A Taste of Taiwan
Speeches followed, and then it was time to push the button and bring that great pig to life. The ceremony was accompanied by massed drummers - an exhilarating theatrical performance. A last triumphant shout and the boar appeared out of the darkness in a rainbow of colour as fireworks exploded in sky above. Pure magic.
Festival decorations, TaiwanLike many Australian travelers I'd never really given much thought to Taiwan as a place to visit. If I thought of it at all, it was in a political context. Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist government fleeing the mainland in 1949 as Mao's Communists took over, the sabre rattling and uneasy peace that followed. Today, Taiwan’s leaders are much less confrontational and, with a recent visit by the country's newly-elected president to Beijing, rapprochement of some kind seems likely.
So I knew a bit about the politics. But did I know anything about the island that lies 160km off China's coast? Very little. That was about to change.
Taiwan is about half the size of Tasmania with a population much the same as Australia's. Its people speak Taiwanese, Mandarin and a variety of aboriginal languages. There was significant migration from Fujian province in mainland China in the sixteenth century, followed by incursions by the Portuguese (who called it Ilha Formosa, Beautiful Island), the Dutch, the Spanish and most recently - until 1945 - Japan. For a time it was a haven for pirates. Although native Taiwanese (who are mostly ethnic Chinese) remain a majority, the island's demographic profile changed irrevocably when millions of immigrants from the mainland arrived in the late 1940s. The nine main tribes which made up the island's indigenous population have been submerged but remain a vocal group and a reminder of ancient times. The country has a dynamic economy, exporting electronic and computer goods, textiles and clothing to its major trading partners - the US, Japan and China (via Hong Kong).
I flew into Taipei aboard a brand new China Airlines Airbus 330, with symbolic plum blossom decorating its tail. It was a smooth flight from Sydney direct to Taipei - lots of new video bells and whistles, excellent food, friendly service. The jet was full, because it was Chinese New Year, the time for family reunions.
And being New Year, it was spring in Taiwan with blossom out, or mostly out. I hadn't realized that the island is sub-tropical and the humid heat, especially in the south, was a surprise. Taipei, the country's capital, was spruced up for the celebrations - and first glance at this modern city reminded me of Osaka, in Japan. This initial impression was reinforced when I went shopping.
During my week in Taiwan, I got to see "the other China", learn something of its history, and marvel at its geographic diversity. Although it's the mainland that most people think of when they plan a China visit, Taiwan has many secret pleasures which set it apart from Big Daddy on the other side of the water. Here are some of them.
Taipei trio
There's much to do and see in this busy yet laid-back metropolis, which is like many prosperous Asian cities. Here are three stand-outs to put on your must-see list.
—When the nationalists arrived here, they came not only with 600,000 soldiers but also China's national art treasures, which are now housed in the impressive National Palace Museum in Taipei. These had been protected on the mainland when the Japanese invaded by moving them west, and they now had a new home. These artifacts, many from the Forbidden City in Beijing, provide the perfect introduction to classic Chinese art and culture. The collection includes paintings, sculpture, calligraphy, porcelain and jade pieces that are breathtakingly beautiful. The famous jade cabbage is here. The National Palace Museum, which sits on the side of a wooded mountain on the city's periphery, has been expanded and its souvenir shop is well worth a visit before you leave.
—The importance of the military to the island's security (jet fighters are a constant presence) is evidenced in the city's Military Martyrs' Shrine - a memorial to all who died in various expeditions and campaigns. At the imposing entrance gate, specially trained young soldiers stand guard - spic and span, ramrod straight, still and silent as statues. These honour guards, from all three services, change every hour from 9 thru 5, and it's an impressive ceremony, choreographed with military precision.
Nightscape with Taipei 101
—Taipei 101 is, for now, the world's tallest building, 508 metres, 101 floors - and, whew! you reach the summit in the world's fastest elevator. I visited the building on a bleak day, so my view was interrupted by passing clouds and mist, but I saw enough to make me go weak at the knees. It's a long way down to those rooftops. Several floors in the lower level atrium offer the visitor upmarket shopping, and by upmarket I mean Tiffany and its kin. Take your wallet. Taipei 101 is the place to go for a skyhigh experience - and on a clear day, as the song goes, you can see forever.
“Call me Venerable”
Located in Kaohsiung, south of Taiwan, Fo Guang Shan, which means Buddha's Light Mountain, is the largest Buddhist monastery - and the largest charitable organization - in Taiwan. The Zen order was founded in 1967 by Hsing Yun, a Chinese monk, to promote Humanistic Buddhism and make it relevant in the lives of people everywhere. The Master is an old man now, and he lives here, but I didn't see him.
