Strolling Through New Bamboo City (Hsinchu, Taiwan) 新竹市
A brief look through the ‘Windy City’ of Taiwan
I used to live in this city for two years while attending school half a decade ago. It wasn’t my first choice among cities in Taiwan, but it was where I ended up for school.
It’s a pretty old school kind of city, as far as Taiwan goes. What does that mean to a newbie? It’s packed full of maniacal vehicles roving around 20 hours a day through winding streets carved out centuries ago.
But that doesn’t mean it’s without its niceties. In fact, to the eager beaver out there, it becomes a fun challenge to find the hidden beauty in such a city.
You see, one of my favorite parts about many cities in Asia is that the older ones always have hundreds of little secretive alleyways.
Some so small you couldn’t walk down, some big enough to fit one car but not two (which doesn’t seem to stop drivers from trying to fit both anyway!).
These little labyrinths often lead to pleasant surprises.
Walk and walk and walk some more
Tiny little cat-cafes not listed on Google.
A ‘round table’ bar restaurant where older locals invite you drink.
A steam dumpling shop that fills the alley with flavor.
I always like taking these little roads, if for any other reason than to not take the path oft beaten (and to get away from the noisy drum of traffic too).
When you get off the beaten path in these types of cities, you get to see a whole other view of the concrete jungles that many of them are these days.
You find restaurants that are only open late at night and serve incredible zhua bing. (葱抓饼)
You find canals running down the middle of the city that remain absolutely silent even when surrounded by a city of noise.
You find circular parks where elderly people hang out during the day and use the public exercise equipment while chatting about their grand kids.
You discover Japanese-styled restaurants hidden behind major roads, seemingly covered in green canopy that comes out of nowhere.
You see another small canal near your Airbnb slowly start turning into a wide river that is calm outside of typhoon season.
You see non-sidewalk sidewalks in the newly constructed parts of town, and wonder why they still made it easy for scooters to hop in and out of them.
You find newly opened hotpot restaurants that have a huge amount of succulent food for only $6.
You find the origins of where the phrase “they were so preoccupied with whether they could, and never stopped to ask if they should” came from.
You make your Iranian, French, and Slovakian friends ‘Sloppy Joes’ for the first time in their life, and make it taste f*cking awesome of course.
You take that same Iranian Friend out to a Halloween party for the first time in his life, ensuring he has a politically correct costume on.
You marvel at the train tracks that the Japanese built 80 years ago when they occupied this country.
You then enjoy it from a nicer angle.
You marvel at all the small temples scattered around the city that are rumored to be owned by gangsters.
You enjoy the swaying lights on the street leading away from it as well.
You talk like an insane person to a bird eating cat food beside you, arguing that he, in fact, is the crazy one.
You have a birthday shot of the most vile alcohol on earth from Poland and weep for your liver.
You take photos that you forget the reasons why because of the aforementioned Polish shot.
You somehow find your way back to that previous steam dumpling shop and gorge to your drunk heart’s content.
You then excavate your system and start contemplating if religion would help.
You then see an amazing sounding convenience store until you remember you’re not in Canada anymore so it has a different meaning now.
You start making your way back home on the last leg of the trip, drunkenly careful not to stumble in a damn lattice hole above a highway.
You run out of pictures to keep on telling the story so you take a pic on the bus while you write this.
:D
‘Rant’ over.
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day and check out some of my other stuff here.