First Meet East Coast Tribes Working Vacations

I got up early in the morning and gathered at the East Gate 3 of Taipei Railway Station at 6 o’clock as scheduled. Speaking of which, this is also my first time to go to Taitung. It turned out to be really far away. Finally, it took a long time to arrive at Guanshan Station at nearly 12 o'clock.

Gathered with the big teams from other meeting points. Overheard, many of them were regular customers. They participated several times a year. They said that this kind of Taitung tribe working holiday would be addictive. After looking around for a week, I found that I was the only one. People come from Hong Kong.

After the room assignment, I first met the other 3 roommates in Taipei. Fortunately, everyone was good at chatting. After talking about Taiwan and Hong Kong during lunch, the owner of the restaurant suddenly greeted me in Cantonese. It turned out that he died more than 40 years ago. I moved to Taiwan from Hong Kong, and just moved to Taitung to open a store more than a year ago.

Lunch is a bit like a bento, and that's how we started Nice Day.

When we arrived at the Wuling Tribe, we could hear the warm welcome of the aborigines singing from a distance, and we were surrounded by joy as soon as we walked among them.

I thought the self-introduction part would be boring, and thought that the aborigines were more restrained, but it turns out that everyone is very funny, and everyone's self-introduction is very funny, although the name is hard to remember at once.

Among the few simple tribal languages ​​taught by the chairman of the tribe, the one that struck me as the funniest was the toilet (no egg), and the pronunciation is quite funny.

After the inauguration ceremony, there will be a tribal tour guide. Each of us will be assigned a bicycle. The tribal work these days depends on it. However, I seldom ride a bicycle in Hong Kong, and I am still not used to going up and down.

Going around to the back hill overlooking the tribe, the house with the red tile roof is the home of the chairman. If it were in Hong Kong, it would be a mansion.

The water park of the Wuling tribe is indeed a good place for the tribe to fall in love. Although the weather is not so good, you can still feel the moving of the water park.

The scenery at the other end of the hydrophilic park is more suitable for framing.

Cycling back to the entrance of the Wuling tribe, you can see that there are mountains all around. Living in this kind of place can be regarded as an outstanding place, but like some towns in China, many people have left here to go to the city to work, such as We stayed at Mama Jiang's house. Her son and daughter have been in Taipei all year round.

The elementary school passing by the Wuling tribe actually has a baseball field. Wouldn't it be great?

Even the dog is lying on the side so well, once entering the Wuling Tribe, it is like entering an enchantment, which immediately slows down my fast pace in Hong Kong.

Volunteers who participated in the Wuling tribe working holiday in Taitung this time will be divided into groups, and I will be divided into the third group. One of the other roommates is in the first group, and two are in the second group. It is a pity that our third group does not know Why can't I play it.

The first day of working holiday in Taitung was quite relaxing. I had a close contact with the Wuling tribe by riding a bicycle. No wonder everyone said that the scenery in Taitung is beautiful. After arriving in Taitung, I realized that the scenery is really good.

Some aborigines have wild boar bones hanging in their homes. They are really different from pigs. Thinking of the wild boars that broke into the urban area of ​​Hong Kong before, they were immediately killed.

After the guided tour of the Wuling Tribe, we went back to Mama Jiang’s home, which is the home of the aborigines where we stayed overnight. Mama Jiang said that this was the first time that her tribe held this kind of working holiday, and it was also the first time for her to be a host family, because The son and daughter are not at home, so many rooms are vacated.

We happened to be 2 boys and 2 girls staying at Mama Jiang’s house, so I chose this room with another blogger from Taipei. However, we still need some luck to share the room. The next day, the volunteers in the same group said that their room was by the pond. , All night is the sound of frogs.

While chatting with the aborigines of the Wuling tribe, I realized that it was the first time that the Wuling tribe organized this type of event together with the tribes on the east coast during their working holidays. However, their intentions could not be seen that this was the first time organizing a working holiday for the tribes in Taitung. Thanks to the skillful work of the cook, our supper was rich and delicious.

