Travel in Taiwan(NO.120 2023 11/12)

2023

NOV & DEC

No.

EXPERT TALK

120

GOOD FOOD

MAO’S STUDIO – A POTTERY BUSINESS IN YINGGE

INDIGENOUS RESTAURANTS IN TAIPEI

LOCAL STAY EASTERN TAIWAN HOT-SPRING RESORTS

EASTERN TAIWAN Adventure Playground Up the Hualien Coast Green Island

issuu

Website

Welcome to

Taiwan!

Publisher's Note Dear Traveler, Along with early spring, late autumn is prime time for international travelers to explore Taiwan, the summer heat having exited stage left and the winter rains and chill still waiting in the wings stage right. For this issue we’ve thus made outdoor adventures in tranquil, slow-vibe Eastern Taiwan our focus – think South Seas island touring.

In our main feature article our writer describes Eastern Taiwan as “a monumental nature adventure park.” Oh, the things you can get up to – how about forest ziplining, treks on old indigenous hunter’s trails, harvesting bamboo stalks for an indigenous feast, kayaking on the east’s largest lake, deep-valley butterfly spotting, and so much else. We provide you with all the detail needed to make these a part of your vault of cherished travel memories.

ON THE COVER

Following this is a piece entitled “Up the Hualien Coast,” a multi-day fun frolic along the balmy, palm-fringed coastline from just above Hualien City to just above the county’s south coastal tip. You’ll be doing everything from visiting big-name attractions like Farglory Ocean Park, the “Stone Steps Platform,” and “Seven Star Lake” to enjoying more personalized experiences such as guided sea kayaking and indigenous night-fishing using torches.

Another Eastern Taiwan foray is to small Green Island, a popular offshore-island destination, which on very clear days can be espied from the mainland. Almost all visitors scooter the 17km coastal loop road on rentals, delivering you to “dramatic volcanic coastal scenery, beautiful beaches, and even hot springs right at oceanside, and then offshore there’s excellent diving and snorkeling.”

Qixingtan (Photo by Ray Chang)

We wrap up our eastern expeditioning with “idyllic upscale Eastern Taiwan resort getaways” in our regular Local Stay article, three in the East Rift Valley and one in the Zhiben hot-springs area south of Taitung City, all serving up sumptuous living complemented by tremendous mountain views.

FOLLOW US

Now, on to discoveries of a very different nature. In our regular Good Food file we sit down to the hearty fare at three first-rate Taipei indigenous restaurants: one a combo native eatery/karaoke bar, one a combo native eatery and izakaya, and one a refined upscale dining space. Over in our Expert Talk department you’ll visit Yingge, synonymous with Taiwan’s ceramics industry, and meet two members of the new generation of craftspeople breathing fresh life into this heritage trade.

Here's wishing you happy Taiwan autumn travels!

TAIWAN TOURISM ADMINISTRATION MOTC, R.O.C.

JOE Y. CHOU DIRECTOR GENERAL

@tourtaiwan @taiwan @taiwanbesttrip

台 灣 觀 光 雙 月刊 Travel in Taiwan The Official Bimonthly English Magazine of the Taiwan Tourism Administration (Advertisement) NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 2023 Taiwan Tourism Administration, MOTC First published Jan./Feb. 2004 ISSN: 18177964 GPN: 2009305475 Price: NT$200

中華郵政台北雜字第1286號執照登記為雜誌交寄

Copyright @ 2023 Taiwan Tourism Administration.

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form without written permission is prohibited.

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Taiwan Tourism Administration T. C. Chou TAIWAN TOURISM ADMINISTRATION, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS International Division, Taiwan Tourism Administration Add: 9F, 290 Zhongxiao E. Rd., Sec. 4, Taipei City, 10694, TAIWAN Tel: 886-2-2349-1500 Fax: 886-2-2771-7036 E-mail: tbroc@tbroc.gov.tw Website: http://taiwan.net.tw Vision Creative Marketing & Media Co.

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Masako Takada, Ruby Chang Rick Charette, Ami Barnes, Simon Foster Chen Cheng-kuo, Ray Chang

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IN TAIWAN Taiwan Tourism Administration Visitor Center; TaiwanTourism Administration; Taiwan Visitors Association; foreign representative offices in Taiwan; Taiwan Tourism Administration service counters at Taiwan Taoyuan Int’l Airport and Kaohsiung Int’l Airport; major tourist hotels; Taipei World Trade Center; VIP lounges of international airlines; major tourist spots in Taipei; visitor centers of cities and counties around Taiwan; offices of national scenic area administrations; public libraries

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C O N T E N T S

2023

NOV/DEC

10 01

FEATURE

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

04 TAIWAN TOURISM EVENTS

06 TRAVEL NEWS

– HAPPENING IN TAIWAN NOW

08 CULTURE & ART

– CONCERTS, THEATER, EXHIBITIONS, FESTIVALS, SHOWS

10 EASTERN TAIWAN / FOREST ADVENTURES EASTERN TAIWAN: ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND Hiking on Native Hunting Trails, Forest Ziplining, Butterfly Tracking, and More

24 EASTERN TAIWAN / FUN ALONG THE COAST UP THE HUALIEN COAST! Recommended Places and Experiences to Fill Up a Multi-Day Trip

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48

EASTERN TAIWAN / GREEN ISLAND

LITTLE THINGS / NORTH VS SOUTH

GREEN ISLAND

“SOUTH BOIL, NORTH STEAM”

Escape to a Verdant Gem Off in the Pacific

Regional Differences in Popular Local Foods

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EASTERN TAIWAN / LOCAL STAY

EXPERT TALK / POTTERY

EASTERN TAIWAN HOT-SPRING RESORTS

THE ART OF MAKING HAPPINESS

Four Terrific Places for Big Mountain-View Refreshment

Meet the Second-Generation Potters Spreading Joy Bowl

by Bowl

42 GOOD FOOD / INDIGENOUS RESTAURANTS EATING INDIGENOUS IN TAIPEI CITY A Trio of Native-Cuisine Eateries of Wholly Differing Character

TAIWAN TOURISM EVENTS

December~February

Welcoming the New Year Exciting Events at the End of the Old and the Beginning of the New Year 1 1 TAIPEI CITY DECEMBER 17

2 TAIPEI CITY DECEMBER 31

3 TAINAN CITY

2023 TAIPEI MARATHON

NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION

TAIWAN LANTERN FESTIVAL

Shortly before Christmas, which in Taipei means mild temperatures that are perfect for road running, the Taipei Marathon, an international event attracting many professional athletes, takes place in the heart of the capital. This is the highlight of the annual race calendar for many local athletes, and entry slots can be hard to come by, with the number of participants in the full marathon limited to 9,000 runners; 19,000 are allowed to run the half-marathon. The races start and end at Taipei City Hall, with the route set up along some of the city’s main thoroughfares.

Around the world, each year’s end is celebrated with New Year’s Eve countdowns and fireworks, and Taiwan is no exception. The most spectacular of the pyrotechnic shows on the island is without a doubt the one that makes the capital’s sky-reaching Taipei 101 tower erupt in a sea of sparkling and exploding lights.

The fireworks display is accompanied by a high-tech LED display on one of the giant faces of the city’s towering landmark. Throughout the evening lead-up to the spectacular, revelers are entertained by some of the best-known and most popular local music artists.

Each year, the Taiwan Lantern Festival is held by a different city or county. In 2024 the honor once again falls to Tainan City, which previously hosted this grand event in 2005, 2006, and 2008. This will be Tainan’s first major event in 2024, a year during which the 400 th anniversary of the city will be celebrated with a multitude of activities. There will be two main venues, one a vast open area at HSR Tainan Station, the other an area around Anping Harbor and along a section of Anping Canal, in Anping District. Tainan’s 400-year history will play a prominent role in the lantern festival, which each year showcases hundreds of well-crafted paper lanterns of all shapes and sizes.

臺北馬拉松

www.taipeicitymarathon.com

臺北最 HIGH 新年城 - 跨年晚會

www.travel.taipei/en

FEB. 24~MARCH 10

台灣燈會

www.tainan.gov.tw

4 NEW TAIPEI CITY NOV.~DEC.

5 CHIAYI CITY DEC. 15~JAN. 1

6 NEW TAIPEI CITY JANUARY 1

CHRISTMASLAND IN NEW TAIPEI CITY 新北歡樂耶誕城

CHIAYI CITY INTERNATIONAL BAND FESTIVAL 嘉義市國際管樂節

“NORTHEAST COAST SUNRISE ACTIVITIES” 東北角迎曙光系列活動

Where can you experience a happy big dose of Christmas spirit in the Taipei area come December?

While in Western countries Christmas is for many the most important festival of the year, in Taiwan, where followers of the Christian faith make up only about 4.5% of the population, it is naturally of lesser importance. There is, however, one bigtime Christmas-themed event, Christmasland in New Taipei City’s Banqiao District. The center of attention each year is a giant artificial Christmas tree, illuminated with a sophisticated light and imagery show. The façade of the New Taipei City government building also serves as a gigantic canvas for an entertaining animation show. newtaipei.travel

Held for the first time in 1993, the Chiayi City International Band Festival has become one the most celebrated annual events in Taiwan. It not only highlights and builds upon Chiayi’s rich cultural heritage, but it also provides a platform upon which the city can demonstrate its unique charm to the world.

In addition to the festival, local schools have been active in developing many band-music classes and clubs. They have increasingly engaged in exchanges with leading foreign bands and symphonies, helping to further promote musical culture in Chiayi. This has helped transform the city into a premier destination for music enthusiasts, as well as a marvelous place to enjoy a wonderful multifacted cultural atmosphere. www.chiayiband.com.tw

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Facing the great Pacific Ocean on its east, Taiwan is among the first lands on our planet to greet the first rays of the sun as each new year dawns. While enchanting sunrises can be enjoyed from countless spots along the eastern coast from Bitou Cape in the north to the southernmost tip of the island (Eluanbi), there are a number of locations especially popular with sungazers, including Sanxiantai in Taitung and Qixingtan in Hualien. In the greater Taipei area, heading to Fulong Beach is highly recommended. It’s easy to reach from Taipei City, and there is live music entertainment (4am~7am) keeping you warm on a likely chilly morning (sunrise happens around 6:30am). www.necoast-nsa.gov.tw

©Taipei City Govt.

©Taipei City Govt.

2 ©Tainan City Govt.

©New Taipei City Govt.

3

4

©Chiayi County Govt.

©North Coast and Guanyinshan NSA

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Taiwan Tourism Events Calendar Website

NOV/DEC 2023

5

TRAVEL NEWS

HAPPENING in TAIWAN Now A lot is happening in Taiwan’s tourism industry these days, with new tourist attractions and facilities being created and old sites being restored and beautified. And even without any manmade changes, the island’s superb scenic beauty is alone always reason enough to come for a visit!

1

Renovation of Hotel Provintia Tainan Completed Old Tainan hands know that Fort Provintia is the old name of Chikan Tower, one of the best-known tourist attractions in the city. Named after the old fort and located just to its northeast, Hotel Provintia is a gem of a hotel that fans of nostalgia should definitely check out.

Lovingly restored over the past three years, the hotel (90 guestrooms, including some with excellent views of Chikan Tower) is a complete work of art. From the stylish furniture in the guestrooms, to communal facilities such as a library to the Western restaurant, the hotel makes guests feel as though being transported back into a time gone by.

provintia.com.tw

If you take a train from Taipei to the East Coast, wait for the moment after the train has passed the New Taipei City village of Fulong and exits the next tunnel. In an instant you will see the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean and Turtle Island in the not-too-far distance. This is the type of view you can take in from numerous locations along the Yilan County coast, some of which have manmade facilities, like the brand-new Dafu Observation Platform, part of the Dafu Seaside Recreation Area in Zhuangwei Township. This is an excellent spot for sunrise gazing or for taking a rest on coastal bike rides.

enwww.e-land.gov.tw

New Tourist Attractions in Chiayi Chiayi is best known for the Alishan National Scenic Area and the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum, but there are more tourist attractions in store for curious travelers. Close to Jourdeness Castle Biotech Park, a large and complete newly built Baroque-style castle complex north of Chiayi City, Gaia Manor is smaller in size but equally attractive, with the large white building featuring tall columns and surrounded by a garden with fountains and gazebos. Both sites are great for taking selfies, dining, and shopping. While in the area, also check out Chia Nan Food’s Ball Planet museum, a fun place where you can learn all about meatballs.

chateau.jourdeness.com; www.gaiamanor.com www.chianan-food.com.tw

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Aviation Pavilion in Taichung’s Central Park Taichung City’s vast Central Park covers nearly 70ha and is home to more than 10,000 trees. Ingeniously designed, it features 12 so-called Senses of Field Areas, allowing visitors to enjoy different sensory experiences. Toward the southern end of the park is a visitor center that is worth a visit in it’s own right. Inside, you can learn about the park itself and also about the original tenant of this wide open space, Shuinan Airport. The center is designed like a small airport where visitors can have a great time experiencing what flying is like, including sitting in a mock-up airplane cabin and a flight simulator.

cpark.taichung.gov.tw

6

@Chiayi County Govt.

3

©Yilan County Govt.

New Observation Platform on Yilan Coast

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©Taichung City Govt.

