2 minute read
Not so long ago (actually about two weeks from writing this article), we went to a place north of our city (Taichung) aptly named ‘The Monster Village’ or Xitou Monster Village (溪頭怪物村 or 松林町).
Without knowing a huge amount about the village I can only really describe the experience, and if you want to see it for yourself we will be uploading a video of it to Youtube shortly.
The village is up on a mountain about an hour and twenty minutes north of Taichung city. When we arrived there was a slow moving mist creeping up the mountain side which straight away made it very picturesque.
The village itself was very Japanese in style and architecture. I believe the village was built in 2011 but it has a much older feel. Monster statues, eyes, noses, hands and feet litter the buildings and streets around this small village.
It has a bunch of different venders, supplying food, toys and even clothes. They also have a couple resident street performers to make your visit a little bit more entertaining.
The restaurants are pretty standard in what foods they provide but tasty non the less. The prices are slightly jumped up because of the 200,000 tourists/visitors every month. OH and parking is a bitch.
To walk around the whole place and take in the sights took in itself about an hour. The looking around the shops, eating and chasing our 2 year old took another hour or so.
Interestingly, you can actually stay up there in small hut like rooms spread out across one of the village sections. Very peaceful and a little bit away from the general tourist parts so you can actually have some peace. Perhaps get some work done or just soak up the atmosphere. AND hey, if you are learning Chinese you can always hang around with the vendors and chat or engage in listening practice with some of the variety of shows they put on.
We suggest you go and have a look if you are heading towards the Nantou direction. Careful if your driving it’s a winding road up.