D-I- Y TAIWAN
THE USUAL SIGHTSEEING, MUSEUM-GOING AND shopping is well and good when visiting new places. But to get a more interactive experience, try DIY (do-it-yourself) activities that seem to be all the rage in Taiwan.
Widely popular with international tourists, young students on field trips and even visiting locals, DIY activities are available at most tourist attractions all over Taiwan and offer visitors an up close and personal experience of each place.
At the Ta Shee Blooming Oasis ( www.tasheeblmn.com.tw/) in Taoyuan County, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the sprawling property, as well as a tram ride that let us hop on and off along the way to take photos. The ride ends at the apiary, where you can learn about harvesting honey and refining processes it goes through. Guests brave enough to help the beekeeper can go home with a fresh bottle of golden honey.
Our tour group visited earlier in the year, just at the tail end of winter, so there were not as many flowers in bloom. One can only imagine the beauty of the Blooming Oasis in the height of spring – an oasis indeed for sore eyes, tired of the cityscape.
Despite not being able to see as many flowers, we were able to fully appreciate their scent with the many activities available at the flower farm.
We were given kits with cloth sewn into a pouch with velcro closures that we stuffed with wool that we fluffed first to make it extra soft and voluminous. In the middle we placed a handful of dried lavender, a product of the farm. Throughout the trip, the floral scent filled our hotel room and our luggage, a delightful reminder of the vibrant flowers we saw on our trip to the Ta Shee Blooming Oasis.
Other DIYs offered at the Blooming Oasis are mini floral arrangements, potpourri bags with various dried flower blends to choose from, and scented soaps and candles.
In New Taipei City, we saw more of nature’s treasures at the New Taia pei City Gold Museum ( www.gep-en.ntpc.gov.tw/) on the Jinguashi Gold Eco-park. The museum is very different from the usual. Built on an actual old mining site, visitors enter a new world when they step onto the property.
There is an old track with wooden mining carts, houses preserved to show how miners used to live. There are miner’s lunch boxes with traditional Taiwanese fare offered for lunch. We even donned hard hats before we entered a tunnel to a mining cave where we learned more about the area’s mining history.
In the gold building, the exhibits show an array of gold, as well as tools used for mining. There is also an enormous 220 kg gold bar on display, which you can touch and have souvenir photo with. The gold bar’s value when we visited was pegged at NT$290,355,400!
The highlight of the trip, however, was the gold panning. We were given a small dish of mud and dirt as we gathered around a low trench of water. First, we submerged the dish in the water and watched as the larger pebbles and sediments floated off the dish. Then we were shown how to swish the dish around in a circular motion, leaving us with finer and finer sand in the dish.
Finally, we transferred what remained in our dish to a small glass bottle and our instructor shined a light into each one, showing the flecks of gold that reflected brightly amidst the sand. It’s definitely not 220 kg, but the gold flecks will always be a glimmer of a fun day spent as a gold miner.
From a day as a miner, visitors can then don the hat of a rice farmer at the Tea Rice Resort ( www.facebook. in Yilan County. We started out with a DIY lunch – personal hot pots with a bounty of mushrooms, vegetables and of course rice harvested from the farm. The hot soup was a welcome treat on the cold day that we were there.
As it was winter, we were not able to try their field activities like planting crops. Tours to the farm feature Taiwan’s abundant natural environment, local delicacies and environmental education. It is evident at the Tea Rice Resort, as well as in many other destinations around the country, that much importance is being put in environmental education, especially in fostering an appreciation for “rice culture” in Taiwan.
We started our indoor DIY with a bang – literally, as we set off the machine that puffed the rice grains with one loud boom. After that, the puffed rice was mixed in a large vat with sweet syrup, creating a sticky concoction.
The syrup-coated rice puff mixture was then divided among us and we had fun stuffing it into a heart-shaped mold, sneaking a few handfuls of the delicious treat along the way. This tasty DIY, which is just like the Filipino ampao, did not reach home – we couldn’t resist snacking on it throughout the rest of the day.
Those on study tours to the Tea Rice Resort may also try D-I-Ys like mushroom growing and bento making, where rice and vegetables are used to make cute characters.
Back in Taipei, we had one last memorable DIY. At the See-join Puppet Theater Restaurant ( http://www.see-join.com.tw/) jolly restaurant owner-cum-puppeteer Bill Chen shares with diners his love for traditional Taiwanese puppets – his way of keeping the art alive.
After a fun puppet show over a delicious, homestyle dinner, Chen gave the diners a quick lesson, providing each of us with an authentic Taiwanese hand puppet to work with. Then, volunteers got to try their hand at puppeteering, with the assistance of Chen’s daughter who is also a skilled puppeteer.
The restaurant – which is a hole in the wall, family-run business – has become very popular with international tourists. On the day we were there, the small place was filled to capacity with diners from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Europe. See-join Puppet Theater Restaurant has also been featured on “World’s Weirdest Restaurants,” a television show on the Food Network.
Needless to say, the night was filled with delicious food and hearty laughter because of the DIY puppet show.
All of the DIY activities offered at the various places around Taiwan are simple and very easy to accomplish, but all are fun and enable more bonding moments, while learning about each place at the same time. They give you a handson, interactive experience – and some souvenirs to take home that will surely bring back fond memories of Taiwan.
For more information, contact the Taipei Economic and Cultural Offi in the Philippines at 887-6688 loc. 141. To set group and personal tours around Taiwan, email Jerry Chen at jerry0918301498@hotmail.com.