Rainbow Village [Taichung]

After checking out from CingJing Starry Minsu, we loaded our luggage into our vehicle for a day trip to Mt. Hehuan (He Huan Shan). The day before, we had enlisted Mr. Lee’s help to secure a car/driver for the day trip since we had booked a room to spend the night at Mulan Motel, Taichung.

Today’s Journey : CingJing > Mt. Hehuan > Puli > Taichung

To be honest, we didn’t even know that we would be coming to this place if not for the spare time we had, as check-in was at 6pm. Our driver was the one who recommended us to come to Rainbow Village when we asked him to suggest a place to visit.

It was early evening when we got here. Thankfully, the sunlight was still plentiful for us to fully appreciate this piece of paradise.

Officially, this place is known as Taichung City’s Chun An Military Dependents’ Village. Initially, we thought nothing of it and had no idea what to expect. As we walked further in, the colourful details attracted our attention immediately.

From the low walls to the pavements, they were covered with all kinds of colourful drawings.

Even celebrities were given wacky makeovers – Bruce Lee, 豬哥亮, 張菲, 張帝 and Andy Lau etc.

The artiste who drew all these is affectionately known as Grandpa Rainbow, 黃永阜爺爺. Till this day, he still lives in the village and continues to paint on the windows, walls, fences, houses and anything he can get his hands on!

The story goes something like this : The area was supposed to be demolished to make way for buildings. However, students nearby who noticed Grandpa Rainbow’s drawings posted them online, which quickly caught much attention. The drawings subsequently went viral and it seems like this area will be conserved after all.

A huge banner advertising the celebration of Grandpa Rainbow’s birthday in 2012.

Tourists are reminded to keep the noise level down and be orderly due to the narrow passageways. Noticed that it has writings all over it? Everyone must have been inspired by the place to leave their own artwork.

Another sign to inform visitors that occupants of the village need rest and to minimize any inconvenience to them during their afternoon rest from 12pm to 2pm.

More drawings over the mailboxes and houses.

This says that health is more important than money, and health is the real “capital” that we have.

Guests and visitors are welcomed to take pictures. Kind-hearted souls can donate NT$10 so that Grandpa Rainbow can buy more paint to continue his work.

We donated as much as we could!

We were lucky enough to see the person who inspired and started all of this – Grandpa Rainbow himself! The day we visited, he was sitting outside his house and was surrounded by quite a number of people who were chatting with him. Looks like he is really healthy and fit for a man of his age!

It was really heartwarming to see little messages like this post-it that was left on the window, wishing Grandpa Rainbow good health and a blessed life. Hopefully, more people will have the chance to witness his drawings and be inspired to always keep doing what they love!

Rainbow Village Facebook Page