Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village near Sun Moon Lake at Nantou County

I’ve heard great things about the Aboriginal Culture Village in Ping-Tung County ran by the government but never quite got around to visiting. As plans changed with my mother to go to central Taiwan instead of east coast I was delighted to learn that there’s another Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village just nearby Sun Moon Lake. We headed down there in the afternoon and found an almost empty park, with 5-6 other students and a 5 people group from Hong Kong.  And what a park that was. Aborigines aside, the park was alot bigger and much more beautiful than I imagined.

As we arrived we were told that at the other end of the park there’s an Aboriginal dancing performance due in 20 minutes  and so we hurried up to the wonderful park Gondola cable car, showing us just how big the park was and the breathtaking scenery surrounding it.

We arrived at the peak just in time.

The park hosts a few attractions showing what Aboriginal life was like not too long ago, reminding me of similar things I saw for the native Americans and Australian aborigines visiting elsewhere. Although inevitably interesting, one couldn’t help but feel a bit sad seeing all that gone and the old Aborigines dressed up in their old costumes for the tourist pleasure. There’s a thin line between appreciation of a lost culture and mocking it by over commercializing it, and although this park does better than similar parks at the US and Australia it still makes you feel a bit uncomfortable the whole way through.

We walked around the Aboriginal villages…

Played some Aboriginal games…

Bought some Aboriginal hand-made clothing, the good tourists that we are…

And continuously received very warm and curious local attention from the Taiwanese visitors wanting to take photos with my mother. I’ve never received so much attention traveling on my own or with Taiwanese friends, I’ll tell you that.

The layout and exhibits were very well done…

Craftsmen were hard at work…

The only thing looking really odd are the amusement park attractions at the end of the line. What does that have anything to do with Aboriginal culture, I have no idea, but,  it was fun nonetheless.

If you’re in the area, I recommend you go visit.