Second Excursion to Yi-Lan (宜蘭) and HuaLian (花蓮)

The main purpose of this excursion is to explore agricultural industry, two of the indigenous populations, and the scenic east coast of Taiwan.
 





                                                      

                                                            Students under the Golden jujube (金棗) trees



We arrived in Yilan on Friday evening and stayed in a DIY farm, where we went on a tour on the 100 acre homestead. Before dinner, we appreciated vegetable and flower gardens, walked over a rice field; picked fruit from trees; observed butterfly caterpillars, fed the water buffalos; and made leave prints on a T-shirt or a tote bag. Kumquat (金桔) and Golden jujube (金棗) trees were the main attraction for the class because several students are under the waether, and these two fruits are good in treating colds. After hot-pot dinner, we enjoyed a Wu-Shu performance, made a lantern that flew to the air with all our good wishes, and watch a short fire work display.

We also visited an orchid farm and one Winery in Yilan before heading to Hualian on Saturday afternoon.







The Mountainous eastern coast of Taiwan is famous for tourism. Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園) and Yushan National Park (玉山國家公園) are the two main attractions. Due to the time constrain, our class could only visit one spot of the Taroko National Park and watch a film about the park ecology. Nonetheless, the bus ride to Hualian itself was a great adventure with so many twists and turns on the road, and the sceneries of the Pacific Ocean from high mountain were simply stunning!

 

 

 

Aboriginal cultural villages and statues are mostly distributed in the area. We went to a performance, where the life of Indigenous people were demonstrated through dances and songs.  In today's class, we compared the Taiwanese natives and the American Indians and found that there are many similarities. Both groups have oral tradition, under economical competition with the main stream and gradually losing their languages and identities. The differences are that Taiwanese natives are mostly protestants or Catholics and are quite successful in pop music and ecotourism areas, while American Indians sell firework and have their own religions.

 



 

 

The weekend was full of activities, and now students' immune systems have been in challenge. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they all can stay healthy to pull through the last week of the course because hey still have tests, closing ceremonies, and other interesting culture classes ahead of them.