Once the manager of a hair salon chain in Taipei, a man in his 40s from Changhua County’s Tianwei Township (田尾) overcame his mid-life crisis by constructing an agriculture-themed hostel that offers backpackers a taste of farm life and a special night in traditional bamboo-built granaries.
Hsueh Ching-chih (薛進智) had lived in Taipei since being discharged from the military 12 years ago.
Hsueh said he started off as a hair washer in a branch of the international hair salon chain Mentor Hair Stylist, but it did not take long before he climbed up the corporate ladder to become the manager of the chain’s 13 branches in Taipei.
Photo: Yan Hung-chun, Taipei Times
Although Hsueh’s success had made him wealthy, it had also left him exhausted as he reached middle age and started experiencing a midlife crisis.
“During that time, I often thought of my parents, who were alone in Tianwei, before I went to sleep at night,” Hsueh said, adding that he felt like he was at a crossroads in life, not knowing whether he should remain in Taipei or return to Changhua.
Hsueh found the answer after he embarked on three cross-country trips, during which he was fascinated by the backpackers’ hostels he had stayed in while traveling through Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties in eastern Taiwan.
Because there was no such accommodation in Changhua at the time, Hsueh resigned from his job in Taipei in 2011 to return to Tianwei to build the first hostel for backpackers in his hometown.
To match the agricultural theme he chose for his hostel, Hsueh said he converted his family’s farmhouse, which had fallen into disuse over the past two decades, into a wooden social area for his guests.
Unlike most hotel proprietors, Hsueh kept his hostel simple and rustic, surrounding it with Madagascan almond trees his father planted and a paddy field saturated with purple-colored iris flowers.
However, Hsueh was not yet satisfied with his work, saying that “it was still missing some suburban and agricultural elements.”
“Then my mother reminded me that in the early days, most farming families had this granary called a ‘Kuting basket’ (古町畚), so I decided to build two of these things to be the main living areas for my hostel,” Hsueh said.
A “Kuting basket” is a round granary with a thatched roof commonly seen in traditional agricultural areas. Bamboo is used as the framework of the building and for its exterior walls, to which a mixture of mud, rice grains and cow droppings is applied.
Because none of the remaining Kuting baskets in Changhua was well-preserved, Hsueh had to travel to Yunlin County to learn the skills required to construct the traditional barns.
After mastering the basic techniques, Hsueh built a 4 ping (13.2m2) Kuting basket on either side of the wooden social area as the guest rooms.
In addition to local tourists, Hsueh said he has also received backpackers from Japan, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and South Korea since his hostel’s official opening a year ago.
“This generation of young people are adventurous and enjoy traveling on two legs or two wheels. What they are looking for is not a fancy, luxurious hotel, but a place where they can really get a taste of the local life,” Hsueh said.
According to Hsueh, most tourists stayed in his hostel for several days, some traveled to the nearby Shetou Township (社頭) to visit sock factories and taste famous railway boxed meals, while others headed south to Beidou Township (北斗) for Taiwanese meatballs.
“Many of them sent me letters afterward, telling me they had found a new inspiration for their lives by staying in my hostel,” he said.
A traveler from Hong Kong, who identified himself as Hao Tzu (浩子), said he knew about Hsueh’s hostel from a Web site for backpackers and that Hsueh was very nice and charged reasonable rates.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the