A day spent in Checheng, Nantou

Many visitors have heard of the Jiji Train Staiton in Nantou, Taiwan, but not the Checheng Station, which is the last stop of the Jiji branch railway. We came to Checheng (車埕) by car, but obviously the railroad can also take you there along with a splendid mountain scenery.

Checheng has been an essential timber processing industry center for central Taiwan since 1919. Railroads were built for the timber shipping purpose. The name of the “Checheng” even came from the close pronunciation of “Trolley place”. Imagine how busy this place was like because of the timber business. Until 1986, the government implemented the law to prohibit logging, so the operation was completely stalled. However, the legacy of the wood processing facilities and equipment has become a local attraction and a landmark.

During the devastating “921 Earthquake” in Jiji, 1999, the Checheng Station was destroyed. Currently what we see is a beautiful re-built wood platform station. Strolling around town, the process of the wood industry can also be discovered.

This beautiful ecology pond was used to store the big logs that were cut down from the hills. The logs released resin in the water to extend the life of the wood. Now, a gorgeous “Visitor Center” was built next to the pond, providing a place for resting and supplies.

There are three cranes used to lift the floating woods. Each of them had a different purpose. One lifted the logs from the pond, and one from the truck, and the other transported them to the train. The internal motors of the drive could lift 11-13 ton woods. You can tell by the photo, it is a heavy-duty metal hook!

Then the woods were delivered to the planthouse for cutting. This is a 3 story building, and each of the stories has its own function. Mainly they are for storage and cutting. The use of the wood chip and waste were also reproduced to produce goods such as juniper oil… etc.

In the back of the planthouse, the railway warehouse, signal building, and the ruin of the plant can be seen. What a peaceful place for relaxing and putting your minds back to the timer year!

The old town of the Checheng has kept the same old look as in the 80’s, with no commercials except a few snack places. The wooden meal box is the famous souvenir to take home. There are many DIY places in town showing visitors how to make one.

“Meal Box” (Bian-Dang) type of meal is my favorite meal in Taiwan. We came to this small diner in the corner of the old town and had my favorite pork chop with rice! The best of all was that we got to take the wooden box home.

The right top corner of the wooden box is the one we took home. It can also be used to steam rice with the special wood smell. I have not tried it yet; will share the process once I have a chance!

Checheng is such a lovely mountain town! When you are in the famous Jiji Station, don’t forget to continue your journey to stop at the last stop of the most beautiful train station -"Checheng". Read More

Bantou Village, Xingang Township

Located in Southern Taiwan, Chiayi County, Bantou Village (板頭社區) is the cutest village and is filled with the JiaoZhi Pottery art. (交趾陶) It is one of the places where you can enjoy fresh air with a rural feeling. It’s also a great place to enjoy the JiaoZhi artwork offering visitors surprises in every corner of the village.

JiaoZhi is a soft ceramic used for the wall decorations in numerous temples of Taiwan. It also has become household collections. They are colorful and I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. A simple pile with all the wasted JiaoZhi has become an interesting and gorgeous piece of art. It caught my attention once we arrived here next to the entrance of the Bantouyao. (板頭窯)

Chiayi is the famous region for the JiaoZhi Pottery in Taiwan. Bantou is the birth place of the owner of the Banouyao factory, Mr. Chen, Zhongzheng. Mr. Chen was concerned about the gradually disappearing JiaoZhi pottery in Taiwan and decided to transform this farm village into a characteristics village with the JiaoZhi art.

Walking is the best way to see the whole village although it was about an hour and half walk. However, an alternative is to take the car-train which imitates the original “Wufenzhi train”(五分仔車 ) look.

We received a map at the Bantouyao, and checked out each point of interest in town. Along the road, green rice fields, fresh air and nice breeze make me feel relaxed!

If you pay attention to the wall decorations on the fences of the residency, you may see a cute and humorous JiaoZhi art. Not only children love to hug them, adults love to photograph them. They are all designed differently. Each art has its story. It is said that it tells what this resident was working for living, sheep, cows, and fishing…. They also reflect the old time rural children’s life.

The largest art wall piece is the Large Melia Azedarach Tree (大苦楝樹), also known as Chinaberry tree. The location of this village is far away from the sea that makes hot summer and cold winter. This type of weather hard for most of the plants, however, it’s good for Chinaberry tree. It gets purple flowers in the spring, green leaves in the summer and seeds in the Fall. All those characteristics are all reflected on this large piece of artwork.

As I look at it closer, they are made with porcelain bowls that were broken, cut, then pasted and cemented. The whole tree was made up with 20,000 bowls.

Comparing it to the height of ours, you can see how tall this artwork is!

Another point of interest in this village is the 100-year-old Wufen Railroad. It is also known as “Wufenzhi Railroad”. The railroad track is only about 67.2cm wide and only half of the standard track size, so it was named as “Sufenzhi Railroad” (half of the size). (五分仔車 )

Before the highways, the local residents relied on “Wufen Railroad for transportation. It used to be the most profitable railroad owned by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, so the railroad was also called “Golden Railroad”. It was completely closed in 1998 because there has not had a need for service.

With the effort of Mr. Chen, Zhongzheng and local residents, the train station and a gorgeous train park were rebuilt in 2004.

We enjoyed our visit so much in every corner. I was impressed that a former farm could be transformed into an artistic village without being interrupted by commercials. Actually, by visiting many farms or fisherman villages in Taiwan, I was left with the impression: “no selling, no advertising, but relaxing and refreshing in a clean, no pressure, and artistic environment.” Read More

Dragon Fruit Seeding Experience

Dragon Fruit, also known as Pitaya or Huo Long Guo (火龍果) in Chinese, is one of the most popular summer fruits in Taiwan. It also grows in all the tropical countries worldwide. I fell in love with this fruit since it has a fresh smell, a sweet taste, and is very healthy as well. Do you know that Dragon Fruit actually belongs to the cactus family? I am a succulent and cactus lover, so I decided to search information online and experiment growing the seeds from a piece of Dragon Fruit I bought from the market.

Taking out the seeds from the fruit can be a time consuming process besides waiting for them to grow. I asked a friend of mine to be the model and took pictures of the whole process as follows. Hope you will find them interesting and grow a pot of them yourself too at home!

After a several months, it has become a lovely indoor plant as shown in Photo 23; however, this pot will not produce any fruit. In order for them to produce fruit, they need to be transplanted to an outdoor location and fertilized twice a year.

Here is my plant outdoor, waiting to grow and produce fruit!

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