A Cultural Journey Around Taiwan

We did not have long to spend in Taipei, and we needed to make sure that we did it right. First we visited Zhongshan District, an area comprised of small lanes and alleyways, dotted with speciality cafes, fashionable boutiques from Taiwanese artisans and fledgling designers to more beautiful, young and energetic people than you could shake a stick at. The buzz in this arty district is electric and you can feel the excitement radiate from the storefronts. We called in on The Lovely Taiwan Shop. Part of The Lovely Taiwan Foundation, their mission is to keep the native culture of Taiwan alive by providing a long term, stable sales platform for tribal workers to sell their wares. Profits from the sales go directly to help the indigenous communities. It is an ideal place to pick up trinkets and souvenirs whilst doing something good for the indigenous, less economically well off workers. It is great to see the country proudly championing its ethnic minorities and understanding the importance of their patchwork population of unique cultural identities.

The Zhongshan area is full of old historical buildings, which within the last decade have been repurposed to meet the needs of the local area. Thus, you can now find a stately building that was formally the residence of the US Ambassador to the Republic of China (before relations were cut) repurposed as SPOT Taipei Film House, a dedicated film and art space. Take in an independent art house movie or simply go for a coffee in the gardens of the majestic house.

No visit to Taipei is complete without checking out the infamous night markets. We headed over to the Ningxia Road Night Market, chock-a-block with snack stands offering every type of sweet dish, savoury dish or internal organ under the sun. Crowds of people slowly amble down the narrow pathway between two long lines of food carts on either side. The bright lights and activity on the road is exhilarating and you will come away with snacks galore, even if you have already had dinner. We suggest the classic Taiwanese oyster omelette to
ease you gently into the nose to tail eating philosophy of the country.

From Taipei, we took a 50-minute flight to Taitung. The East Coast of Taiwan is in stark contrast to the industrialised West Coast and offers a beautiful backdrop for ecotourism. Hualien and Taitung counties (also know as the Huadong region) offer an abundance of indigenous-cultural experiences. This
is because members of seven of Taiwan’s
14 officially recognised tribes (the true number is always up for discussion and is believed to be a lot larger) can be found in the two counties. These are the Amis (Ami), Bunun, Puyuma, Kavalan (Kamalan), Truku (Taroko), Paiwan and Rukai. The Yami also inhabit Taitung County, but are concentrated offshore on Orchid Island (Lanyu). Sustainable tourism is advocated here with a heavy importance being placed on guesthouse hopping in the area rather than letting larger hotel brands, which do not help the local community or environment, move in. Local government and tourism associations encourage residents to turn large neglected buildings, which have become redundant due to the declining countryside population, into guesthouses. This move has created a wealth of cute, artsy and homely boutique guesthouses cropping up along the East Coast. This is one of the many benefits of the focus being put on cultural and sustainable tourism in the area.

Upon arrival, we headed straight for Luanshan Forest Museum, situated in the mountains of Yanping Township. Contrary to how it may sound (a stuffy, backwater, out-dated museum), Luanshan Forest Museum is a nature park that aims to recreate the traditional living quarters of the indigenous Bunun tribe, complete with thatched cottages and bamboo beds. There are no buildings made of modern concrete or steel. Bunun tribal elder, one-time local news reporter and larger than life character, Aliman, saved this indigenous land from developers by borrowing NT$ 10,000,000 from the bank to buy the land on behalf of the Bunun people. A large sum of money for the indigenous people, but he believed that he had to save the land in order to save their tribal identity for future generations. The project has never relied on subsidies from the government. Instead Aliman insists on doing it himself, with the help of the local community, thereby directly helping the Bunun people. As the money starts to come in from the project, Aliman believes that the Bunun people will be able to stand on their own two feet.

The visit to the museum begins with a ceremony to ask the mountain spirits for their blessing. There are no directional signs, concrete walkways or any indication of
an exit from or entrance to the forest; the Bunun tour guides want to take their guests around personally. You will also not find
any promotional materials or website for the museum as the Bunun tribe do not go out
of their way to advertise; they want to stay
a sustainable tourism destination and rely mainly on word of mouth to get prearranged bookings.

The hike around the forest is an experience in itself. Make sure you bring proper walking shoes as you climb over the twisted roots of ancient trees, scale rock faces and crawl through caves. If you make it back in one piece to the campsite, there is a traditional Bunun spread of food laid out on the long communal table consisting of vegetables grown in the local area and wild boar. Luckily, in this tribe, men do the serving whilst the women sit back and look pretty. No really... That’s a thing. This visit costs NT$ 600 per person (NT$ 400p/p without food).

