Amy Tsei, a 7th grade English student at Kelly's English school in Jiali, Taiwan, won an English essay contest promoting tourism to Taiwan. The goal of the essay contest was to give Taiwanese children an opportunity to reach out to people around the world and give their perspective on why Taiwan is a great place to visit. Cash prizes were awarded to winners, and the grand prize winner was able to feature her essay on CNN iReport.
Here is Amy's winning essay:
"Why Visit Taiwan?"
Do you know where is the most interesting place to visit in the world? The answer is Taiwan!Taiwan is about the size of Maine. This island in the Pacific between Japan and the Philippines has the most beautiful scenery, the most delicious food, the most historic monuments, and the friendliest people. Let me tell you more about these highlights.
First, the most popular scenic area is Sun-Moon Lake. It’s situated in Nantou County’s Yuchih Township, in the mountainous center of Taiwan. It’s the largest alpine lake on the island. The eastern part of the lake is round like sun and the western side is shaped like a crescent moon, hence it is named “Sun-Moon Lake.” You can go around the lake by ship, and enjoy taking in the majestic mountain scenery. Many people come from China and other parts of the world to visit this area. Now, there are cable cars at Sun-Moon Lake to take you up the mountains for a better view. This is the best way to see all of Sun-Moon Lake.
Another popular tourist site is Alishan, or you can call it Mount Ali. It has the most wonderful sunrise. If you want to see the sunrise from above the clouds, you have to get up very early. You can also go around the mountain on a scenic train. Mt. Ali rises over 2,600 meters high. It is not even the tallest mountain in Taiwan. Mt. Jade rises to 3,952 meters (12,966 ft).
In Taiwan, there is a lot of wonderful food. The most famous drink is pearl milk tea. The famous food selections are stinky tofu, oyster omelet, coffin bread, Taiwanese fried chicken, small steamed buns… there is just too many to mention here, and they are all very delicious. Many visitors to Taiwan think stinky tofu is very stinky, but this food is very popular in Taiwan because of its delicious taste. You can eat stinky tofu with Chinese pickled vegetables and the special sauce. Oyster omelet is tasty, too. It has many oysters, fresh vegetables and eggs. The cook usually puts a lot of ketchup on the oyster omelet. This is something you just have to try! Coffin bread is not a real coffin. Don’t be afraid. It’s toasted bread shaped like a coffin and filled with seafood. That’s so yummy!
Don’t miss the historic monuments in Taiwan. The most historic is Anping Fort. It was built in 1624 by the Dutch. There are cannons and artifacts in the restored fort. You can take beautiful pictures while touring the fort. There is a tall watchtower, from which you can see much of city of Tainan.
Everyone needs to spend time in the capital city of Taipei. There is a very tall building. It’s very famous. It used to be the tallest building in the world. Now it is the second tallest. Do you know it? It is called Taipei 101. You can buy a ticket on the 5th floor. The ticket allows you to take the world’s fastest elevators to 89th floor. It takes only 37 seconds. These elevators are in the Guinness Book of World Records! On the 89th floor, you can all of the large city of Taipei. At night, the city scenes from the observation deck are wonderful. Every year, Taipei 101 holds the Run Up Race, which anyone can sign up to run. People who join the race run up stairs to the 91st floor. The first person who gets to the 91st floor is the winner!
Do you want to come to Taiwan now? If you do, you can travel around Taiwan by High Speed Railway, riding at almost 200 km/hour. To travel from South to North, it takes only 90 minutes. Traveling in Taiwan is very fast and convenient! When you are in Taipei or Kaohsiung, there are MRT (subway) stations everywhere! The subways are clean, comfortable and fast.
Are you ready to come to Taiwan now? It’s a trip you won’t forget.