When I first heard about Taitung’s tribal working holiday, I wondered if Working Holiday wasn’t a working holiday, but the concept of Taitung’s working holiday is different from the concept of Working Holiday in Australia or other places. Taitung’s tribal working holiday is based on Volunteer to help the tribe, hoping to help the tribe to develop their own tribal culture. After sharing and explaining the concept of tribal working holiday in the evening, Taitung tribal working holiday seems to be more interesting.

Finally, it ended with an aboriginal song. Since I arrived in Taipei late the night before and got up early today, I took a shower and fell asleep immediately after returning to Mama Jiang's house.

The formal physical test begins today

I usually don’t get up so early to go to work. On the contrary, I have to get up very early when I take part in the tribal working holiday in Taitung. Know that today will be a good day.

When the sun shines into Jiang's mother's house, the whole living room is filled with warmth.

The working group leader of the Eastern Tribe during the working holiday will distribute breakfast vouchers every night, which feels like the food stamps in the past, and the food stamps are exchanged for food.

Compared with the first day in Wuling Tribe, today's weather is finally blue sky and white clouds. The Wuling Tribe bathed in the sun looks more lovely, with a fresh atmosphere everywhere, it is a good place to take pictures.

I rode my bike to the stone-masonry square, all the way uphill, and I was rescued by the chairman because I was not good at cycling. Before the construction, you must sacrifice first, and you must not fart or sneeze during the sacrifice, otherwise it will be unlucky. If someone really does not hold back during the sacrifice, the sacrifice will have to be interrupted for five minutes before you can start over .

After the sacrifice, the division of labor and explanations began. Our third group and the first group were assigned to lay stone, while the second group of my roommate SKY was assigned to repair thatch.

I really do it myself, and I use all my strength to help. Although I have done engineering work before, this is the first time I have mixed cement by myself. It turns out that it requires skills, and it will be very tiring if I don’t use proper force. In Taitung's Wuling tribe, is it considered as a contribution to Taiwan?

Volunteers in the second group need to climb up the roof to help build thatch. The back view of sitting on it has an indescribable sense of youth. It makes me think that this Taitung Wuling tribe’s working holiday is like a school spring outing. The campus is full feel.

After a busy morning, it finally came to lunch time. I thought we would go back to the auditorium to eat, but it turned out that we needed to stay in the square for a day, so we settled in the square at noon, but later found that the food in the auditorium would be better.

Free activities during the lunch break, if you don't want to go back to the dormitory, you can only stay where you are and rest, it seems that everyone is very tired.

Unexpectedly, after the lunch break, the blue sky and white clouds in the morning suddenly receded, in exchange for continuous rain.

The main work of the Wuling Tribe today is to lay stones and lay stones, but the speed of our third group was too fast, and the speed of stone laying was a lot ahead of us, and then was stopped by the old volunteers, saying that we We had to slow down, or we would have nothing to do with the masonry work on the third day. Although I suggested that the staff working for the tribes on the east coast should let us move around freely if the stone laying was completed ahead of schedule, I was still declined. Probably there is still a huge difference in the pace of life between Taiwan and Hong Kong. When I told other volunteers that the stone laying work in Hong Kong would be completed in a short time, not to mention that there are many people assigned to each group, it is a pity that some The participating volunteers just stood there and watched, without any intention of helping.

There will be an intermission in the stone masonry work in the afternoon, and a bowl of cold red bean soup will be given to cool off the heat and quench your thirst.

The 12-year-old Primary 6 students of the two photographers who were on the same show have already used the red circle, compared to the Primary 6 students in Hong Kong who are still struggling to compete for secondary school placements.

Continuing the enthusiasm of Myanmar, I was immediately surrounded by a group of local young girls asking for a group photo. After the shooting, everyone took a selfie with me one by one. Everyone smiled happily. It felt like being stamped in Myanmar. A few of them The teens were really having a good time together, and basically had a lot of laughs for the next few days.