2

New Outlook After Tourism Bureau Was Upgraded to Tourism Administration

TE X T V I SI O N

T

his September, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau was officially upgraded to become the Taiwan Tourism Administration. This has been one of three key recent Ministry of Transportation and Communications tourism initiatives, along with the hosting of a national tourism policy development conference and publication of the 2030 Tourism Policy White Paper. The upgrade will strengthen the agency’s tourism-related organizational f unctions and enhance its capabilities in areas such as formulating and implementing policies geared toward integrating tourism resources, strengthening the base of domestic tourism, and expanding inbound international tourism markets.

Appointed as the inaugural head of the administration is Chou Yung-hui, who already served as Director General of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau from 2016 to 2020. One of his first main missions will be to bring the number of international visitors coming to Taiwan back to prepandemic levels (around 12 million annually) in 2024. With the organization’s upgrading, the number of personnel is going to increase significantly, which will facilitate achievement of the sustainable tourism goals set forth in the white paper. The Tourism Administration is also going to be better equipped to assist the local tourism industry, including legal-accommodation development, education, and training, a crackdown on illegal operations, creation of job opportunities, advancement of smart tourism.

The increased budget and workforce will also allow the administration to further explore international travel markets, with attention directed toward a recovery of inbound travel from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In addition, the administration will accelerate its reach into markets such as Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom.

Heping Island (©North Coast and Guanyinshan NSA)

Xiangshan Visitor Center (©Sun Moon Lake NSA)

In recent years, the Tourism Administration has improved and upgraded Taiwan’s tourism infrastructure to bring it up to inter national standards, suppor t the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, and promote green tourism. Entering various domestic and foreign compet it ion s ce ntered on tou r ism, w it h a foc us on green tourism, innovative tourism measures, landscape design, promotional videos, etc., the administration’s work has been recognized and received a large number of prestigious awards, increasing Taiwan’s international reputation and creating additional oppor t unities for tourism marketing exposure.

Selected Recent Awards and Recognitions Received by National Scenic Areas (NSA) North Coast & Guanyinshan NSA Alabao Bay Secret Land Reappearance Plan, Heping Island, Keelung

2023 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Awards – Tourism Destination Resilience (Asia Pacific)

Northeast and Yilan Coast NSA Northeast and Yilan Coast

2020 Green Destinations Award – Gold

Sun Moon Lake NSA Sun Moon Lake, Nantou County

2022 Green Destinations Award – Silver Tri-Mountain NSA

2021 Lishan Land Art Festival – Between Mountains

2021 Magellan Awards – Silver Winner (Destination MarketingPromotional Video)

Sun Moon Lake (©Sun Moon Lake NSA)

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7

CULTURE & ART

Culture Concerts, Theater, Exhibitions, Festivals, Shows

Exhibition WAKING WONDERLAND 再遊仙境 我阿嬤是愛麗絲

Until December 31 Huashan 1914 Creative Park ( Taipei City ) Waking Wonderland is the world’s first full-scale immersive interactive show in Chinese and English, providing the audience with a unique language experience. The exhibition is the result of transnational cooperation between the content studio Secret Location, winner of the first Emmy Award for virtual reality works, and the Taiwanese team RYB Studio. The Waking Wonderland story is adapted from the classic story Alice in Wonderland, bringing the audience into a fantasy world filled with poetry, fantasy, and philosophical thinking, triggering the audience to think about the boundary between reality and fantasy.

www.huashan1914.com (Chinese)

Editor's

CHOICE

Opera

CENDRILLON BY JULES MASSENET 馬斯內歌劇《灰姑娘》

December 14~17 National Taichung Theater ( Taichung City ) Based on the fairy tale Cinderella, Cendrillon is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet (1842~1912) to a French libretto by Henri Caïn, conceived in the final years of the 19th century. This production is a vibrant spectacle brought to life in a cooperation among the Royal Opera House in London; Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium; Opéra de Lille in France; and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain. French director Laurent Pelly’s fantastical vision adds a stylish and romantic touch to the beloved tale. Featuring beautiful love duets and lively ballet dance, the production transforms Massenet's opera into a colorful storybook.

www.npac-ntt.org

Dance CHEN WU-KANG & PICHET KLUNCHUN: CHOREOGRAPHING STORY 陳武康 X 皮歇・克朗淳《野台羅摩》

November 11~19 National Theater ( Taipei City )

“Choreographing Story is a collaborative work that explores Southeast Asian dance traditions and the practice of storytelling. Inspired by the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the project was conceived by acclaimed choreographers Chen Wu-kang of Taiwan and Pichet Klunchun of Thailand, who spent two years in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia engaging in field work and studying with master practitioners of traditional dance in these respective countries. This performance is a culmination of this research, and draws connections between stories, cultural memory, personal beliefs, and the act of interpretation.”

npac-ntch.org

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Exhibition THE GRAVITY REALM: UNVEILING THE SECRETS OF BLACK HOLES AND GRAVITATIONAL WAVES 驚心洞波：黑洞暨重力波特展

Until April 7, 2024 National Museum of Natural Science ( Taichung City ) “The concept behind the exhibition The Gravity Realm is to present the latest research findings and future directions of modern physics to the audience through the integration of science and art. Through a sleek and contemporary design style and rich interactive experiences, we aim to provide the audience with a deep understanding and exploration of the mysterious beauty of the universe and physics. Simultaneously, the exhibition serves as a platform for conveying ideas and values, inspiring curiosity and thought to the audience, and guiding them in the exploration and discovery of science, art, and culture.”

www.nmns.edu.tw

Theater/Circus EXHIBITION ANTHROPOCENE

人類世－凝視．消逝中的地表

Until December 3 Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts ( Kaohsiung City ) “ T h e K a o h s i u n g M u s e u m o f F i n e A r t s i s p l e a s e d to p r e s e n t Anthropocene, a thought-provoking special exhibition exploring issues of sustainability through the power of art. Featuring the work of esteemed photographer Edward Burtynsky and documentary directors Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, Anthropocene uses photographs, films, and augmented reality technology to illustrate the ways in which humans have impacted the planet.”

www.kmfa.gov.tw

LES 7 DOIGTS – PASSAGERS 加拿大七手指特技劇場《魔幻列車》

December 15-17 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Weiwuying ( Kaohsiung City )

Editor's

CHOICE

Les 7 Doigts (“The 7 Fingers”) is an arts collective founded in 2002 with the mission “to redefine ‘circus’ by stripping down the spectacle to its thrilling essence.”

The contemporary company tells stories using deathdefying acrobatics with a life-affirming theatricality that is unique to The 7 Fingers. “Railway” is the theme of the production Passagers (“Passengers”), used to convey new beginnings and reminiscences. The show is a mix of theater, dance, music, and projection, creating a unique circus aesthetic.

www.npac-weiwuying.org 7fingers.com

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

Eastern Taiwan:

Adventure Playground Hiking on Native Hunting Trails, Forest Ziplining, Butterfly Tracking, and More TE X T R I C K C H A R E T T E

P H OTOS R AY C H A N G, V I SI O N

What is the Eastern Taiwan region? For the tourist, it’s a monumental nature adventure park. “Hidden away” from Taiwan’s heavily populated north end and west side by the thick Central Mountain Range, this is a balmy realm of few people and few vehicles that entices the adventurous with such tantalizing place names as East Rift Valley, Taroko Gorge, Qingshui Cliff, Luye Plateau, and Zhiben Hot Springs.

Fuyuan Suspension Bridge in the Fuyuan Forest Recreation Area

EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

O

ur goal in this Travel in Taiwan expedition is fun in the great outdoors, and our platforms for this frolicking are eastern Taiwan’s East Rift Valley National Scenic Area (www.erv-nsa.gov. tw) and East Coast National Scenic Area (www.eastcoast-nsa.gov.tw), both run by the Taiwan Tourism Administration (until recently Taiwan Tourism Bureau). The long East Rift Valley, broad floor decorated with bright-colored crops in neat grids, runs north-south between the small, placid cities of Hualien and Taitung. Separating it from the Pacific coast region of the second national scenic area, painted with palm trees and pristine breaker-washed beaches, is the low, quickly traversed Coastal Mountain Range. Following, we showcase a quintet of quintessential outdoor-experience options.

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

HUALIEN Fuyuan Forest Recreation Area One of the thrills enjoyed while f lowing through the East Rift Valley along Provincial Highway 9 is staring off into the countless deep, steep-sided side valleys of the Central Mountain Range, which pass you by one after another after another, each calling out to the traveler promising a novel world of adventure.

T h e b e a u t i e s - b o u n t e o u s F u y u a n Fo r e s t Recreation Area (entry fee for non-hotel guests; see below) is located inside the yawning mouth of one of these mountain-piercing slices not far northwest of the rift valley town of Ruisui, renowned for its hot springs and resorts. The side-valley portal is about 3km in from the village of Fuyuan, beside Highway 9.

Local Hualien-Yuli milk-run trains stop at Fuyuan.

The focus here is on eco-tourism. Totaling 190ha, the foothills-surrounded enclave, high peaks looming to the west, was carved by the rugged boulder-strewn Fuyuan Stream. There’s an extensive trail system, shortest pathway 800m, longest about 1.5km. You’ll maunder through the largest stand of camphor trees of any Taiwan recreation area – “forest recreation areas” are managed by the national-level Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (www.forest.gov. tw). These are all retired logging areas; the camphortree forest here was planted about four decades ago.

Explanatory plaques have been set up along the trails, plying you with illumination on this nonpareil insect, bird, plant, and geological gem repository.

The area is roughly divided into two zones, lower and upper. The lower zone in the entrance area, along the Fuyuan Stream’s lower reaches, features comparatively gentle-grade terrain. This is occupied by the Butterf ly Valley Resort, home to most of the recreation area’s manmade amenities, run by a commissioned private enterprise. These include the small upscale Butterfly Valley Resort hotel (see our accompanying Local Stay article), landscaped gardens, a butterf ly museum, and an outdoor hotspring spa.

Chinese-language guided eco-tours are available, launching from the hotel (1.5hrs; fee for non-hotel guests). Your trained guide takes you through the resort zone and along lower-area trails, moving upward alongside the Fuyuan Stream. You then move into the steeper-sloped and much larger upper area, which has been left largely pristine beyond the necessary tourist-access trail constructions.

The general dividing marker between the lower and upper areas is the Fuyuan Suspension Bridge, which jumps the stream. The forest is busy with bird business (40 species, most among low-altitude Taiwan parks); you’ll see the Taiwan Blue Magpie and Taiwan Hwamei, and in winter watch for the migratory Green-backed Tit and Yellow Tit. Your guide will show you where natural hot springs intermittently pop up in the gravelly earth alongside the water way. Further upstream, the comparatively broad valley narrows into a gorge, where you’ll traverse the dramatically hung Longyin Suspension Bridge on the way to discovering a series of misty waterfalls that cascade over sheer cliffs. The show-stopper is the Longyin Waterfall, spurting in a thin stream through a crack in the towering stone monolith rising above the rushing river below.

The forest recreation area is also commonly refe r red to a s “But te r f ly Va l ley” – he nce t he reference in the alluring “Butterf ly Valley Resort” name – and these flutter-by splashes of color swarm the scene, accompanying the birds March~August, best time to view starting May (70 species recorded).

Once the feathered airborne actors exit the stage on spring and autumn nights, ethereal pinpoints of bright light will be seen magically appearing and as quickly disappearing throughout the lower valley – firefly entertainers entering the stage on cue.

FUYUAN FOREST RECREATION AREA ( 富源國家森林遊樂區 ) (03) 881-2377 No. 161, Guangdong Rd., Ruisui Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣瑞穗鄉廣東路 161 號 ) recreation.forest.gov.tw/en/Forest/RA?typ_id=0800001

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Butterfly Valley Resort entrance

Longyin Waterfall ©Butterfly Valley Resort

Fuyuan Stream

Longyin Suspension Bridge ©Butterfly Valley Resort

HUALIEN Liyu Lake Liyu (Carp) Lake is in the central-mountain foothills southwest of Hualien City, on Highway 9C. Measuring 104ha in area, 15m in depth, this is eastern Taiwan’s largest lake. In a basin, surrounded by lush mountainsides, it is 1.6km in length and 930m across at its widest point.

Five low peaks stand shoulder to shoulder around it, their collective contour outline resembling rolling waves of deep emerald hue. On misty-moist days the tableau seems lifted straight from a classical Chinese shanshui painting.

This is a barrier lake, its genesis a series of natural events, the main two being the diversion of waters from a source river on the south along with silting at the lake’s north end that caused a blockage of water exit.

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Beyond its soft scenic beauty, the jadeite waters blending seamlessly with the bracketing steep-slope green foliage, what makes this an extremely popular tourist destination is the plethora of manmade tourist draws, recreational to culinary. On weekends and holidays this is a busy place indeed; on non-holiday weekdays the many different types of colorful resident and migratory birds find it quiet enough to come out and sing for you.

Among the varied tourist facilities are a visitor center, swantheme pedal boat, canoe, kayak, stand-up paddleboard, motorboat with driver, and bicycle rentals (standard and electric), a 4-plus km paved ring route providing pleasant

EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

walking and cycling, camping/picnic areas, easy-challenge trails taking you up the hills, and eateries aplenty.

On arrival, recommended is a check-out of the visitor center, which has good information about the area. It’s beside Highway 9C, which runs along the lake’s west side. Beyond the quality educational displays, gift shop, and café, it offers a BBQ area, picnic tables, viewing tower, jade sales shop (Hualien produces quality jade), and several food stalls.

Liyu Lake’s many recreation-equipment rental enterprises are all spread out along the west side, beside the highway or at waterside (note: rental facilities at the visitor center as well). The lake-loop cycling/walking path is moderate-grade gentle, and is very tranquil on the east side, where it runs largely along forest-edge waterside at a mountain base and there is negligible development. One section, close to the visitor center, is built right out over the lake waters. The loop takes about an hour on foot. Rest and picnic spots are spaced out along the way.

