Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) was in Taipei yesterday to promote tourism in Taitung, introducing special discounts for tourists and inviting the public to enjoy the beauty and bounty of the east coast.
“Taitung is a place with beautiful mountains and fields, a 160km coastline on the Pacific, a rich blend of Aboriginal, Hakka and Hoklo cultures, as well as gourmet food and fresh farm produce,” Kuang told a news conference. “Some people have told me that when they traveled to Taitung for the first time, they felt as though they had walked into paradise.”
In addition to Hoklos and Hakkas, there are six Aboriginal tribes in Taitung — the Amis, the Puyuma, the Paiwan, the Rukai, the Bunun and the Tao — “making traveling in Taitung a very unique cultural experience,” she said.
The East Rift Valley (花東縱谷), bounded by the Central Mountain Range on the west and the Coastal Mountain Range on the east, is famous for producing high-quality rice and other agricultural products, she said.
Taitung also offers “bamboo coffee,” described by its grower Juan Yung-kuang (阮勇光) as the best-kept secret in Taitung.
“There are some great coffee growers in Taitung, but not many people know about it,” Juan said behind a table on which he displayed coffee beans from his farm in Beinan Township (卑南).
“I put fresh coffee beans in bamboo pipes and let a natural fermentation process take place,” Juan said, explaining how “bamboo coffee” — which is only found in Taitung — is made.
“Beans can be kept there for about a year or so. Just take out the beans, grind them and make coffee whenever you like,” he said. “Every sip of the coffee has the fragrance of the bamboo.”
To promote tourism, Kuang said in a press release that the county government, local tourism authorities and 60 tourism-related businesses had developed a “Taitung Tourist Passport” that gives travelers discounts on lodging, food, entrance fees and souvenirs at participating stores and tourist sites.
More information about the discounts is available online at www.erv-nsa.gov.tw.
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