香林薇拉民宿

The National Palace Museum

Chinese history is a subject that is both intimidating and fascinating due to its vastness and complexity. It tells of a civilization that spans over 10,000 years, one that is rich in history, art, and culture, and has been one of the greatest influences on early technological advances.  

I have now had the privilege of visiting all three of the Palace Museums. There is one in Beijing, Taipei, and, as of 2015, Chiayi. As is true with most museums, since there is a vast collection of artifacts, each location tends to rotate out the items on display. There even was a special item at the Chiayi location that I was surprised to see there…

As I said before, the southern branch opened to the public in 2015, but it is still under construction at the moment, as you can see by the cranes on the side.

The Chiayi location is about a 10-minute bus ride from Chiayi Train Station. I rode a motorcycle about an hour from Village Villa. I used Google Maps and I’m not convinced I took the fastest route, as it was taking me all over the place. It normally takes 40 minutes to drive there, or you could take a bus/train into Chiayi and then take the shuttle from there.

Pronunciation Guide

Before we start, a quick pronunciation guide for the name "Min Hsiung" for any non-Chinese speakers:
"Min" is pronounced like the word "mean" in English.
"Hsiung(Taiwanese spelling)/Xiong (standard romanization "pinyin") " is pronounced similar to the -cion/-tion ending found in Spanish and French respectively (not English). Just add a "g" to the end of that sound and you should be pretty close. If you don't know how to pronounce those sounds, take the "-cio" sound from the word "sociopath", and add an "ng". Try to make it into one syllable.
That should help you not look silly when you tell people where you went/want to go. 

Min Hsiung (could you say it?)

Yesterday's trip featured a visit to Min Hsiung, a cute, little area (township) in Chiayi county. It's a great half-day trip for couples, singles, families, or a group of friends - there's something for everyone. Visit a historical museum and learn about the role of technology in warfare, take pictures with beautifully-painted cats and bears (not real bears or cats), or venture into one of the most famous "haunted" houses in Taiwan. Wait a minute, I thought you said this place was cute!? Well most of it is cute. The great thing about Min Hsiung is that there are many interesting places close together, so you can visit several in one day and still not feel rushed.  

About Me

Hello everyone, my name is Garrett. I'm an American college student doing some traveling in Southern Taiwan this summer, and I wanted to share some of my experiences with you. I hope my posts about my experiences can encourage you to come to Taiwan, and help you decide where to go, what to do there, and how to do it (or maybe how not to do it).

If you have any questions about traveling in Taiwan or anything else really, there's a comment section at the very bottom of the page, I'd love to hear from you! I'll also be writing a Chinese version of all of my posts, which I will also provide a link in each respective one. The information will be relatively the same for both versions, so choose whichever is easier for you to understand. 
如果要看中文版，請按到這裡.

Pronunciation Guide

First of all, how do you pronounce "Fenqihu"? What is that scary "q" doing in there? Not to worry, it's easy!
"Fen" sounds like "fun"