Week 2 : The Project Starts!

In the morning of the Feb 12th, Amber and I met in the MRT platform, took the Bannan Line MRT to Yongning station. From Yongning station, we should have taken the 705 or 706 bus to Sanxia Terminal Station, and take the 807 bus to the mountain, where the fish farm is located at. When we were waiting for 705, the owner of the farm called us. He said that the 807 bus is rarely available. The sooner bus schedule was 11 AM, meanwhile it has been 10 AM when we arrived at Yongning. Therefore, Amber and I were suggested to take taxi to Sanxia Terminal Station. Unfortunately, we waited for the 807 in the wrong side of Sanxia Terminal Station. Suddenly the 807 just passed us and the next schedule was 3 PM...

Waiting for the 705 and 706 in Yongning

So we took taxi again to fish farm in the mountain. FYI, taxi fare in Taiwan is incredibly expensive, for people like me who lives in a hustle bustle city with low taxi fare like Jakarta. In total, the taxi fare costed aroung 700 NTD, which equals to Rp 245,000. Phew...

The location of the mountain

I was a bit shocked at the first time, because I did not even imagine that the fish farm would be this far from the city. Even I got a bit car-sickness. But then I was glad after being welcomed warmly by the fish farm owners, Uncle and Aunty Lin. They have four handsome sons named Kevin, Tony, David and Alvin. They were very busy on the time I arrived, because it was the Chinese New Year holiday period. So many customers came to eat the famous dishes of the Chienhu Chuanchi Ecological Farm's specialty fishes, which are sturgeon, paddlefish and rainbow trout. Chienhu Chuanchi was the very first farm that introduce sturgeon fish in Taiwan, so that's why this farm is very famous among Taiwanese. So here some photos of the Chienhu Chuanchi Ecological Farm :

                                                         

The farm signage

The indoor ponds

In front of the indoor ponds area

Fishes 'Encyclopedia' of the Farm

Outdoor fish pond. They keep the gigantic mothers of the sturgeon here

The dorm, or sleeping room, as they call it

Entrance gate

Welcome to Chienhu Chuanchi Tourism Fish Farm! :)

The left building is the coffee shop, and the big building in the right is the restaurant

Outdoor Restaurant

Sometimes in the hot days, people will choose to eat outside, while listening to the music of the nature 

The beautiful fish pond next to the restaurant

Pellets Vending Machine

You can put a 10 NTD coin to get the pellets for the beautiful fishes in the pond

The river next to the farm. It was once beautiful, Uncle said. But the 2012 typhoon messed it up

One beautiful side of the farm

Outdoor fish pond with an old nice hut next to it

The upside-view of the outdoor pond

When I arrived in the farm, there was one other Indonesian exchange participant from University of Brawijaya, Malang, East Java. Her name is Puspita. I shared the room with her, and she helped me to adapt here.

On my first week of working, I worked in the restaurant, serving food for customers. It is exciting, because I learned a bit of Chinese sentences, such as 'Bu hao yi shi' that means excuse me, and 'Dui bu qi, wo bu hui jiang zhong wen' that means I'm sorry, I cannot understand Chinese. 

Actually I have learned Chinese from junior high school, but only a little. So I know how to read the hanyu pinyin (the latin version of the Chinese words) and some short phrase, but it seems useless here. Taiwanese speaks many languages, not only Chinese but also Hakka, and Taiwanese language itself. 

Then I learned to memorize the name of each dishes, because I have to serve that food to the customers by saying the name of the food. Later I will post some photos of the food.

In weekend, many part timers work in the restaurant, and they can speak English. Especially one girl named Eva, her English is very good. Beside her fluently, I feel comforted talking to her because she is a simple, smart, vocal and nice girl. I knew we could get along well. The other part timers are high school students and some grandmas. The boys are Su Yi Tong, Tony and Wayne - Eva's cousins, and Wey Chan. There are three grandmas, also work as part timers here.

So, happy working! :)