I’ve been to Taiwan twice, all for work, all in Taipei. This time around, the third time, finally it’s for holiday. Of course, we ventured out of Taipei, only spent 2 nights in Taipei. I’ll share the key places we’ve been for this trip. Will share where we stayed after all attractions posts.
Our first day was spent in the airport, the plane, the airport, the plane, then on the road to Nantou County from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
We visited Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village on our second day starting in the morning at 9.30am. Entrance ticket is NT$850/adult while children and senior citizen(65 years old and above) is NT$420/pax. There will be morning welcome show at the Culture Square near the entrance. You can have photo opportunity with the performers after that.
Before visiting the culture village, make sure you have your mosquito repellent ready! A lot of them to feast on you. I was their feast haha… While inside the village, there are many mosquito repellent available FOC on site, so be hardworking to apply it whenever you see it to reduce the possibility of being feast ;p You can check out my instagram on how yummy I was…
The cultural village is so huge. I can assure you that you need one whole day to discover the place. The entrance ticket is very reasonable which include cable car rides within the village and even go all the way to Sun Moon Lake, it also entitled you to play at the amusement park without additional charges. Food and beverage and merchandises are not included.
After the morning performance, be sure to take the cable car and go to the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway station first. You can choose to take the Crystal Cable Car, limited units available, you will just have to wait for it, there’s a special lane for it. The one we got on is the Crystal Cable Car, you can look all the way down.
View of Sun Moon Lake from the cable car.
The view of Sun Moon Lake. You can sit here and enjoy the breeze of the lake or have a stroll. Then ride the cable car to go back to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village for lunch.
Back at the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, we went to get our lunch before exploring the cultural village. We had ours at Bunun BBQ. We ordered the Grilled Set Meal(NT$200) and some fancy pink fizzy drink(NT$50). Really don’t underestimate the portion, for small to average eater, you can share this one set. The set consists of corn, Taiwan sausage, yam, grilled pork, rice, and soup. The fizzy drink is quite refreshing with some jellies in it. Get one or two side orders to share for average eaters and you will be filled. By the way, it’s pork, pork, pork… Oh, make sure you clear your own plates after eating.
What you see here is just some of the things you can see. There are model houses of the native aborigines in Taiwan, a museum too. Along the way, there are many interactions with the staff. They are very professional. They took their job seriously, even when no body or people are still far from the site, they still continue with their “performances” like clockwork.
Demonstration of glass beads making at the Paiwan village (check out the video here). You can buy the handicraft here. We bought a few but just realized that we bought the more commercialized and fancy ones instead of the traditional glass bead as shown in the photo above.
Lots of sculptures around the cultural village. They have many owl sculptures and totems. The Thao believes that if a pregnant woman sees an owl on a tree nearby, it is the spirit sent to protect them. The spirit is said to be of an unmarried young lady who died after she was banished from her village because she became pregnant. Her body was found in the mountain, under a tree where an owl perched at the top of the tree.
The show at Pestle Music Theatre where you see traditional aboriginal instruments performance.
While at the Naruwan Theatre, this is where you can enjoy a series of aboriginal folk dances and they also interact with the visitors. If you are lucky, you might score yourself some souvenirs.
These are some activities you can do in the cultural village.
There you go… Be sure that you stay nearby and don’t be silly to try to visit this place if you are based in Taipei, it takes hours to drive here! You will be left with very little time and tired from the road trip. You need to spend a night in Yuchi Township in Nantou County to maximize your visit. Check out the official website for more information.