Sunday morning at breakfast, the hotel’s restaurant was crowded. I was sitting alone in a 4-spot when a nice young woman asked politely if she and her companion could sit with me. Certainly I said. When I heard her companion speak, I asked if he was German (he is). We had the nicest conversation and I invited them to go to Yingge today and they agreed to go! While waiting at the Taipei main station to meet my co-worker and his girlfriend, I watched a group of “oldsters” in matching uniforms doing TaiChi in unison. Suddenly we could hear a raised voice: a man was upset, saying (in Chinese) that he’d waited too long in the ticket line. Talk about both ends of the “peaceful” spectrum! Next, we took a 30-minute TRA train ride to Yinnge. Total cost of trip: 14 + 31 = 45NT (1.50 US) one-way.
In Yingge, the section of town where most of the pottery shops are located is a 15 (steamy) minute walk from the railway station.
Walking to Yingge
On the way we passed little stores, fruit stands, and the ever-present parked scooters. Mostly we walked like locals (on the street vs. the sidewalk) mainly because there are no sidewalks! The pottery area is like a Disneyland for art lovers! Tea shops with pots and cups in every shape, size, and color, shops with all sorts of plants and the pots to put them in, pottery flutes, plates and bowls of every type, mass-produced items from Japan and items created by well-known local artists.
Everything pottery related can be found in Yingge!
Yingge Pottery
I managed to find some plates, bowls, and cups in one shop, and a wonderful large pottery bowl I’ll use to hold fruit, in another. Our last stop of the day was a lovely shop selling both higher end pottery pieces and coffee, tea, and cheesecake. Soothing music, interesting discussion, with two delightful couples, on all sorts of topics, and then…sigh, back to the hotel on public transportation. NOTE: At the MRT station I noticed that there were all sorts of live plants adjacent to the escalator, with 3 employees literally washing each leaf on every plant! Amazing!
Asia's best kept secret... 