Beautiful Rice Land “Above the Pond”

What a day, I walked for many hours, and also took the local train and long-distance bus to capture beautiful natural farm views.

It took me about thirty minutes from Taichung to arrive in Chishang, which means “above pond” linguistically. The global strangers in Taitung recommended this township to me because of its beautiful farmland and amazing landscapes attracting global tourists to visit every year.

I walked through the quiet town center and headed towards the beautiful pond across the white bridge. A few people stood at the bridge to watch the fish jumping around. One person was on the waterfront to do fishing. I passed the bridge and sat at the lovely pavilion to take a break. The pond is charming; the clouds float around the remote mountains; the post-card-like view is truly amazing.

Then I followed the global strangers' roadside guide, heading towards the rice farmland, going to “Brown Road,” on which you could capture the great landscape of nature. Most people rent an electric cycle to pass through. I decided to walk for a couple of hours and enjoy the scenery step by step, every step counts, doesn’t it?

The sun was shining brilliantly but not so burning before noontime. I was the only tourist who walked on the curative wooden lane and walked through many small wooden bridges for quite a while. The green mountains extended into the remote horizon, the blue sky looked clear with sunshine, the rice plantation grew strongly and a clean stream flew forward smoothly.

To go further on the Brown Road, tourists passed through the paradise road to reach a few scenery vista points. People took photos at the “Frame” tourist spot; sipping a cup of tea and heading to other viewpoints. they usually rent two-person, four-person, or six-person electric cycles to run through the different sceneries.

It’s about noon time, I started walking back and felt a bit burning hot. I went to a nearby village to buy a drink. Unfortunately, there were not many shops around. One shop owner, who provided motorcycle rental services, was very nice, as he brought me a water bottle from his shop. I truly appreciated it as I had to go another one or two hours to return to downtown.

On the way back, I also passed through a beautiful zen garden with colorful flower blossoms, an elegant pavilion, and some stone-decorated scenes. It was so quiet inside. Besides me, birds were the only visitors there, they flew around; communicated with each other, searched for food, and sang charming songs.

It took me quite a while to go back to the town center. I also visited the museum, which introduced the local rice agricultural industry. Chishang has its brand name rice being distributed to the entire Taiwan and perhaps Asia. Therefore, they opened their farmland to create brand effects. If you have a meal at the restaurant inside the museum, the rice is free, the only requirement is that you shouldn't waste any of the food. 

Is this visitor-friendly rice farmland one of the most beautiful agricultural fields in Taiwan? I always imagine the blossom fruit gardens with all sorts of juicy fruits growing abundantly. In Chishang, rice is more expensive than watermelons and many other fruits. So these rice farm landscapes also rejuvenate our energy as we eat rice in Asia every day. Actually, I took the local train very frequently recently. Out of the window, I often saw beautiful farmland and clear mother lakes lots of times. Chishang was just a representative area for us to immerse into nature and appreciate great landscapes.

Then, I took the long-distance bus from Chishang township back to Taitung. So I could capture the beautiful mountain scenery and peer through quite a few villages or towns hidden in the mountain hills or valleys-deep. There were quite a few roads' names related to deer, but I didn’t see any deer coming along the road, I guess there were many wild deers a long time ago, the global strangers told me there were animal farms nearby that area, but the public transportation couldn’t reach there yet.

What a day, I walked for many hours, and also took the local train and long-distance bus to capture beautiful natural farm views. The train was much faster and more cost-effective. The bus ran up and down hills, and I safely returned to the Taitung city center, leaving enriched memories about the beautiful rice farmland and fantastic Mountain View.

Posted in: Global Trips