Trip to Hsinchu: From the Main Station to the East Gate
Part one of my short trip to Hsinchu, 2010
Hsinchu (also Xinzhu or Chinese 新竹, pronounced something like "Sheen-choo") is one of the biggest cities in Taiwan (with around 400.000 inhabitants), located in the northwestern part of the island. My girlfriend and I decided to visit it and do some sightseeing and to try some local food. It was just a day trip with the train from Banqiao. It took us only about 1h to reach there. We could have taken the high-speed train, that only needs 15min, but we wanted to save the money for food, especially for Hsinchu's delicacy: the famous rice noodles. Besides that, Hsinchu is famous for it's colorful history, the glass industry and for being one of the richest cities in Taiwan.
Let me show you what we saw that day:
Read my post about the old Hsinchu City East gate here>>
The East Gate is a popular venue for rock concerts. It's really a cool place to hear rock music and see many young people enjoying the historic site in their own way.
14 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
I wanna go too! Stop making others jealous pls xD haha.
May 11, 2010 2:01 AM
The young population looks very hip! Love the East Gate. You know I feel like participating in a quiz where they ask Taiwan-related questions. I sure would win! Ha!
I'm still jealous of you...
May 11, 2010 2:27 AM
Maybe it's the pictures, but this is a place I would like to live in (if I had to choose among all the places you've posted so far)... the others I would only like to see...
May 11, 2010 2:53 AM
my goodness, so packed!!!
May 11, 2010 5:54 AM
Not sure if you noticed but there seems to be a lot of bamboo in all the foods. I got a bit sick of bamboo and also my travelling partner said that it smells like pee. =.=" LOL
May 11, 2010 10:41 AM
I've been staying XinZhu for nearly 4 years and is really excited reading this post, because all these photos look so familiar to me!
May 11, 2010 11:00 AM
@Chris: :-P
@Johana: Cool. I guess all of you die hard MKL friends, who are still sticking around, have become Taiwan experts by now :P
@Daisy: Well, Hsinchu is one of the richest parts of Taiwan, I've read somewhere, that they have the highest salaries in whole Taiwan. Hence the city looks so good and new :)
@Ejann: Every city in Taiwan is packed ;)
@Lizzy: Hahaha.. Ah, even the name of the city is bamboo, what do you expect? :) I'm ok with eating it, had no such association like your travel mate :)
@Jenny: Hey, nice to meet you. Happy and honored to have someone from that city comment here, hehe. Hsinchu is really a great place to live, I'm sure you enjoy your life there :)
May 11, 2010 5:06 PM
Wow! Love the East Gate! It's the place for great music..(and cute boys too, haha..) ^^ I wanna hang out there everyday! \(^_^)/
May 11, 2010 5:06 PM
Ceecile: Come, they're awaiting you, hehe ;)
May 11, 2010 5:11 PM
Look! That girl has a camera-coloured bag. That Is Cool.
May 11, 2010 8:28 PM
Haha yes I think the cute girls and good music is more than enough reason to keep you coming back to Hsinchu...maybe a solo trip without your gf nex time ;)
I don't know anything about the history between this city and the Japanese but it's interesting how they built the train station which is still standing (love the architecture) but the Japanese destroyed three historic gates there. I'm guessing there was a conflict/war :(
The Chin Hsue Park looks beautiful. And I see koi fish in the pond!
Aww, nice to see the Mother's Day sign :)
And what's that digital counter saying the number "59" in your motorcycle picture? Is that the number of seconds left before the light turns from red to green?
May 12, 2010 3:00 PM
@Sander: Oh, I haven't noticed before. Thanks :)
@Karen: No, I won't come alone, hehe. I'm very loyal, I mean loyal, very doesn't mean anything in this case, hehe. The 59 is the countdown to the green light, it's quite common here, because sometimes you need to wait 90 seconds, before you can move again.
Well, Japan ruled over Taiwan for 50 years, from 1895-1945 and they destroyed quite many Taiwanese (or Chinese) historic building. I've seen same in Seoul, so it's no wonder that they're not really loved by other Asian countries.
May 12, 2010 3:46 PM
really cute girls everywhere you look!
it must be heaven :)
May 13, 2010 1:05 AM
@Adamantix: Haha.. that's Taiwan as I know it :)
May 14, 2010 1:45 PM
Post a Kafkaesque comment!