Leaving the temple, this was our goal. This small alley in Fengyuan right down the street from the temple is host to numerous food stands and restaurants serving a variety of foods. This place had a long line waiting for 蚵仔湯 (oyster soup), while this one featured 臭豆腐 (stinky doufu) dishes, but we come here when we can, specifically for one very popular place with one much in demand specialty, ...

...蚵仔煎 (oyster omelets)! We got a table way in the back where we devoured our delicious omelets! These slightly-spicy egg dishes, filled with oysters, 空心菜 (a type of green vegetable), and bean sprouts, and topped with a great sauce, have a distinct chewy texture derived from sweet potato starch added to the mix. Yummm!

All of the walls of the restaurant are covered in customer-written graffiti. The red sign reads, "蚵仔煎不辣請事先說 謝謝" ("Please specify beforehand if you prefer non-spicy oyster omelets. Thank you.") I know we added our names to the wall during some previous visit, but we had no idea where to look for them.

Leaving the alley and walking down 中正路, we passed a Pizza Hut, a KFC, and a Burger King on the way to our next stop, 小木屋鬆餅 (Shine Mood Waffle), so Meihui could get a coffee. We weren't planning on getting anything, but Meihui insisted we try one of their waffles, so we did. We also all shared a NT$69 (about US$2.20) No.2 QQ餐 (meal), just a side order for us, these 雙色地瓜球 (two-color sweet potato balls) which came with a choice of tea (莊園琥珀紅茶 or 沁香四季春茶).

So, have we had enough to eat and/or drink today? Apparently not, for just another block or two down the road, we had to stop at another one of Meihui's favorite haunts, 旺來八, technically, according to the web, a gift shop (also selling custom-made cookies). I'm not sure if it's a "reasonably priced" gift shop or not, the prices for these lacquerware objects being about US$115 and US$19, respectively. They also had a nice display explaining about the lacquerware and a great view out their second story window.

After viewing the items for sale on the second floor display shelving, we went back downstairs, got some ice cream, then came back up and ate it at the long table that ran down the center of the room. When we were done, as we exited the building, I noticed these signs, the vertical sign reading, "臺中葫蘆墩支廳頂街警察官吏派出所" (Dingjie Police Station, Huludun Branch Office, Taichung) and the purple sign above it reading, "歷史建築頂街派出所" (Dingjie Police Station (Historical Building)). Then we were off to our next adventure.

This is Fengyuan's mighty Taiwan Railway train station. Rather than ride the bus again, we were going to take a train ride home! It was Thursday afternoon around 2:30, and it was pretty slow.

There is no need to buy tickets to ride the train - if you have a 悠遊卡 (EasyCard). You just scan your card at a turnstile when you get on, and again when you get off so it knows how far you went, and you get charged accordingly. We brought two old cards from our last visit with us and recharged them at a Family Mart a few days ago.

Next