Hey there GRRR Travelers!
Today I am here in Taoyuan.
I’m here to explore one of the most beautiful historical town of Daxi.
In partnership with the Taoyuan city government and my two to friends and guides Jeff and
Sarah, I’ll be showing you some of the best things to do, see and eat, when you were in
Taxi!
Come along.
Hey Jeff.
I’m excited to take you to my favorite secret hotspot.
OK, let’s go.
Christine I’m gonna take you to a coffee shop, but it’s something really local.
It’s one of my favorite coffee shops in Taipei.
This is so cute!
I got my own little coffee bag.
I suggest you before we go onto the metro, you take a sip of your coffee.
Why?
Because on the metro you’re not allowed to drink.
You’re not?
We’re not.
Hi CHRISTINE- hi Jeff.
I’m Sarah, a local of Taoyuan.
I’m gonna take you on a tour today.
First of all we’re going to get you an Easy Pass.
This is the best pass to get you around in Taiwan.
OK awesome.
Then we’re going to transfer it to a bus.
How long is it gonna take?
I think the bus ride takes around 20 minutes.
It’ll drop us off in Daxi, in the heart of Daxi.￼￼￼￼￼
We’re on Daxi bridge right now, and Jeff I did are we here?
Well CHRISTINE, this bridge welcomes us into Daxi.
This river that lies underneath is a very important river to the industry.
Why is that?
It’s because of the wood industry.
Because people use to ship wood from the port – then they loaded it here and set it off
down the river to the port.
Why wood?
Wood is very important to this town and we’re going to see why later.
So the way to Old Street, we’re going to cave.
Now they have decorated paintings of Daxi.
The food, the old street.
What’s important about this cave?
Well you remember the bridge?
The cars go over the bridge and it goes through the tunnel and then to the old town.
The only way into the old town.
The only way?
The only way into the town.
Now it’s turned into a pedestrian walking.
On the ancient old trail, so Christine this is where people used to work on the past.
They walk up the old street to the river.
Actually they made it really mild and calm..
For example if you are a worker carrying a very heavy load.
Like my back pack your bag right there.
Do you wouldn’t feel too stressed because the steps are quite easy to walk.
We are here in does she old market and you just got a lot of stuff here.
Like produce.
Look at all this ..seafood, meats, street food.
There’s just so much character here, it’s still alive!
This is what is known as the thousand year egg.
Look at how big the taro is.
I got a sweet potato from this vendor back here and it cost me 35 NT dollars.
Wow, it’s really delicious.
Right now I’m walking along Daxi old street or Heping Old street.
You notice what’s very characteristic of this street is it they have these facades.
There are over 130 years old and they’re mostly crafted in a kind of Baroque style.
The name plates on this sign our names of the shops below them.
Toys stores, you got wood shops, you got restaurants and you’ve got some galleries and salons.
There’s kind of like the smell come out of Cedarwood or wood.
And it’s because one of the top crafts here is wood work.
The souvenirs that they have are very woodcraft-based.
This vendor here is making some kind of herb for sore throat‘s.
It’s definitely like a kind of cough drop or the herbal version of a cough drop.
It’s soft and when you bite into it it’s like a menthol.
That would be a pretty good investment if you felt like you’re coming down with a
cold.
I saw a lady on the side of the road selling ice cream burritos.
It’s got Chinese parsley with peanuts and ice cream wrapped up in a burrito.
I would never have thought of putting Chinese parsley in with ice cream.
I’m walking through this place called Maze Alley, I believe.
It’s kind of like a pathway through s residential area.
There are working class people that live here to used to be working class people that still
live in this area.
Right off of Daxi Old Street you have this wonderful brilliant colorful temple.
There’s one unusual thing that houses in inside.
There’s just so much going on in this temple.
OK so right here in this temple you have fortune sticks.
Do you think about what you want to ask OK so I’ve got my question right now.
I’m gonna mix my sticks and pick one.
I’m matching it with the same name and this is my fortune right here.
Becky are you have a collection of the worlds largest spitting wooden tops.
They’re quite large and apparently this town they also have a top annual top spinning
Festival.
We’re people come and try and spin those huge tops.
It’s a pretty unusual thing to have in the temple.
