Picking Tomatos at the You and Me Farm in Taichung (台中市石岡區優恩蜜溫室蔬果觀光果園)
A short visit to a greenhouse farm in Taichung's Shigang District. Yummy tomatos!
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We are a small publishing company (Vision) based in Taipei. We produce an English magazine (Travel in Taiwan) introducing readers to Taiwan as a travel destination.
WHO I AM
My name is Johannes. I love creating videos about places in Taiwan and I try to post a few videos every week (well, more like twice a month). Please let me know what you think about this channel and feel free to ask me any question. Thanks for your support!
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Travel in Taiwan 2019/05-06 (Dana Ter)
Walking away from the highway, we enter a wondrous world with thickets of wild hibiscus plants. Soon I spot the greenhouses of the farm to the right. Entering the grounds, we find the smiling owner, Chiu Shun-jun, brewing Oolong tea. He gets up to greet us, showing us to a wooden table from where you can peer into the first of the greenhouses. Vines droop from the transparent netting-roof of the greenhouse, forming a green arch from which clusters of brilliant yellow cherry tomatoes and stark-hue purple peppers dangle.
A retired military doctor from a Hakka family that lived in Dongshi, the district neighboring Shigang to the east, Chiu started helping friends using hydroponic systems to grow vegetables nearly 30 years ago, before opening his own farm. In the beginning he sold his produce to supermarkets in central Taiwan, but later he realized that operating a leisure farm was more profitable. “I also like to talk to people!” he chuckles.
Approximately 70 to 80 percent of You and Me’s earnings come from tourists. A cover fee of NT$100 is charged for fruit and vegetable picking, with additional charges for every 600 grams of produce picked.
We visit at the end of winter, during the tomato and pepper season, and are to be shown around by Hung Min-fang, a young woman who approaches us wearing a distinctive checkered apron and pushing a cart full of colorful peppers. Noticing our wide-eyed reactions, she explains that six varieties of peppers are grown on the farm: red, green, orange, yellow, purple, and white.
The farm has several greenhouses. Hung leads us into one of the houses, and shows us tomatoes and peppers that have been planted on raised beds, arranged in three tiers. Above the beds are thin black rods used for watering the plants according to a set timer.
“We’re always experimenting with different crops,” Hung tells us. She shows us some of their other winter crops, including corn from a small field behind one of the greenhouses, along with Taiwanese basil, figs, and blueberries, which are planted in pots. There are also apples, turnips, and – most amusing – giant-sized Taiwanese cabbage that are so big and heavy that I would definitely struggle to carry one by myself. Good thing, I think to myself, that I won’t be obliged to do any veggie hauling today as part of my farm experience.
Hung brings out a small red shopping basket, scissors, and a traditional-style Taiwanese conical straw hat. It’s time to pick cherry tomatoes! There are a number to choose from – yellow, red, light green, and dark purple. “The yellow and red ones are the sweetest,” Hung says. She describes how to tell ripe ones from ones that aren’t ready; basically, there shouldn’t be any dark-green coloring on the skin.
I put on the big hat and clutch the basket with one hand, feeling a little silly, like a farmhand depicted in an illustrated book. I’m not as deft with my fingers as Hung is, so I use the scissors to slowly and delicately snip red and yellow cherry tomatoes from their stems, choosing plump-looking ones and standing on my toes to reach tomatoes dangling below the roof.
Ten minutes into the picking, my fingers are a dusty shade of green. I think that maybe I’m not cut out for farm life. “Don’t worry – that’s normal!” Hung laughs reassuringly. We rinse the cherry tomatoes with water and sample a few. I prefer the yellow ones, as they are less acidic than their red counterparts and a pleasant sort of sweet.
The rest of the cherry tomatoes are packed neatly in a tiny, transparent plastic box for me to take home. Outside, a dark-grey cloud cover has settled in, and the tall palms and scraggly banana trees have become gnarly silhouettes. Like curtains coming down on an afternoon play, it’s the perfect end to our visit to Shigang, a place that’s both urban and rural, both tame and wild, and where the people are welcoming – and their tomatoes are lip-smacking good.
