Testimonials

10. Tara (Malaysia)

Traveling to me is not just a 5-10 day trip. Traveling to me is not just sightseeing at famous tourist spots. I like to wander and roam without following a set schedule, this way I don’t have to rush everything and end up being too tired to enjoy my travels.

Walking from place to place, if I like a certain place I’ll stay longer, but if I dislike a certain place I’ll leave early. This is how I like to travel, more laid back. I am in Taiwan for 2 months taking the role of a volunteer, living amongst the locals and hopefully to understand more about living like the people of Taiwan.

I’m a girl from Malaysia. I made plans to come to Taiwan’s Taitung City to Fan Pu Garden to stay with Mrs. Yang starting from June 2nd.

Mrs. Yang has guests today. They are a group of college students and their professor and they have come to learn from Mrs. Yang. By the way she talks and laughs I can tell she will be easy to get along. Also this house has been remodeled and has an old Japanese style to it. “Fan Pu”, which means returning to the past, is a good name for this place.

Mrs. Yang gave me a tour of the house. I like my sleeping area a lot! It is also Japanese style with tatami floors, very clean! The whole room had a sense of “fan pu” and at the same time very comfy.

Sleeping on the tatami during the day, very nice!

I like this old fashioned table, my laptop fits it perfectly. At night I sit here and rearrange my photos and write on my blog. Very nice.

This is my shower with see through windows.

Here is the hanging lamp with traditional light bulbs, but by adding the bamboo as decoration it is a perfect match for this room. Hurray for “Fan Pu”!

This room was designed for volunteers and is located across from the farm. Mrs. Yang bought this part of the land and remodeled the room so volunteers can have their privacy, live comfortably and happy. Mrs. Yang is so thoughtful!

Everything here is Mrs. Yang’s design. She likes to reuse things for her designs such as bamboo and curtains which were made from old pants. I’m very impressed by Mrs. Yang she is very creative. I’m liking this place more and more. I think I will stay a little longer.

On “Fan Pu” Garden you get to enjoy casual living. It is green all around and has lots of fresh air. I enjoy eating plum sauce made on the farm and sleeping and waking early. I want to make friends with mother nature.

Good weather today, rare for raining season!

Every morning I wake up and eat plum sauce. I want to get healthy~ There are many benefits from eating plum sauce!

Mrs. Yang and I visit the chickens. Just look at all those organic fertilizer producers!

This the Mrs. Yang’s special group of organic producing chicken! What surprised me was how the area wasn’t smelly as would most areas with live chicken. Mrs. Yang said it’s because she planted many trees here, and trees can help with filtering the bad smell. They have a large area to roam. Mrs. Yang said she wants them to get exercise haha!

Mrs. Yang is preparing to feed the chickens plum! I never knew chickens and ducks can eat plum.

The chickens love it!

Mrs. Yang collects organic fertilizers. She insists on using organic fertilizers and not use any of the chemical stuff. All the fertilizers are credited to her chickens and ducks.

The healthier they eat, the better the fertilizer.

Healthy animals.

Mr. Huang carries a bucket of grass.

Chop suey! Veggies for the chickens, ducks, and goose.

Occasionally we will go visit the traditional market.

Someone was carrying this red-green-blue bag in the market. I also purchased the same bag a while ago in Taipei because I think it’s pretty. But my Taiwanese friends say it is a bag that is used by grandmothers to go shopping for groceries in the traditional markets. But I’m thinking, wow grandmothers in Taiwan have a good sense of fashion! I like this bag I won’t mind using it to go shopping. I want to buy one for my mother in Malaysia so she can carry it to go grocery shopping.

Cloudy and chilly morning today. We’re going to go weeding. The breeze is nice and cool.

Weeding.

Weeding in this weather is nice, not tiresome at all. I even had a small chair.

Trimming Cedars. Cedars need to be trimmed to give them space to grow. This way they can breath and will grow more beautiful.

In the beginning I was trimming with the way I learned while I was in New Zealand, but ended up cutting too much off the trees! Mrs. Yang said trimming cedar is an art, you have to observe the tree and trim it so it’ll look natural.

I’m never lonely while trimming cedars by myself because chickens will come and keep me company.

I went with Mr. Lee to go collect rice hulls. To others they are useless but to Mrs. Yang they are organic fertilizers. If you scatter them on chicken and duck droppings they will help cover the smell. They can be used to loosen the soil. But because it was my first time doing this it made my hands and legs itchy.

Look at all the rice hulls we collected!

Provided by WWOOF Taiwan farm host