ESG News

On this day, Novatek volunteers accompanied visually-impaired students from Changhua to Sheng-Hsing Train Station on the Former Mountain Line of the Taiwan Railway to learn about the local history and experience the fun of rail biking. The first stop was the Tiaochai (wood-carrying) Historic Trail next to Sheng-Hsing Train Station. In addition to hiking on the historical trail, the guide also made a small version of a “wood carrying rack” farm implement, allowing the students to understand how local residents chopped wood in the mountains in the early days, carrying the wood on their shoulders and walking to the train station to sell it. The tour also provided the students with the chance to touch the leaves and fruits, deepening their understanding of the ecology and history of the Tung trees that have been growing all over the mountains for thousands of years.

Sanyi was a place for Hakka settlement in the early days. For our second stop, we visited a teahouse to experience making Lei Cha (Hakka ground tea) and mochi, two famous foods in Hakka culture. We learned that a bowl of traditional Hakka Lei Cha is made from seven different ingredients. During the process, great patience and endurance are required to add each ingredient in order and grind it into a fine powder. It feels really wonderful to taste delicious Lei Cha and mochi that you make yourself!

In the afternoon, Novatek volunteers accompanied the students to experience “Rail Biking”, which was the highlight of day. Both the volunteers and the  students experienced riding bicycles on the rails for the first time. After being guided by the volunteers, the students, who were nervous at first, finally realized that the so-called Former Mountain Line rail bikes are actually four-wheeled electric bicycles. Instead of ordinary two-wheeled bicycles, the rail bikes allowed the students to ride safely and enjoy the pleasure of riding with the volunteers on the rails of the Former Mountain Line. The route, starting from Sheng-Hsing Train Station goes downhill, making it easy to speed up without pedaling at all. However, the return trip was going back uphill. If the bike is going too slow, it would make the climb back up quite difficult. In this case, Novatek volunteers and the students had to pedal together to make the bikes go smoothly.

The visually-impaired students had a great time throughout the 8-kilometer rail biking activity. By rail biking, they could get close to tunnels and bridges, and safely experience the unique sensation of natural wind rushing towards oneself when going along high places. On the way home, the students were happy to share their riding experience with each other. They were so impressed by the taste of Lei Cha, hoping to bring it back to school to share with their classmates. The attending parents expressed their sincere gratitude to the volunteers of Novatek; owing to their effort, the students had a whole day filled with good memories and fun.