Yunlin Travel: Jianguo Military Village

Travel Date: 2021/07/24

Things are improving in Taiwan, with fewer cases reported recently (around 20 per day, mostly in the North of Taiwan). In two days, the Level 3 restrictions are going to be lowered, allowing for more freedom. Today, after about 2.5 months, we returned to Huwei to visit my parents-in-law. Taking the opportunity to have some time alone, we drove around town to see what has changed. We visited the park near Huwei Sugar Factory and revisited Jianguo Military Village. The town didn't have many people, and not much has changed in the past few months. Some of the military houses are currently under renovation.

Jianguo Village Activity Center (建國一村活動中心)

Huwei Jianguo Military Dependents' Village, once the largest military village in Taiwan, is still in a state of disrepair. Perhaps due to limited resources, the progress of repairs has been relatively slow. Huwei Jianguo 1st Village now focuses on preserving and showcasing the military's cultural features, combining it with intellectual tourism and leisure activities to become a field for experiencing military life and culture. This includes military cultural museums, military-themed accommodations, food, and other leisure public services.

Huwei Jianguo Dependent Village is divided into three villages. The village was built during the Japanese occupation, with military-related buildings such as stables, warehouses, and medical clinics. Only a few buildings were constructed after the war. After the government took over, the village was divided into small compartments and used as dormitories, similar to student dormitories.

See also: Huwei Sugar Factory

Huwei Air Force Base (虎尾空軍基地)

Huwei Air Force Base used to exist in Lianzhili, Huwei Town. Its original site has been transformed into various institutions, including National Huwei University of Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan High-Speed Rail, Yunlin Prison, Elementary School, and Yunlin County Government.

The Air Force Base was established in 1936. In 1944, due to the need for a large number of pilots in the Pacific battlefield, the Huwei Naval Air Force was transferred there to train flight trainees. In the same year, 260 out of 500 trainee flight trainees in Japan were assigned to Huwei for training. Also in that year, the US army began bombing the Huwei Sugar Factory (as the factory produced alcohol fuel) and the Huwei Base.

In 1945, due to equipment, fuel, and personnel exhaustion, the local area was unable to continue training courses. As a result, the Huwei Naval Air Force was disbanded. During its operations, a total of 23 1,000-pound bombs were dropped, causing severe damage to Huwei. The base was repaired and used until 1990. However, around 1994, the base was completely abandoned. With a decreasing number of officers and soldiers stationed there, and the population migrating and aging, only less than half of the population of Jianguo 1st and 2nd Villages remained compared to their heyday, and almost all residents were elderly. The land was later divided and used for building schools, the high-speed railway, a prison, a hospital, and other facilities.

See also: Historic Water Tower in Jianguo Military Village

Address:

632雲林縣虎尾鎮建國一村

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Boba pizza? Why not! Strange flavours from Taiwan

Every time Pizza Hut announces a limited edition pizza, it sparks heated discussions on the internet. They have had some quite unusual choices in the past, such as stinky tofu, durian, boba, tangyuan, and spicy hot pot. Their latest creation is a pizza with century eggs, pig blood cake, and coriander (香菜皮蛋豬血糕比薩). However, it's not just famous brands that come up with strange pizza choices. There is also a pizza shop in Chiayi that recently started serving turkey testicle pizza.

Personally, I find it quite funny and very original. I wouldn't have a problem trying some of these unconventional flavors. Although many people were angry about it, even going as far as saying that Taiwan should be banned from using the word "pizza" for its innovations or that it's a torture for Italian people to see these pizza flavors. Personally, I enjoy experimenting with food and creating new flavors. If people never thought outside the box, there would be no new things around!

Pizza is not the only food with unique flavors. I have noticed that Lay's in Taiwan often offers limited edition flavors, both sweet and savory. Even though I don't eat chips (crisps) myself, I often check their offerings when shopping just to take some pictures and share with family or friends how unusual food can be. Some of the more peculiar flavors they have had include strawberry, caramel, grape soda, instant noodles, truffle, and brandy duck.

