Sitou & back to NTU

A typhoon is coming when the first day we arrived at Sitou experimental forest, so we just stayed at the building, chatting, playing, singing, and dancing. In the middle of the night, the electric power was failure suddenly when everybody was sleeping, and the second day we just stayed in the building again, but the difference is that we all in the dark until dinner time.

After typhoon there are a lot of twigs and leaves on the ground

The third day my group, including me, Steven, Kevin, Vico, and Yengie, went to find our simple area which should near stream and without artificial interference, and we found that luckily! We measured the length of the area and collected some plants grow on the land and tried to identify them by ourselves. Unfortunately, there was a heavy rain and almost everybody became wet totally.

We worked in the heavy rain!

The last day morning in Sitou we went to record the plant species, air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature, and some useful information which may influence the distribution of plants. After lunch we stayed at the building and analyzed the information we got.

After we went back to Taipei, we tried to seeding transplanting at the NTU farm. I thought it’s very interesting and funny though that day was sunny and hot. We also visited Taipei zoo and saw a lot of different animals, we even entered the area which should only for the stuff and saw some special reptiles and birds!

In Taipei zoo, everybody wanted to ride the panda...XD

At the last day of the program, we had a final presentation, a closing ceremony and a banquet. At the presentation, I thought I’m a little nervous and didn’t perform well… but my team members were great and helped me a lot :). The last night we even went to KTV and sang a lot of songs which including different languages and had fun! I thought I will not forget this impressive summer and all funny and crazy things we did in this country.

The closing ceremony

In the past few days

In Taroko National Park, I saw many magnificent landscapes which I never saw before. Rapid river carved marble into long and deep canyon, and leaded to a lot of special views. The day when we lived in Tienhsiang, Jack said that a hotel is too expensive so we live in another one. Before dinner I and Hulda adventure to the expensive one, finding that the hotel is more and more better than ours’, and waiters greeted us when we passed.

After a very long journey, we arrived Meifeng Farm at Mt. Hehuan area. Next day we also went to climb Mt. Hehuan which is 3416m high. The scenery was very beautiful and pleasant and we took a lot of picture there. I also saw some special plants which only grow at high mountains. I thought hiking is very funny and I could see some uncommon creatures but it was a little tired.

Mt. Hehuan

At Meifeng Farm, we went to watch birds very early, 6 a.m.! Though I had a telescope, but birds usually flied away as I wanted to observe them. It’s so sad! We also looked around the farm which including a maze and greenhouses, trying to weed and mad juice by ourselves. Unfortunately, I felt a little strange and my face became red at afternoon. Two kind staffs took me and Ken (he felt uncomfortable either) to hospital after dinner, and doctor said that my sick may cause by allergy. After I took the medicine, the symptom disappeared, but I felt very weak for following 2 days.

Dry flowers room at Meifeng Farm

When we arrived Shueili wood utilization center, we assembled Rubin lock. It is said that a Chinese person whose name is Rubin create the toy. We also hold a competition to find who the fastest person is assembling the Rubin lock, and Vico and Andria are the fastest one. The next day we also stayed at the Shueili wood utilization center and spend almost a whole day (?!) to make a tissue box. I thought the method we make the box is very interesting, but it took too long time to wait, so we had to do something else such as chatting, dancing, watching lizard, etc. but I think it's funny, too.

Jinguashi & Jioufen

Today I suddenly find that everybody is diligent in keeping a diary, so I think I have to be harder. XD

Today is the first day we leave Taipei city, but we still stay at the suburban of New Taipei city. I think this morning is too hot and the sun is very bright, and we go to Jinguashi, an old village abounded gold mine before. I see some miner models and know part of their life style. In addition, I see a huge gold brick in a museum and the value is about 260 million NT dollars!

We go to Jioufen this afternoon, and we go to eat the most famous taro ball there, and we also go to see a movie museum and try to drink some Chinese style tee in front of the museum. We drink Eastern beauty and Dong Ding Oolong. I think it’s a very special experience to me because in Taiwan we usually think drinking Chinese style tee is only for the old people. After try it, I think it is very interesting and I can a little realize why old people like this type of tee.

I'm so sorry that I forgot to keep a diary in last few days.

In last days, I met others and I was surprised that there were a lot of Han people! Many people come from different places just like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and we speak the same Chinese(or you can call it Mandarin)! However, we speak the same language but we use different words when writing. For example, China and Singapore use simplified Chinese but Taiwan use traditional Chinese, but I believe that it's not a problem for us to communicate.

Except class, we went to many places just like National Taiwan Museum, farm practice, frog observation, Marine Museum, northeast coast, Yangmingshan, Hot Spring Museum, Ceramics Museum, etc. I thought the most impressive place is northeast coast because I never went to there before. I saw and touched a lot of creatures like sea stars, ophiuroids, pink sponges, crabs, pagurians, a big trepang, and many other things. I think it's so funny and I want to go to there again!

By ShengYu