The Sanyi Wood Carving Festival, 24 August

My dad is off work this afternoon because he wants to take us to visit Sanyi 三義as it is venue of the annual Sanyi Wood Carving Festival from19 to 27 Aug. Sanyi is in Miaoli Country, about 40 minutes from Taichung city and is Taiwan's wood carving capital and also home to master craftspeople. We visited wood sculpture museum and saw many great wood sculptures. I was impressed by one particular piece of a bee with water lily leaves; it looked so like life. I was also very interested to understand and learn from the worldwide culture of wood sculpture. Also we saw a wood sculptor at his artwork; I could hear the sound that the tools made when he was carving wood.

Afterwards we visited a street where different styles of wood sculpture were for sale and we bought cheese tofu and meat cake, as it is local food.

Later we visited Shengsing Train Station 勝興車站. It is the highest train station in western Taiwan. We visited the remains Long Teng Bridge 龍藤斷橋. This iron bridge was built after the disastrous Taichung earthquake in 1935. The remains of the original brick-built bridge can be seen from the east of the iron bridge. It is the most famous attraction on the old Mountain Line.

Then we drove back to Shengsing area to eat local food. The restaurant is very traditional; I remembered my childhood life. The menu card is very special; it was made from bamboo and did not state the prices. They gave us free plum wine, which tasted very good and made me feel relaxed. The meal which was of local food was also very good.