Taichung
Take a Trip to Taichung
Taichung is a city bursting with culture and the arts: one need only look at the sheer number of museum and cultural centers in it to do that. In fact, a lot of the people coming to this marvelously modern yet historic place do so to immerse themselves in the best of Taiwanese culture, scheduling trips to such impressive locations as the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Natural Science (a great site for the young ones, incidentally), the Taichung Winery, and Wenying Hall. Temples too abound, and temple and architecture enthusiasts will want to have a look at some of the largest.
But Taichung is really about more than museum-type exhibits or structures, we should remember. This is a place too where entertainment is staged instead of static, a place where two of the most popular marathons in the country are held each year and where jazz festivals happen annually. Cultural presentations at the halls are also fairly regular, and tourists can get some great experiences and photos then.
But if this is not to your taste, you can just turn to another alluring aspect of Taichung life: the shopping. Taichung is a lovely place to shop for those who love the nighttime open-air markets. There are at least three big ones you want to check out—Fengjia, Zhong Hua, and Zhong Xiao—to see what you can get for your souvenir budget. The food sold at these markets too is often a treat, as it lets you sample the gastronomic culture and tradition of the region.
What really makes Taichung delightful to visit if you are a tourist in Taiwan, though, is that it is not yet a major tourist spot, i.e. it has not yet been choked by the swarms of tourists already running about in the other cities. This is a nice place to discover Taiwan as it is without the tourist-oriented pomp and flash of the more popular locations, even while still discovering the charm of the country.