You and Me Fruits & Vegetables Tourist Farm
(優恩蜜溫室蔬果觀光果園)
Add: No. 391-10, Fengshi Rd., Shigang Dist., Taichung City
(台中市石岡區豐勢路391之10號)
Tel: (04) 2582-6058
Website: you-ame.myweb.hinet.net (Chinese)
Taiwan 2013 [Over 60 Attractions] [HD]
A get away holiday to Taiwan with a group of Singaporeans, who were colleagues working in the same company. Together, they traveled to many destinations and experience the food and excitement along the way. This trip covers the northern half of taiwan where they travel to Taipei, Taichung, Puli, Lushan, Cingjing, Chiayi, Alishan, Jiufen, Shifen, Jinguashi and back to Taipei.
3 Words to Summarise: Eat, Explore, Experience.
Date: 20 April 2013 - 30 April 2013
Video Contents:
- Tonghua Market (通化街夜市) [00:45]
- Wufenpu Shopping (五分埔) [01:55]
- Raohe Street Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) [02:28]
- Yong He Duo Jiang Da Wang (永和豆浆油条大王) [03:54]
- Beitou Museum (北投博物馆) [04:33]
- Beitou Thermal Valley (北投地热谷) [05:07]
- Ting Gua Gua Fried Chicken [05:45]
- Tamshui Waterfront (淡水) [06:13]
- Cruise to Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭) [06:49]
- Lover's Bridge at Fisherman's Wharf [07:02]
- Zhongzheng Road at Tamshui (淡水老街) [08:02]
- Shilin Market (士林夜市) [08:44]
- 50 Lan Bubble Tea Shop (50嵐) [10:13]
- Yangmingshan Hiking to Mt Qixing (陽明山國家公園) [10:53]
- Mt Qixing East Peak (七星山) [12:07]
- Mt Qixing Main Peak (七星山) [12:22]
- Xiaoyoukeng Visitor Center [12:53]
- Xiaoyoukeng - Post Volcanic Area (小油坑) [13:26]
- Din Dai Fung (鼎泰丰) [14:37]
- Guangzhou St Night Market (廣州街夜市) [15:50]
- Hua Xi St Night Market (華西街觀光夜市) [16:25]
- Wuzhou St Night Market (梧州街觀光夜市) [16:31]
- Taipei High Speed Rail (HSR) to Taichung (台灣高速鐵路) [17:18]
- Houfeng Bikeway (Dongfeng Bikeway) (后豐鐵馬道) [17:58]
- Shigang Dam (石冈坝供应) [19:22]
- Yizhong Steet Night Market (一中街夜市) [20:27]
- Wei Qing Hai for Taichung Sun Biscuit (魏清海) [21:21]
- Fengjia Market [21:40]
- Yi Fu Tang for Famous Taichung Sun Biscuit (一福堂) [22:54]
- Sun Moon Lake - Cruise Ride on the Lake (日月潭) [23:06]
- Sun Moon Lake Famous Hard-boiled Herbal Eggs (茶葉蛋) [23:25]
- Ita Thao Village (伊達邵) [23:59]
- Wen Wu Temple (文武庙) [24:28]
- Puli Brewery (埔里酒廠) [24:45]
- 18°C Chocolate Factory (18度C巧克力工房) [25:32]
- Lushan Hot Spring Village (庐山) [26:10]
- Fengwei Restaurant for Dinner [26:27]
- Carton King at Cingjing (紙箱王) [27:13]
- Cingjing's Highest 7 Eleven Store [27:54]
- Hehuanshan Sunrise (合欢山) [27:58]
- Green Green Grassland (清境農場) [28:31]
- The Old England (老英格兰) [29:12]
- Turkey Rice at Chiayi [29:22]
- Everlasting Bridge at Alishan (天長地久橋) [29:38]
- Alishan Shoujhen Temple (受鎮宮) [29:49]
- Alishan Entrance [29:54]
- Alishan Railway Station (阿里山森林鐵路) [30:05]
- Alishan Sunrise at Chushan Station [30:13]
- Alishan Forest Walk (阿里山森林遊樂區) [30:46]
- Fengchihu (奮起湖) [32:02]
- Fengchihu Lunchbox [32:18]
- Sanxia Old Street (三峽區) [32:48]
- Jiufen Old Street (九份老街) [33:35]
- Windsor B&B Minsu [34:50]
- Ruifang Railway Station to Shifen (瑞芳車站) [35:51]
- Jingtong Railway Station - Movie Scene for You Are the Apple of My Eye (菁桐車站 - 那些年我们一起追的女孩) [36:09]
- Movie Scene in Action [36:34]
- Shifen Old Street (十分老街) [37:03]
- Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布) [37:15]
- Sky Lantern [37:58]
- Keelung Waterfront (基隆市) [38:38]
- Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市) [38:57]
- Golden Waterfall at Jinguashi (黃金瀑布) [40:25]
- Nanya Peculiar Rock (南雅海岸) [40:47]
- Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園) [41:10]
- Jinshan Old Street Market (金包里老街) [42:22]
- Jinshan's Famous Duck Restaurant [42:27]
- Taipei Lao Dian for Sun Biscuit (台北老店) [43:11]
- Shida Night Market (師大路夜市) [43:35]
- Ximending (西門町) [43:49]
- Japanese Lunch Buffet at Ximending [45:02]
- Chia Te for Cranberry and Pineapple Biscuits (佳德糕餅) [45:30]
- Taipei 101 - Tallest Building in Taiwan (台北101) [45:41]
- Sunset Cityscape of Taipei City [45:59]
(C) MeRv Studio Production 2013
* Music of this original movie has been modified to minimize copyright violations.
Two day trip to Miaoli County in northern/central Taiwan, visiting hot-spring hotel in Tai'an, a tea factory in Tongluo, and a brick factory in Yuanli. We had fun. :)
00:40 Dahu Wineland Resort 大湖酒莊
02:30 Wenshui Visitor Center 汶水遊客中心
04:25 Xishuikeng Tofu Street洗水坑豆腐街
07:20 Onsen Papawaqa 泰安觀止溫泉會館
08:50 Atayal Cultural Museum 泰雅文物館
10:40 Hushan Suspension Bridge 虎山吊橋
11:30 Onsen Papawaqa
12:40 Shuiyun Suspension Bridge 水雲吊橋
13:25 Onsen Papawaqa
16:05 Tongluo Skywalk 銅鑼天空步道
17:15 Tongluo Tea Factory 銅鑼茶廠
21:50 Jin Liang Shing (JLS) Brick Factory 金良興觀光磚廠
25:55 Yuanli Triangle Rush Exhibition Hall 藺草文化館
28:35 Dongli Jiafeng 東里家風古宅
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Dahu Wineland Resort (大湖酒莊)
Add: No. 2-4, Baliaowan, Fuxing Village, Dahu Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣大湖鄉富興村八寮灣2-4號)
Tel: (03) 799-4986
Onsen Papawaqa (泰安觀止溫泉會館)
Add: No. 58, Yuandun, Jinshui Village, Tai’an Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣泰安鄉錦水村圓墩58號)
Tel: (037) 941-777
Website:
Atayal Cultural Museum (泰雅文物館)
Add: No. 46-3, Neighborhood 6, Jinshui Village, Tai’an Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣泰安鄉錦水村圓墩6鄰46-3號)
Tongluo Tea Factory (銅鑼茶廠)
Add: No. 132-16, Jiuhu, Jiuhu Village, Tongluo Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣銅鑼鄉九湖村九湖132-16號)
Tel: (037) 987-358
Website: (Chinese)
Jin Liang Shing (JLS) Brick Factory (金良興觀光磚廠)
Add: No. 71-17, Jinshan, Shanjiao Borough, Yuanli Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣苑裡鎮山腳里錦山71-17號)
Tel: (037) 746-368
Website: (Chinese)
Yuanli Triangle Rush Exhibition Hall, (藺草文化館)
Add: No. 65, Weigong Rd., Yuanli Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣苑裡鎮為公路65號)
Tel: (037) 862-141
Website: (Chinese)
Dongli Jiafeng (東里家風古宅)
Add: No. 8, Neighborhood 2, Yuankeng Borough, Yuanli Township, Miaoli County
(苗栗縣苑裡鎮苑坑裡2鄰8號)
Tel: (037) 853-158
Website: (Chinese)
Onsen Papawaqa
The Onsen Papawaqa is a forceful work of modernist architecture directly overlooking the Wenshui riverbed. Its grey-hue exposed-concrete exterior walls, proudly and boldly showcased, echo the colors of the exposed cliff rock on the valley’s opposite side. Inside, two additional interior-décor elements are wood and stone, also chosen to echo the surrounding natural environment.
