Take me back to 1916

Sanxia Old Street

Hi This is Yvonne again.. As you probably know now, I am a fan of all things retro. Don't you just love going to places that are preserved from past? It feels so refreshing to experience things that makes you feel familiar yet strange and mysterious.  

Since Taiwan was occupied by various countries such as Spain, China, and Japan, there are places where their traces are still present in modern-day Taiwan. Sanxia Old Street is one of those places.

Sanxia old street was an economic power house back in the 19-20th century. It is located in New Taipei City. Over the course of a century, it has become one of the most well preserved old street in Taiwan. 

The buildings in Sanxia old street are all red brick buildings built during Japanese occupation. Now, Sanxia is a tourist site where people come to enjoy and experience what it is like to live in the 1900s Taiwan. 

Walking on the streets...

  Aye... another rainy day in Taiwan. 


In the red brick buildings, there are stores that sells traditional things such as toys, hand-made woodcrafts, hand-made leather shoes, hand-made soap, and of course... FOOD.

This soap brings back my mom's memories... but hmm... not mine haha

Famous store that sells one of the Taiwanese favorite snacks: pig blood gao (yup, a type of food made with rice and pig blood)

Pig Blood Gao covered with peanut powder~ Yummm

 Tea Seed Oil Noodle

Street sign saying Stop, Look, and Eat 

Sanxia's must: Croissant. This type of croissant it different from the typical croissants. The outside is krispy, but the inside is very soft and moist. My favorite. 

 OK, enough food. Aside from the yummy food you can eat in Sanxia old street. You can also enjoy playing games to win prices! On the old street there are stands that have various types of games. The game we chose to play this time was balloon shooting. 

Showcasing different kinds of air guns we can use

What we got at the end, a fully rabbit keychain. 

actually... six fluffy key chains. Yup, don't mess with me when I am holding a gun.

Some more details of Sanxia old street

Beautiful drain.. manhole?

A Buddhist Temple

The old vibes from the streets and red buildings recharged us from the overflowing stress of living in the hustling and bustling modern world. 

THE END.. TEEHEE

How to Get There?: 

By MRT/Bus:
From Yongning Station (永寧), blue line, take bus number 705, 706, or 三鶯線先導公車 (no English name) to Jiaoxi Li/Village (礁溪里) station. After getting off the bus, walk southwest down Zhonghua Road (中華路) about 150-200 meters. At the Family Mart, turn right onto Guangming Road (光明路), and continue until you see a large red Chinese gate. Cross this scenic pedestrian bridge (Zhangfu Bridge, 長福橋) over to Sanxia Old Street.

To/From Yingge:
Sanxia is only a 10 minute drive away from Yingge and its ceramics shopping street. After taking a local train from Taipei to Yingge, simply take a taxi to Sanxia Old Street (三峽老街, Sānxiá Lǎojiē).

Welcome to TASC Initiative Blog

Hi Everyone!

This is Yvonne Yen, Publicity Director of TASC Initiative at UCLA. 

This blog is created so that people can get to know more about Taiwan's culture. 

We will be putting up posts about food, tourist sites, cultural activities, current news, festivals, upcoming events from TASC, and many more on this blog.

So come frequently to check this blog out! 

Also, feel free to contact us if you want to know more about information posted on this blog.

You can also share your Taiwan experience by emailing us your story and pictures of things related to Taiwan, we will post it up on our blog. 

Have fun with this blog and enjoy the rest of your summer vacation! 

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Love Art? Love Delicate Handmade and Retro Food and Gifts? Come to Huashan 1914 Creative Park!

First Post of the Summer!!

Hi there, this is Yvonne, the TASC Initiative Publicity Director. Today, I am going to share with you one of my favorite to-go place in Taipei City. 

If you like going to art exhibits, shopping at flea markets, enjoying artistic and creative vibes, then this is a place for you!

Huashan 1914 Creative Park contains different buildings for regular art and film exhibits, creative shops, restaurants, and an open area for streat artists and performances. The picture above was taken right under the tunnel where the movie ticket office is located for the Huashan movie theather. The movies shown here are not the typical movies you see in movie theaters, but are films related to culture and art filmed by local and global film makers and artists. 