If you take a motorboat ride (about 20mins), your driver/guide will take you out in a counter-clockwise direction, moving slowly while plying the west-side waters to avoid creating choppiness for all the self-propelled craft. Then, on the placid east side, where few of these craft venture, he’ll open things up to provide a big speed thrill, zigzagging along and a few times jumping the wake of your own or another motorboat (don’t fret, safety at all times a priority).

All the while, your knowledgeable captain will be plying you with golden info nuggets on all manner of local-theme subjects.

Restaurants and cold-drinks sellers abound along the 9C section, facing the lake on the roadway’s west side. The eateries are openfaçade Chinese-cuisine operations with simple no-nonsense decor, serving hearty group-eat fare at banquet-style tables. Signature Liyu Lake dishes include spicy & crispy stir-fried lake shrimp, shrimp cakes, and fish head casserole. The go-to cold drink is papaya milk.

Liyu Lake cycling path

Swan pedal boats

Aerial view of the lake (©East Rift Valley NSA)

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HUALIEN Akay Play Life Xilin Village is a Truku tribe settlement located on the south side of the wide and mostly-dry bed (outside of typhoon periods) of the Shoufeng R iver at the mouth of the deep valley where the waterway exits the Central Mountain Range. During the 1895~1945 Japanese colonial p e r io d m a ny t r i ba l v i l l a ge s located deep up mountai n valleys were resettled to such locations in f latlands areas for

safety and control reasons; this practice continued into the early period of Nationalist rule.

Akay Play Life is a youth s t a r t- u p l a u n c h e d i n 2 0 21.

“A k ay ” i s t h e n ic k n a m e o f the head individual, a village r e t u r ne e who c a me ba c k to reestablish his cultural roots.

The enterprise has a number of goals – community building, bringing structure and direction to local youths’ lives; educational

promotion, enabling outsiders to better understand the Truku world; and sustainable leisure tou r i s m. Wit h d e velo p me nt of the local traditional tribal culture and natural resources a s fo u nd a t io n , a me d le y of experiential learning activities and tours have been crafted.

Guided group outings, which can be either a half-day or fullday long, are built around one of four participatory choices:

Shoufeng River in the late afternoon

EASTERN TAIWAN

making traditional Truku-style banana cake, cutting bamboo sections to make bamboo-tube rice, gathering bird’s-nest fern, or digging up taro (for the last three, groups head out to the nearby forest’s edge). The culinary harvest from each option features in the grand alfresco Truku-theme feast that caps the day, and each outing also includes an informative guided walk through the village.

The banana cake-making DIY takes place in a traditional-style bamboo hut, built using age-old techniques still remembered by village elders. The cakes were traditionally served at festivals and when treating important guests. The mashed banana is today mixed with sticky rice instead of millet, the classic Taiwan-indigene grain staple, wrapped in banana leaves, and boiled.

Also part of the Akay Play Life experience is a village walking tour. You’ll inspect a mock-up of a watchtower, once commonly found in Taiwan indigenous settlements, where sentries watched for danger. Diamond-shaped totem decorations are also pointed out all around; these represent the eyes of the ancestors, who watch over all, giving blessings and protection. Other traditional symbols seen on building facades include looms, facial tattoos, and machetes; in the past, a female required excellence in sewing and loom weaving to receive facial tattooing, and a male required successful hunting or headhunting.

After the activities you are invited to cool down with a foot (or more) soak in one of the narrow irrigation channels, where villagers come to wash utensils and clothes and cool down in the rushing pristine mountain-sourced water themselves. The Qingshui Canal irrigation system was constructed in the 1920s/1930s to irrigate nearby paddy fields cultivated by Japanese immigrants brought in by the colonial authorities in an effort to ease homeland ove r popu lat ion. I n t he post-W W I I pe r iod t he Nationalist government encouraged the Truku to engage in irrigated terrace farming, but they have persisted in the customary dryland cultivation of millet, taro, sweet potatoes, and red quinoa, all of which feature prominently at your day’s-end feast.

The dining experience happens in a large openfaced hut in a small Akay-created recreational park.

You’re first invited to join in stuffing the necessary goodies into the aforementioned bamboo sections to create the classic indigenous bamboo-tube rice delicacy. During the repast you’re also invited to help cook the sourced bird’s-nest fern in a giant wok over a hut-floor wood fire. Each of the many courses served has a special Truku-culture significance, explained by your hosts as you tuck in.

Note: transpor t can be ar ranged to/from nearby Shoufeng Railway Station.

Forest Adventures

Xilin Village watchtower

Freshly harvested bird's nest fern

Cooked bird's nest fern

Barbecued wild-boar meat

AKAY PLAY LIFE ( 阿改玩生活 ) (03) 877-2862 No. 162-1, Neighborhood 9, Xilin Village, Wanrong Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣萬榮鄉西林村 9 鄰 162-1 號 ) www.facebook.com/Akay.playlife

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

Homestay guestroom

TAITUNG Juhu Ecological Park Now, a jump over the Coastal Mountain Range to the coast.

Juhu Ecological Park is a pr ivate operation t hat provides outdoor-advent u re ser v ices and env i ron menta l- educat ion activities (English service available). The park takes up a large portion of the bowl-shaped land at the inner end of a long, shallow Coastal Mountain Range valley that opens onto the surf-crashed coast at Zhuhu Village on Provincial Highway 11, not far north of the renowned Sanxiantai (“Three Immortals Platform”) tourist attraction.

“Zhuhu” (like “Juhu” in the park’s name) means “bamboo lake.” When the Japanese brought Han Chinese farming settlers over from Taiwan’s west side during the 1895-1945 colonial period, the homesteaders saw the bamboo covering this lake-basinlike valley and chose this as place name (previously this was a hunting/trapping ground for the local indigenous people). Today’s eco-park is on the farmland opened up by the forefather of the husband in the park’s owner-couple duo.

The team is passionate about eco-protection. For a long time they operated their inheritance as a certified organic farm, but with wildlife slowly returning and crop damage increasing, their main business these days is providing outdoor-adventure services, including ziplining, rope-bridge and tree-climbing obstacle course challenges, eco-education activities, and a homestay facility (separate fee for each of the activities). Organic fruits are grown, with stress on types the local wildlife, such as Formosan

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Restaurant entrance Swing with superb view (©Juhu Eco Park)

EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

Frog pond

Acorns

macaques, will leave be. The husband, a tree lover, has also introduced scores of oak and other species to the park.

With the Canopy Zipline experience, you’ll be zooming along what is Taiwan’s longest canopy zipline. It’s 500m long, with a 60m altitude change. Along your heart-thumping hurtle through space, the boundless Pacific will be on your left, forest treetops below, and if you’re lucky, native raptors will be spotted swirling above. The line will soon be extended to 900m, providing section-zipping that is not so steep and fast, allowing more concentration on the surrounding natural world. To furnish visitors with peace of mind concerning quality and safety, the zipline facilities are inspected annually by the ACCT (Association for Challenge Course Technology), a globe-leading US standards and certification organization.

T he rope-br idge and t ree- climb cha l lenges a re pa r t of the Trilinear Bridge, Road of Vines program. This is a non-competitive program designed to get people close to nature, become familiar with the unpredictability of natural landscapes, improve physical coordination, balance, and strength, and mentally overcome self-created obstacles. There’s also a special Project Adventure program specially designed for parents/kids, and a youth-only Summer Camp.

With the Master Naturalist Challenge program, you’re given nine separate nature-exploration missions that get you

engaged with the environment, encouraging you to acquire a sensitivity to your natural surroundings that you’ll hopefully make part of your everyday experience on returning home. The missions rise in level of difficulty and amount of time required, though all are easy to understand and accomplish. You need not do them in order. With each successful task completion you receive a reward; finish all nine and receive a “big” reward.

An example of one of the missions is Mammal Maniac. Eight mammal types are found in the park, and you’re charged with spotting or identifying the presence (with location pinpointed) of muntjacs, macaques, boars, mongooses, and squirrels (Pallas’s squirrel), after being given pointers on identifying tracks, feces, digging signs, typical plant damage, etc.

An outdoor nature classroom and farm/forest tour is part of each experience. Also available is a rustic open-sided restaurant that serves light Chinese/Western fare and stresses seasonal farm-grown ingredients.

JUHU ECOLOGICAL PARK ( 竹湖山居櫟見之丘生態園區 ) (089) 832-383 No. 41, Neighborhood 1, Zhuhu Village, Changbin Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣長濱鄉竹湖村 1 鄰 41 號 ) www.juhu.com.tw

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Forest Adventures

Bunun-theme feast

TAITUNG Uninang Back in the East Rift Valley again, at the south end, Yongkang Village is a Bunun tribe mountain-slope settlement just northwest of the Luye Highland tourism hub. It looks out from its Central Mountain Range perch across the rift valley at the Coastal Mountain Range’s Dulan Mountain, the area’s highest peak. The mountain is sacred to and protected by both the Bunun and Amis peoples (valley side traditional Bunun land, coastal side Amis land).

The village’s Uninang Multicultural Workshop has become a key center of community activity and identity. Uninang is a Bunun word meaning “thank you” or “bless you.” The workshop was founded by two village returnees, with the mission of preserving, sharing, and promoting the Bunun’s traditional culture.

And, as with Akay Play Life, an accompanying mission is demonstrating how old-time Bunun ways and wisdom can be made part of high-quality modern slow and sustainable living.

Various experience activities are available that keep you at the workshop (groups only; guides speak Chinese), but by far the most popular offering is the Hunter’s Outdoor Dining Table trail and feast Guide in traditional attire 20

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EASTERN TAIWAN

experience, a 5~6-hour outing that takes you through thick forest high up the mountain on the village’s north along a centuries-old hunter’s trail, finishing with a traditionalstyle Bunun feast at a clearing lookout with a spectacular eagle’s-nest-vantage view over the rift valley. Your warriorcostumed guides teach you about ancient tracking, trapping, and hunting techniques, timeworn foodways, and much else. You’re on the trail about two hours; grades are easy save for two short, steep sections. (Note: If you don’t have your own group, it’s possible to be added to another.)

At the forest-entry trail point, trekkers are invited to join a blessing rite greeting the Bunun’s ancestors and asking them for their blessings and a safe, fruitful journey.

Toward the trek’s end, contests are held in a small, treeshaded clearing using a traditional-style bow-and-arrow set and old-style spears, your g uides teaching proper technique. Winners are formally presented with Bunun handicraft gifts. A short ways higher, at journey’s end, as you emerge from the forest the contest winners serve in the role of hunters singing out their return to the village (their words and tones hinting at the hunt’s success), the costumed tribespeople preparing your hunter’s feast in the aforementioned clearing calling out in return.

At other stations along the trail you learn about such unique Bunun ways as setting up stone-slab traps to catch smaller animals, how the Yellow Rotang Palm’s bark was used to weave baskets and straps and how its tender core was a Bunun delicacy and a remedy to reduce internal body heat, how the Shoulang Yam was used to create a red dye for clothing (seen in your guides’ attire), and how Ma Bamboo clusters were planted to mark out property boundaries. As hinted with the “attire” statement, in all instances “is” can replace “was,” for these practices are still utilized.

Your many-course, extremely filling Bunun-theme feast is enjoyed in a gripping setting, by a cliff edge in a large, breezy pavilion-style structure with thatched roof, open sides, and earthen floor. Expeditioners grill their own pork in the traditional style at fire pits in the hut’s center, and are invited to participate in the spiritually moving pasibutbut chorus singing for which the Bunun are renowned, with ma les i n a ci rcle hum m i ng i n ha r mony, beseech i ng ancestors’ blessings with bounteous harvests and wellbeing.

At feast’s end you’re invited to don traditional Bunun ceremonial clothing and pose for photos.

Other quintessential Bunun culinary elements enjoyed during your banquet include millet with salty fish, yam and taro root, and wood-smoked chicken. During the meal, your hosts will explain each course and regale you with classic songs about homesickness, missing family/friends/lovers, and expressing heart-deep sorrows while drinking.

Note: transpor t can be ar ranged to/from nearby Luye Railway Station.

UNINANG ( 烏尼囊多元文化工作坊 ) 0988-815-808 No. 82-2, Taiping Rd., Yongkang Village, Yanping Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣延平鄉永康村泰平路 82-2 號 ) www.facebook.com/uninang.taluhan

Forest Adventures

BBQ fun

Singing during the banquet ENGLISH AND CHINESE Amis tribe 阿美族 Bunun tribe 布農族 Butterfly Valley 蝴蝶谷 Central Mountain Range 中央山脈 Canopy Zipline 樹冠滑索 Coastal Mountain Range 海岸山脈 Dulan Mountain 都蘭山 Fuyuan (Stream) 富源 ( 溪 ) Fuyuan Suspension Bridge 富源吊橋 Hunter's Outdoor Dining Table 獵人野食餐桌 Liyu Lake 鯉魚潭 Longyin Suspension Bridge 龍吟吊橋 Longyin Waterfall 龍吟瀑布 Luye Highland 鹿野高台 Mammal Maniac 野獸狂人 Project Adventure 探索教育 Qingshui Canal 清水圳 Ruisui 瑞穗 Shoufeng Railway Station 壽豐車站 Shoufeng River 壽豐溪 Summer Camp 夏令營 Trilinear Bridge, Road of Vines 三索橋、蔓藤路 Truku tribe 太魯閣族 Xilin Village 西林村 Yongkang Village 永康村 Zhuhu 竹湖 Zhuhu Village 竹湖村

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MAP

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Romantic Life Making Engaged Couples from Abroad Fall in Love with Taiwan!

