Now we’ve spent our first four days in Dasyueshan National Recreation Area. Our first days of work, first acquaintance and first experience.
我們在大雪山已經第四天了～～一切是如此的新鮮。第一天工作、第一次接觸、第一次體驗。
Two-hour-long way from Fongyan to Dasyueshan was amazing. A beautiful scenery of the mountains, valleys and cities was spread out beneath. Looking at the landscape we couldn’t notice the time passed and appeared to be at the entrance of the Dasyueshan National Recreation Area. This was Thursday – so we couldn’t see lots of cars to compare with weekend.
往大雪山的風景真是美極了。山巒、山谷、城市映入眼簾。不知不覺，我們抵達了35k收費站。因為當天是星期四，所以車子寥寥無幾。
Dasyueshan is stretched through the area of 35 km, started with 15th and finished at the 49th, which is at the same time has the highest trails. We and most of the tourists live at the 43d km, where are the Visitor Center, inn, hotel and wood cottages and restaurant are situated.
大雪山位於35k之後，從15k開始直到49k。住宿則位於43k,也就是遊客中心及餐廳坐落的地方。
And we were driven straight to this place. First to see our dorm that turned out to be a beautiful cottage in Japanese style and repack our luggage and second – to start our two-day training.
我們到達43k，就直奔我們的宿舍“小木屋”。小木屋充滿了日式風味。我們趕緊把行李放下就開始了為期兩天的訓練。
What is the first thing you would like to know about a place? I’m sure, it is its history. And we were not only said but also shown the long history of two National Recreation Areas – Dasyueshan and Basianshan. As for a second one – there are two big books – collections of photos related to the Basianshan 20th century history. And as for Dasyueshan – every tourist can go to the Visitor Center where he will find an informative expo. There are not only photos, describing the history of this area, but also lots of equipment that workers, engineers and firemen used. In addition you can see some a stands with useful information of how to behave in the forest and what you should know about the forest. English variant of all the information let the foreign students understand everything. Besides in the Visitor Center you can also watch a short movie about Dasyueshan and see an expo of wooden sculptures and crafts.
Both of the National Recreation Areas did a long and hard way from being a place of cutting the trees and a mill to the National Recreation Area and one of the beautiest places in Taiwan. We can still find lots of traces remained from the time of cutting the trees: wood bricks moving apparatus and special trails. Little metal tags is used by the scientists to make surveys and observe the life of each tree from the very beginning.
對一個陌生的新地方，大家最想知道莫過於其歷史。我們被告知有關大雪山及八仙山的悠久歷史。還有我們也看到了兩本有關八仙山傳奇的書。若您想更了解大雪山的歷史，那就不可以錯過位於遊客中心的歷史隧道。那裡不僅有中英對照的歷史看板，也展示了舊時代的防火及救火器具。此外，遊客中心會不時播放大雪山影片以供觀賞，遊客們也可慢慢欣賞這裡的木雕作品。
森林遊樂區都經過了刻苦的伐木時代從而轉型為台灣美麗的森林遊樂區。在大雪山，我們可以找到林業時代留下的木馬古道、集材柱等。你也可看到科學家在一些樹木留下小小記號以進行研究。
The next part of our training was a short walk on a trail. Actually it was our first walk on the Dasyueshan trail that’s why it was very exciting. The teacher told us lots about the signs in the forest. First, they must be evident – the visitor should know for sure which sign is for what tree, bush or plant.
訓練也包括了走步道。因為這是第一次，所以我們超興奮的。老師教了我們很多新知識尤其是解說牌這一塊。
The sign must be easily reached and read. The visitor should see all the words clearly. It would be really great if all of the signs have a translation to English for foreign visitors who don’t know Chinese. Unfortunately only a few of them have English variant. As for me, I think that tourists will be more interested in English name of species not in Latin, scientific – that is written in every sign.
解說牌缺少了英文翻譯。我覺得解說牌上植物名稱也應該以英文書寫，而不是太科學化的拉丁文。
The third point is that signs must not harm the nature or prevent growing of a tree or any other species.
解說牌的位置也不應該妨礙植物的生長。
The staff should thoroughly take care of all the trees and plants in the forest. And what is one of the most important and interesting facts – staff can interfere into the life of forest only if it threatens the safety of visitors and damage the trails. In other cases, people can’t disturb the forest.
森林不應受到干擾。員工們應該好好照顧森林裡的植物。
Our training finished only in the evening. Our last adventure for this day was to find a flying squirrel. The night was very clear so we can see not only stars but also the trees surrounded. Half-an-hour search finished successfully and finally we managed to see the flight of a squirrel. By the way, do you know that squirrel create the sounds that can easily mistake with the bird.
The next morning we got up really early. There is only one reason to go out at 4 a.m. – sunrise. Undoubtedly, the most beautiful sunrise can be seen only in mountains. This short moment of piece, the darkest our just before the damn, when even birds and wind become quiet. The short moment of waiting and everyone stares at the East constrainedly. It passed in several minutes and soon you can see the bright sun and the shafts of light drops on the valley – illuminating some of the space and leaving other areas in shadows.
晚上，我們去觀看飛鼠。那天晚上天氣特好，我們也看到了很多星星。半小時不斷找尋飛鼠的踪影，皇天不負苦心人，我們終於看到了它的“飛翔”。而且，飛鼠發出的聲音與鳥類很相像，所以會讓人產生錯覺。
隔天一早，我們4點就出發到觀景台看日出。無可否認的，日出實在太漂亮了。在剎那間，大地屏住呼吸，鳥兒風兒靜了下來。我們默默等待，緊張地望向東邊。在幾分鐘內，一道曙光慢慢從山谷升起，把大地照亮了。
The next day of training was dedicated to knowing more about species we and all others can find in Dasyueshan. We spent lots of interesting moments walking the trails to distinguish the tree and viewing leaves, flowers and seeds of the species.
And finally we can do our first independent walk on a trail.
我們也學了不少在大雪山可被發現的品種。我們在步道間享受美好的時光，認識葉片、花、種子。
成果是我們能獨當一面走步道了。
Being volunteers we should know more information about each trail so we can help other teachers accompanying tourist groups or staying at the Visitor Center. We should know about the length of the trail, we should be able to introduce species one can see while walking, we should help the visitors in choosing the best way of spending time. And most of all, we should take care about the nature.
身為國際志工，我們需要學會很多關於步道的資料以協助志工老師們。我們需要知道步道的長度距離，以及學會解說。最重要還是要愛護大自然。
Dasyueshan is amazing place. All the way of walking its trails you can see a breathtaking view on the green mountains and so changeable clouds. Sometimes they climb the mountains covering them with the milky white veil.
大雪山真是個美妙的地方。在步道間，你不時能看到美麗的風景及變幻莫測的雲。乳白色的雲兒有時會覆蓋著山巒，煞是好看。
Sometimes it lays below – quiet and unfathomable ocean of soft clouds.
雲海茫茫～～安靜得像個平靜的海面
But most of the time they fathom all the places, hiding trees, buildings and people in white mist. Do you remember the King’s Mist? We could feel it almost every afternoon during our stay in Dasyueshan.
雲霧總是覆蓋了所有地方。你還記得王者的迷霧嗎？我們幾乎每天都經歷這～～
There are great amount of observing points of all the kind. They can be low, can be high. Can be closed – can be open. It depends only on your preferences. But you wouldn’t be disappointed of the view opening up before your eyes.
這裡有太多值得一看的景點了。它可以位於高處或低處，也可以是室內或室外。這就要看您的喜好來選擇了。您不會對您所看到的感到失望的。
Wriiten by Olga
奧利嘉 撰寫
