Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 5)

Cingjing Farms -> Puli -> Taichung -> Tainan

    After we got up, we walked to the Yunnan style Daipaidong for some delicious breakfast. I couldn't taste the Yunnanese food but the food was very good. We caught the bus and headed down west to Puli.

Morning soup to warm up for the day in the mountain

Daipaidong

    Puli is located in the geographical centre of Taiwan and it was devastated in the earthquake happened on 21 Sept 1998. More than 90% of the buildings in town was destroyed and the town has to be rebuilt. Puli is a transportation hub to a number of rural attractions in central Taiwan because of its approximate location. Puli is known for its wine, rice, crispy clean water running from the mountains. It is very easy to navigate through the town centre, as there are two main commercial streets that intersects each other with a roundabout.

a main street of Puli

     The first stop we stopped by was the Puli Winery. It was a short walk from the bus station we got off. The building itself is no longer an active winery. The building have two floors, where the ground floor is for vendors and promotions, the second floor is a museum that explains the history of its famous wine.

Shrine to the wine god

Wine

     Once we enter the building, we tried the distilled the 120 and then the 60 proof distilled Shaoxing wine samples. They were too strong for me and tasted like rubbing alcohol. We also tried the Shaoxing ice pop, and it tasted great and I could taste the aroma of Shaoxing wine in the ice pop. 

     The second floor has some historical info about the wine, but one thing that bothered my mind was that I saw a piece of porcelain with the portrait of the young Chen Sui-bien and his wife Wu shu-chen. It reminded me how politics has destroy the soul of a once young, ambitious young man. Maybe he lost himself and fell victim of power and temptations. Finally Chen went to prison for corruption, his incompetency as a President was also quite memorable. Oh well.

Chen Sui-bian and Wushu-chen

     Once we got out of the building, we went to a souvenir store near the parking lot and chatted with a lady who worked there as a storekeeper. I learned that she was originally from Puli. She moved out of Puli to pursuit a 'better' life in the city. She helped to rebuild Puli from the earthquake and she decided to stay in Puli for the love of her hometown. I thought that was a fascinating story. 

     We had a quick lunch in a rice vermicelli restaurant. I also bought some dried vermicelli to take home and I was teased by Ben and Calvin the rest of the trip. Finally we arrived back to Taichung at 4PM, and took a bus to Tainan (literally South Taiwan). The hotel driver picked us up and drove us to the hotel as we checked in. 

Busy Tainan street at night

      The hotel allowed us to borrow the bicycles for free! I always thought bicycle would be a great way to explore a small-medium size city such as Tainan. We rode to a night market, enjoyed the local atmosphere, and came back to the hotel.

A night market in Tainan