Photography that depicts forever-lasting romance, vividly presenting couples' love stories paired with the beauty of Taiwan throughout the four seasons

Unique Travel-Themed Wedding Photography – Highly Popular in Southeast Asia What is the most popular wedding photography style for engaged couples? The answer is: travel-themed wedding photography! In 2013, Romantic Life, a wellknown local wedding photography studio, began to offer wedding photography that combines travel, photography, fine food, and accommodation. The company has since attracted a large number of engaged couples from overseas coming to Taiwan to take pre-wedding photos and do sightseeing at the same time, leaving with the most beautiful memories of this island of treasures.

For ma ny people, pre-wedd i ng photos a re t he most i mpor t a nt and cherished photos in their lives. But these images are often only shown at the wedding banquet and will then be stored somewhere at home after the wedding.

The travel-themed wedding photographs taken by Romantic Life, however, are more like family treasures. Couples surely want to look at these images again and again in the future to remember and relive those beautiful times.

Apple, the creative director of Romantic Life, says that trips and experiences abroad can be perfect catalysts for intense affections within couples. On journeys through a foreign country many a natural and vivid romantic image is created.

Romantic Life does much more than taking photos in a studio or in a set location.

Having traveled to many different countries around the world, Apple believes that Taiwan has an abundance of world-class scenic attractions, fine food, and excellent accommodation options and is perfectly suited for tourists going on travel-themed wedding photography tours.

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Advertorial Not Just Wedding Photography, But Also Romantic Journeys Before engaged couples arrive in Taiwan, the professional team of Romantic Life will communicate with them via email and talk about their preferences and wishes for their pre-wedding photographs. After arrival, the couples will be picked up from the airport. All arrangements are made and all services are provided according to the needs of every individual couple. Apple points out: “Our expertise lies in helping engaged couples without experience to discover their own personalities and unique characteristics. Each look is tailor-made, the makeup and styling mostly kept natural.

When the couples look at their images in the future, they won’t start thinking that in the images they look different from real life.”

After the styling has been agreed upon, a dedicated driver will take the couples on 3-day-2-night trips. The service includes transportation, meals, sightseeing, accommodation, and styling. According to Apple, Romantic Life offers five different wedding photography itineraries, featuring some of Taiwan’s top tourist attractions and the most delicious local food. Among the locations in northern Taiwan customers can choose from are Yangmingshan with picturesque mountains all year round; Maokong, known for its tea plantations and teahouses; the spectacular mountain town of Jiufen; Jingtong with its nostalgic railway station; and the North Coast with Greek-style cafés and more.

During trips, photographs are taken on the side to record every moment of true love between couples

Apple believes that travel-themed wedding photography can help to promote Taiwan as a beautiful tourist destination

In the evening, couples are taken to locations where they can taste traditional Taiwanese snack foods, such as the famous Shilin, Keelung Miaokou, and Luodong night markets.

Staying in unique motels allows visitors from abroad to get a taste of the happiness and elegance that can only be enjoyed in Taiwan. All the couples need to do is to relax and have fun along the way. The photographer will capture all the happy and beautiful moments creating a story of unforgettable memories. Photos are also taken in more natural settings, with the couples wearing casual clothes, every bit of true love being recorded.

Because of the highly creative nature of this type of wedding photography and the excellent value for money, thousands of couples from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries came here last year to take wedding photos while traveling. The reviews were excellent.

Apple says with a smile that just like the well-k nown documentary Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above, during these wedding photo trips many couples were deeply moved by the beauty of Taiwan. The purpose of travel-themed wedding photography is also to promote the beaut y of Taiwan.

“Romantic Life wishes to contribute to the development of tourism here. Hopefully more foreign tourists will get to know and fall in love with Taiwan!”

Romantic Life

• In 2004, the company entered the overseas markets to promote wedding photography in Taiwan. Currently there are overseas offices in Hong Kong and Macau.

• For seven consecutive years, from 2007 to 2013, Romantic Life was the only wedding photography studio in Taiwan ranked as most favorite wedding photography studio by couples from abroad on Asia’s largest wedding website “ESDlife”.

• In 2013, the company won the highest honor in the "Asia's Top Wedding Dress Company Honor Awards.”

• In 2008, the company was commissioned by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau to assist in promotions to attract overseas couples to come to Taiwan for taking wedding photos.

Website

• In 2016~2020 the company received the Gold Medal Award by the National Federation of Photography Associations Gold Medal Award • The company also received the Gold Medal Award in the North Coast Wedding Photography Competition held by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (MOTC) No. 26, Fushun Street, Zhongshan District, Taipei City (台北市中山區撫順街 26 號 ) +886 2 2598-6868 http://www.romanticlife.tw/ https://www.facebook.com/romanticlife.tw/ TR AVEL IN TAIWAN

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Fun Along the Coast

Up the Hualien Coast!

Recommended Places and Experiences to Fill Up a Multi-Day Trip TE X T R I C K C H A R E T T E

P H OTOS R AY C H A N G, V I SI O N

In this file we take you along the Pacific shore in friendly, easy-going Hualien County, moving south to north from Shitiping (“Stone Steps Platform”) to Qixingtan (“Seven Star Lake”) just above Hualien City. Your reading mission here is to get a sense of the region’s myriad oceanside fun-quest options – indoor and outdoor, manmade and nature-designed.

Snorkeling at Shitiping

T

aiwan’s East Coast. Sun, sand. Mountain, sea. Whalewatching, bike-riding, hiking, ziplining. Indigenous villages, bucolic farm-field settings, compact fishing ports, culinary treasures fresh from harvested sea and field.

Leisurely, healthy vacations.

This is a romantic land, preser ved f rom unfet tered tourist access by Taiwan’s mighty Great Wall of north-south mountain rock, the Central Mountain Range. The coastal

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driving – think unhurried, restful surfside drives on quality highway in Hawaii, or California’s Big Sur coastline. Above Hualien City your inland backdrop is the central range. Below it the Coastal Mountain Range is your constant close-at-hand inland companion, all the way to Taitung City. In this Travel in Taiwan foray we intro some quintessential Hualien coast-side touring destinations.

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Fun Along the Coast

Idang offers kayak and diving experiences at Shitiping (© Idang)

Fengbin Township Shitiping – the name means “stone steps platform.” This is a striking 1km-long headland geolog ica l for mat ion for med of ter raced volcanic rock and raised-coral structures that collectively form what looks like a staircase rising out to sea. The ocean’s monumental erosive powers are in powerful evidence here – all about are kettle holes, blowholes, trenches, and surging tide pools. The teeming marine life attracts a steady current of fishermen, shellfish collectors, and scuba divers. The distinctive ecology that has taken root here features such oceanside-adapted plants as screw pine, cactus, and morning glory. Wellmaintained wooden boardwalks and pathways wend t h roug h t he site. T here isn’t much shade, so bring water; there’s also ice cream, popsicles, and other cooling goodies available at the Shitiping Scenic Area visitor center.

Highly recommended at Shitiping is an Idang experience. Idang is an enterprise launched by the local Amis tribe sub-group, the Makotaay, a com mu n it y i n it i at ive t h at i nt r odu ce s Shitiping’s marine environment to visitors from the native perspective. Its May~October guided experience sessions (Chinese, limited English) generally run 2~4 hours. These range from nature talks with intertidal-zone walks to kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkeling, and diving, as well as special trips to the Xiuguluan River (3.5km south of Shitiping) to learn about traditional fishing techniques -including night-fishing forays using torches.

IDANG ( 依浪 ) idang.rezio.shop/zh-tw (Chinese) www.facebook.com/idangexplore

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Fun Along the Coast

Shoufeng Township The first major tourist site found along the coast south of Hualien City is the very large Farglory Ocean Park, spread over 51 hectares.

It is adjacent to the Hualien Visitor Center of the East Coast National Scenic Area.

This is the most popular attraction on the Hualien coast, if you discount the magnificent Taroko Gorge for not being right “on” it.

Multi-tiered, spread out on slopeland directly above the coastline and with constant sparkling views of the vast Pacific right before you wherever you are in the marine park, this place is a heck of a lot of fun, with rides galore and a fairytale castle, underwater world, marine-animal shows, and much else. Something important: stated management policy is to only use animals in shows that have been saved from unpleasant prospects, not snatched from free living in the wild. Another important note: you cannot possibly do this place justice unless you give it at least half a day.

Among the park’s superlatives: it is Taiwan’s first and only marine-ecology theme park, and Hualien County’s largest manmade tourist attraction. It has eight themed areas: Fishing Village, Discovery Island, Ocean Theater, Happy Street, Pirate’s Bay, Brighton Shore, Sea World, and Crystal Castle. Because the upper areas are significantly higher than the lower, many visitors will ride the Sky Lift cable-car line – terrific unobstructed coastline and ocean views from the gondolas – to the upper tier and work their way down. Similarly thrilling sky-high panoramas are taken in from the Love Wheel, a Ferris wheel 33m high and 101m in altitude, located in the mid-tier Happy Street zone.

The park has four show venues, the Ocean Theater, Sea Lion Theater, Crystal Castle, and Ocean Exploration Pavilion. In the Ocean Theater’s The Legend of Leaping Dolphins presentation, an old East Coast “Leaping Dolphins” legend is explored – yes, with live dolphins – stimulating spectators’ deeper connection with the ocean and deeper protective eco-consciousness. The Sea Lion Policeman provides an eco-protection lecture with slapstick sea lions as headliners, providing visitors with many eco-protection tips. The stars in the Crystal Castle’s Fantastic Sea World show are

Sky lift cable-car line

Ocean Theater dolphin show

Happy Street

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Discovery Island aquarium tunnel

live humans, in a show with Cirque du Soleil-style pageantry that combines elegant dances with special effects in a mysterious ocean world. In the Ocean Exploration Pavilion, enjoy the only show in Taiwan combining explanation of the manatee’s eco-world with a real-life mermaid performance. The “real-life” beauties, divers in mermaid costumes, interact with the “fake” mermaids, the manatees, while you learn about such info-gems as the story of how the belief that manatees were mermaids arose.

Also immensely popular are the different Ocean Experience Ac tivities, special ly desig ned for fami lies. T he Meet wit h the Dolphins Experience lets you interact with the resident dolphi ns, lear n how to com mun icate wit h t hem, and take photos while learning about their living environment as well as how to distinguish different types and recognize their unique characteristics. The Meet with the Sea Lions Experience is similar, with supervised play and interaction with the animals while learning about their living environment, family habits, and distinctive behaviors. During your The Ocean Never Sleeps 2-days, 1-night stay experience, you play at the amusement park during

the day and “sleep with the fishes” at night. Guides provide you with commentary on marine ecology, and while staying right at the aquarium at night you enjoy stargazing at the celestial bodies over the Pacific Ocean and listen to the crashing waves while surrounded by sea lions, stingrays, dolphins, and other marine animals. In the morning, Nemo the clownfish provides your wakeup call!

Perhaps the hottest ticket in the house, however (no, no actual ticket purchase required), are the aquarium feeding sessions in the morning and afternoon, with divers descending into the depths and big-name residents such as sharks, stingrays, and giant groupers slowing down to just above “pause” mode so you can get some good take-home pics.

FARGLORY OCEAN PARK ( 遠雄海洋公園 ) (03) 812-3199 No. 189, Fude, Yanliao Village, Shoufeng Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣壽豐鄉鹽寮村福德 189 號 ) www.farglory-oceanpark.com.tw

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Fun Along the Coast

Xincheng Township Qixingtan is a seaside recreation area of lovely landscape immediately north of Hualien City, the magnificent Qingshui Cliff in clear view to t he nor t h, nor t h of t he colossa l Ta roko Gorge’s mouth. Most think the name, “Seven Star Lake” in English, refers to the pretty-as-apicture shallow arcing bay of crystalline bluegreen Pacif ic waters here, beach kilometers long, invariably made even more photogenic by the local fishermen busy on their flat-bottomed craft close inshore. However, the name in fact originally referred to a lake that once existed on the site of today’s adjacent airport. In 1936, the Japanese colonial government filled it in to create this facility (ready yourself for the shrieks of fighter jets occasionally blasting off).

The lakeshore f ishing-family residents were moved to coast-side at the bay’s south end, site of today’s Qixingtan Scenic Area, replanting the “Qixingtan” place name here.

The scenic area’s north end is the north terminus of a breezy bikeway stretching south 21km to Hualien City’s Nanbin Park. You’ll likely see fishing craft pulled up on the gravelly beach here, a long w it h d r y i ng net s. Bi kerental stations are available near both the north and south ends, and the bikeway has many signboards explaining the local ecology and geology, many with English.

A mong t he va r iou s ot he r fac i l it ies a re t he Stone Sc u lp t u r e Pa rk , St a r Watc h i n g Plaza, Sunrise Building (Qixingtan’s sunrises are renow ned), children’s playg round, and seaside botanical garden. Save for the northend bike rentals and mid-area gathering of food stalls, most of the scenic area’s touristservice commercial enterprises are in compact Dahan Village, toward the south end, where the visitor center is located. These include places overlooking the village’s bikeway-boardwalk section where you can get ice cream, sit down to a coffee, and even have a light meal.

