Day 3
26/05/14
Another
sunny day.
Just like
yesterday, we had our breakfast at the Ten Drum Cultural Village. Afterwards,
we were lead to a room (in the Ten Drum Cultural Village) where we tried our
hands at hitting the drums provided. J The instructor taught us with
simple instructions using signs/symbols which had certain meaning. Although it
seemed extremely easy for the rest to hit the drum according to the “notes”
given, it wasn’t as easy for me as I got confused easily. :/ However, this
exercise was rather fun and I gained a new learning experience.
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| a picture of us trying our hands out at hitting the drums
Afterwards,
we went to another huge room where there were 10 big drums in it, with each
drum having a certain meaning to it. It was quite fun hitting the drums, and
the room was filled with the resonate echo of drum beats.
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| one of the drums in the room |
Other than the drums, there was also
a section about history/legends. Some of the characters mentioned by the guide
were 黄帝，蚩尤，九天玄女，and 雷神.
After all the fun in the Ten Drum
Cultural Village, we made our way to several historical sites.
1.
Anping
Fort (and Anping Old Street)
2.
Eternal
Golden Castle
3.
Tainan
Confucius Temple
4.
Chihkan
Tower
Firstly, we visited the Anping Fort.
This was established by the Dutch during the period when they invaded Taiwan.
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| entrance of Anping Fort |
After entering the fort, the first
thing that caught my attention was the unique shape of the trees. The leaves
and branches of the trees had been trimmed to form rounded or flat shapes. J This was not commonly seen in
Singapore, and made me amazed. This not only shows that the fort was
well-maintained, but also shows the effort being put in.
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| picture of several trees that were trimmed to form a unique shape |
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| Statue of 郑成功 at the Anping Fort |
Being a fort, there were also a
number of cannons displayed.
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| cannons displayed at the Anping Fort |
Lastly, at the Anping Fort, we
climbed a tower, and was then greeted by a clear view of the surroundings. The
tower also had displays and details of the fort and the different views.
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| a view from the tower |
After spending the morning in the
Ten Drum Cultural Village and the Anping Fort, we then headed to Anping Old
Street where we had our lunch of 小吃. The food was scrumptious and
pretty enjoyable, especially the coffin toast. The “coffin” was crunchy, and
contained a variety of ingredients, which were covered with mushroom sauce J
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| Our lunch at Anping Old Street |
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The big field in the Eternal Golden Castle
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A cannon displayed in the Eternal Golden Castle
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Next, we went to the Tainan
Confucius Temple. This is rather representative of Tainan. Upon entrance, we
saw an area where visitors could jot down their academics-related wishes (since
the temple was a Confucius temple). Most of us happily wrote down wishes for
our End-Of-Year examinations, with our names, followed by stamp, and left it
hanging by a board. Some of my classmates hoped to get a GPA of 4.0. Haha!
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| the board where we hung our wishes |
Other than a “wishing” area, the
other sections of the temples were very special. Before visiting the temple, I
thought that the temple would just have praying areas for people to make their
prayers. To my surprise, the temple had many displays of historical items, with
descriptions, besides having praying areas. There were displays of historical
musical instruments, figures, etc. There was also a video showing how the past
ceremonial processions were carried out!
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| One of the items displayed |
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General view of the Tainan Confucius Temple
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| A pond with fishes J |
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| A picture of the trimmed trees |
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| Statue of the Dutch’s surrender to 郑成功 |
Walking further, we saw the Turtle
Monument, which had 9 steles.
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Turtle Monument at the Chihkan Tower
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It was time for the historical part
of the Chihkan tower. Climbing up flights of stairs, we saw display of ships,
and also a praying hall for the Sea-God!
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| A section of the buildings |
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Model display of the different types of ships and their uses
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After visiting all the historical
sites today, it is time for us to take a break! We had our dinner at a Shanghai
delicacies restaurant, where we tried some delicacies from Shanghai. There were
many buns, but these buns are no ordinary buns. Biting into it, the hot and
flavourful gravy flows into your mouth! Yum yum!
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| Some of the buns we ate |
Day 4
(27-05-14)
Today (and
the next few days) will be different from the previous days. After having our
breakfast at the 大信大饭店, we headed to school, which was what I highly
anticipated.
Carrying
our bags, we stepped into Sacred Hearts High School, which was known to be the
best school in town. Upon entry, we left our bags in the school library, and
headed hurriedly to the morning assembly. As we were guests, we stood on a
platform that faced ALL the students of all levels. This was rather scary for
me, partly perhaps because I stood at the front, and could see MANY curious
faces looking at my classmates and I. O.O
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A view of part of the students during morning assembly O.O
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| A picture taken during the orchestra performance |
Then, it
was time for our… performance. Led backstage, my classmates did some
preparation for the performances. (I did not perform any dance as I was unable
to go for the dance practices L) Helping my friends with their attire, I
encouraged them as they stepped onto the stage the moment claps were heard. As
I was backstage, I couldn’t really see the situation of the performance, but I
guess they were all not bad. After our finale (立化情) where my
whole class performed, I heaved a sigh of relief. All the nervousness and
anxiety for the performance were all gone in a second.
