Hualien Update: The Unexpected.

Sam Baek
2017年8月7日
讀畢需時 2 分鐘

Typhoons. I had gotten fair warning about a typhoon hitting during my stay in Taiwan in the summer. I had heard that typhoons occur in late summer. Well, I experienced one! Typhoon Nesat, I believe was the name and it was due to hit Hualien head on. To be honest, I was very worried, but a new friend of mine said that I should be happy to experience a typhoon in Taiwan. Such positivity, and I thought why not, the more I can experience the better, right? We had to bring down anything that could fall with the strong winds. After such preparation, we stayed inside and watched movies. Other than the odd crash of something breaking, I hardly noticed much. With the typhoon over, clean up was the next step for us at Hatila. Clearing the waterways filled with leaves and placing more roofing on the small hut outside and sweeping, that ended my typhoon experience. I expected it to be more rough, but was happy that everyone was safe. Another highlight was attending several harvest festivals of other tribes. Although I am staying at Jici Tribe, I am leaving earlier than their harvest festival. So sad...

I was able to attend the Jinpu Tribe's harvest festival. Being one of the first ones's I attended, I was unsure of what to expect. It was interesting to see the deep aboriginal culture in Taiwan similar to that of Canada's. They don't allow everyone participate in the traditional dance. I was beginning to get tired of watching the tribe dancing, but then came an uncle, that had a bucket of clear liquid and an interesting looking ladle. I looked curiously, what it would be and it was alcohol! I seldom drink, but he had already arrived and had scooped some for me. I think it is a great way to get the people watching participating. I thought I was done, but haha, not at all! He came with MORE as he continued around the audience.