A lso i n Dahan Vi l lage is t he enjoyably enlightening Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum (www.katsuo.com.tw), housed in a distinctive lowroofed, wood-built structure purpose-constructed as a fish-processing factory in 1984. The museum explains the history of Taiwan katsuo production

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Riding along Qixingtan beach

Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum

since the Japanese era. “Katsuo” refers to bonito that is dried, fermented, smoked using longan wood, and from Qixingtan primarily exported to Japan in the form of bonito flakes. Bonito is caught in quantity in the bay’s shallow waters – a giant naturally occurring fish farm.

The factory was retired in the early 2000s when the industry slowed, and the museum opened in 2003. Among the most interesting of the manifold displays is a model of the prodigious multi-section net traps still used in the bay, video of the fishermen at work and marine life below, and diorama of the traditional smoking process.

English information is available, as are guided tours (in Chinese). A food court and retail shop offer a wide range of fish products – katsuo sachima, anyone?

EASTERN TAIWAN

Fun Along the Coast

Fish Bar, located on one of Dahan Village’s narrow lanes in the section right behind the bikeway-side visitor center, was founded in 2016 by a group of ocean-loving Hualien youth dedicated to ocean health and fisheries sustainability. It works with the fisheries industry to encourage sustainable practices, sells sustainably harvested marine products, and offers novel “fish-eating education” talks and experiential activities (fee; in Chinese) teaching the public where their marine foods come from. In “Fishing Fun in Qixingtan,” for example, learn about special Qixingtan fishing methods and which fish are caught in each season. In “Bravely Navigating the Great Sea Surface Maze,” go on a whale-watching and fisheries industry education boat outing, navigating through the bay’s grand maze of spherical buoys. The “Three Hour Customized Tour,” for groups of 15-plus, introduces Qixingtan’s fishing methods, fisheries operations, seasonal species, and coastal environment, provides fresh f ish-snack tasting, and (perhaps) viewing of fresh-catch unloading. There’s also five other options, including 1- and 3-day workshops.

CHIHSING TAN KATSUO MUSEUM ( 七星柴魚博物館 ) (03) 823-6100 No. 148, Qixing St., Dahan Village, Xincheng Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣新城鄉大漢村七星街 148 號 ) www.katsuo.com.tw (Chinese) www.www.facebook.com/katsuomuseum

Learning about traditional fishing (©Fish Bar)

FISH BAR ( 洄遊吧 ) 0910-443-888 2F, No. 32, Qixing St., Xincheng Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣新城鄉七星街 32 號 ) www.fishbar.com.tw www.facebook.com/fishbar8 ENGLISH AND CHINESE Amis tribe 阿美族 "Bravely Navigating the Great Sea Surface Maze" 勇闖海上大迷宮 Dahan Village 大漢村 Fengbin Township 豐濱鄉 "Fishing Fun in Qixingtan" 七星潭摸魚趣 "fish-eating education" 食魚教育 Makotaay 港口部落 Nanbin Park 南濱公園 Qingshui Cliff 清水斷崖 Qixingtan Scenic Area 七星潭風景區 Shitiping Scenic Area 石梯坪遊憩區 Shoufeng Township 壽豐鄉 Taroko Gorge 太魯閣 "Three Hour Customized Tour" 三小時客製行程 Xincheng Township 新城鄉 Xiuguluan River 秀姑巒溪

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Fishing boat at Qixingtan (©Fish Bar)

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mer hi s for t , y a d is d s aw r e i s la n t worl e h e T y V . , t n s a coa ti f u l Taiw e to a p , b eau theas t inla nd y a u r a o e c m s n s e e m E f ro r e’s t al sc of f th re the escape ic coa s ete r s o t n h c m a s e c o f l f l f i r o o k en tic v he pe -th re e d r a ma and th nd is t , n i a e l Thir t y s s d i i k s c n o cean at p a al - pri s oa d th ht at o r g i p olitic r m k s 7 g rin by a 1 h ot s p n e c i rc l e d v e . d rkeling es, an o h n c s a e d b g an nt divin excelle At Gongguan Fishing Harbor, General Rock in the background

EASTERN TAIWAN

Green Island

I

still remember my first visit to Green Island, arriving on a wet and windy winter’s morning nearly 20 years ago.

We were supposed to be going whale-watching from a mainland launch-point, but the whales weren’t around, so instead we boarded the ferry from Fugang Fishing Harbor to Green Island’s Nanliao Fishing Harbor. An hour’s rollercoaster ride through the choppy swell delivered us to the angular features of the island set against gunmetal gray skies. We rented a scooter and then hit the road. I had a Top Gun moment as we sped alongside a section of the tiny airport’s runway, and in a moment we reached Green Island Lighthouse in the island’s northwest corner. At 33m tall, the lighthouse is one of the island’s most prominent landmarks and a great spot to watch the sunset. Originally constructed in 1938, the year after US cruise liner SS President Hoover ran aground on a reef offshore, the lighthouse was rebuilt following serious damage during World War II. Continuing east along the north coast from the lighthouse, we passed through a couple of villages and then arrived at the Green Island White Terror Memorial Park (www.nhrm. gov.tw), a sobering reminder that not so long ago this Pacific paradise was home to a political prison. Looking out over imposing General Rock, one of Green Island’s many dramatic shoreline rock formations, the memorial’s walls are inscribed with the names of those who were persecuted here during the White Terror period. Across the road, the “Ludao Lodge” gives some insight into life in prison, and touring the cells is an eerie experience. To the east, the New Life Correction Center houses an exhibition detailing the history of the site.

Continuing east on the road leads you up a hill from where there are great views over the prison to the ocean.

Green Island Lighthouse (©East Coast NSA)

Green Island White Terror Memorial Hall

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Green Island

Atop the hill we bypassed Guanyin Cave, and then as we began moving south along the west coast we entered a steep side road winding down to the left. A series of hairpin bends later we emerged onto a stunning stretch of coastline, framed by towering crags. Nestled into a sheltered, grassy area just inland off the shore, a collection of abandoned houses added a sense of mystery. We later discovered there used to be a small indigenous village here, known as Youzihu (Pomelo Lake). In the middle of the beach there’s a narrow passage through the coral, exposed at low tide, presumably cut by the villagers to launch their boats. In the right conditions you can swim through this passage to reach the edge of a reef where there is vivid coral and marine life. Nearby, the impressive Wangong Arch, a naturally formed massive stone arch, has become popular with the IG crowd in recent years.

burgers, quesadillas, pastas, and pizzas, and is equipped with a full bar. Ice Jail taps into the island’s reputation for once housing Taiwan’s most notorious criminals. The interior is outfitted with mock-up jail cells, and the shop serves traditional Taiwanese shaved-ice treats with some unique toppings including seaweed, fresh pineapple, and mochi balls. If you want to pick up a unique souvenir, a visit to the charming Green Island Sika Deer Store near the airport is a fun diversion. The store sells a host of sika deer-themed items including hand-painted postcards, magnets, stuffed animals, and deer-shaped cakes. Sika deer were brought to the island in the 1970s to be raised for their antlers, but they are now protected and there is a government-operated Sika Deer Ecological Park in the hills south of the White Terror Memorial Park.

Back up on the main road, as we rambled along Green Island seemed more like Iceland than Taiwan. The vivid green of the striated uplands tumbled down to craggy black volcanic rocks as waves cascaded against the shoreline. Leaving the scooter, we ambled along a snaking flagstone-paved path known as the Little Great Wall to a perfectly perched pair of promontory-tip pavilions. From here we could see the dramatic Sleeping Beauty Rock headland and, offshore just off its tip, Pekingese Dog Rock.

Improved transport connections from the rest of Taiwan to the East Coast, and the lack of other options to leave Taiwan without quarantine during the Covid period, have meant that Green Island has become an even more popular holiday destination. This has both positives and negatives: there are now far more people on scooters buzzing around the island (albeit some are electric), and more people inevitably means more pollution, but at the same time this has prompted local environmental initiatives (like the Taitung County-based Taiwanderful; www.taiwanderful.org), and for visitors there are far more accommodation, dining, and activity options.

Further down the road, we came to the Zhaori Hot Springs at the island’s southeast tip, where for just NT$250 you can soothe your aching muscles in hot sulfur springs right on the shoreline whilst looking out over the Pacific. The three pools are cooled by the tide, and there’s also an indoor area about 100m inland with hydrotherapy jets. On this wet blustery day, however, the real pleasure was hiding in the ocean pools and emerging every now and then to cool off in the sea sprayladen wind.

After a spell, refreshed and revitalized, it was time to move on. We rounded the southeastern tip to traverse the warm and calm leeward side of the island, passing the stunning white-coral Dabaisha (“Great White Sand”) beach. At the Shilang Diving Area on the west coast we saw divers and snorkelers emerging from the water onto a picturesque walkway, and then before we knew it we were back in Nanliao and ready for something to eat.

The island’s biggest selection of dining options is to be found in Nanliao. Longstanding favorite Mr. Hot Dog is an American-themed restaurant serving its namesake, tasty

I now live on the edge of coastal Chenggong town in Taitung County, and look out at far-off Green Island from my house and garden every day, and yet it remains as alluring as ever!

Whilst there have certainly been lots of changes since my first visit, for now the stunning natural beauty of this remote Pacific outpost remains reassuringly familiar, near enough to reach yet far enough away to escape “reality.”

MR. HOT DOG ( 哈狗店 ) No. 103, Nanliao Village, Ludao Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣綠島鄉南寮村 103 號 ) www.facebook.com/gimrhotdog ICE JAIL ( 冰獄 ) No. 48, Yugang, Nanliao Village, Ludao Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣綠島鄉南寮村漁港 48 號 ) www.facebook.com/icejail1020 GREEN ISLAND SIKA DEER STORE ( 梅花鹿專賣店 ) No. 205-1, Nanliao Village, Ludao Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣綠島鄉南寮村 205-1 號 ) www.facebook.com/SikaDeerStore

View from Little Great Wall pavilion

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Practical Information Ferry tickets are typically NT$1,100 return; services from Fugang (5km north of Taitung City) are frequent and most ferries arrive at Nanliao Fishing Harbor. Each day there are several flights from Taitung (NT$1,070 one-way) to the island. Flight tickets are hard to come by in the summer, and both flights and ferries are often cancelled in the winter. Scooters can be rented from the harbor or through many hotels/ homestays (usual price NT$400-$500 for a full day). Other options for getting around the island include the local round-the-island bus service, taxi, or if you have time, by bicycle.

ENGLISH AND CHINESE Dabaisha 大白沙 Fugang Fishing Harbor 富岡漁港 General Rock 將軍岩 Green Island Lighthouse 綠島燈塔 Green Island White Terror Memorial Park 白色恐怖綠島紀念園區 Guanyin Cave 觀音洞 Little Great Wall 小長城 "Ludao Lodge" 綠洲山莊 Nanliao Fishing Harbor 南寮漁港 New Life Correction Center 新生訓導處 Pekingese Dog Rock 哈巴狗岩 Shilang Diving Area 石朗潛水區 Sika Deer Ecological Park 綠島梅花鹿生態園區 Sleeping Beauty Rock 睡美人岩 Wangong Arch 彎弓洞 Youzihu 柚子湖 Zhaori Hot Springs 朝日溫泉

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Green Island

EASTERN TAIWAN

Local Stay

Eastern Taiwan Hot-Spring Resorts Four Terrific Places for Big Mountain-View Refreshment TE X T R I C K C H A R E T T E

P H OTOS R AY C H A N G, V I SI O N

Butterfly Valley Resort hot-spring area

EASTERN TAIWAN

Local Stay

What would you imagine to be the most soothing vista to see outside your window when staying at a hot-spring hotel?

Perchance we may suggest tall breezeswayed tropical trees up close and walls of mountains surrounding? We here present a quartet of setting-perfect eastern Taiwan respite spots for your consideration.

Butterfly Valley Resort This resort, as described in our main article t h i s i ss ue on e a s te r n Ta iwa n, i s at t he East Rift Valley exit point of a deep sidevalley cleft in the Central Mountain Range.

It occupies the front area of the valley’s F u y u a n Fo r e s t R e c r e a t io n A r e a . T he resort’s boutique hotel facility is perched on a rise at the base of the high hill on the valley lip’s north side. There are a number of other facilities in addition to the hotel, to be introduced forthwith. Hotel guests enjoy free use of these facilities.

Buffet breakfast

Guestroom

The hotel building, which has a pebblecrete façade, has a simple squarish contemporary-design the middle two stories high with a three-level gabled-roof segment at either end. The large awning over the driveway entrance area, consisting of opaque glass panels, is in the stylized shape of an in-f light butterf ly, as is another large glass structure on the rooftop. There are two types of guestrooms here, Japanese Zen and Western (Scandinavian minimalist). Family rooms are available. Also in the main building is a Western/Chinese restaurant, bar, and alfresco umbrella-shade terrace seating.

On the tree-shaded foothill slopeland behind the main building are villa accommodations, one area with suites in Japanese style, another in Scandinavian. All guestrooms/villas have hot-spring tubs, mineral waters sourced from deep under the valley.

Among the resor t’s other facilities, the outdoor hot-spring spa and pool area is surrounded by camphor trees. Within the Butterfly Eco House a natural eco-system built on specially selected plants has been created to breed various species and populate the surrounding environs. There is also a Butterly Exhibition Room, gracefully landscaped Dream Garden, and Stone Park. The valley has extremely old exposed geological formations, and representative, especially aesthetically appealing stones have been brought in and arranged in an artistic/educational landscape at the Stone Park.

