2006/11/07

Shui-li Snake-Kiln -- 2006/11/4 ~ 11/5

Aunt Mei and uncle Bill live in the States. They visit Taiwan to see grandma and their friends and stay in grandma's house every year. This year, they will stay for two weeks in Taiwan. My brother George and I take them to see other places around Taiwan during the weekend. For the first weekend, I take them to the Shui-li Snake Kiln Ceramics Park in Nan-tao county.

The hotel we stay over night is right besides the ceramics park. As a matter of fact, both the hotel and the ceramics park belong to the same owner.


- Hotel Resturant -

The hotel resturant is quite unique. The building of the resturant is held up by seveal big trunk. The whole building is actually an art work by owner's design.

There is a small pond in front of the resturant. In the pond, carp fish with many different colors swim around.


The entry of the resturant


The weather was very nice when we visited Shui-li




During the night, the resturant shows a different atmosphere under the warm light




Near the resturant entry, two ducks live leisurely besides the pond.


Ducks and the carp fish are good neighbors




The ducks just sleep besides the pond when they feel tired




Inside the resturant, there are many ceramics art work all over the place.


This ceramics horse is worth NT$500,000. Better not to touch it!



- Shui-li Snake Kiln Ceramics Park -

After check-in the hotel, we walk to the ceramics park.


There are many shop stands on both sides of the road to the ceramics park. The stands sell all kinds of locally made wine and souvenirs. This aboriginal lady is very happy when I want to take a photo on her.




The big kiln is like a tunnel. It is about 120 meters long.


Look from the other side.




This tower is very like the Japanese style building


Aunt Mei is looking at the pond beneath the window


Uncle Bill


Many pottery art work is exhibited in the park to show the history of how people live in the past




Oh, it is real tangerine, not ceramics. I wonder why they show it in the park.


Sometimes, we ordinary people can never understand what these art works are.




Make-a-wish pottery


I wish for health.


I wish for world peace.


The largest two-mouth vase in the world


Look around inside the kiln. Find anything?




This chair is definitely not for sitting.



- Ceramics Workshop -

Finally, we come to Aunt Mei's favorite spot, the ceramics workshop. When we get there, there is already a lady working on her cup.


Only Aunt Mei is interested in getting in a mess, and the rest of us just enjoy the watching.


Aunt Mei is quite enjoying the work. I suggest her to get one machine and bring back to the states.






Look, she is getting progress.




Can anyone see what's wrong in this picture?


I wonder what it is?


The lady besides Aunt Mei has been there working for two hours on that bowl.




We sit there for about an hour watching Aunt Mei doing the ceramics.




Almost there


final touch


Here we go. It looks very like the Japanese Osake wine bottle.


The pottery shop inside the ceramics park






From the statue, now you know why it is called snake kiln.




During the time when Aunt Mei is doing the bottle, uncle Bill wanders around the park and takes some pictures.






The Chinese name for Shui-li Snake Kiln, Nan-tao.




The design of each door in the park is different and unique.










an eye-catching and beautiful ceramics art on the wall








After the ceramics workshop, everyone is hungry. So we head back to hotel resturant for lunch.


After the lunch, we drive to Jiji town and walk on the street by the railroad. We try to find the night market in Jiji. However, it seems there is no night market on weekend. So we wander around the town and experience the life in Jiji.

During the walk, we find a dental office which is open for service. Without second thought, aunt Mei goes in for her teeth cleaning for NT$500.


A small pond in a town park





- Tree House -

The special part of this trip is that we do not stay in ordinary hotel room. Instead, we stay at the tree house built by the hotel. The tree house is held up by the betel-nut tree. So when people walks on the platform, the entire tree house will shake like minor earthquake.


This place is also for camping


The tree house where aunt Mei and uncle Bill sleep in.




The tree house is big enough just for two people.


There is only one bed fit into the room. No extra space.


After the breakfast in the hotel, we decide to head back to Taichung. The funny thing is that when we stop by the green tunnel in Jiji, I find out that we still have the keys of the tree house which we should return to the hotel. So we turn around and drive back to the hotel to check-out properly.


Well, this is a fine trip, especially for my Mom and aunt Mei. During the trip, my Mom and aunt Mei enjoy very much about the talk with each other. They talk a lot about the past of their lives. I think they can understand each other better from this unusual trip in Shui-li.

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Fabulous, as an old friend and former co-worker of Bill and Mei's, I so enjoyed seeing them and the trip they were taking. It is a beautiful tribute. Diane Woods