Agritourism is on the rise in Kao-hsiung, where a program by the agriculture bureau inviting visitors to pick fruit and make their own glutinous rice cakes has proven popular with foreign tourists.
The bureau’s “One-Day Farmer” program takes visitors to Cishan Matsu Temple, where they make traditional red turtle cakes (紅龜粿) — a pastry made from glutinous rice and sugar that is a symbol of longevity, continuity and harmony. They then have a meal with farmers’ families, tour the countryside and pick fruit before returning to the 200-year-old temple to participate in religious rituals.
“We hope visitors learn about Taiwan’s temple culture,” bureau officials said.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
Making red turtle cakes has been a part of the One-Day Farmer program since it was introduced in 2013, but organizers said interest in the latest tour on Friday was especially high because of the popularity of the HBO television series The Teenage Psychic (通靈少女).
Even President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has commented on Facebook about the show and eating red turtle cakes, the organizers said.
The main character in the TV show, a high-school student named Xiao Zhen (小真), makes red turtle cakes for classmates on a day when students are asked to bake cookies, which she does not know how to make.
Given the interest, another One-Day Farmer tour has been scheduled for Saturday next week, organizers said, adding that registration opens at 8pm today.
The tours have generated about NT$500 million (US$16.6 million) in revenue, mostly from visitors from Hong Kong and Singapore, the bureau said.
It expects 6,000 more visitors from Hong Kong and Singapore by the end of the year, the bureau said, adding that of the 15.8 million foreign tourists who visited Taiwan last year, 2.9 million came from Hong Kong and 50,000 from Singapore.
Of that total, 55,000 were attracted by agritourism activities in Kaohsiung, bureau officials said.
“It is worth pointing out that Hong Kong and Singapore do not have much in the way of an agricultural industry… Singapore’s travel magazine Uweekly listed the One-Day Farmer program among six must-do travel activities,” the bureau said.
A Singaporean surnamed Xie (謝), who went on one of the tours this year, said he enjoyed the chance to visit Liouguei Township (六龜) to pick wax apples, candied jujubes and organic Chinese leeks.
“The experience allowed me to better understand the hard work of farmers. Picking fruit and walking around a farm is something you must do if you come to Taiwan,” she said.
A visitor from Hong Kong surnamed Lo (羅) said she was moved by the hard work and lives of famers in Meinong District (美濃), where she had the chance to learn how to make Hakka-style mochi.
“I feel the farmers are part of what makes Taiwan beautiful,” she said.
Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents director-general Huang Chin-hsiang (黃金祥) said the One-Day Farmer program helps supplement inadequacies in the marketing of rural agriculture, while listening to farmers’ stories helps visitors connect with them and better understand agriculture.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS