The last day of BACT~

2013.7.20

That was the last day of BACT Program. We had to deliver our final presentation. Actually, we were still a bit nervous although we had prepared well. So our group decided to improve our presentation in the last morning before presentation. We rehearsed for twice and add some more slides of the titbits. After that, it was already 12.00. In order to get to the conference room on time, our group members had lunch together on NTU campus. It's our first time to have meal in student cafe of NTU. That was nice. 

We were continuing to improve our presentation.

When everyone arrive there, we had a quiz first. Jack is so kind that most of the questions were pretty easy. After quiz, it was presentation time. We were the second group. Actually, I was confident about our presentation, as we worked hard during the whole preparing process. Although we had some problems according to Dr. Lin, I think we did a good job. 

After class, we had farewell banquet in an Italy buffet restaurant. The pasta and desserts there were really tasty. I also love the fruit they provided, such as guava and pineapple. 

After dinner, we chatted and took pictures in that restaurant. It's always hard to say goodbye. It was sad because it is difficult for some of us to see each other again. I miss everyone right now, especially Jack, all the students and volunteers. In Taiwan, we spent almost all time staying together. 

Although we were sad, we still need to go back. I believe it's not hard to see each other again. I hope to see everyone some day. 

Last photo with NTU

Taipei City Zoo

2013.07.19

We visited Taipei City Zoo in the morning. We are so lucky that we can go into some labs. According to the guide, those rooms are only for education and research. We visited two rooms with animals require particular conditions. There were some snakes inside the rooms. So Baker stayed away from us. He just waited for us outside the building. Then we visited some other places that do not open to the public. They were all amazing! 

Taipei City Zoo

 Education and research area

Education and research area

After the guide trip, we were set free. Some of us would like to visit the zoo, but I choose to go back with Steven and Kevin, as it was really hot and there was no air-conditioner in the only restaurant in Taipei City Zoo. We went back first to finish the rest part of our project. 

We went to the lab to get our soil measured. We got the distribution of soil moisture of our sites in Siyou Experimental Forest. We were not sure about if the distribution is normal or not. So we met Dr. Cheng. Dr. Cheng said that our data is correct, and he also explained the reason for us. 

 Recording data

Measuring soil moisture

I had dinner with Judy, Jiling and Judy's boss. We are all the members of UBC. It was regret that Jessica left early. We had Thailand food for dinner. I love that meal. We chatted for a long time after lunch. That was really a nice night.

Back to Taipei

2013.07.17

Finally, we left Sitou Experimental Forest to Taipei City. I was exciting because Taipei is much better than Sitou. We can only stay in our building in Sitou. Besides, all the meals were almost the same.

We visited the Earthquake Museum of Taiwan in the morning. I have never suffered from an earthquake, and I know little about earthquake. I learnt a lot from the guide. The guide showed us some models of buildings. We compared many different designs of building. Triangle can make buildings be more stable when suffering from earthquake. We also had the chance to experience an earthquake. During earthquakes, I cannot stand still, and all things fell down. The most dangerous thing is that electronic may result in exploration and big fires. After experiencing an earthquake, we watched a 3D movie about 9.21 earthquake in Taiwan. The roads and bridges were blocked by fallen stuff. That would be terrible, as roads and bridges are pretty important for transportation. 

Watching 3D movie about 9.21 earthquake.

After lunch, we went to Agricultural Research Institute. We had a lecture there. That is interesting. Then we visited the building. Afterwards, we went to a soil museum. When we got out. It rained heavily. After 20 minutes, it still rained heavily. Jack ran to our bus to get several umbrellas. I shared umbrella with 2 other students. There were some ponds on the ground. So it was a little bit hard for us to walk. The bus was close to us, so I just got my shoes wet. 

Farmland of Agricultural Research Institute

Soil Museum

It took us three hours for us to get back to Taipei City. I had dinner in DinTaiFung again. The streamed buns there were really nice.

On the way back to Taipei

Seedling Transplant

2013.07.18

It was an exciting day. We spent our morning to experience rice harvesting and seedling transplanting. I was born in a city of fish and rice, but I have never experienced or even seen seedling transplanting. So it was really exciting to have a chance to transplant rice seedlings. Everyone needs to finish three to five lines, and three to five seedlings should be put into one spot. At the beginning, it was hard for me to transplant seedlings. After practicing for a while, I was able to do it quickly. However, sometimes, it was hard to transplant, as there was too much water in the farm, and seedlings would not stand still. I think that I finished most of my part well. When we get out from the farm, our legs and arms were covered by muddy. There was muddy inside my nails. It is hard to wash away the muddy inside nails. We all looked funny, and we took some funny pictures with muddy. Generally, it was pretty interesting. 

Jiling and me

After that, I looked around the NTU souvenir store with my project group member. We would like to buy NTU T-shirts. However, it was a little bit regret that the size does not fit me. Luckily, I got a NTUF T-shirt from Judy. That is really nice. 

During lunch time, we tried three different types of rices. I love the purple one most. It tastes a bit sweet, and it smells good. All the rice were a bit hard, as volunteers put too little water when cooking. I still love them. After lunch, we also got some desserts. It is a kind of local Taiwanese dessert. That was nice. 

In the afternoon, we watched two short videos about agriculture in Taiwan. We watched many videos during the whole program. I think short ones could be better, as long videos sometimes make me feel sleepy. 

After two short videos, we continued to do our project. In the morning, we do soil experiment in the lab with Judy's help. After videos, we continued to finish our PowerPoint. It was really nice to work with my group, as all our members are hard-working.

BACT Final Project

2013.07.14

Suli typhoon passed away in that morning. So we started to do field research.

In the morning, we walked around Sitou Experimental Forest. Sitou Experimental Forest has been modified. It is not a natural forest, but it is still beautiful. Our terminal station is sky walk. The slope of the way to sky walk is really steep, and it took me much energy to get to sky walk. Actually, I am afraid of heights. So I just walked fast through the walkways. I love sky walk, as I can touch the branches of trees see far.

 I stand in the walkway and looked down. 

It is a little bit scary for me as I am afraid of height. I felt dizzy when I look down. 

The long walkway.

Then we went back. On the way back, we walked around streams and riparian areas. We compared all of the streams along that road to get the best one for experiment. Unlucky, they are all not good enough. We did not get all the equipment until the night. So we just talked about our project in the afternoon. We got a lot of problems at the beginning. All of our group members worked hard. Finally we finish the outline of our project. After finishing outline, we went out again to find nice experimental areas. We chose the area near bamboo house. 

2013.07.15

We still worked on our project in that day. We got the equipment, so we went out to conduct experiment. That day is the second last day for the project. We were nervous because there are only two days left, while we still have many problems about our project.

In the afternoon, after the rain stop, we went to the area that we choose. We looked around the area between two streams, and try to get the best design of field experiment. Afterwards, we did plant identification. We tried to recognize all the plants, which is helpful for observing plant distribution.

Then two of our members went to Shenmuxi to see if that area is better or not. Judy recommended Shenmuxi to us. Shenmuxi is the source of that river, and the area has not been modified. Unlucky, that area is not good enough. The width of forest between two streams is less than 30 meters.

Field experiment

I watched a famous TV drama producted by Mainland China in the evening. Young people in Mainland China watch many Taiwanese dramas and movies. It is a little bit exciting that Taiwanese like Chinese drama.

后宫甄嬛传

2013.07.16

It was our last day in Sitou Experimental Forest. We got up early to do field experiment. One of the reasons is that we did not have much time. Another reason is that we had to measure all the factors before raining. After raining, factors will change a lot. Sitou has a lot of rain in the afternoon, so we need to finish it in the morning.

 Getting soils

 Getting plants

 Measuring air temperature, soil temperature and relative humidity

Finding the site 

We got almost all the data in the morning. We need oven to measure soil moisture, but we do not have oven. So we just took some soil of all sites back. We planned to measure soil moisture after going back to NTU.

We finish field experiment in the morning. In the afternoon, we began to deal with the data and do plant identification.

Xitou & Suli typhoon

2013.07.12

We had a guide trip in Phoenix Tea Garden. It is pity that we missed the blossom season of Phoenix Tea Garden. According to the guide, the blossom season is February. Camellia and cherry blossom are dominate species. We saw camellia there. There was only one camellia tree with flower. 

I love the lecture about arts of brewing tea. My family like drinking tea, and we usually drink tea in the afternoon. So I am quite familiar with brewing tea. I brewed tea for my group. I enjoy brewing tea more than drinking tea. That is because I always feel thirst when I drink tea.

 Jessica and Ruby

Oolong tea

We went to bamboola Taiwan in the afternoon. I think it was a little bit boring. 

The works made by the owner of Bamboola Taiwan are amazing.

The owner of bamboola Taiwan was showing us his works.

We lived in Xitou that night. According to Jack, typhoon may result in heavy rain and strong wind in Xitou. Someone were exciting, as they never see typhoon before. 

2013.07.13

It was a free day. We can only stay in the building because of Suli typhoon. A tree fell down and blocked the way. I got up late and spent the whole morning chatting with others. We only had fried noodle for lunch due to Suli typhoon. 

We started our project in the afternoon. Rain stopped at 4.00. I looked around with Steven after dinner. There were branches and leaves everywhere on the floor. The stream discharge was very high. There was water in the ground. 

 Branches on the ground.

 Fallen tree

 High discharge of streams.

 High discharge.

Water on the ground.

Shueili

2013.07.10

The meals in Shueili were very nice. They provided western dishes. That was nice because I like western breakfast. 