This huge complex on many levels has shrines, hotel accommodation, school, offices - and it's home to hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns. I arrived in the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised at the room I was offered - it had an ensuite bathroom, a comfortable bed, even a TV. This is not luxury accommodation by any means but you wouldn't look for or expect that at a monastery. Soon after I settled in, I had a chat with "call me Venerable" Bhiksuni Chuehmen, an English-speaking, brown-robed nun who arrived here from Singapore about twenty years ago and who has risen through the ranks, if I can put it that way, to become an official in the order's international outreach. She was quite a character, an ever-smiling source of esoteric information, her dark eyes sparkling with passion and humour behind glasses with round wire frames. I was encouraged to go take a look around the monastery's gardens, up as far as the gigantic Buddha which beams beatifically from the hilltop to the local population below. As the weather looked threatening, I took her advice. I wandered along terraced walkways, under festive lantern decorations, past regiments of gold-painted buddhas (I stopped counting when I reached 270 - or was it 370?) until I reached the top and the towering 40m high Buddha. Then the rains came, a torrential downpour that had me racing for cover. Fortunately, I was able to coax a young boy with a large umbrella to shepherd me back to my quarters.
That night, the rain stopped and the Venerable took charge again and I got to ring the monastery's huge bell, practice calligraphy and meditate. From the moment I arrived until late at night, the monastery and its gardens echoed with the sound of chanting from hidden speakers. That sound, melodic and repetitious, remains with me. Visitors can come here for a night or a week or longer, enjoying the strict but tasty vegetarian cuisine and taking religious instruction if they wish. This Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order is now established around the world - even on a hillside near Wollongong, NSW.
Light up the night
I arrived for Chinese New Year, so my timing was perfect. The major Taiwan cities now take it in turns to host the spectacular Lantern Festival (also known as Shang Yuan Festival) and this year the event was held in Chiayi, an hour south of Taipei on the smooth-as-silk High Speed Train and not far from Tainan. The city authorities put on quite a show, and if you are planning a visit to Taiwan, and are ready to be enchanted, do so at this time of year.
A huge area was set aside for the festival and when I got off the bus in the afternoon, people were arriving in their thousands. In the daylight that remained, I saw decorative lanterns everywhere - from simple paper lanterns to giant gravity-defying constructions. Lanterns, lanterns everywhere - lanterns that looked like birds and fish and beasts and people and ships and airplanes - many crafted by schoolchildren and entered in competition, others created by artists or by corporations. And in the centre, surrounded by this colourful cavalcade, stood a massive 5 story-high boar, tusks and all, symbolizing the newly arrived Year of the Pig.
When it was finally dark, the lanterns lit up the night in dazzling display. But the best was yet to come. Surrounded by police escort, the country's Prime Minister and then its President arrived. Speeches followed, and then it was time to push the button and bring that great pig to life. The ceremony was accompanied by massed drummers - an exhilarating theatrical performance. A last triumphant shout and the boar appeared out of the darkness in a rainbow of colour as fireworks exploded in sky above. Pure magic.
Aboriginal adventures
The Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, in Nan-t’ou, central Taiwan, is a theme park with a difference. Ignore the razzmatazz rides which lie in wait to trap the unwary and head for the skyway which will lift you up over gardens and woods and up to the top of a mountain. You'll see thatched villages below as you ascend - and you'll be taking a close up look at these when you get off and start your walk down back to the Village entrance gate.
The major Austronesian-related tribes are all represented here, so you can see what they looked like, how and where they lived. The Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiat, Shao, Tsou and Yami - each tribe with its own distinctive dress and customs. Their languages are related, yet different and their traditions of weaving, song and dance are popular in contemporary Taiwan. Physically, I have read, the indigenous people resemble Filipinos - particularly the facial bone structure - but I also thought I saw, as I watched them dance, reminders of the North American Indian. Maybe it was the feathers.
The houses you'll explore are fascinating - and halfway down the mountain you'll get to see a special display of song and dance. It's colourful and lively - and surprising. Surprising, because on an island that seems overwhelmingly Chinese, here, suddenly, is a window into a world that's very different. A world that’s still here, preserved for you to experience and enjoy.
