Day 4: Cingjing Farm
From Taichung to Cingjing Farm, I still took Mr. Xie’s taxi. On the way, Mr. Xie recommended sugarcane juice from a local farm. It smells good, but I’m not used to drinking it.
The car gradually entered the winding winding mountain road. It was hard to imagine that the winding mountain road was in such good condition and so lively along the way. It is said that this is the resettlement place of the "remnant army" who came back from Southeast Asia. Most of the "remnant army" who are regarded as Megatron in Myanmar are here, and a small part enter Chiang Rai, Thailand, and become Thai citizens. Most of the roads here are blown out of the hillside and then repaired manually. The amount of work is so large that it should have exhausted the youth of at least one generation. Now the infrastructure here is complete, and it has become the main summer resort on the island, and there is an endless stream of local people driving here for vacation.
Along the way, we passed the famous Wushe street, which was the place where the Wushe uprising was. The movie "Sediq Bale" was filmed here, and the movie reproduced the frenzied hacking and killing of the Japanese by the aborigines on this street. Later, they were retaliated by the Japanese. After the men in front failed in the battle, the desperate women and children committed suicide collectively. Later, in order to frighten the anti-Japanese crowd here, the Japanese forced the people to build a road to the highest point here - Mount Hehuan, and transported cannons to the top of the mountain, firing artillery to the surrounding sub-regions every day, forcing all the remaining tribes to migrate to Taitung.
The destination of our trip is near Little Switzerland, and this is the most comfortable hotel to live in these days. Before they arrived, Xiao Wang from the hotel came out to welcome them. According to the big boy at the service desk, the dogs like Xiao Hei and Huan Huan here were responsible for welcoming guests from the outside, and they often ran far away. And the miraculous animals in the yard are naturally responsible for playing with the guests. The small animals here are very docile, like the whole island. They are not afraid of people, and cats and dogs can also be friendly neighbors.
Since it was not the peak period, we were lucky to be transferred to a viewing room where we could watch the sunrise while lying down. The buildings here are all wooden houses with large eaves. The structure is simple and practical, and the sanitary conditions are also very good. The layout of the yard complements the local scenery.
The afternoon itinerary was recommended by a Taipei tourist while chatting in Little Switzerland. The name Qingqing Prairie sounds like the home of Pleasant Goat.
The transportation here is convenient, we went there by bus. There are a lot of man-trimmed lawns in the Qingqing Grassland. It looks like some big man specially trimmed it for vacation. There are many wooden plank roads and stone roads built inside, which are very suitable for walking. We brought our daughter here, and of course we mainly watched the performances. The first one we caught up with was the "Sheep Show", and the host was Mr. Lan, a big white guy. When we first read a travel guide, it introduced the entire process of the "Sheep Show" in detail. The illustrations in the book contained many images of Mr. Lan, and my daughter was very familiar with it.
As soon as he heard the words, he knew that Mr. Lan was born and bred in the local area. When we arrived, the wool had been shaved. The host is asking the audience to come to the stage to interact and play a game of whipping. The scene was very joyful. Mr. Lan was always threatening people with real and fake things, which made the audience on stage to interact with each other, and made the audience laugh from time to time. But I feel that this performance is more suitable for children who go to the mainland, because the dialects such as "fuck you nia" that pop up from time to time should not be understood! The daughter laughed very hard in the front row, and became a lucky audience to get a small gift. After the performance, she even took a photo with the celebrity in her heart, Mr. Lan, and had a great time.
After that, I watched the equestrian show in another place. The venue was not big, and the team from Kazakhstan performed various difficult riding skills. As the performance became more and more difficult, the children in the audience praised and applauded constantly. Sometimes due to failure, several people fall off the horse together, and everyone sighs with worry. This is the charm of live performances.
It was evening when we got back to the hotel. The mountains are still warm during the day, but the evening breeze is cool and comfortable on the body. Sitting in the cool courtyard outside, accompanied by a few glasses of water, chatting with friends from all over the world, talking about the past and the present, without any precautions or scruples, it is really a great blessing in life!
Fortunately, I met Mr. Wu's family. Mr. Wu took his pregnant wife and one-year-old daughter to vacation. He is a teacher in Taichung and has also cooperated with the mainland in lion dance activities. Their family is full of positive energy, and the consensus on traditional culture makes us feel like a family on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is really an old friend in another land!