After breakfast, we started to make DIY tissue boxes. The first step is polishing wooden materials. We need to polish every side of chips. That made me feel very tired. After polishing, we need to put chips together with glue. I did not use glue cause I would like to separate the tissue box later. Besides, I think the original color of wood is beautiful, so paint is not necessary. When others were coating, I was moving around to watch the plants there. Another reason for me to move is that there were too many mosquitoes. Mosquitoes always make me crazy. Kim said that I have the most sweet blood. Dr. Zhuang taught me another way to coat the tissue box. I used vaseline to coat my tissue box. 

 We were making tissue boxes.

We were polishing.

My tissue box. It looks nice without paint. The original color of wood is beautiful.

After everyone finish the tissue box, we visited the wood factory. That is a small factory. I have visited a Canadian forestry factory. That is quite different from the one in Shueili. Basically, The forestry factory in Canada use machines to do most work. 

 Cutting machine.

The machine was cutting trees.

The staff was polishing the knife.

We visited the Shueili Wood Utilization Center. I love the works made of moso bamboo. The designer joined bamboo together. The trace of join looks like unique design. That is really beautiful.

A book shelf made of moso bamboo

Dr. Zhuang was introducing the works in Shueili Wood Utilization Center.

2013.07.11

We spent almost the whole day in Endemic Specimen Research Institute. We had a lecture about the specimen there. I love the guide trip to Wildlife and Rescue Center. There is a cute owl in the office. The researchers are doing research on it. Usually owl sleep in the daytime, but the owl did not sleep when we were there. The guide said that there were too many people in front of it, it felt nervous and would not fall sleep. We also visited some other disabled wildlife there. 

 The cute owl

It is a blind eagle adopt by Wildlife and Rescue Center.

I like the lecture about bats in Taiwan. Dr. Zheng introduced many endemic bat species in Taiwan. The diversity in Taiwan is quite high. I love bats, and I kept a bat as pet when I was very young. That was exciting, as it was a really unique pet.

We visited Mingxin Academy in that afternoon. Academy in Mainland China is for reading, which is different from the academy in Taiwan. To my surprise, there is a temple in Mingxin Academy. That is quite new to me, as we do not put temple together with academy. Temple and academy in Mainland China are different. 

Mingxin Academy

We lived in Phoenix Tea Garden that night. The night in Phoenix Tea Garden is very beautiful.

The view in front of our room.

In order to get to Xitou early, the lecture about tea was brought forward to that night. Most of the lecture is about the history of Taiwan tea. I am more interested in how to make tea. We tried five tea, including oolong tea, oriental beauty, dongding oolong tea and two types of black tea. They are all nice, but too much tea made it hard for me to fall sleep.

 Oolong tea

Oolong tea

Saideke & Chunyang Farm

It was an exciting day. I got up early to watch sunrise with Richard, Benjamin, Randy and Ruby. However, we did not get to a good place. There were many trees blocking the sight. I still felt exciting, as the quiet morning in Meifeng Farm is really nice. We walked around the farm, did morning exercises, breathed fresh air and took pictures. We really enjoyed the nice morning in Meifeng Farm.

 Sunrise Group

Day breaks~ 

Although we didi not see the sunrise, we were still exciting.

Richard and me

We learnt a lot about Saideke, including a little history, traditional dress and hunting. We watched a video about Saideke first. This nation has been controlled by Japanese. Japanese cut down trees in their area, and enslave them. Finally, Saideke people rose up against Japanese! 
After the video, two Saideke people introduced traditional clothes to us. To my surprise, according to the Saideke people, the most simplest one is worth TND 10000. 

Saideke clothes

Then we went outside to see some models of hunting traps. Saideke people use different traps to hunt different animals. Flexible stems are important for hunting animals. The Saideke people said they hunt for different kinds of animals, such as mice, wild boar and birds. 

 The Sadeke people was introducing how to use that traps.

Trap for hunting birds.

After hunting practice, we learnt to make Mantou. We used the spinaches and beetroot we pushed yesterday. We use the spinach juice and beetroot juice to make paste. I made beetroot Mantou with Steven, Kevin, YiHsin, Vico and Ruby. We ate the Mantou for dinner. They are really nice!!!

 We were making Mantou

Beetroot Mantou

In the afternoon, we went to Chunyang Farm to pick tomato. We spent one hour to get to Chunyang Farm, but we can only pick two tomato. That was a little bit sad. The tomato have not mature yet, so we cannot pick too many tomato. We also had a guide trip in Chunyang Farm. It is dominated by Chinese silvergrass. There are some unique species there. For example, there is a species that can indicate earthquake. The guide said if there are kink marks on leaves, earthquake may come in that year.

 Seek for tomato

It is big

The plant that can indicate earthquake.

We headed to Shueili at 5.00. We lived in a near a wood factory. After dinner, I saw sunset with my roommate. Then we learnt to make Luban lock. That is exciting.

Luban Lock