Outdoor hot-spring pool

BUTTERFLY VALLEY RESORT ( 蝴蝶谷溫泉度假村 ) (03) 881-2377 No. 161, Guangdong Rd., Ruisui Township, Hualien County ( 花蓮縣瑞穗鄉廣東路161號 ) www.bvr.com.tw www.facebook.com/bvr.tw

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Local Stay

Guestroom

Hotel Royal Chihpen In the famed Zhiben Hot Springs area, up a coastdebouching valley just south of small and pleasant Taitung City, this is the undisputed belle of the Zhiben hot-spring resort ball. The popular Zhiben Forest Recreation Area is just upstream along the meandering Zhiben River. Ensconced on a small mountainside plateau, it’s hidden away in the forest, invisible from the main hot-spring resort area below.

The overall design is a harmonious blend of cultural elements, with refined Western, Japanese, Taiwanese, and indigenous f lourishes. Guestroom st yling is contemporary Western and Japanese. There are eight room types, ranging from standard rooms up to family rooms and four types of suite.

Among the many first-rate entertainment facilities is a multiplicity of open-air/indoor spa-soak choices and swimming pool tucked away in an oasis-like setting between the hotel building and mountain slope behind, lyrically lit up at night. Guests can also enjoy a recreation center with table tennis, e-games, etc., fitness center, private karaoke rooms, putting green, badminton court, sand playground, children’s library, and menu of special activities. Take note, lethargy is not an option here.

And that’s not all. Indigenous sculptures and visual motifs are seen throughout the complex. Taitung County has a heavy native population, with several tribes territory-overlapping; approximately 80% of hotel personnel are native (full or half ). Indigenous song-and-dance performances are staged each evening in the lobby. In the rear-area recreational complex are a number of indigenous-theme attractions, with hotel staff on-hand providing explanation: a replica warriorhunter meeting hut, an archery range, and an outdoor cook ing hut where traditional indigenous foods, ingredients, and flavors are explained and DIY cooking experiences offered.

The hotel’s many talented chefs serve up gourmand dishes. The DA DA LA restaurant takes you to Italy, the Teppanyaki to Japan. The Lobby Lounge serves British-style afternoon tea, the Naruwan (your breakfast spot) Western and Chinese buffet-style touring.

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Swimming pool at Hotel Royal Chihpen Hot-spring water cooking

Lobby area

HOTEL ROYAL CHIHPEN ( 知本老爺大酒店 ) (08) 951-0666 No. 23, Lane 113, Longquan Rd., Beinan Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣卑南鄉龍泉路 113 巷 23 號 ) www.hotelroyal.com.tw/en-us/chihpen www.facebook.com/HotelRoyalChipen

EASTERN TAIWAN

Local Stay

Pool area at Papago Int'l Resort

Papago International Resort This sprawling complex sits out in the middle of the East Rift Valley immediately south of the town of Chishang, providing easy access to the town’s famed countryside paddy-fields cycling route. Its sister town, Guanshan, home of the first-ever dedicated cycling loop opened in Taiwan, is a short drive further south. Papago is right beside Provincial Highway 9, the enchantingly scenic byway that wends its way from the rift valley’s north to its south.

I n t he pa st t he coconut pa l m-su r rou nded Med iter ra nea npersonality resort has been declared “Taiwan’s most beautiful hotel” in online polling. Netizens particularly applaud the serene environs, the low-rise architecture that provides sweeping views up and down the lush valley, and the luxurious outdoor-pool complex in the inner courtyard of the three-sided main building, large umbrellas and swaying frond-canopy trees providing bountiful shade.

The rooms inside the main building are very spacious (standard and family options). Some look over the assemblage of inner-courtyard pools and poolside café, some face outward toward the mountains, and all have comfy and commodious balconies (first floor rooms have small walled-in courtyards). Beyond the main building and pool complex is a “village” of luxury villas, in Victorian, Balinese, and Mediterranean style. Each has a spa pool and compact swimming pool.

Back in the main structure, a courtyard-overlook lounge bar serves international-style baked treats and light meals, and two high-quality restaurants serve Chinese cuisine and Chinese/international buffets, respectively. An upscale spa complex is located before the main area, alfresco in the middle with roofing covering the spa pools along the sides (different temperatures, and such options as a “roselle” mineral-water soak, “milk” soak, etc.). Two of the many other amenities/services of special note are the hotel’s well-stocked bike-rental operation and its daily 1-hour tractor-train tours, during which your guide introduces (in Chinese) the area’s irrigation works, the Taiwan Sugar Chishang Pastoral Farm Resort, and other local spots of interest.

Guestroom

Buffet dinner PAPAGO INTERNATIONAL RESORT ( 日暉國際渡假村 ) (089 )-861-111 No. 107, Xinxing, Xinxing Village, Chishang Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣池上鄉新興村新興 107 號 ) www.papago-resort.com

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Local Stay

Sika deer

Luminous Hot Spring Resort & Spa This resort hotel is on the valley floor before the mountain wall that defines the East Rift Valley’s south end. Seen to the immediate west is a deep side valley, sculpted by the Luming River, with the Bunun tribe settlement of Hongye in partial view; the Vakangan Hot Spring Park (see next section) is located here.

To the immediate north is the Luye Highland, famed as a tourism-oriented paragliding launchpad, and in between is a low-elevation plateau rich with relics from Taiwan’s 1895-1945 Japanese colonial era (see next section).

The name “Luminous” is a take on “Luming,” which means “deer call.”

The complex is replete with tribal-culture decorative references, and in the area behind are zoo-style facilities with gorgeous healthy families of two species key to traditional tribal hunting culture, the Taiwan sika deer and Taiwan wild boar.

There are many types of guestrooms, from standard accommodations for two to pet-friendly rooms to courtyard-in-front accommodations to lodgings with lofts to rooms for four and six. The majority are Western contemporary in styling, with heavy use of light woods and wicker. There are also Japanese tatami-equipped rooms. All rooms feat ure stone-built hot-spring t ubs.

T he g rou nd-f loor cou r t ya rd-st yle quarters are entered from outside via Lobby area individual thick native-totem carved wooden doors, with alfresco tubs in the courtyard; for all other rooms, the large tubs have mountain views through f loor-to-ceiling glass walls looking past sizeable balconies. The mineral waters are piped in from the Hongye area.

Among the myriad special facilities/services is a 1F Chinese/ international buffet restaurant, 6F (top f loor) men’s/women’s hot-spring bathing pools and spa treatments, byappointment aromatherapist service, and family-oriented DIY activities, and in the rear area an alfresco pool Bathroom with hot-spring tub a r e a, d e t a c hed “k a ra oke hou s e,” and bicycle-lending service for use of the nearby well-paved riverside bikeway. There are also guided bus tours (Chinese) to the aforementioned Ja p a ne s e c olo n i a l - e r a a nd o t h e r neighborhood tourist sites.

LUMINOUS HOT SPRING RESORT & SPA ( 鹿鳴溫泉酒店 ) (08) 955-0888 No. 200, Sec. 1, Zhonghua Rd., Luye Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣鹿野鄉中華路一段 200 號 ) www.lmresort.com.tw (Chinese) www.facebook.com/LuminousResort

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EASTERN TAIWAN

Guestroom

Outdoor pool

Cycling around Longtian Village

Local Stay

Vakangan Hot Spring Park (©Vakangan)

Place of Interest Nearby As mentioned above, the low-altitude plateau above the Luminous resort has many relics from the Japanese colonial era. The colonial authorities established a number of Japanese-immig rant farming communities, the largest located here, e v ide nced i n t he ne at chec ke r boa rd g r id of roadways of today’s Longtian village. The Luye Shinto Shrine, rebuilt last decade with the help of Japanese expert craftsmen, was the immigrant commun it y’s hear t. I n a wi ng of t he sh r i neadjacent Chinese temple is an exhibit hall with detailed information (Chinese) on the settlement and multifarious original Japanese-culture field implements and household items used by the farfrom-home residents.

The nearby Luye District Administration Of f ice is a t raditional si ng le-stor y Japanese building that has been carefully restored. Filled with period daily-life artifacts, it’s open to the public (free entry). A homey arty-crafty café selling baked goods and local handmade agri-products has been set up in one section.

The new, upscale Vakangan Hot Spring Park (entr y fee), spread over 3ha, is Taiwan’s f irst initiative combining geothermal power generation, sustai nable tour ism, and loca l econom ic promotion. Over 60% of employees are local indigenous folk. Services include hot-spring spa facilities, a Geothermal Energ y Guided Tour (Chinese) taking you inside the on-site plant, a restaurant fusing indigenous and Western culinary elements, and the Good Things Market, where

lo c a l- a r e a i nd i ge nou s/no n-i nd i ge nou s e co friendly handicraf ts and specialty food treats are spot lig hted. T here are also g uided tours ta k i ng you of f-site, one i nt roduci ng Hong ye a nd t he Bu nu n t r ibe’s my t h s, fest iva l s, a nd taboos, the other taking you up a mountainside to learn about the Bunun hunting culture and respect for mountain and forest. The Chineselanguage “Hongye” means “red leaf”; the Bunun “Vakangan” means “Red Leaf Village.”

VAKANGAN HOT SPRING PARK ( 紅葉谷綠能溫泉園區 ) (089) 561-068 No. 121, Honggu Rd., Hongye Village, Yanping Township, Taitung County ( 台東縣延平鄉紅葉村紅谷路 121 號 ) www.vakangan.com

ENGLISH AND CHINESE Bunun 布農 Chishang 池上 Fuyuan Forest Recreation Area 富源國家森林遊樂區 Guanshan 關山 MAP Hongye 紅葉 Longtian 龍田 Luming River 鹿鳴溪 Luye District Administration Office 鹿野區役場 Luye Highland 鹿野高台 Luye Shinto Shrine 鹿野神社 Taiwan Sugar Chishang Pastoral Farm Resort 台糖池上牧野渡假村 Zhiben Forest Recreation Area 知本國家森林遊樂區 Zhiben Hot Springs 知本溫泉

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the MEGA Yunlin Welcome to Yunlin, a county with rich cultural heritage, unique natural landscapes, and countless cultural attractions! Join us on a journey to discover Yunlin’s “Hard Work Spirit” and create unforgettable memories.

A Slow Tour of Yunlin – Take a closer look at Yunlin's natural environment, historic sites, religious activities, puppet theater, and other exciting cultural assets. On short travel routes through Yunlin you will be introduced to local customs and the daily life of the people. Cultural elements, sometimes almost forgotten, are at the center of your richexperience tours. Yunlin is indeed a place where you want to slow down. A visit here is not about consuming quickly, 40

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but it’s about appreciating a humanistic history that was built on hard work, with products created by taking advantage of the riches of the land, a simple and pristine natural environment, and in-depth experiences of human warmth and hospitality. Only in this way you will be able to fully understand Yunlin’s many facets and intricacies.

Yunlin County has been an important breeding ground for various industries in Taiwan. Local culture, ethnic diversity, and strong religious beliefs have been favorable assets to creating a strong local economy. There also is great potential for cultivating creativity, blending old and new styles, and a wide variety of innovative social experiments

Advertorial

"Yunlin Hou Gong Xue – MEGA Yunlin" is soon to begin!

Venue: Beigang Haoku Cultural Park (Beigang Sugar Factory) Date: Nov. 18 to Dec. 3 We sincerely invite you to be the first to experience Yunlin’s rich culture and charm!

Explore Yunlin and discover Taiwan’s hidden gem!

Website: touryunlin.gov.tw Copyright © 2023 Yunlin County Government. All rights reserved.

Supervisor: Taiwan Tourism Administration, Ministry of Transportation and Communications

and practices. The county is well known for its success in agriculture, its traditional industries, religious culture, and related crafts. Its unique local style was developed over a long period of time of trial and error, accumulation of experience, and integration of various cultural elements.

The infinite beauty of Yunlin can be seen when looking at its heritage, innovation, and integration. Hou gong ( 厚工 ) stands for intensive manual labor over a long period of time with everything done carefully and with great effort.

"MEGA", sounding like the Chinese term mei jiao ( 眉角 ) or the Taiwanese mê-kak ( 鋩 角 ; lit. “eyebrow corner,” meaning “having a knack for doing things”], symbolizes

Yunlin’s great energy and craftsmen's attention to detail and pursuit of quality in work and generally in life. This is what Yunlin’s hou gong xue ( 厚工學 ; “philosophy of hard work”) is all about.

Yunlin truly is a hidden gem in Taiwan. We sincerely invite people in Taiwan and from abroad to visit the county and get a taste of our local flavors. Experience the hear t-warming customs and meet the friendly people. Listen to the artistic dialogue between traditional and modern. Learn about the essence of centuries-old craftsmanship and culture – on an exciting and beautiful Slow Tour of Yunlin!

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GOOD FOOD

Indigenous Restaurants

Cinafu

Eating Indigenous in Taipei City

TE X T R I C K C H A R E T T E PH OTOS CH EN CH EN G - K U O

Stir-fried star snail

A Trio of Native-Cuisine Eateries of Wholly Differing Character Visitors from overseas consistently place the dazzlingly varied food experiences high on their list of unforgettable Taiwantouring memories. And as you’d expect, the local tribal-peoples’ fare is unlike anything else you’ll experience here or anywhere else you explore while on your globetrekking travels. Taiwan’s tribal specialties come to big-city Taipei at numerous highquality indigenous restaurants.

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T

he ingredients sourced in the traditional tribal areas, animal and non-animal, are very different from those used to entertain your palate in Taiwan’s other foodways. Each of the trinity of Taipei eateries we introduce here faithfully bring in the freshest, most authentic ingredients from the respective areas the owner-operators grew up in.

