Like a little amusement park, set in the olden streets of Japan, 妖怪村 is shrouded in a cloud of mystical stories. Almost in unison with its theme, on the day of our visit, it was a very misty, foggy day.
Misty road ahead...
The mist adds mystery to these fictitious characters though
I love the witty copywriting for the park and its amenities.
Even the "Beware! Road is slippery warning." is so witty!
And of course all shops and their products follow the theme - 妖怪 (loosely translated as monsters) aptly.
黑心店？！原来是卖竹筒饭的。Phew...
You will often see the below sign mentioning "枯麻 kuma". What is 枯麻? Actually 枯麻 is referring to kuma, which means 熊 in Japanese. Bears. Beware of bears. This is because this village is near the mountainous areas and is often frequented by bears in the past. Since the village is set up by the Japanese, hence the direct "katanization" of the Japanese nouns by the Taiwanese to retain the Japanese flavour.
What to do?
There are lots to do: shop, eat, watch 3D movies, watch the daily show by the mascots, enjoy the live music performance of pop music...
Live band performing in the middle of the square
Make a wish
Post a postcard
What to eat?
Try the 竹筒饭 (glutinous rice in bamboo) sold by the 黑心店. There are 3 flavours:
- Charcoal
- Vegetarian
- Standard
I love the normal one the most.
Oh ya, like all Japanese towns, there is always a speciality food or flavour in the region. For 妖怪村, the speciality flavour is charcoal. So, there is charcoal flavoured 竹筒饭, ice cream etc. I didn't try ice-cream though, as it was quite chilly that day. But it is definitely a hot favourite amongst the locals.
Next, you probably can't miss this super long queue outside the bakery 久保田.
Once their pastries are ready, they will start selling outside the bakery.
Chao Shao Pastry 叉烧酥. Very yummy! The crust is very tasty. Must try!
My brother loved the egg tarts. He ate 2 and even asked me to buy a third one. Unfortunately, it was sold out so I only managed to buy the 叉烧酥. Hence, I think you have to try the egg tart if you have the chance!
But for their bread, they only have fixed hours to sell from: 10.30am and 2.30pm.
Especially for their speciality, 咬人猫面包, each customer can only buy the maximum of 2.
Joining the queue for 1hr, and this is my queue number. Note that if you lose the card, you wouldn't get to buy any :(
Mmm.. so what's my verdict after the 1hr queue? I didn't think the 咬人猫面包 (creamy bacon and corn filling) was very special though. But I liked their 咬人猫 Madeleine. It has this special fruity taste. Very special, very delicious.
Oh, and btw, though we are number 23 in the queue, the Milk Toast 牛奶土司 is also sold out! So maybe you can try that too, and let me know how it taste.
Here's a video segment covered by a Taiwanese programme. They tried the restaurant too which we didn't:
Btw, the restaurant which was shown in the above video is a eat-all-you-can buffet restaurant. Prices are a bit steep for our family of 4, so we skipped it :P We munched on street food instead.
How to get there?
- Get to Taichung 台中 HSR Station (bullet train)
- Catch the 台湾好行 tour coach 溪头 line
- Buy tickets at Exit 5
- Take the coach bus all the way to the last stop
Coach schedule and prices are also noted in the given website above.
And so that concludes my one-day trip in Taichung 溪头 松林町 妖怪村. 妖怪村 brings back great memories from Japan :) Bye bye, Little Japan!
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