What you can't see:
Some special features are relatively easy to discover; others can't be seen with the eye. Take for example an historic old neighborhood. If you just use your eyes, it's just one dilapidated building after another. But that's not as good as seeing the architecture of Taipei City with all its strange and unusual variations, with each building being different.
Every location has its special foods. Ilan has the "four treasures": duck feet, gall and liver, golden jujube cakes, and bean jelly. Why are these all pickled foods? That's because of her history and communications. In the past, except for sea routes, Ilan's only link with the outside was an old dirt track, so it wasn't easy to get around. The best foods had to be able to stand extended journeys without spoiling, so it was best to pickle them first. The "iron eggs" of Tamsui have to be soaked until they are shrunken and hard, while Hsinchu meatballs are made up of the odds and ends of many types of meat. These things all reveal the sparing, frugal lifestyle that took shape under the pioneering character of the early residents of Taiwan.
Often office worker types will, as soon as the get to the tour stop, either start singing karaoke or play cards all night, so the next day they spend snoring away. I don't understand why they go through all the effort of coming so far just to play cards. Often older tour guides say that travelers need education. I think that most of the people on the bus are probably older than me, so I can only express my feelings and share with them. I figure if I feel moved by something, then I should be able to move others!
Take for example the hanging banyan trees in Kenting National Park. The roots of one tree hang down from the rock walls, and are very long. They have a history hundreds of years long. Ever since the first time I went there as a middle school student, I've had my picture taken with that tree. Year after year, as I've grown up, the banyan stands by my side in confirmation. In the future I want to take my children there to take their photos. It's like we have an old friend in Kenting National Park. And when the memories take root, Kenting will no longer be just a tourist attraction to my family.
What kind of place would you go back to?
I often wonder what kind of place would attract people who've already been there to go back again? If you know a little bit more about a place, if you have a friend there, then besides appreciating the beauty, you can also have some interaction with the people, affairs, and things of that place, and bring a little of that sentiment back home.
Taking a tour group to Penghu, I like bringing up the shops called "Island People Complex" and "Penghu Story Wife." The owners of the shops are all natives of Penghu who love their home and returned to start businesses. If you want to talk about the special characteristics of a place, of course the scenery counts, and so do the special foods, but people should count even more. This is because you can only see the real ambience of a place through its people. After we meet these residents, we are even more willing to pay a return visit. And I share this attitude with my tour group members.
I remember one tour group to Tungpu. One girl lived right next door in Shuili, and I asked why she had never been to Tungpu before. She loudly responded, "not only haven't I been here before, I hadn't even heard of this place!"
I was really surprised. How is it that we get so much education and learn so many things, but we don't specially learn about or see the place we are born and raised. I include myself here. I never understood why Taiwanese songs were so popular. I rarely heard anyone use Taiwanese to talk around me. And Taiping Mountain and Tsaoling aren't very far from Taipei, yet in our schoolbooks they are as remote as San Francisco or Tokyo.
I'm very happy that my work forced me to get to know Taiwan, and to introduce Taiwan to others. But I often wonder, is it only tour guides who should get to know Taiwan?
[Picture Caption]
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"A guide isn't a giving a classroom lecture. You have to attract and keep the interest of the tour group. "Guide Cheng Shu likes to start off with things familiar from daily life as a way to get into the special features of Taiwan's sights.
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Though Taiwan is small, it is rich in sights. One of the most famous sights of Yehliu is the "Queen's Head" carved out by wind erosion. (photo by ChengYuan-ching)
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Without any special classes or any examination, the depth of a tour leader depends entirely on what each learns from the other and what each learns on his or her own.
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Passengers usually go to sleep as soon as they get on the freeway. How would they know that along the road are ten great manmade "wonders of the north-south highway."