As a result of a busy day, the tribal work on the east coast had been arranged for one and a half days of masonry, but our progress was completely beyond their expectations.

The Wuling Suspension Bridge near the square, I thought it would be shaking from a distance, but I found it safe when I walked up it. The Wuling Suspension Bridge is particularly conspicuous in the valley. After being supported by the surrounding greenery, it must be the photographer's Love, if the Wuling tribe wants to promote tribal travel, this bridge is not a good place for a wedding photo shoot.

With a red bridge body and a green back, the Wuling Suspension Bridge is undoubtedly a good choice to check in and cheat Like.

After a day of physical work, of course dinner must be delicious. When I returned to the auditorium, I saw the superb cooking skills of the Wuling tribe cook.

Dinner is much better than today's lunch.

After a day of stacking stones in the Wuling tribe, the work at night is relatively easy, sitting in the auditorium to learn the traditional culture of the Bunun tribe and the making of handmade soap.

In recent years, there have been many interesting handmade soap products in Hong Kong, but they are usually sold as finished products. I did not expect to experience the making of handmade soap in the Wuling tribe this time. What makes me feel amazing is that the original handmade soap is Cooked like this.

After being invited again by the chairman, our dormitory finally went to the chairman’s house to drink tea together this night. However, the so-called rice tea is actually wine. It is also a kind of happiness to be able to sit outside so comfortably and spank Hara. Think about ordinary families in Hong Kong How could there be such a large private space.

Although I don’t usually drink very much, I am also very happy to see everyone happy. When I went back to the dormitory, I was only accompanied by street lights in the dark night. Looking back, I couldn’t help but wonder why so many Hong Kong people immigrated to Taiwan in recent years. .

I move bricks in Taitung

Unexpectedly, the third day of the Taitung Wuling tribe’s working holiday is coming to an end. The main work this morning is still laying stones. The advanced speed of the second day made our work slow down this morning. We can only slow down to help Clear the square of stones.

Before participating in Taitung's tribal working holiday, I wondered how anyone would spend money to do physical work. Even if this kind of work was given to Hong Kong students for free, they might not be willing to come, not to mention paying money and effort. Later, my roommate told me that you don’t have to use your brain to do physical work, and people will naturally let go during the process of exerting force. Then, I really experienced what he said in the process of moving stones, because the stones are being passed repeatedly and mechanically all the time. , The whole process really doesn't take much brains.

People in the eastern tribes on working holidays began to worry about our speed again, so they asked us to slow down and eat a watermelon to rest. The other team members and I looked at the faint sky, and both had the feeling that it was approaching evening. It seemed that we had been moving stones for a long time, but we saw that the time was only 10 o'clock in the morning.

The tribal dogs in Wuling are basically prodigal sons. This little yellow dog also appeared quite frequently during our working holidays in Taitung, basically where there is food.

The finishing work of stone laying in the morning is finally over. In the afternoon, we will welcome the more interesting Bunun traditional competition and meat sharing. The points are scored in the way of games, and the group with the highest score will receive prizes. In fact, the activity focuses on participation. Everyone has fun It's good to be happy, but some members of the same group have been entangled in the results of the game, and the constant thoughts halved the fun in an instant.

Our third group was first assigned to archery. It seemed very simple, but it turned out to be very skillful. In the end, our group only got 3 points.

There is actually a hard-working photographer behind every photo.

I knew they would let me go down. Actually, I wanted to play too, but I had no choice but to decline because of my leg injury. The team member, Mamaw, was so good that he beat the local girls in no time.

The opponent is decided by lottery, if this little brother's luck is a little bit worse, he will be killed in seconds.

After our hard work, we finally had some free time. Although it was only an hour, it was better than nothing.

Speaking of the 3 days in the Wuling Tribe, we really didn’t have time to go shopping by ourselves, even though the employees of the East Coast Tribe’s working holiday told us that we could ride around by ourselves before the morning time or walk around by ourselves after the evening activities, but The former is too early and the latter is too late.

