Day 18 || Election and Hua Lian Trip

On 5th December 2009, Taiwan was having the election, while me and my TN went to a cultural exchange trip to Southern part of Taiwan (Tai Dong and Hua Lian for three days two nights). However, the day before the important date, my TN and I had volunteered to help one of the parties – no 13, guided by Mrs. Lee Huang Jing Yan.

We spent the whole day rallying across the Eastern part of Hsin Chu. This brings memories back when I was in Indonesia when they were having election as well. I could vividly remember I was inside my parents’ car and whenever the green party group came, I would show a hand signal to show my support and changed it once another party came. I find those times really exciting!!

So what we have in party no 13?

- A set of drummers

- A pair of 4 Wheel Drive cars

- A fellowship of cars

It is a sad thing that they did not win in the end~~ I wonder how Mr Lin felt since party no 13 has helped Kangle Village a lot when they ruled for the past 20 years.

I do not know much about politics. Part of me always think that parties participants are bunch of people who have too much free time on their hand

…and by me participating in this …

…has it really changed my mind?...
..
….
Has not :P

Anyway, back to the 5-7 December weekend trip, we went to take the train at 8.20 from Hsin Chu Station (Platform 3). It was quite a rush morning trip as my TN had to do the election in the morning before we leave for the day.

This trip was organized kindly by Hsin Chu National Arts Centre. Their aim was to exchange cultural information from one Shi Qu to another Shi Qu, hoping to create awareness and local pride among Taiwanese citizens. Since there is not such a thing in Indonesia nor Australia, this “Shi Qu” has confused me a lot since my TN was not able to properly explain to me in Mandarin due to my lack of Chinese vocabulary. However, it is getting clear to me now. For each Li (100kms?)…one Shi Qu is created. This Shi Qu is hugely run by retired peoples who gathered together and use their surrounding environment to create something unique. These can vary from art works, food, historical places, etc. Every year, panel from local government will look around these Shi Qu and award one of them. I think this is a brilliant move from Taiwanese government and the citizens as not only it gives the elderly (retired) activities but also bring out local pride.

Due to the landslide, we would have to go to a long road instead (Go all the way to Taipei and down). The train ride itself already wasted one whole day. Never in my life I had get bored of sitting down, felt my whole bum numb!!

We get rewarded at the end of the day with complimentary entry to Spa and Hot Spring. Wee...my first time ever in hot spring. I thought it would have been as comfortable as what I had seen in movies or dramas, but apparently….it’s too hot for me. The atmosphere gets too stuffy and hot for me after 5 minutes. It was a great experience though for someone who never went to hot spring before

The real trip starts on 6th December 2009, with our first visit to Ata Aboriginal Product Centre. Their products was really simple but! So overpriced!

A pair of earring costs TWD590 (AUD$20, Rp170,000) >.< which I bought it nonetheless hehe

Next we went to visit Yong Wan Shi Qu in Tai Dong. One of the most interesting visits is their “Yu Long Quan”

- 72 Old vs 36 New Steps -What’s so special behind this place? Besides the beautiful architecture~~

Apparently, this normal looking water fountain… strangely during Duan Wu Jie , the water will keep up rising up to those stairs.

- This normal looking stone and the magic water -It was quite a huge local event where the Shi Qu volunteered would make gave a Zong Zi and a bucket of water from the fountain to each visitor. This water was believed to have some medical power. Whether this is true or not … I cannot really comment on it.

We had our lunch at this beautiful place up in the mountain where there are tea gardens everywhere!
The food was all prepared made with tea. I was not able to taste the tea flavor sadly…but they are damn good!

On the 7th December, da-da-da the happiest day of my life! We went to a mochi factory….Hua Lian, besides famous for their stones, mocha is the next big thing. I was not able to take photos much as I was busy tasting the samples hehe. I wished I had more time to look at the stores. I had never seen so many mochis in my life!! XD

Today, I finally able to grab a video on how to eat fish without hassle by taking out the bone first!