taiwan - nine tribes

Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village features the culture and lifestyle of the major nine tribes of aboriginals found in Taiwan. Not just your typical Mini Malaysia poorly built display homes with inhabitants poorly crafted from wood/clay/whatchamacallit collecting cobwebs, each tribe has its own huge area with structures and even real aboriginals demonstrating the tribe's unique craft/ability and hosting stage events to interact with the crowd. And it's not just about culture and all its boredom. This culture village comes with a theme park! With roller-coasters, scientific voyages and whatnots!


This part of the harvest dance received the most camera clicks and flashes. I suspect it has something to do with half-naked teenage boys and muscular butts.

It looked easy as peanuts when the virile aboriginal males swung ala Tarzan across the small divide, but 80% of the volunteers from the audience who went up fell splat into the water. In winter. Luckily they have blowdryers at the back of the stage for wet clothes and shoes.

They have 2 or 3 HUGE kickass performance areas like this one for the more important and exciting dances/shows. So nicely done, right?

Water features (not unlike those koi pond in temples) at some tribe's settlement. Can't remember which one, I was busy taking pictures yo.

I even managed to cajole an aboriginal canoe-builder (this shit is real, they use it for the harvest dance!) to snap one with me. His peace sign totally spoiled the whole aboriginal experience thingy-lah. But I'm impressed with his patience in carving and etching them nice curls and patterns on the side of the canoe.

I fed fish in trepidation. They're damn fat and aggressive okay. Any minute they could hop on to the rock I was squatting on and flap my face until I fall into the pond and they swarm around me and slowly tear my flesh apart. So pardon my fake smile. I was scaird.

Here's something that looked totally out of place. At the entrance to the culture village, they have this Victorian garden with marble statues and fountains and even a quaint train going round the huge garden/park. At the end of the path stands a majestic, castle-like restaurant serving Chinese food. Hmmm.