12 Days in Taiwan – Day 03 – Rainbow Village

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Day 02 yesterday was a fairly long one. Not just for us – we were out of home for just over 11 hours – but also for driver Kong, as most hired drivers in the country typically plan work with itineraries that run for 8 hours. So, we had a slightly more laid back plan for Day 03 by heading out relatively later in the morning @ 9:30AM, and returned back to our place of stay just before 6PM. Interestingly, and credit to Kong’s careful planning, we were still able to cram six places into the 8.5 hour stretch.

Kong has been bringing us to different places to try cuisine. Yesterday it was a western-styled cafe, and this morning it was a very local restaurant serving very local fare. The eatery is just a few minutes drive from our place of stay too. Ling played it safe when placing an order – i.e. ordered a ton of varied food items: Youtiaos (Chinese fried churros for our ang mo bud!), carrot cake with omelette-styled egg on top, xiaolongbaos (Chinese steamed buns, Matt!), pork buns, and warm soyabean milk for beverages. That was way too much food, and a pretty affordable at NTD138 – just over SGD6 – too.

The little eatery seems to be fairly popular for residents in the area: the eatery was kept busy with a steady stream of locals popping in for a quick breakfast before heading out again. But not just locals ether too: there was a young Singaporean family too who also breakfasted in the same eatery.
It’ll be really tough to find this much food for SGD6 back home.
The carrot cake they’ve got here is a little less fancy than the concoctions that we find at home.
We could easily walk the distance if we wanted to come back here again for breakfast.

Our next stop was Rainbow Village. As Kong explained it, the village sits on a very large tract of land that belongs to the Government, and was once designated for military veterans. But over time, the land was gradually relinquished for other purposes, and parcels of it were used for other purposes: including to build schools, residential apartments and the like. One of the last villagers is a Mr. Huang, a 96 year old gentleman who over a period of six years painted each house in the tiny village. Today, it’s a very popular attraction in Taichung city, and the Sunday weekend we visited certainly saw sizable crowds. Several of the houses still retain artifacts from yesterday year, but by and large, many visitors will be taking photos f the exteriors. The man himself – Mr. Huang – was in the village that day, and while he looks frail, he seemed quite used to the crowds – many of whom wanted to take pictures with him. There’s also no admission charges to the place, though donations are welcomed.

The other fun highlight of this trip was a roaming guitarist in an Iron Man helmet belting out popular Chinese songs, and also helping to take some really fun photos!

Much to Ling’s chagrin, P has to touch and feel everything he’s interested in. Next trip, we’re gonna have to handcuff him!
The kids have a little journal book for them to collect stamp-chops at various attractions this visit.
Our two kids haven’t always been on their best behavior this trip so far. No, they’re not monkeying around: but simply are taking turns to look grouchy, unhappy etc. And that can happen on their whims.
Mr. Huang. Going onto 97 next year!
Just outside the village is a small sandy playground. The sand is very clean and we saw it was a big hit for young kids. There’s also a washing point, so no worries about cleaning up when the kids are done.
Iron Man helped take this picture. He actually has a well-practiced list of photo-poses to use for each group he takes photos of and with.
Perspective trickery, really! But this was a crazy fun picture LOL.
Visitors were all too happy to join Iron Man in singing, much to the crowd’s delight!
H: “Wait for me!”
There’s a small church beside the Village, and it being a Sunday morning, a service was actually going on at the same time as our visit.

Next stop: Carton King!