Itinerary
"Hectic day"
1. Transfer to Taichung in the morning
2. Fine Arts Museum
3. Lunch in restaurant
4. Aboriginal village + Amusement Park
5. Fengjia Night Market
Reflections
Brian- Day 3 is over already... Time sure flies when we're having fun. Today was a fully packed day, we started off our day with a early wake up call at 6am. After our hearty buffet breakfast, we proceeded to check out our rooms and then load our luggage onto the bus. Afterwards, we took a bus ride to the National Fine Arts museum and inside, we saw a lot of abstract art pieces and fortunately, there was a guide there to explain most of the art pieces and so we are able to understand the background story of each and every art piece. Without this museum guide, everything in the museum would be almost not understandable and so we will learn lesser things from this trip to the museum. Sadly speaking, we were on a very tight schedule today and so we weren't able to visit the entire museum. But luckily, the other half of the class would have gone to where we did not and at the end of the tour, we would be able to exchange pointers of what we learnt. We rushed to our next destination-- the Aboriginal Cultural village. At the foot of the hill, we stopped by a restaurant to have our lunch before continuing to the Aboriginal Cultural village. Over there, we first took the cable car up the mountain and then switched direction to get back to out original starting point. After we experienced the cable car, we were given 2hours to play in the amusement park. As I was not exactly brave to take the most thrilling rides, I walked around the entire amusement park until I saw something suitable, a water boat ride that has a gentle slide... Or so we thought. When we finally found the entrance to this, we eagerly got into the boats and were ready to roll. After the slide that we had seen, we realized that we were still not at the starting point yet, then a sudden realization struck us when we were heading up, to another steeper and higher slope. We had underestimated this ride but it was still fun. The surprise factor made us think that this ride was not scary at all. After all the rides, we proceeded to the entrance of the Village and then there was a farewell performance but the aborigines. The audience were invited to participate and learn their dance. I had a ton of fun learning from them even though I had minor difficulties at first. Overall, this trip to the Aboriginal Cultural village was an enriching experience for me and I would like to have a even more in depth information of these aboriginal people like their language. After that, we got onto our bus and headed straight for Taichung's famous Fengjia night market. This was everybody's long awaited location as we would be given freedom and allowed to decide what we will be eating. As promised out teachers gave us 2.5 hours of free time to shop and have our dinner. After this visit to the night market, we then checked in at another hotel that we will only be staying in one night and everybody went back to get their well deserved rest.
A view of our room in Talmud business hotel
Charmaine- As usual, we had breakfast early in the morning to start the day! I ate a little more--scrambled eggs with sausages, toasted croissant etc etc, akin to having McDonald's breakfast yum!π We went to the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Exterior view of the National museum of Fine Arts
Although I like art, I was not looking forward as I assumed that it would just be paintings after paintings. Sigh. However, Taiwan's art museum had really aroused me (in every way) as all the artworks were different and each piece had a deep meaning to why it was done that way. The museum exhibited many famous paintings and craft works from various artists in Taiwan. Thankfully, we had a guide throughout our tour in the museum or I wouldn't have known anything just by looking at the art pieces. There were sculptures, paintings, drawings during different times in China. Some sculptures are placed in a dark room to create a scary illusion. I realised that nudity is portrayed in many art pieces as well. Does that mean art=nudity and nudity=art? (Just kidding) I feel that art can be portrayed in many other ways but a group of artists prefer to use nudity as one of their greatest artwork. The art piece I liked most was "Pencil Walker θ΅°ι
η¬ηδΊΊ” by η³ζε. I don't have a picture of it as we were not allowed to take pictures in the museum:( It is not very eye appealing but shares deep meaning. My first impression was "oh it's just a huge black gradient board" and was curious to know why it was even in the museum. After listening to the guide however, my perspective of the artwork changed. Although this art piece might not seem like a nice piece of work from afar, there is a hidden meaning in the art piece. Now this is ART :D π¨
Information about the Pencil Walker art piece ⬇️
"Art washes away from the soul the dust from everyday life"
-Pablo Picasso
Art is always more than what we see on the surface :)
After which, we could finally go to the long awaited Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village! π π‘ I was glad that we were finally able to have some FUN! The cultural park was real big and we had to take the cable car to the other side of the park as a class ;D it wasn't my first time taking the cable car but I was excited anyways. As the cabin was lifted up into the sky, I felt like I was flying as I immersed myself into the breath-taking scenery. The cable car constantly went up and down like a roller coaster, just less thrilling and terrifying. Come to think of it, it seems quite cool now π We had the time to ourselves in the park. I went on a few rides such as the Viking ship, log ride so on and so for.
