{"id":3688,"date":"2012-07-15T06:28:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T14:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/studyingabroad\/?p=3688"},"modified":"2012-07-15T06:28:29","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T14:28:29","slug":"3688","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/2012\/07\/15\/3688\/","title":{"rendered":"Hsitou National Park and Other Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s Note: Sometimes busy things happen to good people and sometimes\u2026they happen to your author.\u00a0 He is not a good person because he was tardy in getting his blog entries posted for the last two weeks.\u00a0 Also, he sometimes writes about himself in the third person.\u00a0 He is sorry and would like to be known that, in his defense, it was quite a busy few weeks and hewas <\/em>writing.\u00a0 He just forgot to post that writing online (whoops).\u00a0 He will now upload the missing entries.\u00a0 Please hold\u2026<\/p>\n

Hsitou National Park and Other Adventures<\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 1:<\/p>\n

Let’s talk about tea.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because there is a lot of tea in Taiwan and it is delicious.\u00a0 Also, because the Tunghai University program visited a major tea producing region close to Hsitou National Park and I want to write about it.\u00a0 The villages that we visited produce high mountain Oolong tea, a specialty of Taiwan’s, and a very cheerful tour guide led us through the process.\u00a0 I am not going to describe this process because there are several very excellent websites with far better information and photos than I can provide you with.\u00a0 What I can do is recommend that, if you are ever in Taiwan, you visit these places because they are beautiful and you will become physically unable to buy Constant Comment ever again. (I can’t go back! I won’t!)\u00a0 As proof, I offer some photos of tea fields, a tea house, and beautiful lake scenery.\u00a0 Also? Fish!<\/p>\n

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Tea Plants<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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A Beautiful Lake Amidst Tea-Filled Hills<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Some Bales of Tea Leaves Waiting to Be Processed<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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The Promised Fish<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

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Unexpected Geese Are Unexpected!<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

After taking us on the tea tour, our guide took us to a bamboo grove near Hsitou.\u00a0 At first, our group walked along a small path through the forest very similar to that surrounding the tea farms and then: BAM!<\/p>\n

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This Happened. Everywhere.<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

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This was it.\u00a0 I could move live here.\u00a0 I would build on a tranquil spot.\u00a0 I would wake up with the birds and take morning tea on my simple, but aesthetically pleasing, rough-hewn deck overlooking this very grove.\u00a0 And then the bamboo warriors from Yimou Zhang’s House of Flying Daggers<\/em> would attack\u2026Yes, a popular film has permanently warped my brain, but before you judge me too harshly, please look at the picture below:<\/p>\n

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Pictured above: A bamboo grove path inexplicably free of sword fights, romantic tension, or intrigue\u2026yet.<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

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Why did no one tell me that a bamboo grove would be that green?\u00a0 Or so beautiful?\u00a0 It couldn’t real and be so perfect at the same time.\u00a0 I had thought all those movie scenes were filmed with green filters, or lots of green eyeshadow, or unicorn blood\u2026\u00a0 This wasn’t real life forest.\u00a0 This was pristine Discovery Channel forest.\u00a0 There should barriers, and tape, and scientists in white coats keeping irresponsible young folk like me out so that no one can spoil this place.\u00a0 Ever.\u00a0 Yet there we were, walking around unimpeded. \u00a0Life is funny sometimes. \u00a0You think bamboo is just bamboo until one day…it’s not.<\/p>\n

Day 2:<\/p>\n

We spent last night in Hsitou park in a lodge available for youth.\u00a0 We slept on the floor with mats and wrapped in big comfy white blankets.\u00a0 Before setting out, I was able to take a shower and have a hot meal.\u00a0 I may get flack for admitting this, but I think Taiwanese-style camping agrees with me far better than American-style.\u00a0 Back home, I am good for two, maybe three days of camping before I become unfit company.\u00a0 Apparently, all I needed on those past trips was a big white comforter and running water.\u00a0 If we knew then what we know now, my family could have extended our trips for another week.\u00a0 But I digress\u2026<\/p>\n

Our morning was spent walking through Hsitou National Park proper with our guide.\u00a0 The entire forest is beautiful and, because I tuckered myself out writing about the bamboo grove (still my favorite part) I will now offer commentary on our trip in photo form.<\/p>\n

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This Bamboo Bridge Is Rebuilt Every Fall<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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View from Hsitou Sky Walk<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Even the Trashcans Want to Fit In… <\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

That wraps up the field trip to Hsitou.\u00a0 Next stop actual classes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s Note: Sometimes busy things happen to good people and sometimes\u2026they happen to your author.\u00a0 He is not a good person because he was tardy in getting his blog entries posted for the last two weeks.\u00a0 Also, he sometimes writes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[88,158,231,233],"class_list":["post-3688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brendan-trosper-14-taiwan-china","tag-bamboo-groves","tag-hsitou-national-park","tag-taiwan","tag-tea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}