buildings, high-tech factories and posh apartments are on the other side where ‘Taiwan’s Silicon Valley’ is based. In fact, old cities in Taiwan are like this in some ways. Early developments left little spaces for growing population and better infrastructures and create a prosperous but tarnished city image.

  
*Hsinchu City council.

  
*The smell of Chinese herb pharmacy caught my attention.

*This was once a hospital called ‘revival. The healing merits faded away in time, leaving its name on the building as a reminder.

 
*Chinshih Housing, a national historic site. Chinshih is the highest honor for scholars. The examination held every three years in the capital ---Beijing, in Ching Dynasty. Cheng was the first Taiwanese to get this honor.

 
*Cheng family shrine, also a national historic site.   

After lunch, we headed to Nanliao Fishery Harbor by bus. It was about 30 minutes ride. The original idea was for the 17 kilometers coastal biking route (i.e. 34 kilometers return) but it was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon when we got there. We hoped to catch the latest bus back to city center at 6. As a professional long-distance running ex-athlete, he was confident we can make it. He said he could run 21 km in 70 minutes or so and it doesn’t make sense riding is slower than running. Well, to be honest, I didn’t care if we make it or not. I only concerned about bikes’ rent and luckily we found a one-for-100TWD shop.

  
*This guy was taking a nap while waiting for bus. He knew how to make the most of time.

 
*Here we were. Great weather with incredibly strong wind, making it an ideal place for kite-flying.

 
*Those kites might give you some idea of the wind here.

 
*Greek style tourist center.

 
*We were at the first few kilometers. Look, I was energetic and smiling. 

 
*On the road.

 
*Biking trail is well-designed.

 
*Mangrove.

 
*I love this scenery all the way to Taiwan Strait.

 
*The river glittered with sunset.

 
*Windmills and wet land.

*It should be fun down there on the wet land but we’ve run out of time.

  
*This is not the most spectacular scene I’ve ever seen but definitely an unforgettable experience because of the wind.

Speaking of wind, it does matter! When we just began on the road, we saw bikers on the other side riding with difficulty. We thought the surface must have a tilt. Some even just walked with their bikes. However, I soon realized it was all about WIND. The road itself is quite flat. We were with the wind at the beginning but against wind on return.

Considering it would be harder to ride back, we stopped halfway at around 11 kilometers but I felt exhausted already when I thought of head wind on our way back.

  
*We stopped here and decided to go back. See how tired I was.

A funny scene was when I was struggling against the wind; bikers on the other side were riding sooooo fast. That was probably what people thought of me earlier. And I tried to look miserable to deliver the right message. The truth was some uphill paths were killing me!!! That was also the time Wu proved he was once a trained long-distance runner. Very occasionally I would ride past him and he said he almost kicked my bike because I gave him a contemptuous look when in fact he slowed down waiting for me. Hahaha.

 We got on the bus on time and made a summary: 22 kilometers in 2 hours. “I could run faster than that.” Wu said.

'Well, why didn’t you just run with your bike then?’ I asked.  

We jumped off and had dinner before leaving Hsinchu.

*Soup: Bamboo shoots with ribs, vegetable, stewed minced pork with rice and a duck’s egg. I don’t like duck’s egg. The soup (70NTD!!!!) is very nice but also costs more than I expected.

   
*Hsinchu Train Station, a baroque style building. It lures tourists like me to go home soon.

Hsinchu is an expensive city. I came up with this idea that night. The simplest indication is its food. It may not be comparable to central Taipei but is relatively higher than other cities. It seems a Science-Based Industrial Park not only creates jobs and economic growth but also raises living costs. As a tourist, I like Hsichu, even its windy weather though I can’t imagine life here in winter.

We took our time wondering around, there was no rush. Luckily we didn’t waste time on waiting for public transportation. I’ve seen its wind, tasted the noodles. Experiencing Hakka cultures will be my next visit. I hope that day comes soon.