My friends and I on one of the kiddy rides :3
But that's not the main point.
We were given the opportunity to watch the Aborigines perform on "stage". Their moves were synchronized and rhythmic. I have never seen similar dances before.
Aborigines showcasing their dance
Since the Aborigines do not work in the cities like we do, they maintain their income by selling food and accessories in the park. During the performance, they seized the opportunity to advertise their ice cream. In addition, there are many small shops in the cultural park which sold handmade accessories. Although many of the accessories look extricate and required lots of time and hard work to compete, they were pretty cheap. The aborigines are really friendly. Even if we don't purchase their items, they would greet us with a smile and be sure to render assistance whenever we need help with directions. My heart literally warmed to their attitude towards people π I have also inferred that aborigines are generally shorter than us from the huts they live in; the doors were shorter than usual and the height of the ceiling was low too. At the end of the day at the Cultural park, we picked up a dance at the entrance of the park. It was a fun experience although I kept tripping over my feet HAHA. Overall, the park was both enjoyable and educational. I feel that Taiwan has done a good job in preserving their culture by placing both aspects into this cultural park so that people can go there to play and enjoy themselves but learning about their own culture in the meanwhile.
Cr: photographer Claudia
Photo with the Ami-Tribe :D
Last but not least, we went to Fengjia night market. We were given 2hrs to shop and have dinner. Dinner was mixed Taiwanese delicacies for me :) I tried the smelly tofu θθ±θ
, grilled chicken, fried squid and ε°. I have always wondered how θθ±θ
would taste like after so many has critiqued it to be one of their favourite delicacies. The smell of the tofu invigorated my senses once I got closer to the store and my face turned green although it was not as stinky as I thought. "It must taste bad" I told myself. After trying it, I realised that I was wrong. The sauce tasted unique and lingered in my mouth (it tasted fairly good but not my favourite) From this, I have learnt NOT TO JUDGE A TOFU BY IT'S SMELL ππ What I found really inconvenient was that I could not find any rubbish bins to throw away the food containers. As such, I had to resort in putting all the waste into my bag until I find a proper place to dump it. Is that why there is so much littering? Most likely I guess, since many people would not give a hoot and dump their trash whenever and wherever they want. Instead of looking out for food and clothes, I was looking out for my safety most of the time when I was in Fengjia Market. I was really concerned about my safety while walking down the streets since there were approximately 10 times more motorcycles in Taiwan than in Singapore and they were driving along alleys without horning or giving prior signal when they "invade" the crowd. How dangerous!! I think that this is an aspect that Taiwan can improve on to ensure the safety of the people; their traffic.
Day 4 was the most hectic day. I was saddened when I realised that four days passed so quickly and we only had three days left in Taiwan:( hopefully the last three days would be equally enriching! :)
Min Hui- After 3 days in Hsinchu, we moved on to our next destination - Taichung. On our way to Taichung, I wondered how different it would be in Taichung as compared to Hsinchu... Is the weather there different? Are the people there as friendly as those in Hsinchu? How are the buildings structure there like?
