By MOOK Travel Life Network, Chen Guanxin, compiled and reported
The joyful and unique Hakka Tung Blossom Festival in New Taipei kicks off successively in the city’s most beautiful tung blossom areas and will continue until May 12. The 2013 New Taipei Hakka Tung Blossom Festival, themed around “Tung Blossom Joy,” features specially curated events each week. This weekend will see activities such as “Waterwheel, Tung Blossoms & The Sanzhi Love Song,” “New Taipei Tung Joy: Iron Horse Chase,” and “Tung Blossoms & Tofu Love in Shenkeng,” offering the public a chance to explore Hakka markets via guided tours of waterwheel parks, go hiking, and enjoy tung blossom scenery in Sanzhi, Tucheng, Sanxia, and Shenkeng by bike.
New Taipei’s “Tung Joy” offers carefully planned activities every week, allowing the public to enjoy tung blossoms through various travel experiences. (Photo provided by Willie Communications)
On May 4, the “Waterwheel, Tung Blossoms & The Sanzhi Love Song” combines the Hakka Tung Blossom Season with guided tours of six waterwheel parks to form a one-day sightseeing circle, along with a Hakka market, handicraft workshops, and cultural performances. Activities will include hiking to get close to, understand, and admire tung blossoms, as well as sketching and essay-writing contests inspired by tung blossoms and Hakka culture. The event runs from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. On the same day in Tucheng, the “New Taipei Tung Joy: Iron Horse Chase” will take cyclists through tung blossom areas in Tucheng and Sanxia districts, with rest stations offering supplies and stamp collection. Collect five stamps to redeem an NT$80 stall voucher at the finish line. Participants who complete a free DIY Hakka tote bag experience and collect all guide stamps can join the on-site lucky draw. There is also a “Tree of Care” where visitors can write blessings for the “Sanxia Chunhui Rehabilitation Center” on love cards to be hung on the tree, which will then be delivered to the center.
On May 5, the “Tung Blossoms & Tofu Love in Shenkeng” will host a free walking event at Tianlong Temple Plaza in Shenkeng District, featuring parent-child activities among the tung blossom trails and tree planting. There will also be a 102-plate tung blossom tofu painting activity, where participants use a whole tofu block along with edible-grade paints, soy sauce paste, ketchup, and orange marmalade to create tung blossom-themed artworks (registration required). Surrounding the venue, the “Hakka Art Village” will promote art education through tung blossom rubber stamp printing, scarecrow weaving, tung blossom soap DIY, and tung blossom umbrella painting.
On May 12, the “Jincheng Tung Blossom Creative Fun Run” will be held at the Tucheng District Comprehensive Sports Stadium. Participants are encouraged to show their creativity with the most imaginative outfits for the fun run costume competition. Awards for the top three in both the Creativity and Energy categories will be given, with prizes of NT$3,000, NT$2,000, and NT$1,000. Event website: www.2013newtaipei-tung.com.
● Read more: Mother’s Day Tung Joy – Enjoy Tung Blossoms at West Lake Resort
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