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Foreign travelers recount experiences
in Taiwan
By Lee I-Chia / Staff Reporter
Keir Schone of Canada, one of the
four winners of a National Youth Commission-sponsored travel program, shares
stories about his experiences traveling around Taiwan in Taipei on Friday.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Four winners of a National Youth
Commission-sponsored travel program gathered in Taipei on Friday and shared
stories about their travel experiences in Taiwan.
The program, named “The Youth Trekker Wanted,” was designed to encourage young
people (15 to 30 years of age) from other countries to get to know Taiwan and
help promote the nation by sharing their travel experiences.
By proposing their ideal Taiwan itinerary of at least 10 days, 20 winners
received US$2,000 to US$3,000 to fund their creative journey. The third annual
program began in March.
“I am sure that Taiwan has the friendliest people in the world,” said Keir
Schone, a 30-year-old elementary school teacher from Canada.
Having traveled in many -countries, he said Taiwan is by far the friendliest
that he had visited.
“Every time I meet a problem, people are always willing to help” he added,
saying that isn’t the case in every country.
His journey in Taiwan began in Kenting on the southern coast, where he went
diving and found himself face to face with a clown fish. He sang karaoke and
drank beer with Taiwanese all night long, got sea sick on a small boat to Green
Island and even learned martial arts in Taipei
Schone said he would definitely return to Taitung County on his next trip
because the waves near Sansiantai (三仙台) were great for surfing, even better than
the ones he saw in Bali, Indonesia.
Yoshikawa Yukari, a nearly 30-year-old white-collar worker from Japan, recounted
how she visited Taiwan for the eighth time this year. The theme of her journey
on this occasion mainly focused on learning more about Aboriginal culture.
She held out a handmade traditional necklace, a gift from an elderly woman of
the Paiwan tribe. She visited Wulai District (烏來) in New Taipei City (新北市),
where she saw people wearing brimmed straw hats while bathing in natural hot
springs in the rain and was invited to sit inside the captain’s cabin on a boat
trip from Orchid Island to Green Island.
When asked if she was interested in Taiwan’s entertainment scene, Yukari said
she had watched the movie Cape No. 7 (海角七號), a romance that generated the
highest box office returns in the history of Taiwanese cinema, and would like to
visit some of the places in the movie on her next visit.
Yukari said she liked -traveling in Taiwan because people are very kind, the
food is delicious and it is cheaper than traveling at home in Japan.
She also said she would definitely encourage friends to visit the many
interesting places outside Taipei City.
Meanwhile, participants from another NYC-sponsored program titled “Youth Travel
in Taiwan” designed to encourage the young people of Taiwan to rediscover their
homeland, were also present at the event to share their own travel stories,
including visiting fishing villages by bicycle, visiting elderly people trained
in traditional arts and crafts, and participating in a voluntary group to help
remodel rundown homes.
More stories can be found at the Web sites youthtravel.tw/youthtrekker and
youthtravel.tw/taiwantrekker.
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