destination: yi lan (11/2009)

We had this trip planned weeks ahead of the 3 typhoons that this tiny island had been on the lookout for, but that never came. However, we did delay the actual trip by a week because the last typhoon dumped its share of rainfall to the place we were headed for: Shangrila Leisure Farming in Yi Lan. Yes, you read it right -- FARMING -- except that I think they left out the word RESORT when they translated it into English.

Yi Lan -- is on the Northeastern part of Taiwan, about an hour plus drive from Taipei. That's all I know about this area (thanks to Wikipedia) even though I know I've been here before.

I was looking forward to this weekend, even if it meant waking up earlier than I would on weekdays. But then again, my circumstances don't always allow for leisure trips, so, I'm not really complaining. This is another chance to flex my fingers and go trigger happy with my camera. How can I complain?

Our guide for the road trip: a manual GPS. How does that work you ask? A manual GPS is a homo sapiens species deciphering what is the ancestor of the modern-day talking GPS -- a printed map. It was a fun road trip. Nothing beats the guessing which way to turn, and actually turning the wrong way, and having to go back to where we took the wrong way and taking the other way... and actually asking roadside people. It's old school. And old school has its moments.

At the resort, they had activities prepared for guests young and old:
1. DIY glutinous rice balls -- Glutinous rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to make a huge lump of glutinous rice from which we formed balls and then cooked in boiling water with sugar and served hot. Sounds yummy. (Source: Wikipedia)

2. Sky lanterns - airborne paper lanterns constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, containing a small candle or fuel cell composed of waxy flammable material. When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus lowering its density causing the lantern to rise into the air. The sky lantern is only airborne for as long as the flame stays alight, after which the lantern floats back to the ground. (Source: Wikipedia)

3. Spinning top - unleash your rope-wrapping and top-throwing skills and whipping anybody that gets within range... ... ... everybody out of the way!

4. Duckling race - quite self-explanatory I presume...

5. Daytime leisure farm tour

As a whole, the farming resort was fun. I could wish I had more subjects other than people to take pictures of, and I do. I'm itching to go for another road trip. [itch] [itch]