Looking at the rice fields on both sides of the road, this pleasant scenery immediately makes people feel refreshed. Fortunately, it did not rain today.

The bicycle that accompanied me for a few days has ridden all the bicycles that I have not ridden in Hong Kong all year, but it is indeed a comfortable thing to walk with the wind. I parked on the side of the road and remembered that this is also my first time riding in Taiwan. Maybe the next time I come to Taiwan is to cycle around the island.

To travel is to have a good chat with the local people. When I was riding through a tomato garden, I got off the car and greeted an aunt casually. She told me that she rented these 4 fields, but due to the weather problems this year, there are many The tomato stalks were all black and rotten. She shook her head regretfully and said that it usually takes 90 days to harvest. Seeing that the collection time was about to come, I hurriedly said goodbye to her. Before leaving, she gave a tomato to her. For me, surprises in travel always appear inadvertently like this.

Going back to the elementary school of the Wuling Tribe, I saw their baseball field and thought it was really good. It is difficult to play a game in Hong Kong, let alone our own baseball field.

I think the most interesting thing about the Taitung Wuling tribe’s working holiday these days is the bonfire party this night. The performances of each group are very interesting. The singing and laughter are mixed together, mixed with the smell of barbecue. Everyone All boiled up.

Sure enough, you still need to see the Bunun wearing their traditional costumes to feel that you are really in the tribe. Is every aborigine so good at singing and dancing? When our third group was performing, the chairman sincerely invited me to a Hong Kong song. As a person with tone deafness, I should refuse, but I still shamelessly sang Beyond's sea and sky, and immediately sang such a classic song The re-interpretation was completely ruined, and the audience below were all full of insiders, not because I sang too movingly, but because I sang too badly (laughs).

The moon quietly hides in the clouds, and it seems that it doesn't want to see everyone sad. After the night, it's time to say goodbye, and the joy of the party will inevitably be accompanied by a little parting sorrow.

On the last night, of course, I still needed to go to the chairman’s house to continue drinking tea. Unfortunately, the other two roommates did not go this night, but some other volunteers who did not come to drink tea before also came this night. A large group of people gathered around the small The table chatted with eloquence, such a day is really rare in Hong Kong.

After three rounds of tea, they each went home, but the last day was about to usher.

Goodbye, warm aborigines

In fact, the time of the working holiday in this eastern tribe is still a little short. Four days and three nights are not much different from the usual flash travel. When we just established a relationship with the Wuling tribe, it was already a farewell moment, as we don’t know how to say goodbye. I don't like the moment of farewell, it's too sad after all.

The last day turned out to be sunny! Sky saw the bright sunshine outside the window and immediately ran out to take pictures. When I also saw the morning sun, I jumped out of bed immediately. The cloudy sky that lasted for several days did not dissipate until we were about to leave.

Taking advantage of the time before the breakfast gathering, I was wearing slippers and chasing the footsteps of the sun. Whether I was hiding in the rice fields or under the eaves, the Wuling tribe was particularly shining on this day. I guess it probably knew that we were about to leave, so I used the most beautiful Greet us with gesture.

After the sun shines, every corner of the Wuling tribe plays a moving melody. The sound of the wind, the smell of green grass, and the warm sunshine all make people want to keep time, but they slip away quietly with a wave of their hands.

In fact, the last day of the Wuling tribe’s working holiday is only half a day. In the afternoon, we have to leave for Taipei. After breakfast, our first task is to have fun with baseball in the way of “primary school chicken”. It was only when I stood on the bench that I realized how weak my pseudo-fan was.

It can only be said that the weather on the last day is too suitable for taking pictures. Such a clear blue sky makes people intoxicated. Even this elementary school in Wuling is very suitable for taking pictures. The combination of various colors is a good place to check in, but this time Time is limited, and it seems that it can only be left for the next time.

