Visiting a Friend at Chiayi in Taiwan

For tourists, it's a guarantee we would check out places of attractions but in our 2025 Taiwan trip, having a rental car at our disposal provided much flexibility; to the extent we drove over to the house of a friend who stayed in a rural town of Chiayi county! 

I was expecting a rundown house and in front of us was really more a modern 2-storey building! As it was a impromptu visit, I guess it would have been rude for us to barge into the house for a tour. 

Checking out the makeshift greenhouse built by our friend, who loves greenery and has both dedication and the green fingers to ensure the ferns and plants survive. 

We were more captivated by the farmland surrounding his house (technically, his parents'). This is definitely not a scene Singaporeans are accustomed to seeing given how land scarce we are. 

The plot for our friend's family is smaller but that's because they have farmland elsewhere! Nevertheless, they didn't leave it to waste, although not exactly to the land's full potential also. 

A mango tree stood out from the rest of crops. 

Not sure what these are; green pepper? 

Cabbage and cauliflower! From a business student perspective, I am looking at the ROI (return of investment); space taken is actually quite big and one head of cabbage and cauliflower doesn't sell very high. Once you count in fertilizer, water, manpower and transport; the farmer doesn't really earn much! 

Moral of the story; don't waste food! 

p.s. my favorite broccoli! 

Friend washing freshly picked cherry tomatoes he got from his sister's farm! Now, I am super selective when it comes to cherry tomatoes especially when they are rare.

Turned out to be much sweeter than expected.

Before we knew it, the whole pack was gone! 

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Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)