The biggest spring event in Yilan is the Green Expo, which runs from now until May 9th at Wuzhao Pit in Su’ao. This year’s theme “Dreams of the Earth” features something new: Taiwan’s largest garden maze. It’s not just for looking at — you can actually dive into the sea of flowers and play hide-and-seek among them.
Wu Ming-feng, head of the Livestock Division at Yilan County Government’s Agriculture Department, explained that in previous years, the expo entrance was decorated with large landscape displays. However, due to Typhoon Bama last year, the area behind Wuzhao Pit was buried under a massive amount of soil and rocks, making it impossible to build the main pavilion. As a result, the large landscape and the main pavilion have switched places, which has become a unique feature of this year’s exhibition.
The disaster-stricken area has been transformed into a “Dream Maze,” enlarged 4100 times based on Picasso’s famous painting “The Dream.” Flower walls and potted plants serve as the “paint,” with the slightly green right side of the face made from sage, the pink right hand from African marigolds, and the bright red sofa represented by begonias. A total of 130,000 plants were used to create this 82-meter-long and 64-meter-wide masterpiece, making it the first of its kind in Taiwan. Unless you hear the explanation, it’s hard to imagine that this flower sea was once ravaged by a landslide.
The garden maze can be viewed from an observation deck or explored up close to experience its grandeur. Parents of children who love hide-and-seek need not worry if they get lost — Wu Ming-feng revealed a little tip: just follow the “frame” made of yellow flower walls to find the exit.
There are seven major themed pavilions. First is the “Waterfront Homes,” showcasing the characteristics of 13 leisure agriculture exhibition areas in Yilan, where ducks help out in the rice fields. There’s also the “Happy Cycling Pavilion” loved by cyclists, the “Happy Ranch” where you can befriend kangaroo babies, the “Beautiful Water City” featuring the nation’s largest crystal eco-sphere, the “Dandelion’s Leisure” offering food, fun, and wellness, the “Forest Life Forest Farm” where you can learn about forest knowledge, and the weekly competitions at the “Green Olympics,” each offering different types of entertainment and experiences.
(For more travel reports by Wang Xiaoling, visit http://blog.chinatimes.com/egg)