Small Town Travels-Jiji
Michella Jade Weng, Presenter:
Hi, I��m Michella! And this is my friend...
Michael Turton, American Expat:
Michael from Chang Gung University in Linkou, Taiwan.
Today we��re in beautiful Jiji, a small town top
ten destination in Nantou, Taiwan.
A place
where Chinese and indigenous Taiwanese people conducted
trade with each other in the 18th century, Jiji
became a booming town after railroads and a train
station was constructed during the Japanese occupation.
These days it��s a quiet little area great for a
cycling tour.
Michella
Jade Weng, Presenter:
Here comes the train!
From
the train station to the edge of the green tunnel,
it��s about a 7km ride and there are several attractions
along the way. This is a military history park with
real (but retired) tanks and fighter jets from the
US. And this is a traditional Chinese wood-fired
snake kiln built more than half a century ago, and
it��s still in operation.
And if
you like bananas, you��ll love what the locals call
��mountain bananas�� here.
Mountain
bananas are sweeter. Because they��re grown in the
mountains and there��s less water in the soil here,
they grow slower.
Of course
you can eat it raw, but there��s nothing special
about that, so it��s also eaten cooked here.
Michael
Turton, American Expat:
You��ve probably heard of fried bananas. But what
about fried banana peel? Or banana fried rice?
Michael
Turton, American Expat:
The bananas are very chewy and sweet, like little
bombs of sweetness, boom! going off in your mouth.
Michael
Turton, American Expat:
Jiji��s wonderful. Great energy, yet really relaxed.
Nantou - the mountains are beautiful, the people
are really friendly. And the fruit - excellent.
The bananas we had yesterday were very special.
And if you look here, how often can you find such
a long, beautiful green tunnel in Taiwan? The government��s
obviously done a great job in taking care of this.
I��ve been up here several times by myself on my
bike just because I like it so much coming through
this area.
