Leona and I got back from Guguan
a few hours ago. Despite the constant rain from Friday night on, we had a
wonderful time. When you plan for a trip, it is good to be flexible; being
together with the one you love is the only thing that matters. Of course it
would have been nice if the weather were clear and we could go on more hikes in
the mountainous rain forests, but fate intervened to keep our get-away as
sparkling as we liked even if there were no stars in the cloudy sky.
Every trip begins with transportation to the destination and in
Taiwan it is no different. The best case scenario is to make the modus operandi
facilitating an escape as pleasurable as the crime of vacationing itself.
Contrary to Taiwanese public opinion, driving a car or motorcycle to a vacation
spot is not the way to get off on the right foot; how can the driver enjoy the
scenery when he or she must concentrate on not hitting the vehicle in front or
driving off a cliff on the hairpin turns of Taiwan mountain roads, not to
mention the traffic or finding a place to park once you arrive? Going by bus,
train, and on foot are the only ways the all parties on the trip can enjoy
themselves and each other without keeping one eye on unreliable GPS directions.
To go to
Guguan from any point in Taiwan is easy, convenient, and dirt cheap in Taiwan.
Furthermore, you don’t want to mess with currency when you are on the road to
salvation. I have only two words for you if you plan to trip around: Easy Card!
Go to any convenience store, ask the clerk for a “Yo-Yo Card.” It costs 100 NT;
add at least 500 NT to it and you are set.
Since we
live in Beitun in Taichung, if you want to go to Guguan, it is best to take a
Taiwan Railroad local train to the Feng-yuan station. Outside the station in
Feng-yuan, there is a little bus depot. Get the # 207 bus; it departs at least
once an hour. The ride takes about ninety minutes. The bus will make many stops
at first but by the middle of the trip up the mountain, when the view goes from
heart-breaking through the 1999 earthquake destruction zone to breath-taking
view through the valley along the Da-Jia River, it is almost non-stop. When you
arrive in Guguan, go to the cultural center for brochures and maps. In the
center, you will see a display: “Atayal Traditional Cultural Artifacts” is the
name of Bobao Yasu’s start-up. The packaging is slick and the spelling is
American English but the items Bobao and his wife make are not “artifacts” per
se. Placed in the Hot Spring Cultural Center which was opened in 2005, the
display is one of a few there along with pine tree ice pops. The center is where
we picked up maps, brochures, and got information.
Being a mouth harp aficionado, having played in a blues-rock
band for a number of years, I was interested in the mouth organ called the
“Jew’s harp,” actually a derogatory term invented by anti-Semites in Europe and
appropriated by the American English speaker who carried the subliminal
prejudice to Taiwan. Let’s keep the name, anyway, to remind people in Taiwan
how my people are treated - not unlike how indigenous are treated in Taiwan -
but use the Atayal for the musical instrument, “le-ong,” instead.
Guguan, in Bo-Ai
Village of He-ping District, is northeast of Taichung, 800 meters (2,600 ft.)
above sea-level. It is located on the Central Cross-Island Highway, the one
that used to cut through Taiwan in Taroko Gorge before the 921 earthquake of
1999 and Typhoon Toraji decimated the roadbed and made it impassable to tourist
going to Hualien on Taiwan's east coast. The many businesses and hotels along
the route have suffered for fifteen years of it. Today, only old-time Taiwanese
visit this spot; international tourists having to take the long way around to
Taroko Gorge.
The hot springs in
Guguan, are odorless and carbonic, with a pH of 7.6, 48-60 degrees Celsius.
Most of the dozens of hotels and spas there have hot spring, some public, some
private. The Dajia river, where fisherman can still catch small trout, rises up
across footbridges from the valley into luscious rain forests of creeks and
waterfalls with a dozen trails of various lengths and challenges.
My wife and I stayed
at a place called Li-Chih Shan Shui. The name is too small to read in English
but it is well worthy finding because it is secluded behind the main road
near the bus stop up a path a few minutes from the entrance. We were fortunate
to stay in the VIP suite, an upgrade because of the lousy weather that caused
cancellation. Prices range from 1200 NT to 10,800 NT. By taking the public bus
to Guguan, you can splurge
on a room with a private hot spring
Jacuzzi. Meals are included in many rates.
Once we got settled
in the hotel, we walked out looking for a place for lunch. When we saw the
crystal clear fish tanks outside the Jin-Gu Restaurant, we knew we had found
the right spot. The cooking there was tasty and inexpensive. We opted for fresh
ferns, deep fried salted pork, and fresh steamed baby trout raised in Dajia
River water. The only English menu in town made it all clear. As the rain
poured outside, we chatted with the owner, Mr. Chen Jien-Sen, who has run the
restaurant there for thirty years.
"Say, you
wouldn't know where we can find this place that sells Jew's Harps, would
you?" My wife asked after I insisted he must know. He did know! We gave
him the phone number from the display and he made a phone call.
"They are not
there today; they are away in He-huan-shan, a few hours away in Nantou, to
teach a class of indigenous handicapped children who he just couldn't let down,
despite the driving rain. "He will be happy to see you tomorrow morning,
okay? Call me up when you're ready and I'll drive you to his place" We
couldn't believe our ears! We were in for a real treat.
After an evening of
wine sipping in the Jacuzzi, we were tenderized and ready to go on our
adventure into the Atayal community down just down the road.
Mr. Chen called up
the artisan one more time to get exact directions. We met Babao in his mini-van
at a junction across the Rainbow Bridge, one of three red structures the
government had built after the earthquake and typhoon.
We drove a few minutes away down rainy
roads until we reached Bobao's home and Mr. Chen bid us goodbye.
"That was very
nice of Mr. Chen to bring us to you," I said.
"Many
foreigners find us through him because they see the sign that he has an English
menu. We appreciate him very much. Please, come in." We entered a
corrugated aluminum structure with long tables and a display of
homemade arts and crafts.
"There was a
Canadian folk musician that discovered the Atayal le-ong years back," Bobao
said reflecting. "He was so interested that he went on a search to find
out where he could get one. He contacted the Taiwan Aboriginal Culture Affairs
Bureau and they did a search. