OELP Reflection - GaoYunFan

24/5/2014

Day 1

We met at changi airport terminal 1 ready to board the plane . I was very excited as it was the only chance we could go overseas as a class.

After we had reached the Kaoshiung international airport at 12 midnight , we were greeted by staff from scarced heart high school . I was very surprised as I did not expect they to be there as yunlin is very far from Kaoshiung . This was the first time we met our tour guide. We were all very tired and excited as your can see in the photo . At around 2 am , we finally reached our favorite hotel - ten drum village .

Collecting room keys 

25/5/2014

Day 2

The day starts with delicious breakfast provided by the Ten drum cultural village. I felt this was the best breakfast I had in Taiwan as  they provided varieties of food and drinks for us . To be honest , I did not have a good impression on ten drum village as it was not located in a city . The only sign showing us we were still in a modern place was the mrt that drive passed the village . However , what the ten drum village provided impressed me .

After the breakfast , we went to our first itentery of the day , Meinong Hakka village . From there , we had learnt that in the early days , Hakka people lead a difficult life . When they were washing clothes along the river outside the village , they need to face outside of the village so that when natives attacked them , they could escaped quickly . Hakka people had five great migrations in total to escaped from war and had a better life. As Hakka people settled down to a place quite late compared to others , they do not had land that were very fertile . They could yield much crops and sold them for a area , thus , they were very poor. Hakka people were aware that study is the only way to change life so they educate young people to treasure words , even those were written on waste paper . They would collect them  , burnt . They would pray to the waste annually that their descendents will study hard . Even until today , Hakka people still treasure words . This make me think of the difference between Singapore and Taiwan as some people will burnt textbooks to give vent to their angers . 

After this , we want to Meinong Hakka village to had our lunch and bought our souverious there .

After lunch , we proceed to the next place Kaoshiung Hakka museum 

When we walked into the museum , we were being told that Hakka mothers were very great . They sacrificed for the family without any complaining . I believed that all the mothers were like the Hakka mothers too , sacrficed themselves for their family without any complains . I also learnt that Hakka people celebrtaed broken sky day which people stay at home and do not work . Hakkas had many enter,net too . They organized competitions like Holy pig competition , lamb's horn length competition , rooster caponizing competition.  From this , I had a better understanding of Hakka culture .

This is the Kaoshiung Musuem of history . The tour guide told us that the river that in front of it was called love river . A woman jumped into river , and suscide herself . The reporter did not know the name of the river and saw a banner floating on the river with love river written on it . The reporter used the love river in the report and this was how the name came about . From this , I also learnt about 228 which happened in Taiwan . This taught me that we should never start a riot and army should never pointing their guns at their own people. 

After that , we went to former  British consulate . This was built to collect tax and control the port . The sun was going to set and it shone into our eyes .

Finally , We next destination was the LiuHe night market . In the night market , there were a lot of stalls selling many delicious food ranging from smelly tofu , chicken nuggets , fishes , ice cream , beef noodles , drinks and many other more . I went with others friends and tired many food. However ,we must be more careful with our bags and so that we would not be cheat by the stall owners . 

26/5/2014

Day 3

 The day starts with a drum lesson . Everyone of had the chance to learn how to hit the drumThe method that the ten drum people use  was very interesting and easily remember . 走路hit once and 跑步hit twice . We had a lot of fun especially at the end of the song  as we could hit the drum as hit and as many times as we can . After the lesson , we went to the drum exhibition where they displayed ten drum that was play for to pray for excel in studies , career , and be healthy etc.  After this , we were brought to watch the performance . The tour guide told us that this performance was vary rare as it has incorporated water in the performance as well . As drum is made of wood , when water splashed on it , it will damage the drum . The drum performance was very amazing and thrilling. As we were offered the first two rows of the seat , we could have an closer look of the performance . Personally , I enjoy performance . As compared to the usual  drum performance  where people just hit drum and doing some moves , I felt this was more attracting as lights and sounds were used during the performance . The use of light created more suspense for the audience .