Then, we
went back to the library where we were introduced to our buddies. Everyone was
excited! We had communicated with our buddies online, but did not know how our
buddies look like yet. One by one, my classmates were called out by their
buddies. |
| Some of my classmates’ buddies |
I was the
last few ones as my buddy was of different age from the other buddies. Meeting
my buddy for the very first time, we had little to talk about, and it was kind
of awkward. My buddy and I joined another friend of mine and hers. Instead of
talking to my buddy, I ended up talking to my friend, and my buddy talking to
her friend. At that moment, I felt pretty weird and awkward as my other
classmates were chatting endlessly with their buddies.
After our
first interaction, we bade goodbye to our buddies as we attended lessons in the
school. For me, it was Japanese lesson! J Stepping into the classroom, I was
struck by surprise. Their tables were cute and different the ones we had. Also,
the classroom had air-conditioning, which made me rather envious. The group of
us that attended the lesson was split up to join various groups of students.
The lesson started. In our groups, we had to guess the meaning of the words and
aim to get a score as high as possible, and there will be prizes given to the winning
group. I found the students attitude towards learning much different from my
classmates and I during lessons. The students in the class were very
enthusiastic, and everyone participated actively, unlike my class when the
teacher asks questions. I feel that we should learn from the students. J My group’s score was the second
highest, and we got prizes. The prizes were rather encouraging, and I hope that
most teacher in RV would also reward students. Besides the prizes, everyone got
lollipops, which I found special. The lollipops were not rounded like the ones
in Singapore, but in the shape of “Mickey Mouse”. Despite the difference in
appearance, the lollipops in Singapore and Taiwan tasted rather similar. Here’s
another different point. The students could eat in the classroom! Although I
was pretty envious of them, I understand the concern of our school committee of
keeping the classroom clean. Eating in classrooms may attract insects,
especially ants, which will cause the classroom to be dirty and unhygienic.
After the group game, there was a slides sharing by the senior students of the
class. Students took the place of the teacher, and taught the class with the
aid of powerpoint slides. This is different from lessons in our school, as
teachers did most of the teaching, with presentation being graded. L I find this idea rather useful, as
during the preparation of the presentation, the students would have to do their
own research of the vocabulary and adjectives, allowing the students to have a
deeper impression of the words and thus learn better.
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| A picture taken during the Japanese lesson |
After
attending the Japanese lesson, we went to a pineapple tart factory in the
afternoon. Here, were guided by an instructor of how to shape a pineapple tart.
We were given the dough and the pineapple filling.
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| Picture of the dough and pineapple filling |
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| Picture of our finished pineapple tarts |
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Picture of Taiwan’s pineapple tarts (we tried them. Yum!)
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After
shaping pineapple tarts, we were led to the pineapple plantation at the back of
the “factory”. It was sad that we did not see blossomed pineapples, as we
missed the season by a few days, but it was still a new experience and sight
for me as I had never seen a pineapple plantation before.
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| Part of the pineapple plantation |
Next, we
proceeded to 华山国小. We were welcomed by a performance by young
violin talents. The violinists had memorized their whole music score, and
played several songs in a row. Although it may seem easy for you, but it may
not for them, given their young age. It was thus amazing. J After the brilliant performance put
up, we visited an art exhibition which exhibits painting done by the children
there, which left me amazed as the children looked rather young to complete
such challenging drawings! The students there took turns to give a description
of each painting, and they had memorized their script. This is something worth
commending as I doubt it would be easy for them to memorise a long script.
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In the art
exhibition room, there was also an area where one could chop stamps and colour
prints. My classmates and I had fun stamping and colouring! J
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| The “stamping” and “colouring” area |
Dinner
time. Today’s dinner was special. Without any “warning”, we had dinner with our
buddies and their parents. As everyone’s buddies and parents entered the
high-class restaurant sponsored by a generous person, I was somewhat
disappointed when my buddy and her parents did not turn up. With the absence of
my buddy and her parents, my table was short of 3 people, with only my friend
and her buddy, together along with her parents, and I. Dinner was served, and I
was shocked by the amount of food given. With just 5 people, we had to finish a
dinner serving for 10 people! That evening, my stomach nearly exploded!
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One of the dishes served for dinner
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Although
the dishes were indeed very expensive, I had to admit that the dishes were not
really for my liking. There were raw dishes, and seafood such as lobster and
clam, which I did not really enjoy eating.
Day 5 (28-05-14)
First site of day
after breakfast: Yunlin towel factory. Outside the factory lay several boards
giving description of the steps taken to make a towel, and also instructions on
how to take proper care of towels. The guide greeted is with a smile, before
introducing us to the factory, and then leading us inside. Did you know? It
takes 3 months to produce a piece of towel!
Inside, we saw many
beautiful pieces of towel folded into all shapes and sizes. There was even a sun
shelter that was made of towel! I found this rather creative, even though the towel
sun shelter could not be put to practical use.
