I have a friend in Taiwan, Huang, who's a primary school teacher and very knowledgeable in many things about the nature. He used to volunteer at the National Taiwan University Highland Experimental Farm which is located over 2000m up in the mountains in Taiwan. One weekend he took us on a visit up the mountains and dropped by the experimental farm.
The National Taiwan University (NTU) is Taiwan's top University and is rich in resources including land. Huang said many decades ago, NTU didn't realise they had nearly 11km2 of land high up in the mountain that was just sitting there not doing anything. Then someone suggested why not make use of it for educational and experimental purposes, afterall that's what universities do. Honestly, that wasn't a bad idea as the land is spread across three areas and the alttitude ranges from 900m to 2700m. Due to the vast mountain ranges that the farm covers, there are three types of climate from low to high elevation, which includes sub-tropical climate, temperate climate and subarctic climate, (source) that's perfect to experiment growing and cultivating different things.
That weekend, we went to the largest area, the Mei-Feng headquarter. The total area here is 6.2km2 and sits 1700km to 2700km above sea level.
Huang took us around all the different parts of the farm, including some that many visitors probably wouldn't go because there doesn't seem to be a lot to see. That's the big advantage of having our own personal tour guide. These green houses have a lot of cactus and succulent plants, but I can't remember why I didn't take any photos... maybe I was too busy admiring them!
The area here was so big, there wasn't a need to cram a lot of things around. These simple plantations dotted around, and a few tables and benches was just enough to remind one of being surrounded by nature.
I don't know what this tree is called, I'm pretty sure Huang told me the name, but honestly I can't remember to save my life. The reason he pointed it out to us was because of the unusual shape of the leaves. They look like a dress, the sleeves at the top, and the bottom half is the dress. How amazing nature is!
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This is another bigger greenhouse and more popular with visitors as it was well signposted. They had lots of flowers, herbs and plants here, but I didn't know 99% of them. One thing I made sure I captured, was English Holly, but to be honest, I still don't know which of those plants is the holly!!!
If you've ever been to the Eden Project in UK or the Cloud Forest in Singapore, or any touristy greenhouse project, you'd notice it is very different here. This whole place is quite raw and rustic. No mesmerising displays and dramatic installations, just a few simple benches dotted around around the path for visitors to sit and relax.
One great tip I learned that day, which is totally unrelated to nature, was a really cool way to take selfies. I noticed a friend who went with us that day, stood behind some plants and then extended her arm and mobile phone in front of the plant when taking selfies. She used the plants as a frame for the image adding another layer to it. I thought that's a great idea so tried it out myself. Ok, the effect was so so, as it was my first attempt and no where as good as her's, but you get the idea 😅
Before we left, I bought some produce from the farm. It was quite late in the day and there wasn't much left. I rememberrthe cherry tomatoes were really nice. I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, especially when eaten raw, but Taiwan has some really nice cherry tomato varieties.
By the way, I nearly forgot. The experimental farm isn't just all about plants and 'boring' stuff. There was some fun stuff as well. This maze is my favourite part out of the whole trip. I haven't been to such a tall maze before, and it took me over five minutes to get out on the first attempt!!!
You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below
