Tien Shr Farm
We went camping with my friend Billy and his Landrover club a couple of weeks ago at Tien Shr Farm in central Nantou. They have a pretty nice camp area set up, with lots of shade trees, but since we arrived pretty late in the afternoon we had to pitch our tents out in the open. That turned out to be a good thing – we were far enough away from the main buildings that it was much quieter for sleeping than it would have been otherwise.
This was their yearly Landrover get-together, so there were booths set up for a number of sponsers (mostly camping gear, tire company reps, and Landrover accessory manufacturers). That meant lots of planned activities, which include loud music and frequent announcements, so it wasn’t exactly the quiet getaway I’d anticipated.
To get away from the hubbub, we took a walk down the highway to where the bridge washed out a couple of years ago. Further up in the mountains from here there is a bed & breakfast place we used to go to – an aborignial-style stone farmhouse, wood-fired water heater, and electricity provided only by generator. We had to drive down a very steep and narrow road, then ford the river twice to get there, but it was always worth the trip. With this main bridge out, there’s no longer any access to his place, so he’s moved to the Sun Moon Lake area a few miles to the north.
We had originally planned to do some off-road driving on Saturday, but 
the nearby river was still very muddy from the September typhoons, and the bridge leading in to some good driving areas was washed out. So, our driving excitement was limited to running the ‘baby course’ at the campsite. It’s mostly there for SUV people to have a chance to get their tires dirty, although the kids really enjoyed taking turns in the vintage Defender shown here.
We had been told meals were buffet-style barbecues, but they turned out to be more buffet than 
barbecue. While the food was pretty good, fried noodles and soup just don’t enhance the camping experience the way canned chili, hotdogs, and s’mores do! Fortunately, we were on our own for breakfast, which meant banana pancakes for me and the teaboy!
I was a little excited when I saw them preparing wood for a large fire on the last night, but that almost didn’t work out either. As they got the fire started, one of the campers brought over a 5-gallon can of diesel fuel and started to dump it on the fire – 
until a buddy suggested he put the fuel in a cup first instead of pouring directly from the can. After 3 cups of diesel, which did manage to increase the fire, they then dumped several handfuls of wet leaves on top, smothering the whole thing. I finally stepped in, and after a few minutes they left me alone to deal with it, meaning we ended up with a cheery, well-tended fire for the rest of the evening. I even managed to toast a few marshmallows for the Teaboy and some of the other kids hanging around. Now that’s what camping is all about!