The trip to Shen Keng

For the young generation like us, we usually enjoy hanging out with friends in places like night markets, department stores, Karaoke, theme parks and so on. But as the student of Shin Hsin University, I haven’t thought about going to ShenKeng with friends and exchange students though it is close to our campus.

Before this trip, I was not interested in any old things. Shen Keng for me was just like a place to eat Stinky Tofu, that’s all. Moreover, it’s located in a suburb. It is really inconvenient for the student like me who doesn’t have a motorcycle. But after the trip to Shen Keng with Peter, the director of language center, and our friends in the Corner, I changed my first impression of the old town, Shen Keng.

It is really nice for the students in Shih Hsin University because of the public transportation. Taking bus 660 or 666 directly to Shen Keng is the simplest thing to get there. It only costs 12 dollar with the easy card for students and you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of our ancients’ life.

Shen Keng is just like a traditional market but filled with cultural handicrafts. We can explore the wisdom of our ancient. These handicrafts like the back scratcher are the biggest invention for me. I feel itchy all the time on my back. I can’t reach to my entire back, so a back scratcher is the best thing for me. In Chinese, we call it “不求人”. That means you don’t need others help but help yourself. I can scratch myself indeed.

We had a great lunch with Peter and friends. The exchange students tried the stinky Tofu. I bet that they loved it because the food which was on the table all ran out. It is really a good way to have a cultural exchange with the foreigners in the old town in Shen Keng. After the explanation of the local students, two parties of us know more about the Taiwanese cultural as well.

by Isaac Tseng.