During the weekends, local farmers will also come to Huashan Creative Park to sell their freshly picked vegetables and fruits. The products here are organic, and the vendors are always really nice and approachable. Feel free to chat with them and ask them for a cheaper price!! :) 

Because the the art museums in Huashan were packs with visitors, I didn't have the chance to go inside and take pictures. BUT!!! Here comes my favorite part of Huashan Creative Park.

This red brick building houses my favorite cafe, VVG Thinking, one of the famous cafes in Taipei City. It is a part of a chain creative stores/restaurants company called VVG, which stands for Very Very Good.

The book store named VVG Something, located about 15 min drive away from Huashan Creative Park, was also selected as one of the top 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world by flavorwire.com. 

Below are some pictures showing the interior of VVG Thinking

The furnitures used in the store and in the restaurant/cafe portions of the store are all for sell. The fact that they are not afraid the customers will damage the furnitures while they are eating amazes me. Apparently, this method works really well, as the company proceed to opening more and more stores throughout Taipei.

Decorations on second floor.

The style of VVG Thinking is very industrial and retro. 

Stairs going down to first floor


1st Floor: Dining and Cafe
2nd Floor: Store

The wings can move!!!!!
VVG Thinking calls it the Da Vinci Wings.

After into the store, my family and I decided to eat here for lunch!

Here is the table we were sitting at.

And.. HERE COMES THE FOOD!!!

 

Place where you you can pick the freshly made pastries

Well, yah, couldn't give you the names of the food because I forgot... but ALL THE FOOD HERE WAS SUPER DUPER GOOD!!! VVG fuses seasonal fruits and veggies with different herbs and oils into their menu. Every bite felt like heaven. My family and I practically tried all the desserts and main course of the season. And yes, they change their menu base on season, so you will never get tired of going there! Their interior also change drastically every half year or so, don't be confused if it looks different from above!

 

After eating, you can go upstairs for some shopping. VVG Thinking has a huge variety of retro things that ranges from writing utensils, old fashion brooms of different sizes, clothing made by local designers, cook books, artistic book collections, beakers (?!), shampoo and soaps from Aesop, etc.

Sometimes they also hosts seasonal events where they invite artists to make some little artwork that you can take home, and VVG will also treat you with their special event menu.

And yes.. what is summer without the rain...

Walking around the Creative Park. :) 

~~ I'm sing~ing in the rain~~

Some Retro Vibe for you 

Ready for another round of food? XD I'm READY!!

So yah, the weather clears off and the Yen family (my family) continues their food expedition. 

The restaurant I am going to introduce to you now is also located inside Huashan 1914 Creative Park.

Here we are at our second food stop of the day. In the middle of Huashan Creative Park is AL CICCHETTO by CASA DELLA PASTA. As you can guess from the name, it's an Italian restaurant

What we got from AL CICCHETTO: 

Soup and salad

 Kids menu. Spaghetti with meat sauce combo. 

Dessert

Homemade Egg Pudding 

The interior of the restaurant. Again, super retro and industrial. <3 LOVE

Servers wearing shirt and sleek black apron.

In case you were wonder what the take out drink in the middle was. It was a tea we bought from a tea house in Huashan Creative Park.

You can see the tea leaves on the bottom. Its a type of tea called 冷泡茶 (len pao cha) which is just tea made with cold water instead of the regular hot water and ice. Very refreshing in the hot and humid weather of Taiwan.

After all, Huashan is a good place to go with your hipster friends. Going around Huashan and visiting every store and museum in there will take about half a day, depending on how many exhibits there are. Make sure to check out upcoming events and exhibits online before you go! 

WOOHOO end of the very first posts!

Hope you enjoy everything shown in this blog!

For more information see below: 

Huashan 1914 Creative Park 

By Metro

Take the Nangang/Blue Line to Zhong Xiao Xing Sheng Station (忠孝新生).Take Exit one and continue to walk straight for about a block until you see an underpass and a giant red diamond. The Huashan Creative Park is just across the street.

Price Range of the restaurants: $$$ (average about $20-$40 per person for a whole course meal including salad, soup, main course, and dessert)

Tastiness: AWESOME