01 Idu This enterprise, extremely popular with the young party crowd, is a combination indigenous eatery and karaoke bar.

The two young owners wanted to recreate the type of relaxed local-community combo-entertainment spot they miss so much from their home tribal areas in deep south/southeast Taiwan. Both are a Paiwan/Amis mix. The Amis are spread primarily along eastern Taiwan’s Pacific coast and the East Rift Valley in Hualien and Taitung counties. The Paiwan’s traditional area is the southernmost section of the Central Mountain Range in Pingtung and Taitung counties.

The Paiwan word idu means “come on over”. The musicpassionate eatery is located along a lane in the residential district immediately southwest of Xingtian Temple that gets very quiet at night, most of its first-f loor businesses shut down. On arrival outside you’re met by a solid wall – no windows – adorned with a native-theme mural depicting the banana trees and palm trees of the eastern Taiwan Pacific shore. Press a button, a door slides open, enter a small anteroom, open another no-window door, and you’re presented with an open cavern-type square space. This “man cave” design has been used to prevent the karaoke partying from disturbing neighbors. TV screens are mounted all along the walls, indigenous rock-and-roll plays loudly, staff belt out a few tunes starting around 7:30pm to kick things off if diners haven’t already karaoke-wise, and the music party is on.

Patrons write down their desired songs – indigenous, Han Chinese, Western, anything YouTubed – and the mikes are passed around. Late hours are kept, closing time 1am.

Idu

Salty fish

Roast turtle dove

Snail stir-fry

I n hot test demand foodwise is the “Stir-Fried Mountain Produce.” There are si x stir-f r y choices. The stir-f r y technique was adopted long ago after first contact with Han Chinese settlers – in the 1800s in the case of the eastern Taiwan tribal peoples.

The key ingredients are mountain boar (first grilled per classic Paiwan manner) and mountain greens and onion. The dish is spicy, with garlic, chili pepper, and chili oil added in the Chinese manner. “My mother grows the vegetables back on our farmstead in Taitung’s coast-side Taimali Township,” says owner A-Wen, who explains that native folk can still hunt, for self-consumption only, no commercial sales, and that “hunters will bring boarlets back for commercial breeding after adults are taken. After a few generations the meat quality changes, so the process is started again.”

Two other hot-demand stir-fry dishes star snail (spicy) and cabbage, respectively, A-Wen’s mother cultivating the latter. Taiwan’s mountain-cultivated cabbage has a deliciously sweet character. Part of the appeal of the snail dish, says A-Wen, is that “Paiwan for ‘snail’ is ling ding, and we’ve made a name alteration to make verbally ordering the dish fun” – chao ding ding in Mandarin, or “Stir-Fried Ding Ding”.

Fancy yourself as having an unusually brave and intrepid palate? Put some Amis silaw in your mouth. All Taiwan tribes pickle meats/fish. A-Wen’s mother prepares Idu’s silaw, heavily salting pork and burying it in a pot. Very salty and slightly creamy, “it’s best eaten one small bite at a time, followed by a bite from another dish.” For Westerners, he adds, “think of it as a challenging heady cheese.”

Other specially recommended toothsome offerings are the pickled seasonal sea smelt on thick onion slice, roast turtle dove, and cinafu – more on the latter two coming up in our last section.

IDU (IDU 原住民小吃部 ) (02) 2562-7935 No. 40, Lane 149, Sec. 2, Xinsheng N. Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei City ( 台北市中山區新生北路二段 149 巷 40 號 ) Zhongshan Elementary School www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083343925901 www.instagram.com/idu_food

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GOOD FOOD

Indigenous Restaurants

02 One Ten This place, looking out through big windows at the poetically landscaped grounds of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, serves up a more tranquil and genteel dining experience. Adding to the greenness of the calming view is a potted plant mini-jungle fronting the restaurant, a strip of park-like landscaping between wide sidewalk and Ren’ai Road, and the lines of tall tropical trees along the broad, shady avenue itself.

“We wanted a sense of the countryside peacefulness of Hualien County, where we come from, says One Ten’s manager, Sayun, who is half Amis and half Truku. The chef, Esther, is Han Chinese; her mother learned about indigenous foodways working alongside members of Hualien’s native community in Hualien City. Esther is a trained chef, in the catering industry 23 years, her formal studies in Western gastronomy.

One Ten is a f usion restau ra nt sy nt hesi zi ng Wester n cuisine and classic Taiwan indigenouscuisine ingredients. The team also has a Mother Earth-friendly mission. “We’re both Christians,” says Sayun – the majorit y of Taiwan’s indigenes are – “and ‘One Ten’ refers to the Christian onetenth tithe concept. We use the simplified ‘One Ten’ because local folk have trouble pronouncing the ‘th’ sound.” Our world’s blessings come from heaven, she says, and the restaurant’s ‘tithe’ is to use food to give back to society and Mother Nature. All ingredients used are organically/sustainably produced. As well, reservations are required with your dishes pre-ordered, enabling purchase of exactly what is needed for the day, preventing food and storage-energy wastage.

Pork chop, vegetables, and rice Decorations are not for sale 44

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GOOD FOOD

Grilled fish

The interior is cozy and bright, with clean lines, just 10 or so small tables. The most eye-catching decorations are adorable scale replicas of old-time Amis/Truku carrying baskets and fish traps specially commissioned from an elderly Hualien native master wood-weaver.

“No, not for sale,” says Sayun. “Many customers ask.”

Among the most popular main course selections is the Grilled Fish with Indigenous People’s Bamboo Rice.

Seasonal saltwater fish is used, sourced from Hualien City’s Fish Bar ( fishbar.com.tw; Chinese; see page 29), which promotes sustainable fishing practices. The Amis tribe, spread primarily along the east coast, have traditionally harvested the sea, as do the Tao (Dawu) of Lanyu (Orchid Island), off the southeast coast. Both call the saltwater world their “natural larder”.

One of the seasonal fish used is flying fish, which have runs off the east coast; it is a sacred cultural icon for the Tao. The whole fish is served, prepared with magao, shell ginger leaf, sea salt, and olive oil. Piquant magao (in Chinese called shan hujiao, or “mountain peppercorns”), from the May Chang evergreen tree, has hints of lemongrass and ginger. Traditionally handpicked in high-mountain areas, after experimentation

by Taiwan scientists, it’s today primarily f latlandscultivated commercially.

Bamboo rice is seasoned sticky rice cooked in bamboo-tube sections. The nodes are sealed with shell ginger leaves and steamed or boiled, transferring the distinctive leaf fragrance to the rice, which emerges with a mochi-like texture.

Also highly recommended from the One Ten menu are the indigenous-style baked crispy pork and grilled pork chop, magao-oil neritic squid, adzuki bean glutinous rice, roast seasonal vegetables, and banana sticky-rice cakes (more on the last in our main feature article).

Indigenous Restaurants

Crispy pork

ONE TEN (ONE TEN 食分之一 ) (02) 2720-1838 No. 458, Sec. 4, Ren'ai Rd., Xinyi District, Taipei City ( 台北市信義區 仁愛路四段 458 號 ) Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall oneten.tw (Chinese) www.facebook.com/onetentaiwan www.instagram.com/oneten_restaurant_taiwan

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GOOD FOOD

Indigenous Restaurants

03 Bagloung Bar & Grill

This combo indigenous eatery and Japa ne s e - s t yle i z ak aya (o p e n t i l l 11:3 0 p m) i s i n t he c o m me r c i a l / residential block east of the Taipei Arena, on a quintessential busy oldtime Taiwan commercial street. On the large façade sign are car toonstyle winking indigenous maidens in ceremonial dress plus a mountain boar and deer and one of the barking guard dogs ubiquitous in Taiwan native settlements.

The interior is an eclectic mix of “home-style second-hand items like you f ind in so many cozy homes,” says Mr. Wang, one of the co-owner duo. The long wooden bar/ser vice counter is the bar and grill set-up from their original location. An original

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old interior doorway now serves as a decorative front/back interior-space div ider. Two low, la rge slab -st yle driftwood tables are from a friend who closed his indigenous eatery and “said he’d be back for them when starting another place, but no news in years.”

Another table consists of piled-up wood pallets. And so on.

Wang is from the Atayal tribe, Yilan County his family’s ancestral a r e a . H i s pa r t ne r i s A m i s, f r o m Ta i t u n g C o u n t y. T h e A t a y a l ’s t radit iona l a rea is t he foot h i l ls a n d m o u n t a i n s o f n o r t h /n o r t h central Taiwan. “Bagloung” is an Amis ceremony name here used by association to mean “come here and put all your troubles aside.”

Topping the top-orders list Venison is the assorted meats plat ter, t u r t le dove, ven ison, and a-bai. The platter consists of grilled mountain boar, pork sausage, and range chicken. It’s served with raw garlic cloves; the custom is to take a small bite (or more) of garlic before each meat bite.

As with boars, turtle doves and d e e r a r e now f a r m - r a i s e d . “ T he traditional method for taking wild turtle doves is placing string snares i n b u s h f ol i a g e a lo n g m o u n t a i n pathways, where they come to feed on seeds, berries, and insects,” Wang says. They perceive the pathways as

Indigenous Restaurants

GOOD FOOD

Turtle dove

safe flight routes. Their numbers have dwindled drastically in recent times. The venison is prepared teppanyaki style, with a secret soy sauce-based sauce used, accompanied by bopi chilli pepper (prickled skinless green chilly pepper) and seasonal items such as yams, Stir-fried Chinese cabbage red pepper, and leek.

A-bai and cinafu are one and the same. The Paiwan and other native peoples of Taitung/Hualien counties use the former term, the Paiwan and Rukai of the Pingtung County/ Kaohsiung City region use the latter, says Wang. This is fermented ground millet with minced pork wrapped in an edible leaf (trichodesma calycosum), possessing a zesty, slightly sour f lavor, wrapped again in inedible shell ginger leaf.

Steaming results in transfer of the distinctive leaf flavors to the innards. The Paiwan version also features powdered taro.

Also highly recommended are the stir-fried Chinese cabbage and mountain boar skin. The latter is a cold dish, the thin strips first fried, engendering a lightly crispy and chewy texture, then lightly salted, with a soupcon of garlic and homemade sauce mixed in.

“As a very general description,” says Wang, “while rice is key for Han Chinese, millet, yams, and taros have traditionally been the key indigenous non-meat staples.

Slow-cooking is the norm, with seasonal and organic ingredients emphasized. Natural flavors are preferred, with limited introduction of herbs and spices and almost nonexistent use of sauces. Wild vegetables are commonly used to obtain strong flavors.”

Note that both Bagloung and Idu also serve xiaomi jiu, sweet, cloudy millet wine that is the classic beverage of choice in indigenous communities across Taiwan.

BAGLOUNG BAR & GRILL ( 巴歌浪小聚所 ) (02) 2577-6948 No. 10, Lane 26, Guangfu N. Rd., Songshan District, Taipei City ( 台北市松山區光復北路 26 巷 10 號 ) Taipei Arena www.facebook.com/bagloung www.instagram.com/bklfamily2020

Mountain boar skin

Assorted meats platter

ENGLISH AND CHINESE Amis 阿美族 Atayal 泰雅族 Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall 國父紀念館 East Rift Valley 花東縱谷 Fish Bar 洄遊吧 Lanyu 蘭嶼 magao 馬告 Paiwan 排灣族 "Stir-Fried Ding Ding" 炒叮叮 "Stir-Fried Mountain Produce" 炒山產 Taipei Arena 臺北小巨蛋 Taimali Township 太麻里鄉 Tao 達悟族 Truku 太魯閣族 xiaomi jiu 小米酒 Xingtian Temple 行天宮

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TE X T & P H OTOS V I S I O N

Regional Differences in Popular Local Foods Trying some of the local foods that people eat on a regular basis is one of the best ways to experience Taiwan’s culinary riches. Among the must-tries are savory options you will easily find around day markets, including zongzi, runbing, rouyuan, and migao.

E

ven if you have tried those simple treats before, you might not be aware that there are different regional versions available and that there is somewhat of a divide – some might call it a rivalry – between northern and southern Taiwan when it comes to determining which versions are the most satisfying.

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Nuofu Rice Cake in Tainan City

Zongzi Widely consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival (5th day of 5th month of the lunisolar calendar; June 10 th in 2024), zongzi, often referred to as rice tamales or rice dumplings in English, is a simple but filling snack food consisting of glutinous rice with a filling of usually savory ingredients wrapped in bamboo leaves. The biggest difference between northern and southern zongzi is that the first are steamed and the second are boiled.

The rice used is different as well, long-grain glutinous rice in the north, round-grain in the south. Northern zongzi are usually taken with a sweet and hot sauce, while southern zongzi are sprinkled with or dipped in peanut powder and thick soy sauce.

Since the northern method is somewhat similar to preparing oily rice, some people in the south jokingly call this zongzi “3D oily rice”; in response, northerners will mockingly refer to the somewhat stickier southern version as “soft kitchen waste.”

NO RTH

LITTLE THINGS

North vs South

SO UTH

While zongzi are eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, runbing (also known as popiah) are associated with the Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day; April 4th in 2024). The name runbing is more common in northern Taiwan, while the people down south prefer chunjuan (“spring rolls). This is a paper-like wrapper similar to a crepe or pancake stuffed with a filling made of cooked cabbage and carrot, dried tofu, meat, and peanut powder. In the south oily noodles and peanut candy powder are often added. Southern runbing tend to be on the saltier side, because traditionally the treat would be placed on offer tables in temples and adding salt would keep them fresh for a longer time.

