Fencihu owes its existence to the Forest Railway. At 1405m above sea level, it\'s very close to the half-way point between Chiayi and Alishan. Back in the old logging days Fencihu was the major center for repair and for maintenance on the railroad. For this reason, the population of about 800 is almost entirely Han Chinese, many of whom are Hakka (Hakka people have always had an affinity for working on the railroad).
There are several things that Fencihu can be proud of, and all of them are located quite close to each other, so it will not take much time to see all there.
First - it's a specific type of bamboos, that Fencihu claims to have very rare.
What's specific with those bamboo? They are (as written in annotation to them) square type, and not round, like usual ones. Well, I am a last person to be familiar with bamboo, I tried to shot those so, that can see the square form of them - well - for me it still seems pretty round one.
You won't miss them. Because upon arrival you will need spend some time to find parking space - if you can at weekend - it will be a lot of cards there, and probably the first free space will be not so close...
and then there is still one way down to Fencihu train station and Old Shopping street, and it goes through those square bamboos:
Once you go down, soon you will see the train station itself:
and once you cross the railway to opposite side...
Now, just go down the steps, and you will be on so called "old street".
Crowd of shoppers and a lot of snacks waiting there for your wallet.
I had a feeling, that there is nothing "old" on this street. Why they call it old street? But what they for sure have - a habit to ignore you at all, in case they see you do not want to buy anything:
Elbowing through crowd further....
You can find egg seller:
Those cucumbers are sweet. Not like those salty ones in Europe and especially Russia, and eastern side of Europe. I miss them sometimes here.
Trading of useless items goes on:
More food:
And now comes most interesting on this street. That's a kind of... well, it's a pie, I am not sure, we can call it pie at all, and this pie has an ice cream inside. Ice cream pie? Here some native English speakers - if can correct me I would appreciate a lot. How they make it - I made a some photos, and even video.
35 NTD - not that much, considering, that it's for tourists, not locals. Also see the dough preparation there.
This guy in photo above does sales, marketing and cooking same time. Can you?
Outside on a street, still a lot of places to spend money:
Dried fruits:
Again eggs, but cooked in different way:
What I can't get, why they needed make on "old street" as they call it, such a huge and intrusive 7-ELEVEN? Now there is already no old street. But, seems no ones cares, except me. I tried make photo so, that it's not visible, but still the green logo is seen at the end of street. I guess next step for pure bliss here would be a McDonalds.
Did I mentioned that Starbucks in Alishan National Scenic Area have national flavor? Take a look:
That's 木耳 - mu er, or tree mushroom, sometimes called Jew's ear:
They are frequently found in dishes here in Taiwan, for example I featured them in post about Miaoli: Miaoli, Western Taiwan - Hakka cuisine & dancing dragons heaven
and you will notice it cooked:
then you can go back, upstairs, to buy - you guessed it - eggs again, just more different way of prepare:
Interestingly enough, that those white ones are cooked already, and ready for eat. Inside they are brown, not why as one would might guessed.
Together with eggs can take also meat:
Hungry now? Then let me show you also this:
In those bamboo, there is rice inside.
It's worth to visit this place, even if you have no time to take and old walking trail, called Fenchihu - Rueili historic Trail - next time I will take it personally, so I will be able to share photos.
Thank you for your time you spent for this post!
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