Forget Formosan Village's "European" garden, which is colourful, manicured kitsch, but head for the amazing Orchid Plantation in Houbi, Tainan County. Started by an orchid enthusiast a few years ago as a tiny one-man nursery, Orchid Plantation is now a large operation, exporting to the world and specializing in the exquisite Butterfly Orchid. I've never really been an orchid fan, viewing them as cold and trifle pretentious, but I have to admit that the display in the greenhouses here are positively jaw-dropping in their perfection and variety. The visitor goes from the baby nursery, where hundreds, thousands of tiny green babies peep out at you from bottles, to preschool, thru primary and then to graduation - gorgeous, massed blooms ready to be shipped.
Blooming beautiful at Orchid PlantationMarvellous munching
In Taipei: Din Tai Feng is one of few restaurants in Taipei that has earned not only local, but global recognition for its delicious food; Time magazine called it one of the top 10 restaurants in the world. Walk inside and note its bustling lack of pretension. In a central section, behind a window, a dozen cooks busy themselves rolling the dough and creating the dumplings, mostly pork filled, and steamed to perfection. Din Tai Feng is always crowded - arrive at the wrong time and you'll stand in a queue out in the street. Open 10.30am-2pm, 4.30pm-8.30pm Tue-Sun.
In Tainan: the Five Cent Driftwood House is a cavernous, baroque restaurant from Taiwanese designer Xie Li-xiang who creates fanciful spaces combining driftwood, recycled materials, pottery mosaic and lots of glass. To walk inside is like walking into a fairy tale; you half expect to see Red Riding Hood sliding down a banister and a wolf prowl outside amongst the cinnamon trees. The food is equal to this magical environment. Don't miss it.
LaLu on the lake
Lots of fine hotels in Taiwan, but there's nothing to compare with LaLu, which looks out over Sun Moon Lake. From afar, it doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary, but when you walk up through its gardens and into its entrance plaza, you know you're in for something quite special. Designed by Singapore-based Australian architect Kerry Hill to complement the beauty of the lake, LaLu is an all-suite hotel (there are private villas, too) with tariffs to match. Its dramatic simplicity and style - along with ultraluxe facilities and an awe-inspiring view - make it the place to head for if you’re in the mood to celebrate perfection and don't mind lashing out just this once.
LaLu Teahouse overlooks Sun Moon Lake
Villa at LaLu has its own private garden: ultraluxe
Sunset at Sun Moon Lake
Sun Moon Lake offers dreamlike vistas everywhere you lookSun Moon Lake was a favourite of Chiang Kai-shek. He often came here on holiday, and always stayed at the original LaLu. The day I was here, the lake was blue under a grey sky, thanks to limestone in the water. The surrounding mountains were wreathed in mist. I took an hour-long boat cruise, stopping at a temple and a small island sacred to the original inhabitants. Great drifts of ginger lilies seemed to float on the water, their roots providing shelter for baby fish. On a faraway peak, a pagoda stood silhouetted against a pewter sky. Located in the geographic centre of the country, home to the Shao people, Sun Moon Lake is an unforgettable Taiwan dreamscape.
Mountain high
Taiwan's highest mountain is Jade Mountain, or Yushan, nearly 4,000 m high, but the more accessible Alishan National Scenic Area is a mountain resort and natural preserve located in the mountains of Chiayi County in Taiwan. Originally settled by the Tsou aboriginal tribe, the area contains timbered wilderness, small villages, waterfalls and hiking trails. The area is very popular and Alishan Mountain offers Aaah-inspiring sunset views, Oolong tea and wasabi plantations - and fireflies, March thru June.
Sunrise over AlishanI visited Alishan on an overcast day. 2,500 metres up, the air was crisp and cool, and mist hovered over cedar slopes. I wandered about, inspecting great moss-covered stumps that the years have hollowed out like caves. Then it was time to take the little mountain train down the mountain. Built by the Japanese to help move timber to the plains, the train offers the visitor panoramic views as it chugs its way down gorges and through tunnels. The terminus is a little village called Fencihu where you can shop for local goodies and meet the Lunch Box King who operates a takeaway restaurant. With his twinkling eyes and wispy white beard, he looks like a character straight out of Chinese opera. Expect mist in the mountains. It adds to the atmosphere.
Taipei at night: Shihlin Night Market is close to downtown and sells everything from pet puppies to Portuguese egg tarts. It's a fun place with market prices and you can nibble as you shop.
Taipei by day: Sogo is a huge department store and its shining green tile exterior is a local landmark. Here you can find the best in just about everything (the kids are really well served), restaurants, a multi-floor food court with an astonishing variety of beautifully presented and packaged goodies (shades of Japan) - even presentation packs of the Oolong tea I saw growing back on Alishan Mountain. You'll love it.
http://www.taiwantourism.org
