-KKDAY CONTEST TRAVEL PLAN-

[Discovering northern Taiwan traditional towns!] [探訪北臺灣傳統老街之旅!]

I am Christophe, a university student in Paris. I will be graduated in Human Sciences in June2015. After graduation, I am going back to the 國立台灣師範大學國語教學中心 (mandarin centerof the National Taiwan Normal University) where I started to take traditional Chinese class in thesummer 2014.

In 2015, besides my chinese languages studies, I've planned to write travel plans in different placesof Taiwan in order to make partnerships with local shops and to promote local activities, just ashandcrafted products shops (手工藝品店), traditional operas (廟宇,歌仔戲), local guesthouses (民宿), and restaurants.This activity totally matches with the local tours provided by the KKday company, and that's thereason why I am honored to be a part of this contest.

Travel plan concept

The aim of such a project is to be improved and extended to make partnerships with local stores, tohave a benefit effect on the traditional activities led by the locals. I am convinced that it could bedone in addition to the quality of a tourism service that could be provided by a special additionalKKday local tour offer. That is also the work I would make any effort to achieve, in the case I couldbenefit from the company's support.

In order to ensure convenience, I focus on the North part of Taiwan. I could have written about theSouth, which is undoubtedly full of treasures. But the transportation time would be longer andwouldn't be suitable to the 3 days limit imposed by the contest. That perspective could consequentlylater be used for other areas of the country.

Tour introduction

Day 1 : National Center for Traditional Art 宜蘭傳統藝術中心.1. Lunch in a seafood restaurant in Luodong 羅東海鮮餐廳

2. The town : National Center for Traditional Art 傳統藝術中心

3. Yilan beach 宜蘭的海邊

4. Dinner at Luodong night market 羅東夜市

5. The night in a traditional guesthouse 民宿

The departure is from Taipei. At the exit of Technology Building Station (捷運科技大樓站), it ispossible to take the Kamalam bus (葛瑪蘭) until arriving at Luodong.Luodong bus station is surrounded by delicious famous seafood restaurants all offering theopportunity to have a great lunch before taking a taxi to our destination !

The visit of the National Center of Traditional Art include a temple, a traditional taiwanese operaon which a show is played in the beginning of the afternoon, a museum, and a plenty of handcraftshops and activities.

After a few minutes by taxi, the whole coast offers beautiful beaches to get a rest. The best option toget a rest, a bath, or a sunbath.Back to Luodong, there is the famous night market to find delicious snacks before sleeping in oneof these guesthouses, which are as well reputated as numerous, in Yilan county.

Day 2 : Pingxi old streets 平溪老街

1. Lunch in Shifen 十分午餐

2. Walking along the railway 平溪鐵軌散步

3. Shifen waterfall 十分瀑布

4. Visiting the sky lantern shops 平溪放天

5. Another night in a guest house 民宿

After taking the Kamalam bus to go back to Taipei in the morning, a train allows to go directly toShifen, which is not a long distance far from there.After strolling the streets for a while, a walk along the railway leads to the shops built during the1930's, by the Japanese occupation, before going to the waterfall.After taking a train to go to Pingxi, there is an old town with many other handcrafted productsshops to visit. Traditional food shops, similar to night market are in great numbers.The main activity is the sky lantern crafting. Once there, it isn't difficult to find people lighting theirlantern. It is also possible to buy his own lantern to write his wish...

After this journey, back to Shifen, it is time to spend the night in another guesthouse and getprepared to take another train back to Taipei in the early morning.

Day 3 : 九份老街 (« Classic Jiufen and North-eastern coast day tour », Kkday from website)

1. North-East cost東北角海岸2. Bitou Cape park 鼻頭角公園3. Yinyang Sea 陰陽海4. Jinguashi Gold museum 金瓜石、黃金博物館5. Jiufen old town九份老街

The last step is the entire local tour originally conceived by KKday members. This is the mostpopular tour provided by the agency to the most famous town of Taiwan.

After having a global overview on the North-East cost (the park, the beach, and the museum), thefinal destination is Jiufen, the ideal place to do some shopping. With plenty of food stores, bakeries,handcrafted souvenirs shops, this is also the ideal place to go to a tea place, in one of these verylocal old wooden houses. It is comfortable to keep himself hidden from the sun heat while drinkinga hot tea.

Comments

The partnerships with local workers could be a further step to this plan. It is an example of whatcould be individually thought to the wider improvement in the organization of a proposed local tour.The transportation could also be easier if a driving itinerary was thought up in advance.Finally, we could also extend the concept to a group, with an expert tourguide to explain the eachplace's history and their evolution through time. For an optimal efficiency, this last element could bereplaced by some information sheets given in the beginning of the 3 days trip, to give it animproved cultural interest.

Thank you for reading !

2014/03/29