Once you are driving around Taiwan, and happen to be in a Taitung county, it's well worth to stop by and check Taimali township.
As Wikipedia says:
If you just stay on a main road, Taimali looks just like any other east coast township:
Most of inhabitants are engaged in farming, while others try to squeeze out living selling food to those who pass by the township.
What Taimali area is really famous for, it's a Shi Jia fruit, and I think, that there is no english name for it - at least yahoo dictionary could not find one. Anyway, you should come early in may to get the season and best of them, because when we came at end of may, it appeared that it's already too late, and only such ones left:
Do not be too concerned also, if you could not catch the fresh fruits - there are a lot of jellies and candy made from them, so you will be sure to get a sweet (maybe even too sweet in my opinion) taste of this fruit. And a good place to buy a gifts and different sweets, related to eastern Taiwan are in the shop, which you will not miss (good example of marketing skills - in a mess of red signs in Taiwan, it really stands out). And it's a parking around it - as Sam Walton noticed, that in case his parking lot's were filled more than 50 %, the sales in his shops started to decline. This shop apparently does it good - get's the attention, offers you parking and here you are - inside the shop.
Good isn't it? At least you will point your finger on it, asking "what's that"? And most likely stop to take a picture.
A lot of things to choose from
Li Ji - my favorite fruit in Taiwan also sold here.
After you had packed up with eastern coast sweet's, don't speed up too much. There is a really terrific place to have a lunch. Definitely - such quality and such a taste - exceeded our expectations.
They had named it Sea restaurant, but not because of sea food, but I guess, because of really fantastic eastern coast views, which are just here to enjoy while you have a lunch.
Adress is No.133, San-Ho Village, Taimali, Taitung county.
Such a views, just from a restaurant table. Let's take a look on menu:
If you think that it's not cheap at all, I agree with you. But it's worth to try, because it's really tasty.
Here is our lunch, but your choice could be another:
It's Hai Shin. Inside are mix of sea food - shrimps & similar.
Noodles, pork, ginger & much other tasty things.
Again a mix of different kind of vegetables and meat, and as I remember, tofu as well.
Chicken.
Desert - watermelon, sweet's and coffee.
I will remember Taimali as such, but it's for sure, that I am going to explore it more next time, not just such quick run through.
As Wikipedia says:
The Tai Mali village was started 1,000 years ago by Qian YaoKao who was ancestor of the Pai Wan race. The Qian YaoKao is also called DaMa race. Guangxu 3th year, due to DaMa has similar pronunciation to Tai Ma, thus it has been called Tai Mali by mainland people. Early in the Republic Era, other aborigines such as the Ah Mei and Bai Wan races were moving continuously to Tai Mali village. During the Japanese colonial period, there were also some residents from Miaoli, Nantou, Zhanghua, Yunlin, Jiayi, Tainan, Gaoxiong, and Pindong settling in Tai Mali village.
If you just stay on a main road, Taimali looks just like any other east coast township:
Most of inhabitants are engaged in farming, while others try to squeeze out living selling food to those who pass by the township.
What Taimali area is really famous for, it's a Shi Jia fruit, and I think, that there is no english name for it - at least yahoo dictionary could not find one. Anyway, you should come early in may to get the season and best of them, because when we came at end of may, it appeared that it's already too late, and only such ones left:
Do not be too concerned also, if you could not catch the fresh fruits - there are a lot of jellies and candy made from them, so you will be sure to get a sweet (maybe even too sweet in my opinion) taste of this fruit. And a good place to buy a gifts and different sweets, related to eastern Taiwan are in the shop, which you will not miss (good example of marketing skills - in a mess of red signs in Taiwan, it really stands out). And it's a parking around it - as Sam Walton noticed, that in case his parking lot's were filled more than 50 %, the sales in his shops started to decline. This shop apparently does it good - get's the attention, offers you parking and here you are - inside the shop.
Good isn't it? At least you will point your finger on it, asking "what's that"? And most likely stop to take a picture.
A lot of things to choose from
Li Ji - my favorite fruit in Taiwan also sold here.
After you had packed up with eastern coast sweet's, don't speed up too much. There is a really terrific place to have a lunch. Definitely - such quality and such a taste - exceeded our expectations.
They had named it Sea restaurant, but not because of sea food, but I guess, because of really fantastic eastern coast views, which are just here to enjoy while you have a lunch.
Adress is No.133, San-Ho Village, Taimali, Taitung county.
Such a views, just from a restaurant table. Let's take a look on menu:
If you think that it's not cheap at all, I agree with you. But it's worth to try, because it's really tasty.
Here is our lunch, but your choice could be another:
It's Hai Shin. Inside are mix of sea food - shrimps & similar.
Noodles, pork, ginger & much other tasty things.
Again a mix of different kind of vegetables and meat, and as I remember, tofu as well.
Chicken.
Desert - watermelon, sweet's and coffee.
I will remember Taimali as such, but it's for sure, that I am going to explore it more next time, not just such quick run through.
Shijia is "custard apple" in English. It is sometimes translated from Chinese as "Buddha's head fruit".
Posted by: David on Formosa | July 08, 2009 at 08:42 AM
Thanks a lot David!
Posted by: Author | July 08, 2009 at 01:56 PM
In California they use the spanish and call them cherimoyas, as I recall. In Kenya we got them as big as footballs sometimes....
....Taimali is one of my favorite places on the island. Great to see it in pics.
Michael
Posted by: Michael Turton | July 18, 2009 at 01:21 PM
This is an exotic place I'd like to going there to know more about the culture and costumes they have, besides I'd like to taste one of their meal because I was impressed with their recipes, just look at the images those meals seem delicious.m10m
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