We are ZhongZheng park.
This park is built by the Japanese.
They brought in the concept of parks into Taiwan.
They did?
They did.
So before the Japanese, the Taiwanese didn’t have any parks?
We didn’t have any parks.
There’s even a sumo ring.
There is?
So we’re entering the word art museum and it showcases the life of Daxi people and also
about the woodcraft.
So this chair is actually made from the local carpenters they do not use a single nail.
So this is a wooden toy, the task is to try to take three pieces separate.
Got it out.
Hey, what happened to mine?
The Dougan is really kind of like this tofu that is harder than regular tofu.
I love tofu and one thing you don’t know about Daxi it is a tofu town.
This is a popular tofu eatery right here.
They specialize completely in tofu.
They’ve got celebrities up there, or celebrities . I’ll be coming back later tonight to try
some of this.
I can’t wait.
So I’m at Lai Ma Ma and I have ordered tofu pudding.
Sweet potatoes, taro, and red bean.
Along with this soft tofu pudding.
I like the tofu, I actually ordered a lemon type of Sweet water.
The taro is really chewy.
It’s kind of like boba.
The sweet potato is a similar consistency is the taro.
It’s really interesting how they combined all of these things kind of like a Korean
patbingsu or shaved ice.
So right now we’re going to go into a shop which used to be A grocery store.
Kind of retains its own old vintage vibe.
Come along.
Nice to meet you.
So this old house is over 130 years old.
So recently the government sponsored to repair this house and it was only recently finished.
So these plates and cups were used in the past, either for their own collections.
Another put on display for what they used in the past.
So this is also shared with another local who has his café here.
It’s a way for the old world to merge with the New World and to still remain relevant
in this work in society.
It’s all of this is tofu?
All tofu products?
Tofu paste.
Usually we eat it with porridge.
This is like a snack.￼￼￼￼ you’d eat it with a drink, and watch TV.
You can hit on these snacks.
Really good ones.
So many things that can go with tofu.
Like at home I just add soy sauce to my tofu.
Well, it’s hard like jerky.
Like tofu jerky
Beef jerky, but tofu.
Tofu flavored.
So glad he shops or tofu shops and I guess they make them in all different ways.
It doesn’t look like to food because it’s brown.
This is the regular dougan.
This is the what?
The vegetarian chicken.
..Intestines.
Oh yeah?
And stomach.
Oh my God and what’s that one?
That is the tofu.
We ordered this order right here and this is a combination of all of those.
Oh wow this is a huge plate of tofu.
We are now having the representative of Dashi, the dried been curd.
Delcon.
Here we kind of phrase the tofu.
Braised the tofu, so that’s why the dark color.
And it’s usually brown.
Yeah it looked kind a looks like sausage.
It’s not sausage, it’s always sauce.
The quality of the tofu is what creates the flavor not the sauce.
The church sauces of these vendors signature sauces of these calendars.
What is a good tofu?
A good tofu should be soft, fluffy,￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼ the time they braise it is the most important
element of making the tofu.
This was like a darker color it’s harder.
And when it’s white or not fairly dark, it’s softer.
It means it wasn’t bridge braised that much.
Well I’m going to try it first plane and then I’m going to go in for the spicy.
The tofu feels kind of fluffy.
Soft fluffy
Exactly.
I can’t believe this is tofu.
Look this even jiggles.
It’s like Jell-O.
Spicy?
I feel like my eyes are going to start watering.
I don’t eat spicy food so I never tried that.
How spicy do you get Jeff?
I could get a bunch of it.
Cool calm collected?
I’m good.
The spice hits you and it kind of subsides.
Maybe it’s because of the tofu?
The top is all the magic.
Cheers!
Super good
I got a chewy one
Mine is nice and fluffy.
So, let me know what you think about Daxi would you like to visit?
Let me know in the complex but low.
Also check out my links.
I’ll shoot you out to say we can learn a little bit more about Daxi.
To then travel safe smart and fun I will see you in Daxi.
May the GRRR with you.
This is like the Dougan dog.
Check back for more GRRRLTRAVELER videos to take you inside my solo travel adventures.
As always links in the description box below.
Until then travel safe smart and fun and made the GRRR be with you