Many years ago we arrived at Yuli Township and built this beautiful home by the mountainside together with our family. In 2004, we opened up the doors of our home to become everyone’s home, by turning it into a homestay — Wisdom Garden.

The whole family are nature lovers. They created a retreat within the narrow alleys meandering from Wulai’s Swallow Lake in order to hide from the heavy traffic of Taipei City. From there, they further retreated to Taiwan’s back garden, the Huadong Valley, to the side of the Central Mountain Range that neighbours Yuli Township. For the purpose of being together with the birds in the mountains, to scatter one’s worries upon the waves of golden and emerald paddies, to see the azure sky reflected in the shine of the babbling brooks, to listen attentively to the cacophony of frogs croaking at the start of spring… What they were searching for was a utopia described in the works of Tao Yuanming (Jin dynasty poet), a utopia of no quarrels and no worries that our hearts repeatedly call out for and desire.

This homestay is a large armchair that sits stably at the base of the Central Mountain Range, to the left and right the verdant mountains are its armrests, the Coastal Mountain Range in the horizon. If you turn 360 degrees, all around you is a lush green carpet. Above you are blue skies and white mist, around you are springs babbling, birds tweeting, frogs croaking, butterflies dancing… By the creek are plum blossom trees, the fragrance of pomelos, lush green grass, it’s a feast for your senses.