Firstly, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts. We were showed around the museum by an expert and she explained to us the meaning behind some artworks. I slowly noticed that the painting were all special in a way and conveyed a certain message to the audience. I can feel the mood of the painting by looking at it. I started to question why and how can an artist express his or her feelings through a painting and let the audience feel that feeling of theirs too. I learn that the colour plays an important role in it. One that really captures my attention is the artwork "City Life" by Yang San Lang. He used the method of blurring and thick textures to bring out the features of a leisure carefree urban lifestyle in the city. I believe, if you would have a chance to go to Taichung, the Museum of Fine Arts is certainly a place not to be missed visiting.
Afterwards, we had our lunch in a restaurant and as usual, group bonding strengthened and our relationship between one another was pulled closer by our chattering.:)
Next, we proceed on to the Aboriginal Village and Amusement Park. The way there was long and tiring. ζηηεΎδ½©ζι©Ύι©ΆεΈζΊζεε。ε¨δΈε°εδΈͺθ·―η¨ζΆ，倧ι¨εηεε¦δ»¬ι½η‘ηδΊ。ε―ζ―δ»θΏζ―继η»ηεΌε·΄ε£«，ζζ们载ε°ε°ηΉ Thumbs up and thank you so much Uncle Lin!
From the aboriginal village, I learn about the culture of the different types of aboriginal group. The culture includes the way they greet each other, the type of houses they live in, traditions, games played during their free time and their outfit. These are knowledge and hands on experience that only comes once in a blue moon and having to visit the aboriginal culture village is a golden opportunity for learning. Also, I feel so fortunate to be able to see a live performance by the "Ah mei aboriginal group" performing and learn their dance together with my classmates at the end of the day. However, I realised that not many people were there... The tour guide explained that the number of visitors decreased because many of the rides in the amusement park located in the aboriginal village closed down today. I, myself, could not deny the fact that the rides in the amusement park were fun. This was my first time sitting on a pirate ship and its wonderful. I had a chance to scream as loud as I could and as high pitch as I could to the point that by the time the ride ended, I had no more voice and energy to speak. But it was worth it because I set the stress accumulated for the past half a year free. There was the free fall ride but I didn't try as I was afraid that my heart would stop halfway through the ride, so nope, not going to take the risk. But it was quite sad and disheartening to know that people are visiting the aboriginal culture village just because of the rides in the amusement park and their reason of visit was not to sincerely get to know the culture of the aborigines in the aboriginal village. In order for the aborigines to live, they had to build the amusement park to attract tourists as their source of income comes from the aboriginal village itself. Oooo...I almost forgot to mention this, we took a cable car up from the aboriginal village. I am not a fan of cable cars as I have motion sickness and it gets really bad when I take cable cars but I overcame it thanks to my dear friends who have entertained me with songs and jokes along the way. And also the view from the cable car was magnificent!!! It would be much better, if it did not rain halfway through our cable car ride:(
Following that, we went to Fengjia Night Market. There, we were given time to roam around to buy things and settle our dinner ourselves. I went with my three besties, Dan qi, Regina and Sin re. We sure had a great time there. We tried out the cheesy Hawaiian baked potato, the well-known ιΈ‘ζ and pearl milk tea. The food portions were so huge that only two people can finish all these. Most of us got the things we wanted to buy at a remarkably cheap price. During the "shopping" I noticed that there were many people of all ages there buying things and food. But in Singapore, there were only a few people buying things and food from the stalls. Hence, my curiosity to the reason and explanation for this made me compare the night markets in Singapore to the ones in Taiwan. I realised that the variety of food in Taiwan is much more wider than that of Singapore and thus, able to fulfil the taste and attract of many people of all ages. Also, there are certainly much more stalls in the Taiwan night markets than in Singapore due to land constrain.
Thereafter, we checked in Talmud Business Hotel and had a good night. (This hotel is really nice in terms of cleanliness and environment)
Today was a hectic day, but it certainly was memorable.
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