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| Picture of towel sun shelter |
Also, as we walked further up, we saw a huge
piece of towel painting made up of 6 different coloured towels. It was amazing!
The soft surface of the towel painting soothed my skin as I touched it. The
work was rather intricate, with characters and background. I wonder how this
board was made as it did not look easy to make that piece of towel board.
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| Picture of some Sacred Heart High School buddies (who accompanied us) in front of the towel board |
Climbing up a flight
of stairs, something interesting and amazing greeted me. In the ground, there
was a farm miniature that was made up of towels. Towels shaped into all sorts
of farm animal lay on a piece of green cloth (which act as the farm ground). On
each side of the "farm", there were threads spun into cylindrical
shapes. The beige coloured ones are pure threads while the coloured ones were
dyed.
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| Picture of the miniature animal farm |
Then, it was time of
"business". Having walked around some parts of the factory, we
proceeded to a workshop, which was on the same floor as the towel farm. We had
to fold towels into DIY animals. On the tables lay all the materials to make
DIY animals.
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| Materials laid on the tables |
We sat into
positions, and started to fold the towel according to detailed instructions
given by the instructor. The folding process as generally okay, but I found it
difficult to roll the towels up TIGHTLY. As compared to the instructor's secure
and hard roll of towel, mine was a relatively loose one. After everyone
completed folding DIY animals, we packed them into boxes given, before
proceeding to take a group picture. Cheese! ✌
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| Group photo in front of towel board |
Lastly but not
least, we toured about the gift shop. Adorable folded towels dotted the
shelves. The towels all looked very intricate and cute!
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| Picture of towel ducks |
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| A towel dinosaur |
After all the fun at
the towel factory, we headed towards Yunlin Puppet Theatre. The structure of
the theatre was slightly different from normal buildings, as the 2 storeys were
each made of different material and built at different times. The first storey
was built in 1921 with red bricks, while the second storey was built in 1931
with wood. An interesting point! The second storey was built later as an
additional level on top of the first storey.
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| Picture of the puppet theatre |
Inside the puppet
theatre, there were displays of different types of puppets, along with
descriptions. The guide explained the types of puppets and their unique
features, while we followed her.
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| One of the puppets displayed in the puppet theatre |
Although it was
rather intriguing to see the traditional puppets that I have not seen before,
the stuffiness in the puppet exhibition room was a great distraction. There
wasn’t air-conditioning in the theatre, and our huge group masses made the
situation even worse and warmer. Afterwards, we went to a shop and ate refreshing
ice cream, before catching a puppet "performance" by a puppeteer. The
puppeteer controlled each type of puppet skilfully, leaving us amused and
amazed. I tried my hands at controlling a puppet, but it wasn't as easy as I
thought. I learnt to give due respect to the puppeteer, as it definitely
requires great patience and practice to attain such skills. I also learnt more about a vanishing trade. I
feel that this trade should be preserved and remained even as the years go by,
as it really a significant part of history.
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| The puppeteer controlling the puppet |
After learning
more about puppets, we proceeded to visit the 台湾故事馆, but did not manage
to enter as there was another group of people inside the 故事馆. It was a pity, but
my classmates and I bonded together while outside the 故事馆. As it was raining,
we shared umbrellas with one another. The warmth given by my classmates and
friends kept me warm and cozy despite the cold weather. :3
Afterwards,
we headed back to Sacred Hearts High School where we attended the magic
workshop as well as the balloon sculpting lesson. Both of these lessons were
rather interesting as they were unlike our usual lessons. From the magic
workshop, we learnt several tricks from the magician, which included the ring
and chain, and the crackling piece of plastic. At first, I couldn't get the
hang of the trick (ring and chain). I was rather desperate as everyone else
seemed to get it, and were using their trick happily. It was only after some
time later with the help of my friend did I managed to pull off the trick. I
learnt that only patience and perseverance can help one to achieve a goal or an
aim.
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| a classmate performing a magic trick |
At the
balloon sculpting lesson, I gained a new experience of sculpting balloons, as I
had never tried it before. It was rather fun twisting and turning the long balloons
into cute balloons resembling certain things. J
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| A picture of classmates with their completed balloons |
Then, we
toured around Sacred Hearts High School while the students were having their
once-a-week CCA. We saw several Uniformed Groups just like the ones in RV.
However, the UGs in Sacred Hearts High School were much more relaxing and less
strict, as they could still sway gently about even after “falling in”. They
also trained in the shade and not directly under the scorching hot sun.
Although my classmates who were from UGs were rather envious, I find that the
fierce training that my classmates experienced were better as they would be
more serious about the CCA, as well as learn about the importance of certain
values like punctuality.
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| A group photo with the Scouts’ members. |
Other than
the UGs, we also saw the marching band CCA. The students had to “march” while
playing various instruments like the trumpet. I find this rather taxing and
challenging as it is not easy to coordinate. I think that this CCA was a mix of
UG and performing arts. They had to practise under the hot sun, as well as play
musical instruments. This made me appreciate my CCA as I get to sit in a room
and need not exert much strength. (Can you guess what my CCA is? Haha)
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| Marching band CCA |
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