Diving into the culture (潛入台灣的文化). Part 1.

Thanks to Chia Yee, all my articles now are available in Chinese also. My great gratitude for her. Enjoy!

謝謝嘉怡讓我的文章有了中文翻譯。我心存感激。

希望你們會喜歡！

 Once, AIESEC was asked, why the shortest internship is lasted for six weeks. The answer was obvious: you can’t learn the country, its people, traditions and culture in less time. Six weeks is necessary down point.

曾經，國際經濟商管學生會組織被問到為什麼最短的交換計劃被訂為六個星期。答案很明顯就是若時間太短您就無法真正了解一個國家、他的人民和文化。六個星期絕對是恰到好處。

Is it really enough?

可六個星期真的足夠讓我們體驗這一切嗎？

We have spent in Taiwan already six weeks. Six weeks side by side with teachers, volunteers and common people. So we passed this frontier – now we can said, we saw and experience the daily life in Taiwan.

我們已經在台灣待了六個星期。六個星期我就在志工老師們、夥伴們、台灣本土人的左右。說了那麼多前言—總得來說我看到並體驗到了台灣的生活。

Day by day, step by step we learn it.

一天天過去了，我們一步一步地不斷學習。

And what is it contained of? What have we needed to learn about Taiwan to say that we saw its life?

學習裡頭應該包含哪些知識呢？我們應該在台灣學些什麽東西才能證明我真正體驗了台灣道地的生活呢？

How to use chopsticks?

如何用筷子？

How to take safe from crazy motorcycles?

如何避開瘋狂的機車？

How to check the umbrella each time you go out?

出門前要隨時帶把傘嗎？

How to taste all the delicious food at the night market and don’t go phut?

要如何抵抗台灣夜市的美食？

Thousands of how’s…

千萬個how?

And other thousands of places to visit.

千萬個可參觀的景點。

What are these places?

 有哪些景點呢？

Recommendations of the famous guide books? – For sure. But, as I think, to understand the real life of Taiwan citizens, you need to plunge into its daily life and visit such very traditional resting and entertaining places that are not very common for foreigners but very useful to understand the nature of Taiwanese and their traditions.

一切資訊都可從著名旅遊手冊裡獲取嗎？--這是當然啦！可是對我而言，要真正了解台彎民族，您得要融入他們的日常生活並且去參觀一些傳統但又有趣的地方。雖然這些地方對外國人會很陌生，可是它卻是讓您真正認識台灣的民俗文化。

Our plan was:

我們的計劃就是：

Houli – bicycle-trail city.

后里—鐵馬道城市

Guguang – traditional hot springs.

谷關—傳統溫泉

Lavender village – Taiwanese Grasse.

薰衣草森林—台灣格拉斯

The plan was clear, weather was pretty good, and everything was ready…

我們的計劃很明確，天氣又好，萬事俱備。。。

Chia Yee, Janice and me put our bags on the backs and the long journey to the center of the Taiwanese culture started.

嘉怡、郁潔和我背上了背包開始了我們探索台灣文化的漫長旅程。

First stop – Houli!

第一站--后里

Bicycle trail as long as the whole city, picturesque views and crazy racings included.

像整座城市那麼長的鐵馬道，迷人的風景以及瘋狂的賽車。XD

One, two, three - GO!

 

Everuthing will be OK!

We spent in Houli only one day – but what the magic day it was! We rushed to the tops of the hills and almost fly on the way to the bottom; we admire the sceneries – great bridge over the rough river, wide trail across the stadium, village path along the “Malaysian landscapes”, as Chia Yee said, and deep road right to the no.9 long tunnel with bats. I still can’t understand how we managed to see bats – I thought they live only in dark places, but that tunnel was lightened well. Maybe somewhere near was Batman…

我們在后里呆了一天—那是多麼神奇的一天！我們一路騎到了斜坡的頂端，然後幾乎是“飛”下斜坡的；我們沿路欣賞美景—映入眼簾的有跨過澎湃大甲溪的花樑鋼橋、廣闊的單車步道、馬來西亞的鄉間小路(就像嘉怡形容的)、還有住了蝙蝠的深邃九號隧道。隧道裡的燈光很好，我怎麼也想不通為何會有蝙蝠—我以為它們只住在黑暗的地方。我猜“蝙蝠俠”就在附近。。。

 

Officer warns - there is a slope

Christian Bale is somewhere overthere!

Nevertheless, it was Monday, the road was very busy. Lovely couples, noisy groups of teenagers, sport teams, families and lonely people – we could find all of them in Houli. Taiwanese people really like bicycles!

然而，星期一的路上很繁忙。有親密的小倆口、吵鬧的年輕人、運動團隊、小家庭、也有孤單的人—人來人往，“應有盡有”。我發現到台灣人真的很愛單車！

- If Taiwanese wear long trousers and sleeves it doesn’t always mean that they are afraid of the sun – they can be afraid of the Black Mosquitoes. Take care of the Black Mosquitoes! My legs are still very pity to look at…

如果台灣人穿著長褲長袖，這並不表示他們怕猛烈的太陽—他們可能是怕小黑蚊。請小心小黑蚊啊！我的雙腿已經被盯得“慘不忍睹”了。。。