N

Runbing O

RT

H

O

UT

H

NOR

Originated in central Taiwan’s Changhua County in 1898, this creation was created out of necessity to feed victims of a flooding disaster. In English referred to simply as “meat ball,” it consists of ground pork and diced bamboo shoot wrapped in a glutinousrice dough. To find different versions of this dish you don’t need to travel to northern or southern Taiwan – you’ll find northern and southern county variations in Changhua itself. The biggest difference between the northern and southern versions is that the first is steamed inside a bowl (before being deep-fried), giving the balls a roundish shape, while the second is formed by hand and then steamed on a flat surface, the finger imprints clearly seen on the surface.

S O UT

H

Migao This dish, in English somewhat misleadingly called “rice cake,” is quite similar to the oily rice of northern Taiwan and braised pork rice of southern Taiwan.

In the north, it is prepared by filling cup-like metal containers first with braised pork and mushrooms and then with rice, then steaming the mix and serving the dish by emptying the cups on a plate or into a bowl with the meat ending up on top. In the south, glutinous rice is put in a bowl, then covered with braised pork, slices of cucumber, and pork floss.

T

H

S

Rouyuan

NO RTH

ENGLISH AND CHINESE "3D oily rice" 3D 油飯 chunjuan 春捲 Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 migao 米糕 rouyuan 肉圓 runbing 潤餅 "soft kitchen waste" 軟爛廚餘 "South Boil, North Steam" 南煮北蒸 Tomb-Sweeping Festival 清明節 zongzi 粽子

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EXPERT TALK

Pottery

t r A The

g n i k a M f o s s e n i p p Ha

TE X T A M I B A R N ES PH OTOS CH EN CH EN G - K U O

Sisters Hsuan and Hsuan-Yuan of Mao's Studio

Meet the Second-Generation Potters Spreading Joy Bowl by Bowl For decades, the town of Yingge – 30 minutes southwest of Taipei by train – has been synonymous with Taiwan’s ceramics industry. It boasts a museum dedicated to ceramic art, two separate ceramics parks, and shop after shop selling everything pottery, from mass-produced chopstick holders to one-of-a-kind masterpieces. Now, a new generation of craftspeople is breathing fresh life into this heritage industry.

S

isters Hsuan and Hsuan-Yuan – co-operators of Mao’s Studio – lived an Yingge childhood immersed in the world of ceramic fine art.

Free time was spent playing hide-and-seek among sun-drying vases and forming a sense of artistic appreciation with visits to Taipei’s National Palace Mu se u m. Despite t h is upbr i ng i ng, t hey neve r planned to take over the family company. In fact, it 50

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wasn’t even what their parents wanted. “They knew how much hard work it involved,” explains Hsuan.

But each time she returned home from studies, she found the workforce dwindling and felt compelled to pitch in. Hsuan-Yuan had less of a say in things.

“I’d just graduated from university and found work somewhere else, but before I could start, I got asked to come home.”

EXPERT TALK

It all started with a "Full" bowl

Pottery

Hand-painting a bowl

When it was founded over 40 years ago, the company produced small hand-painted figurines and trinkets, but the family patriarch had a keen interest in art and wanted to create elaborately decorated ceramic artifacts infused with the spirit of fine-art oil paintings. To that end, he began crafting huge hand-thrown vases, seeking out talented art graduates to adorn them with intricate scenes and calligraphy of the finest brushmanship.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their father’s clear artistic vision, the handover from first to second generation was not without challenges. “Dad felt he’d already paved the way, so we could just follow in his footsteps,” the sisters say. But what worked four decades ago was no longer a sure-fire success – the market for high-value one-off commissions simply doesn’t exist anymore.

Artistic vases created by the founder of the company

It was younger sister Hsuan-Yuan whose creativity helped set the company on a new course. One day, taking a plain bowl, she wrote the Chinese character for “full” (bao; 飽 ) on the inner surface using the carefully considered calligraphy strokes that she’d learned as a child. At the time, it was nothing more than a lighthearted moment of self-expression, but something about it struck a chord.

“When I finished my food and saw the character, I just felt a kind of simple, satisfied happiness,” she explains, “like I really did eat my fill.”

Although her dad was tickled by her “full” bowl, he didn’t take it seriously. When she made a second, then a third, and a fourth, he accused her of wasting company time – even going so far as to remove her creations unfired from the kiln. Undeterred, Hsuan-Yuan posted some photos of her creations on social media. Before long, people began inquiring about the products, orders came in, and media started reporting about her whimsical designs, which helped to eventually win her dad over.

It wasn’t just the need for a creative change of artistic direction that caused consternation – they also had to grapple with preconceptions about how the business should operate. For their father, focusing on tableware rather than higher-value fine art vases sounded like a step backwards – a return to the slog of mass-producing many small items just like he had when he first started. The sisters, too, had apprehensions and debate among them.

Having internalized their dad’s reverence for the art of hand painting, the shift to incorporate the use of machineprinted, transferrable images caused ructions between the pair at first. They decided to give it a go anyway, and haven’t looked back.

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EXPERT TALK

Pottery

These days, the studio’s output has a cohesive style that is both very contemporary and very Taiwanese. While there are a few more colorful designs (such as the current season’s rainbow mix-and-match xingfu [“happiness”] plates), the palette is generally minimal. Black, gold, and red accents are used to add line drawings and elegantly executed calligraphy to a plain canvas of white or red. And fittingly for a family business, much of the company’s tableware is sold in sets to be used when eating with loved ones. At the center of their product line are the blessing sets – pairs of bowls each bearing half of a Chinese phrase like “happiness” or “contentment.” There are also husband and wife bowls, and even husband and husband plus wife and wife bowls – each set intended as a physical expression of the quiet joy of sharing mealtimes with that special someone.

The sisters say their father still enjoys sharing his opinions on their newest designs. “When he saw this” – one of the sisters points at a plate with clean and modernlooking characters – “he asked if we’d gotten a child to write it.” (In truth, it was the work of Ho Ching Chwang, a celebrated contemporary calligraphy artist.) Despite his directness, the advice is appreciated. “Actually, we still have plenty of customers from his generation – he helped us realize we needed something for them too.”

Gift set for couples

Ceramics park in Yingge

Although stylistically their output is oceans apart, in some aspects the sisters’ approach mirrors their father’s. Much in the same way as he sought out artists to decorate his vases, the daughters cooperate with illustrators and calligraphists.

Under their stewardship, the company has also joined government-backed initiatives aimed at promoting the efforts of Taiwanese craftspeople and embraced brand collaborations spanning a range diverse enough to include Dajia Jenn Lann Temple (of Mazu Pilgrimage fame), Sanrio (home of Hello Kitty), and Hoshing 1947 (a traditional pastry and cake shop in Taipei’s trendy Dadaocheng neighborhood).

As if this isn’t enough to keep them busy, the sisters are huge animal lovers, and Mao’s Studio has produced one new pet-themed set each year since 2021, the proceeds of which are shared with different animal charities. Passionate adoption advocates, the family also plays an active role in rehoming animals, and when I visit their factory I meet Pudding (an elderly street-mutt-turned-off ice-dog who strongly dislikes thunder) and three tiny kittens awaiting their future forever homes.

Spea k i ng of t he f ut u re, Yi ng ge is on t he c usp of reinventing itself. There’s a brand-new gigantic 8-f loor art museum, the railway station is getting a facelift, and metro links to both Taoyuan and Taipei cities are under construction. But despite the big changes afoot, the sisters seem unruffled. “We just hope to keep spreading happiness with our bowls.”

MAO'S STUDIO (MAO'S 樂陶陶 ) (02) 2670-6807 No. 97, Lane 95, Yingtao Rd., Yingge District, New Taipei City ( 新北市鶯歌區鶯桃路 95 巷 97 號 ) www.facebook.com/maostudio www.maostudio2010.com (Chinese)

Show room at Mao's Studio

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ENGLISH AND CHINESE bao 飽 Dadaocheng 大稻埕 Dajia Jenn Lann Temple 大甲鎮瀾宮 Ho Ching Chwang 何景窗 Hoshing 1947 合興壹玖肆柒 Hsuan Mao 毛軒 Hsuan-Yuan Mao 毛選媛 xingfu 幸福 Yingge 鶯歌

HOT! STAY / EAT / BUY Taipei City

STAY Taitung City

STAY

Rice Resort Hotel

Grand Hotel Taipei

Taitung is well known for its beautiful mountains and rivers. Rice Resort Hotel is like an idyllic rural castle designed with the county’s specialty rice as its theme.

The hotel has ten floors with a total of 100 guestrooms. Among its facilities are an outdoor swimming pool, a Chubby Choice Star Bar, a children's playground, a gym, and a massage area. It’s like a fun paradise for the whole family. In the high-ceiling firstfloor lobby of the hotel you will see design elements representative of Taitung, including lights in the shape of rice ears and grains of rice. The marble-textured floor and the beige walls give the space a soft and elegant feel.

Encounter of Fate International Magician Pohan Huang's Amazing Night

禾風新棧度假飯店

圓山大飯店

Date: Nov. 4, 18, 25, 2023; Dec. 1, 22, 24, 2023; Jan. 13, 20, 27, 2024; Feb. 3, 12, 24, 2024; Mar. 2, 16, 23, 2024 Time: Starts at 8pm, each show lasting about 75 minutes (no intermission) More information, please visit the official website.

* A close-distance spiritual fantasy adventure that will surprise you again and again! * The Grand Hotel Taipei presents an unforgettable magic show that stimulate your five senses! * Magic tricks with intimate interaction and surprises in an exclusive Grand Hotel performance!

The premiere will be held on November 4, 2023 (Sat.) at the Auditorium (10F) of The Grand Hotel!

No. 29, Xinxing Rd., Taitung City ( 台東市新興路 29 號 ) Room Reservation Hotline: 089-229-968 Banquet Reservation Hotline: 089-219-178

No. 1, Sec. 4, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei City ( 台北市中山區中山北路四段一號 ) Tel: (02) 2886-1818 ext. 1535[Banquet department] www.grand-hotel.org

STAY Nantou County

STAY Yilan County

Fleur de Chine Hotel

The Archipelago

This year, Fleur de Chine Hotel celebrates its 15th anniversary. During a large-scale renovation project that lasted five months, a new biophilic interior design was introduced, part of which are two large vivariums that are not only fascinating ecosystems, but also works of art. In addition, the Ciao Club VIP Lounge was newly built in the style of a Tuscan garden, visually combining the natural spaces of Italy and Sun Moon Lake in a perfect way. The restaurant’s diverse dishes are made with locally-sourced ingredients, the all-day “a la carte” service unique in Taiwan.

Add to this the butler-style service and guests can enjoy a top-notch dining experience.

The Archipelago is located at Wushi Harbor in Toucheng Township, Yilan County. From the hotel you can enjoy a grand 270-degree view with Turtle Island seen not far away. With an architecture inspired by a cruise ship, the hotel’s focus is on vacation, fine food, families, leisure, and hot springs. Guests can experience an all-inclusive vacation stay that combines complete services “on sea” and “on land.” In addition to its advantageous geographical location, the hotel is also known for its cooperation with star-rated chef André Chiang. With the "from sea to table" concept as core, the hotel’s restaurants feature seafood delivered directly from local fishing ports as well as Yilan specialties, giving guests an excellent dining experience.

No. 23, Zhongzheng Rd., Sun Moon Lake, Yuchi Township, Nantou County ( 南投縣魚池鄉日月潭中正路 23 號 ) Tel: (049) 285-6788 www.ldchotels.com/zh-hant/hotels/fleur-de-chine/

No. 300, Wushigang Rd., Toucheng Township, Yilan County ( 宜蘭縣頭城鎮烏石港路 300 號 ) Tel: (03) 977-1166 www.archipelago.com.tw

UNIVERSITY Taipei

STAY Taoyuan City

雲品溫泉酒店日月潭

凱渡廣場酒店

CHO Stay Capsule Hotel

National Taiwan Normal University

町．草休行館

國立臺灣師範大學

● Founded in 1922; a well-known school for secondaryschool teachers and a comprehensive university ● Placed 70th in Asia and 332nd worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2023 ● Home of the Mandarin Training Center, which is well known domestically and abroad Semester Dates and Application Information Semesters Fall 2024 Spring 2025

Application Period October 2, 2023 – January 17, 2024 June 3 – July 31, 2024

No. 162, Sec. 1, Heping E. Rd., Da’an District, Taipei City ( 台北市大安區和平東路一段 162 號 ) Tel: (02) 7749-1111 www.ntnu.edu.tw

Announcement of Admission Results

New Student Registration

April 2024

September 2024

October 2024

February 2025

Online application only.

Please refer to International Students Application website for details: https://bds.oia.ntnu.edu.tw/bds/apply

CHO Stay Capsule Hotel, located in Terminal 2 of Taoyuan International Airport, is Taiwan’s first capsule hotel in an airport.

With a mix of warm wooden tones and bright tea-green colors it is inviting and cozy. For its design, the hotel won a Red Dot Design Award and a New York Design Award, both in 2021. Integrating cultural elements of the East and the West, the hotel is the perfect place to stay inside Taiwan’s “gate to the world” where travelers from around the globe can relax and cherish their travel memories.

South Side, 5F, No. 9, Hangzhan S. Rd., Dayuan District, Taoyuan City ( 桃園市大園區航站南路 9 號 5 樓 南側 ) Tel: (03) 383-4683 www.chostay.com

www.rfm.com.tw

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