Neiwan Old Street (內灣老街)

Neiwan Old Street (內灣老街) is in south-eastern Hsinchu county's Hengshan township (橫山) and next to Jianshi (尖石鄉) the beautiful Atayal area known for its mountains and rivers. The village is quite remote and is part of the reason I like it so much. It is nestled in the mountains next to a beautiful river and is quiet for at least five days of the week. On weekends the old street comes alive and is jam packed with tourists sampling many of the treats the street is famous for as well as the Hakka culture that is so prevalent in the area.

While most of Taiwan's old streets are known for the architecture of the houses lining the streets being constructed with "baroque" designs, the Neiwan old street isn't like that at all - The town became prosperous much later than the others and that style had already faded by that time and wasn't very practical in such a remote area. The architectural style of the houses along the street is pretty much the same as what you'd see in many of the older neighbourhoods around Taiwan.

So without the "old street" feeling, how has Neiwan become so attractive to tourists? I believe that it is in part because of the Hakka culture and cuisine, the quaintness of the town and also because of the special railway line that brings tourists into the small village making it quite special and differentiating itself from other old streets

The old street has a number of popular Hakka restaurants and there are also a number of vendors lining up on each side selling local specialties like Hakka sticky rice (客家麻糬), Hakka desserts, tea, and pretty much anything you might expect from a typical night market. The street is quite well known for one of its Indigenous sausage vendors as well as vendors selling a special type of glutinous rice (野薑花粽子) wrapped in ginger leaves (as opposed to lotus leaves), and of course my favourite, Hakka Lei tea (客家擂茶) which is one of the main reasons I've been back so many times.

When I said earlier that people know who I am in Neiwan, I wasn't joking. I've been going to the same Hakka Lei Tea vendor (阿珠擂茶) for years and every time I come back the owner gets really excited and somewhat embarrassingly yells about how long it's been since I've been back. The tea in this place is awesome and you can choose to either make the Lei Cha by yourself (which actually takes a lot of time and hard work grinding the stuff up) or you can have it made by the boss. She sells hot and cold versions as well as a iced smoothie type. If you've never tried this tea, I highly recommend you sit down for a pot and enjoy some of her awesome Hakka sticky rice (客家麻糬) with it. 

If you get a bit tired of wading through crowds on the weekend, I recommend taking a walk across the old Neiwan suspension bridge that connects the village with the other side of the river. You can also go down to the river banks where you will see locals playing in the river and having barbecues. If you traveled by car or scooter I also recommend driving a bit further up the mountains past Neiwan into Jianshi (尖石) where the river is a bit more beautiful and eventually becomes an Indigenous area where you can find some great food, hot springs and really friendly people.