Next on our travel agenda was a trip to Chishang Township, located in the East Rift Valley, which is best known for producing high quality rice. Unfortunately, during our visit, heavy clouds hung over the mountains in the distance before making a surprise attack on the lush green plains of rice shoots that stretched out as far as the eye could see. It is possible to rent a bike here and
take in the wonderful environment. Or
why not hook yourself onto an ingenious contraption, which consists of a golf buggy pulling along 20 other “cyclist” like little ducks in a row behind it (see photo). The Taiwanese people are creative and extremely resourceful, that’s for sure. The rice from this area of Taiwan is said to be some of the tastiest due to an independent water source from Wanan village and the hot springs from the nearby mountain filtering down minerals into the soil. The high elevation of the region also means that there are
less pests, therefore less pesticides are needed during the farming process. In this countryside town, there had been a gradual brain drain, with young people heading for the city to look for work opportunities. However, recently there has been a bit of a resurgence as young people come back with new fangled ideas such as organic rice farming – surely a big money spinner in today's health conscious market. The Lovely Taiwan Foundation, in association with
The Lovely Chishang Foundation, jointly promote tourism and agricultural products in this area and organise a music and outdoor performance every autumn harvest with artists from many different domains attending.

For dinner, we went to Atomo Arifowang Canglah Restaurant. Named after the three daughters of Amis indigenous chef, Yao- Zhong-Chen’s (indigenous name: Canglah), this award-winning chef has a passion for preserving and passing on the Amis' traditional knowledge of the ocean, fishing and hunting. He specialises in innovative cuisine that fuses traditional Amis dishes with locally obtained ingredients and modern cooking methods. You simply have to try the sashimi platter, if for nothing else but seeing the waiter heave an ungodly amount of delicious raw seafood, served on a length of driftwood, onto the table.

During our final day on the East Coast,
we went to the Pisiliang Cultural Centre
to see the famed Pisiliang PawPaw Drum Ensemble. This fixed net fishing village had a social problem a few years ago
with many people of working age leaving the village to find jobs in bigger towns
and cities, leaving behind their young children with grandparents. These children were becoming unengaged in the local community and had nothing to focus their energies towards. At around the same time, many worn-out buoys, known in the local Amis language as PawPaw, which were once used to stabilise fishing nets, were floating ashore. Artist, Mr. Zhi-Ming Fang was invited to come up with a creative way of transforming these buoys. He cut the buoy in half and integrated traditional weaving patters, colours and carvings as decoration; voilà, the PawPaw drum was born. Young people from the village were invited to make these instruments for themselves and they formed a drum ensemble. In 2009, the president of the Taipei National University of Arts, Mr. Tzong-Ching Chu, also known as the founder of the famous percussion ensemble that bares his name, attended a PawPaw drum performance and was extremely impressed with the talent shown by the young people. He assigned his chief deputy to the ensemble to serve as an instructor for the band, who started an intensive training programme, twice a month, with the youngsters. Since then, they have held many public performances, and even made their first international trip to preform in Tianzifang, Shanghai. Now, they fuse traditional Amis singing and dancing with the modern symbol of their fishing village. This recycled buoy represents perfectly the way that old traditions and new materials can work in harmony together. The child members of the PawPaw Drum Ensemble play for tourists on their purpose build stage in the Cultural Centre tourist attraction. The money made from this venture is given to each participating child member, but not before the payment is split three ways; one portion going to their family, one portion going into a scholarship fund and one portion to be given as pocket money. The PawPaw Drum Ensemble has brought the community together again, with children proud to be members of the troupe. It also gives their members discipline in their lives and the hope of a bright future. It has had a positive mental outcome, significant financial effect on the community and has injected hope directly into the heart of the tribal, Amis families. In short, it has rejuvenated the local economy and one ticket to their impressive show will cost NT$300; be ready to get up and dance.

On our return to Taipei, we popped in for a quick visit to the National Palace Museum, which holds over 690,000 precious objects from ancient China making it the largest holding of Chinese art and culture in the world. One of the most famous items on display is the Jadeite Cabbage carving.

This piece of jade was carved to recreate
the shape of a Chinese cabbage head with locusts eating away at the leaves. After a visit to the museum, make sure you try the dish at Silks Palace at National Palace Museum that attempts to recreate the aesthetics of this work of art; a single buk choy complete with small shrimps scattered in the leaves to represent the locusts. The Imperial Treasures Feast features dishes that are reminiscent of some of the museum’s most treasured pieces (from NT$1,280 per person for a lunch
or dinner set). It was a pricey, yet fun and quirky end to a tour of Taiwan; a country that has successfully reconnected with its roots. The out-of-the-box, and often artistic, thinking and approach of the Taiwanese people make for a refreshing change to other parts of the world.