The key attraction here is, of course, the mineral-water soaking. Each room faces the river through floor-to-ceiling glass, with a window-side Japanese-style in-floor stone-slab tub. “The extensive public-area spa facilities are outside the main building; there are separate nude bathing areas for males and females, a non-nude mixed bathing area, and a wonderful cool-temperature narrow swimming pool that runs the entire main building’s length between building and riverside bluff-edge.” The evening starry-sky viewing is scintillating. In the midst of all this is a friendly, breezy thatch-roof open-air bar.
Both restaurants, on the 5th and 6th floors (the top floors), have eyrie-like views of the river before and mountain behind. The complimentary Chinese/Western buffet breakfast is taken in the 5th-floor Running Water Restaurant, which has a laddered spatial design evoking the river’s cascading waters. Lunch and dinner are served in the 6th-floor Flying Cloud Restaurant; the cuisine is Chinese, with strong Hakka and indigenous infusions, along with Western elements. Locally sourced ingredients are stressed. The Dongpo pork and sesame-oil chicken are especially good. (Rooms start at NT$7,500)
Gazing east from the Taiwan Hakka Museum, you can look down into the valley below and out over the hills toward the central mountains beyond. Just to the south, you’ll see row upon row of neatly spaced tea bushes. This is part of the 30ha tourist-oriented Tongluo Tea Factory operation. It’s centered on a factory/retail building of eye-catching modern design that offers a picture-perfect panorama of the valley through its east-side glass wall. Trains regularly run through the valley, through what looks like a model-train set. Patrons are helped in their train-spotting via a large signboard with run-through times and train types.
The main type of tea grown here is Dongfang Meiren (Oriental Beauty), which is primarily grown in Hakka areas in the hills of the northwest at lower altitudes (300~800m). Visitors can enjoy tea-tasting sessions, tours of the processing facilities and fields (in one interesting section, each row is dedicated to a single type of Taiwan-grown tea, with English signage), DIY picking for tour groups, and a meal. The latter consists of a traditional type of biandang (boxed lunch) eaten by Hakka tea-pickers and railroad workers. This comes wrapped in a gratis traditional bright-color Hakka-style head kerchief worn by female tea-pickers (separate payment for each option).
#Miaoli #Taiwan #Taiwaneverything
SURF SESSION IN YILAN TAIWAN
This is my first video! If you enjoyed it and want to see more in the future, please leave a like, share and subscribe to my channel. Thanks ! Want more info? Click on Plus.
Waiao beach is located on the East Coast of Taiwan in Yilan County. It is one of the main surfing spot in Northern Taiwan with dozens of Surf shops where you can easily rent boards .
Warning: Don't do the same as I did and make sure there is enough waves for surfing before going.
How to get there? : Train from Taipei Main Station to Toucheng Station or Kuokuang Bus 1877 from Yuanshan MRT Station to Wu Shi Gang Harbor.
Any recommendation? Leave a comment!
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Music credits to:
Justin Stone - Do It
Ryan Oakes - Raise Hell