Surroundings of the National Taiwan Museum of Comics (國家漫畫博物館) @ Taichung City in Taiwan

While looking at Google Maps for attractions near our accommodation at Taichung City, Tea Way Hotel, I chanced upon an interesting place; National Taiwan Museum of Comics (國家漫畫博物館).

Now, I am not much of a museum lover although I do love comics books in my teen years and my grasp of traditional Chinese characters actually came from comic books printed in Taiwan. Hence, I decided to check out the place during my morning jog!

What appeared in front of me was more like a cluster of Japanese buildings but it might surprise you that the museum was constructed on prison grounds hailing from the year 1937! 

My intention was only to show you the surroundings of this open concept museum, with 20 buildings (one 1 is new), that has no admission tickets! Surroundings only because my jog was at 8am; way before the operating hours at 10am! 

Good thing for me as it was so quiet and peaceful and I literally have the whole museum grounds to myself. It was kind of weird though; don't Taichung people exercise in the morning? Or it is more an evening thing?

The grounds were so nicely manicured; you would have thought the buildings were all newly built. Comprising an area stretching 90 meters by 200 meters, the only thing lacking might just be people dressed in traditional Japanese attire to bring me back to the 1930s. 

Given that Taiwan was colonized by the Japan for 50 years, culture and even building architecture were somewhat affected, and I am just glad that Taiwan decided to keep these buildings, rather than demolishing them to remove any traces of colonization, deemed to be shameful in some countries. 

I am not an artsy person and don't really get this.

Does it mean the land shall be open for all? 

Looking more like a temple, I understand it was the Budokan Martial Arts Hall, which was "used by prison officials for martial arts training, including swordsmanship and judo". 

How I know? The information pillar above.

Themed activities.

p.s. this was in 2025.

Okay, I am not exactly alone with a group of elderlies exercising using the tai-chi technique. Anyway, I am not too far off from taichi exercises; someone just reminded me I am reaching my give five zero soon! 

The majestic trees and bamboos; while nice for an outsider, I always feel that it can be quite eerie to have trees towering over the house, especially when night falls. Coming from a person who has lived in the village, I had to admit urban life is totally for me. 

OMG, this reminded me of those traditional Japanese dwellings in mangas! Imagine seeing characters of crayon shin chan and doraemon sitting / standing on the wooden patios.

This had an outlook of a prison; dull, without many windows.

p.s. it's actually the information center.

Remnants of a gate, with even a letter slot, that used to contain a house? Even though this is the National Taiwan Museum of Comics, I thought it would be nice to touch on the history, and maybe even before and after pictures for comparison.

Spot the cats! These elements actually liven up the museum concept, and could appeal to visitors who accompany friends to the museum, yet not entirely interested in comics. 

They could also take pictures with these silhouettes of warring parties. From the wordings on them, it appeared that comic companies are the main sponsors, likely in the likeness of characters in comic books published by them.

A scene from the comic,  Ichthyophobia (怕魚的男人).

Author: Li Lung-chieh (李隆杰). 

While the museum concentrates on Taiwanese comics, I would recommend this place for those who are keen to immerse themselves in Japanese buildings built almost a hundred years ago, and enjoy the chillax environment. Of course, visiting in winter is definitely an advantage. 

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Address

No. 33, Linsen Rd, West District, 

Taichung City, Taiwan 

Map

As above.

Website

https://www.ntmc.gov.tw/home/zh-tw

Museum Directory

As above.

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)

Miyahara (宮原眼科) @ Taichung City in Taiwan

More than ten years ago, on my first trip to Taiwan, I chanced upon a most interesting building at Taichung by the name of Miyahara, a supposedly optical shop yet the items for sale were unrelated to the eyes.

Step in and it's like a scene from Harry Potter, albeit with Asian influences. This would likely be a wizardry world in Japan and the things lacking would be flying books and swimming fish lanterns, amongst others.

A donation box that looked like it had been there forever.

Maybe in existence since the time the building was built.

For a moment, I thought the shop had pivoted to selling books, and they looked like some classical novels, yet with names that were food related. Maybe recipe books?

A closer look revealed that they were pastries, cookies that doubled up as food souvenirs you can bring home! And boy were they quite pricey, and I didn't recall seeing much samples! Regular readers would know me; I would usually need samples before I buy! 

There's actually a cafe on the upper floors but reservation was full. So I thought I would just make do with the shop's most famous product; the ice cream takeaway counter for Miyahara! 

But the queue was too long, although not as long as back in 2014, when it was at least triple the number. Now, I like ice cream but I hate to queue. The love for ice cream wasn't strong enough for me to dispel the hatred for queuing.

I was lucky though; a staff member recommended that I travel a short distance to a sister branch of Miyahara, called The Fourth Credit No 72, which would have much lesser queue, with ample seats for me to enjoy the ice cream! Let's go! 

 

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Address

No. 20, Zhongshan Rd, 

Central District, Taichung City, 

Taiwan 

Map

As above.

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)

Fresh Cheese Corn (起司瀑布) @ Hanxi Night Market in Taichung [Taiwan]

I love buttered corn kernels in a cup and every night market in Taiwan, it's mainly ears of corns which didn't appeal as they were a handful to eat, as compared to dumping spoonfuls of already peeled corn kernels into my mouth.

Hence, my eyes were drawn to the above stall. Literally called the cheese waterfall with a picture of a corn, I was motivated to order with the three key Chinese words on the signboard; aromatic, rich and tasty!

Our order was freshly made and even though I am not that big of a cheese fan (meaning I don't feel that adding cheese to everything is a godsend); it was so therapeutic to see the strings of cheese being skillfully pulled, and combined, and pulled again.

Video for your viewing.

For NT$80 (about S$3.20), some would argue this was too pricey but from a personal perspective, I love the layers of saltiness, cheesiness and sweetness with bursts of natural corn flavor as I chewed through. Very nice even though I can't discern any taste of seaweed! 

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Address

Section 1, Hanxi E Rd, 

Hanxi Night Market, East District,

Taichung City, Taiwan 

Map

As above.

Pricing

One Serving - NT$80

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)

Candied Sweet Potato Cubes (蜘蛛絲地瓜) @ Hanxi Night Market in Taichung [Taiwan]

To be totally honest, I don't really look at signboards whenever I visit the night markets in Taiwan. It's the smell of the food that captivates me, with the visual appearance catching my attention. 

There wasn't any smell emitting from this stall but the look of that box filled with glistening golden nuggets definitely drew my attention. It's only then that I looked at the sign board and noted those nuggets were in fact sweet potatoes; one of the best carbohydrate choices around! 

We got a box at NT$100 after much deliberation. While sweet potatoes were a good source of carbohydrates, the shiny glace covering them was a result of sugar, similar to the tanghulu; not exactly healthy.... Oh well, too great a temptation, it was.

Did I regret my choice? Hell no as they were irresistibly delicious! Coated with a crunchy layer of sugar with soft insides, it's a guarantee that every piece of sweet potato was sweetened, and boy were they addictive, and sinfully so! Even Alex, a non-sweet potato lover, likes them! 

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I did regret something. 

Not having it again before leaving the city! 

Address

Section 1, Hanxi E Rd, 

Hanxi Night Market, East District,

Taichung City, Taiwan 

Map

As above.

Pricing

One Serving - NT$100

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)