Now that the exercise is over, of course we need to replenish our physical strength. When I saw the "Traditional Food PK Competition" on the itinerary, I thought it was cooking traditional Bunun food, but this time it is Pizza. I think everyone in Hong Kong will definitely Like, from kneading dough to baking pizza by hand, not only need to choose ingredients, but also need to consider matching and taste. No matter how unpalatable the dishes you cook yourself, you have to finish them.

After all, the food cooked with wood still has a natural flavor that cannot be eaten in the city.

When preparing special ingredients for Pizza, I found deer seeds in the back mountain.

Are they two mothers and sons? Totally ignored us.

After the Pizza Cooking Competition, our Wuling tribe's working holiday is officially over. When we return to the auditorium, we will distribute the prizes. We will take photos one by one and share the review of the event.

As the only volunteer who flew over from Hong Kong to participate, I have been taken special care of by everyone in the past few days, and I, who is always said to be slow, was melted by everyone's enthusiasm. Although I have held several sharing sessions before, I thought I wouldn’t be nervous, but when the chairman called me up, I couldn’t help but look at the faces of everyone. First of all, of course, I had to sing a song for the day before. Sorry for such a bad song.

The subsequent distribution of prizes and group photos were full of laughter.

Grandpa also feels very happy.

I am also very grateful to every aborigine of the Wuling tribe. At first we really couldn’t see that it was the first time for them to hold a working holiday for the tribes in eastern Taidong. Everyone’s intentions have infected our volunteers, but the time for this gathering is too short. , but I believe that our relationship with the Wuling tribe will continue even after the Wuling tribe's working holiday ends.

After returning to Guanshan, I took the train to Taipei, and then took the Taipei Airport MRT directly from Taipei Railway Station. After leaving Taitung, I immediately returned to the fast-paced mode of Hong Kong. When I came to Taiwan, I was thinking about how to realize it. Local Taiwanese friends, after this trip, I think it is a good choice to participate in the working holiday in Taidong. After all, except for me, everyone else is a native of Taiwan. If you want to meet new friends, you only need to take the initiative to call other people. Just say hello. When the plane took off slowly, I began to miss the tea table at the chairman's house and the slow life of the Wuling tribe. Goodbye.

about the author

A Hong Kong travel writer and digital marketer who loves writing, traveling and photography. Lectures/sharing sessions, activities, solicitations, cooperation, etc.,

Please contact mrdexchan@gmail.com.

After graduating from university, I suffered from a disease that would kill me if I didn’t travel. At first, I went to travel purely to escape the concrete forest in Hong Kong and the poor life in the media industry. At the beginning, like many people, I was also worried about not having enough money to travel, so I started to travel with a backpack, and as my friends in Hong Kong continued to work overtime, it gradually became more and more important to travel together on vacation. Talking day and night, I fell in love with the freedom of traveling alone.

The Facebook page "Picking firewood and feeding horses to travel the world" was set up by me in 2013. At first, I wanted to share my travels with others in my free time, but because I was lazy, I abandoned it until 15 years ago. Unfortunately, I was hit by a car on the 16th, resulting in an open fracture of my right foot. I realized that life is impermanent. I really can’t know what will happen tomorrow. Reorganized the Facebook of "Picking wood and feeding horses to walk the world", and added the website dextalk.com.

Why is it called "chop firewood and feed the horse to walk the world"?

Many people have asked me this question. In fact, the words "chop firewood, feed the horse and walk the world" are the graduation speeches given to us by the president of my university. It comes from the poem "Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms" , the original sentence is "From tomorrow onwards, be a happy person, feed the horses, chop firewood, and travel around the world." The president of the university hopes that we will not forget to be a happy person after work. When we first opened the Facebook page, this The name came out automatically.

I think "chopping firewood to feed the horses to travel the world" is an attitude towards travel and life, so I also hope that I can tell other people about this attitude of wanting to be happy.

To live is to travel, and I hope you like traveling too.

Personal website: dextalk.com

WeChat public account: eat less;

Sina Weibo: Cheap Bear TED;

Facebook: chopping firewood and feeding horses to travel around the world;

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