Heading South!

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Gosh I'm getting behind with my homework!
I think it was Tues..
We had a slightly cleared drive down all the bends that we couldn't really see on the way up and as usual it was much quicker coming down. I couldn't manage to count the bends and the number of buses on the way up but was probably around the same..(54!)
Next stop was about 1 1/2 hrs further south and slightly inland to Mainong and its getting warmer!!
Mainong is known for having around 95% of the Hakka population. They speak their own language and value hard work and education and still maintain traditional customs and living style.
It is quite rural and our bnb was surrounded by rice paddies and fields of amazing flowers, cosmos, marigolds, grown for fertilizer on barron grown. Great photo opportunities!
We had a lovely walk around the lake and a quick visit to the Hakka museum and also saw a lady making wax coated umbrellas, they were beautiful and still popular as gifts for special occasions.
The people are so friendly we are in the country again and so places seem to close early and we could only find one place open for food...no picture food here! Any way a young lady ,who was eating asked if we needed any help and proceeded to order some food for us. The usual way in most places to order food is to mark on a piece of paper by what you want..we usually point to something that someone else is having!
People are amazed that we are driving..but so far it's been good but thankfully we have Google Maps.
The next day we drove up into the mountains to Maolin famous as one of the only two overwintering sites in the world for the Purple Crow butterfly.We did see quite a few but not the huge amounts that gather in the Autumn.
Driving through we caught the fabulous smell of frying chicken and stopped to get some . It seamed to be a family affair but the only one confident enough to speak English was so camp with a really fat belly and top knot and just squealed when we said were we were from. they didn't really have many seats but he ushered us into his front room which had two young lads sitting on the sofa singing to karaoke#!!
They were the best chicken and chips we have ever had!.....
Further up the mountain to Duona Village home to the Rukai Tribe. Many of the houses are built of slate.
A great day exploring and as it is Chinese New Year the fire crackers are starting!

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Photos

Fabulous buffet dinner
Our Valentine's meal cost nearly £5 ...for the two of us ! And we could just try what we wanted.

Comments

[Beverly]

Another great experience
Brilliant account of village life in Taiwan. You intrepid travelers.