And speaking of originality, we can't forget about strawberry stinky tofu!

UPDATE: 

Ideas for unusual food flavors do seem to get crazier and crazier each year. In 2023, we have seen several unconventional ramen flavors, such as frog, durian, and crocodile. There was even a durian hot pot! And just recently, a frog cake emerged. Sometimes I feel a bit scared about opening the news and discovering what other surprising food creations I'll come across. It can definitely be a wild ride of culinary experimentation and unexpected flavor combinations.

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Tainan Travel: Baihe Lotus Ponds

Travel date: 2021/07/04

The lockdown hasn't ended yet. Initially, we had plans to visit my parents-in-law for the weekend. It has been nearly two months since our last visit to them. They live in Yunlin, and currently, there haven't been any Covid-19 cases reported in that area. However, my sister-in-law lives in Changhua, where there are daily reports of new cases. Moreover, she travels back to Yunlin every weekend and continues to go to work and eat outside, which increases the risk of visiting them during this time. Especially recently, there was a family in Tainan who tested positive for the virus after visiting their family in Changhua.

As a result, we mostly stayed at home. We did visit one house that is currently on sale. It's important not to solely rely on pictures since real estate listings often use extensive photo editing. We have encountered situations where a house looked decent in pictures but turned out to be in terrible condition and not worth our time. It's astonishing to see rundown buildings in remote areas still being sold for 10 million or more. It seems that owning a house in Taiwan may be out of reach for us.

Although all parks remain closed, we decided to go to Baihe to see some lotus ponds. Lotus flowers are one of my favorites, and it's currently their blooming season. Instead of visiting a park, we took a drive along small countryside roads with no people around. The area had hardly any houses, mostly just fields, many of which were planted with lotus flowers.

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Tainan Travel: Chun Kung Kiln

Chun Kung Kiln (居廣陶)

We were about to drive back home from Orchid City when my husband spotted this place - Chun Kung Kiln (居廣陶). At first, we drove in, but it seemed like nobody was there. My husband wanted to drive back, but I found the place interesting, so we decided to stay. Eventually, a woman approached us and introduced the place. It appeared that very few people visit there. It's an old kiln that used to produce tiles in the past, but the fireplace was destroyed by an earthquake. Nowadays, it's a DIY place where you can make your own cup. However, I'm not particularly interested in DIY, especially not cup making. I feel like anything I make would turn out too ugly to even use (I don't have much talent for it).

The government has been actively promoting the creative cultural industry in recent years, aiming to revitalize traditional businesses that showcase local cultural characteristics, such as Chun Kung Kiln, a local workshop in Liujia, Tainan. Liujia is an important town with a long history of producing building materials in southern Taiwan. However, the industry, which used to provide warm and solid housing for millions of people in Taiwan, has gradually been overshadowed by the concrete jungle of today's cities.

Address:

734台南市六甲區居廣陶

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Adrian's first time making Aiyu Jelly

 

Still staying home, not only because of the virus but also due to plenty of rainy days. I'm starting to feel a little tired always needing to entertain our son, Adrian. He likes to play in the kitchen with me, although our space is really small, and it's inconvenient for me if he wants to cook together. Especially lately, he watched some videos with me where a little girl was helping her parents cook (or rather make a mess).

While doing some cleanup in the kitchen, I found many aiyu shells waiting in the cupboard to be used. Actually, I tried to make my first aiyu jelly two years ago, but it was a fail. After that, the remaining seeds were left unused. I was lazy to do anything with them, but now that I have a lot of free time, I have no excuses. This time, at least, it really condensed and made jelly, not just gelatinous water. Yay! Adrian was really excited to eat it.

We started by scrubbing the seeds from the aiyu plant and placing them in a bag. We bought the bag at a grocery store, specifically made for washing aiyu. After gently rubbing the seeds in water, they soon became more gelatinous and turned yellowish in color. I added some sugar melted in warm water, and then we cooled it down in the fridge. After about half an hour, it was ready to eat!

If you want to know what's aiyu, check my another post HERE.

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