Anping old fort 

The next place we went were the Anping fort . Anping fort was built by the Dutch in 1624where has been the administrative centre of the Dutch and the hub for trading . After ZhengChengGong won and chased the Dutch out of the Taiwan , the fort was renamed to commemorate his hometown . During Japanese occupation , the Dutch style buildings were completely destroyed . In the Anping fort , we had learned the history the omelette as it was going to be one of the dishes for our lunch  . When ZhengChengGong was attacking Anping fort and surrounded the Anping fort for many months . The Dutch was very determine and refuse to surrender . As there had been shortage of food , ZhengChengGong ordered the his men to put fried sweet potato and oyster that could easily find around Anping fort . As people's living condition had improved , they replaced sweet potato with eggs and that how the omelette comes about . 

This is an old streets  beside the Anping fort .We had our lunch here . The food I love the most was the coffin toast . It was very tasty .  We found chewing gum sold in the an ping street and some of us went to buy it and try to blow it for the rest of the trip As we did not have the chance of eating gum in Singapore . It was very fun trying to blow the chewing gum and definitely it was one of our favorites .

Following by that was the Eternal golden Castle.This was actually the defensive castle built by the Manchus to safeguard the coast and Japanese invasions .  When there was no cement , people use sticky rice , oyster and sugar to stick brick together . When I look by the arch wall , I do not know how people managed to build an arch door in the times without the machines . The tour guide told us that they would make the soil to form a semicircle , then put bricks on it . In the end , remove . Although this will work but this will take a long time compare to nowadays and the building are not stable . Therefore new is better than the old . 

On top of the chicken tower , there are a place for people to pray to the god so that they could do well in examination . I felt that Taiwanese believed in gods as there are many wishes on that floor 

We also found the displays of different types of ship model . 

The last place was the Confucius temple . During Qing dynasty and Japanese occupation , this was the place where the schools located . There were a board to for us to put the paper that we wrote our wishes on .  I felt it was very boring. The only thing I did was to write down wishes to improve my GPA.

27/5/2014

Day 4 

We went to scared heart high school . After the welcome ceremony and the performance perform by both the scared hearts high school and us , we were seperated to attend their lessons . During the lessons , I observed that the way the teacher taught was very interesting , the teacher was only very friendly to the students and the students were very disciplined. Although they would chat with each other sometimes , they would whisper . They tried to include us in the comversation by asking us questions so that we won't felt like being left out. Their lessons is related to daily basis . Everyone could have experienced it . People in Taiwan like to collect limited cups , hello kitty from seven eleven . 

In the afternoon , we went to the HuaShanGuoXiao. The students there were very talented as they could play violin very well at a young age . They also did very well for the presentation as they were very confident and memories the script . Their presentation skills were very good and we should learnt from them .

In the evening , scared hearts high school treated our buddy's family and us dinner in a restaurant.  This was the first time I met our buddy's parent . We had a wonderful time together and they were very hospitable . 

28 May 2014 

Day 5 

We went to the DIY tower factory and make our own towel . Towel factories had gone through a hard time when people stop buying cheaper towels but with bad quality . They came out with a plan of making DIY towels and get people to try it on their own . They achieved success in the end . I was amazed by both the very nice design of the towels and their creativity . I felt this was very fun.and bought a few towers for souvenirs.

Next we went to the puppet Musuem . I felt puppet was very boring until I saw the movie made using puppets which were much more interesting and exciting . The character and storyline was much better . 

After that , we went back to scarced hearts high school and attend magic lesson and the balloon lesson . The balloon lesson was very fun as we could fold the balloons into weapons , armour , flowers and had a balloon war with our friends which was very fun and remind me of the primary school days. 

We also went around the school to see their CCA . Pic found that scarced heart ug was very relax CCA duration was too short being 1 hour per week .

29/5/2014

This was the most exciting days . After the fce lessons in the school , we were brought out by the buddy's family . We had beef noodles for our lunch together . The noodles were not very spicy compared the one I ate in Singapore . However , it still taste delicious . They took us to a famous place to buy 凤梨酥 and ate 芒果雪花冰. We also went to the sky bridge where we had a beautiful time there . The last place we went was the farm , in the farm , we feed animals , fishes , pigs and watched parrots performance .   They also treated us dinner there . We were very thankful for what my buddy had done for us .

Picture took at the night after dinner.

30 may 2014

Day 7 

We went to the last place 921 earthquake educational park . It was a big earthquake happen on 21 September . As it happened in the night , so none of the students were injured . After earthquake , they had seen that the house structured were not stable and they learnt their lesson . They think of news way to build a house so  that the house can stand the earthquake . 

After this , we board plane at TaoYuan international airport to come back to Singapore .