Cowing Around: 清境農場 Qing Jing Farm

There are several well known destinations in the mountains in Taiwan, resorts if you will. One of which is Qing Jing Farm. Most of these “farms” were established by the government in the past as a means to either house retired veterans or provide something for them to do. Over time, the presence of government influence wears out and tourists take over.

See, because Taiwan is such a small island, over populated, over urbanized and highly polluted. Since young, the concept of grass, or rather “lawn” only exists in dream lands. We ALL dreamed of laying on a nice patch of grass and nap away, but this was such an impossible dream in Taiwan. Even if there is unused land, it would have been used to cultivate food.

Oing Jing Farm is just that dream land that Taiwanese hold dearly to. It’s famous because of two things. Grass land and sheep. I mean, what’s the big deal with grass sheep???? That’s how small Taiwan is, that even grass and sheep are big deals.

Needless to say, Qing Jing Farm is an extremely popular spot and always jam packed with tourists. So why am I here? Well, I have no where else to go either. So I’ve join the rest of the island’s bored population to convince myself that I am not bored.

No that's not my kid!!!

The sheep are HUNGRY!!!! This is a terrifying looking feed dispenser.

I guess I am feeling underwhelmed because I just came back from a month-long road trip through America’s most epic landscapes, driving through the vast open desert and lush green forest, experiencing the wide variety of cultural difference and weather. Yet I spent 2 hours on the road to a spot, supposedly remote and away from the urban life, to find myself surrounded by Starbucks and 7-Elevens. Not to mention the food stalls that are everywhere. See, as long as there’s Taiwanese, there’s food, and as long as there’s food, people eat. It’s a unbreakable Taiwanese cultural law. It’s like…. if you didn’t eat, you aint here.

So, sheep. What about the sheep? They wonder around on the grass land, which is pretty tiny by any American standard of graze land, but they prefer to eat artificial feed from the tourists. And the tourists, instead of just grabbing a handful of grass from the ground, prefer to spend money to buy the animal feed to feed the sheep….. and people are also willing to spend money to ride horses, led by trainers, that walk around a tiny circle on the hard concrete. Seriously, what the hell if wrong with these people???

Cus Taiwan is small, and there’s nothing else to do.

Or really? Perhaps, that’s how they’ve convinced themselves to think.

Just now, the news did a segment about some mountain that has taken countless mountaineers’ lives and my mom was complaining how stupid these climbers are, who took the adventure despite knowing how dangerous it is.

So let’s all go feed sheep with feed that you buy with money and ride horses around a tiny concrete circle!!!!