This is a forest of trees that have stood here since long before human history was ever written down. Lala Mountain lies deep in the innermost reaches of…
Multilingual AI audio guide exhibit on WOUDiO (PWA). WOUDiO pioneered the world’s first audio guide platform with built-in donation: listeners can support the cultural venue without leaving the listening experience. The text below is the localized description, details, and narration script for this audio guide stop.
This is a forest of trees that have stood here since long before human history was ever written down.
Lala Mountain lies deep in the innermost reaches of Taoyuan City, at an elevation of around fifteen hundred meters. The name "Lala" is said to mean "beautiful" in the Atayal language.
Deep within the forest stand clusters of giant red cypress trees. Native to Taiwan, many of these trees are over a thousand years old, and the oldest among them is said to exceed two thousand years.
The bark of the red cypress carries a reddish hue, split into fine vertical fissures. On rainy days, water streams down through these grooves in narrow rivulets.
During the period of Japanese rule, red cypress and Taiwan hinoki were extensively logged from Taiwan's mountains, used even as building material for shrines and temples in Japan. Yet the giant trees here on Lala Mountain, standing deep within the remote interior, escaped the axe.
In summer, honey peaches ripen on the slopes below. The peaches of Lala Mountain are renowned throughout Taiwan as a celebrated specialty.
And so, deep within the city called Taoyuan — whose very name means "Peach Garden" — peaches still ripen to this day.
