Escape to Miaoli – Nanzhuang Old Street

If you live in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, or Taichung area and happen to be bored hanging around in your city, try to escape to a small county called Miaoli, the home for Hakka culture in Taiwan. There are five major tourist destinations in Miaoli: Sanyi (三義), Dahu (大湖), Taian (泰安), Mingde (明德), and (of course) Nanzhuang (南庄), the one that we will talk about in this post. Miaoli can be reached easily by bus or train from four cities mentioned earlier.

We took Kuo-Kuang bus from Banqiao Bus Station for  about one and half hour before reaching Toufen, the most populated township in Miaoli. Since it’s lunch time already, we decided to have our meal in one cafe called Miti (米提咖啡館). It’s a nice small place to hang out with your friends. The owner is very warm and the place is well decorated, but the food itself is so-so.

Miti Cafe @Toufen

Miti Cafe @Toufen

Miti's bar

Miti’s bar

Miti's interior

Miti’s interior

Miti's appetizer

Miti’s appetizer

Miti's soup

Miti’s soup

Miti's black pepper beef rice

Miti’s black pepper beef rice

Miti's orange juice

Miti’s orange juice

After refueling our energy, we went to Miaoli bus station to wait for Miaoli County’s Taiwan Tour Bus. This bus is regularly scheduled to go to Nanzhuang every hour. You can buy one day tour bus pass for 100 NTD.

One day pass for Miaoli's Taiwan Tour Bus

One day pass for Miaoli’s Taiwan Tour Bus

Toufen Bus Station

Toufen Bus Station

Tour bus route for Nanzhuang line

Tour bus route for Nanzhuang line

Timetable for Nanzhuang line's bus

Timetable for Nanzhuang line’s bus

Miaoli's Taiwan Tour Bus

Miaoli’s Taiwan Tour Bus

Our destination is Nanzhuang Old Street (one of top 10 Taiwan’s old streets) located near Nanzhuang Visitor Center station. The most popular dish in this old street is Osmanthus (桂花) egg roll. There is also a stall offers Osmanthus glutinous rice ball.

Old street's main gate

Old street’s main gate

Nanzhuang's old street

Nanzhuang’s old street

Old street's stall

Old street’s stall

Another old street's stall

Another old street’s stall

Osmanthus egg rolls

Osmanthus egg rolls

Osmanthus glutinous rice bowl

Osmanthus glutinous rice ball (iced)

We found a very owlish souvenir shop, that we want to keep it a secret, that offers a very wide collection of cute little things with pretty reasonable price tag owned by very friendly lady. It’s called Maggie House (桂花巷米奇小舖).

Maggie House

Maggie House

Inside Maggie House

Inside Maggie House

Maggie House recycled shopping bag

Maggie House recycled shopping bag

One of the popular spots is Japanese style post office located at the end of the alley. It’s also counted as one of the ten most treasured historical architecture of Miaoli. Right across this post office, you can also find a famous Japanese-style matcha shaved ice stall.

Nanzhuang post office

Nanzhuang post office

Nanzhuang postman miniature

Nanzhuang postman miniatures

Japanese matcha shaved ice

Japanese matcha shaved ice

We took the same Taiwan Tour Bus heading back to Zhunan Train Station and continued our return trip to Taipei by train. To be honest, there are not so many things to do in this street. However, if you spend most of your time in hustle bustle of big city, you will find it is a pretty nice option for few hours escape on your weekend.

 

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