1/10 Friday
We stopped by a greenhouse of sorts
that had a lot of plants on sale among other products such as coffee and
whiskey. One of the notable attractions that was there was the
We stayed at Toucheng Leisure Farm
on Friday night, which was kind of hidden away in the mountains. It ran on a
“DIY” mindset which meant the guests did some of the work themselves. What this
entailed was: a get your own dessert station, make your own bowl of noodles
station, and cleaning up your dishes after every meal. We took a short tour of
the surrounding area, saw animals, and learned about plants. One of the
activities the guide had planned for us involved painting with the leaves we
found along our walk on either bags or t-shirts. He said something deep that
kind of struck a chord with me— “Time makes it beautiful.” In short, I have not
done this much arts and crafts in years—which makes me realize that I need to
take a step back to incorporate more time to undertaking such hobbies.
Saturday was a quick brewery tour
at Kavlan, the single malt whiskey company. I didn’t realize that there were 8+
steps in the brewing process. I was aware of the fermentation process but the
finer details were lost upon me.
Going in between each city, it was
just interesting to see how they differed from Taipei. The east coast cities
had their industries more centered the seafood and rice industry which resulted
in a different city layout than what you would find in Taipei. Taipei is a more
typical metropolitan type of city that you would expect. With a more
mountainous geography and along the coastline, the towns were not as dense. Buildings
were laid out with more space in between them, and depending on the town you’d
pass by, were surrounded by rice paddy fields.
Observations:
A few
of us had decided to grab fast food here, so we have been to both Mos Burger
and Burger King, both of which are delicious. At Mos Burger, I was definitely
surprised that the default side for a combo meal meant chicken nuggets, not French
fries, which you had to ask for. I am not totally quite sure why that is but it
is a minor pique of interest.
In
general to better illustrate the observation I had, I am going to use one of
Hofestede’s cultural dimensions, in this case gauging a country’s collectivist
vs individualistic nature. Hofestede also evaluates a country’s culture on a
scale of other dimensions such as uncertainty avoidance, feminist/ masculine
culture, level of context, and power distance.
Taiwan
is a very collectivist country, not only evidenced by other observations
regarding the emphasis on filial piety, but also subtly evidenced by something
as partially trivial as the fast food menu. In the U.S., Burger King offers different
types of burgers, sides, desserts, and drinks more catered for individualized customization.
However here there was a prominent selection of family style group meals. In
the U.S. this is only seen in fast-food chains such as Popeyes and KFC. In Mos
Burger and Burker King there were the concept of shared meals and group meals,
which highlights the cultural dimension of collectivism.
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