Taiwan: Botanical Garden

After crossing a few roads and shops from Xiaonanmen MRT station, I arrived at this botanical garden. This was the map showing the locations of various gardens and plants.


I was first greeted by all these tall palm trees. I had no idea where should I go, so I just followed and let the pathway to be the guide.


I remembered I visited a garden where all the plants were resided indoor. After that, I saw this, the Scarecrow. I think the last time I saw a scarecrow was many years ago when I was still young at the paddy field near to my hometown.


There were many teachers bringing the kindergarten children to this botanical garden for outdoor activities and perhaps more effective ways of learning. I could see many groups of these children wearing in uniforms and holding hands in hands.


And a few of them playing with the plants.


Then, I saw this area whereby the 12 Chinese Zodiacs were matched with 12 different kinds of plants according to their characteristics. But, I think the plants were lack of care and weed grew around them.


Actually I was not that interested in plants. So I skipped many gardens and paid a visit to this building I stumbled upon. The structure and design looked like a temple but it's actually a Yamen, a place where criminal cases were judged in ancient Chinese days. This building was named as Taiwan Bu-Cheng-Shih-Sz Yamen (布政使司衙门). If you watch 包青天 or 包拯 drama before, you'll definitely know what place it is. I wonder why there's such a building inside a botanical garden.


I followed a group of children, so that I could get free explanation of the history from the volunteer working there. Many senior citizens in Taiwan work as volunteer at public places. So this was the area where people shouted "weiii wuuuuu". The courtroom.


Sets and props were on display too. This was the parang used in carrying out punishment. The apparatus were made in wood.


Did you know who are the two people painted on the old wooden door? They were the Door Gods (门神). They tend to shoo the evil spirits away.


After visiting this Yamen, I asked the volunteer for the direction to go to National Museum of History which was just a stone's throw away from here. They told me there was a short cut near to the waterlily pond. On my way to the waterlily pond, I saw these 2 people waiting with their cameras setting up and facing a tree.


While I was taking the picture, an uncle approached me and asked me whether I knew what picture did I take. He told me that there's a hole on that tree and they had been waiting for a bird species for a few days. If I saw that bird, I could win the lottery already. They were like waiting for the solar eclipse to occur. Of course, research needs patience. Did you see the hole, or bird?


Finally I found the lotus pond. To my awe, this lotus pond was really huge.


Many painters were sitting in front of the pond and drawing the panoramic view into their pictures.


Besides the lotus in the pond, there were other waterlilies planted in flower pots too.


Like this, the purple one.


I saw another senior painter working on his painting while looking for the back door exit to the museum. His drawing was impressive indeed.

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