Monday, March 12, 2007

Tungshih Forest Park



On Saturday the Bushman, his wife-to-be, and my family and I headed up to Tungshih Forest Park, north of the city of Tungshih in Taichung county. The made-in-Leningrad weather we've been having lately refused to go away, but at least it didn't rain.

The park itself has some nice hiking trails, an excellent play area for the kids, and a few photogenic spots. But at the price -- $250 for adults, $200 for kids -- it is definitely not worth it. There are plenty of hiking trails in the area where the kids can have fun and the adults enjoy themselves for nothing at all.
































Lunch. The food was absolute dreck. This is definitely BYOB: Bring Your Own Barbecue.






The bees were busy...


....but the honey salesman was not.


There was a small farm implements "museum."


An important farm implement of the old pioneers was karaoke. After a hard day tilling the soil and fighting off aborigines, they could return home to drink and sing.










There were several experiments going on.








What would Taiwan be without the kitsch dinosaurs? Naturally, with cheerful disregard for copyrights, it is called" Jurassic Park."


A temple built next to a natural spring.


You can't ever have too many concrete dinosaurs.


The children's play area.


The forest trails are meh but the play equipment is excellent.


I took a few shots on the way home, as always.






A funeral home.






Route 129 passes through Tungshih and Hsinshe, where they grow mushrooms.


Leaving Tungshih the way we found it.








Looking down on the bridge we just crossed.












4 comments:

Anonymous said...

$250 is a pretty steep price. Who is responsible for managing the area?

Michael Turton said...

That's the funny thing -- it's in Taichung county, but I could have sworn that it is a project of the Changhua Agricultural Cooperative. So didn't write that in the blog, because it didn't seem right.

Sorry we missed you on Saturday. We got up at 5, it was drizzling. So we didn't go, figuring it would be another Soviet day. It cleared by 7 or so. *sgh*. Next time...

Michael

Anonymous said...

Copyright doesn't apply to titles like "Jurassic Park". I think you meant trademark.

Anonymous said...

We stayed in one of the cabins back in '01. In the evening, the entire cabin was overrun by thousands of black ants, covering the floor and climbing up everything.

Management was kind enough to give us a can of Raid.

Don't dismiss those cement dinosaurs, though. They can be dangerous when protecting their eggs. :-)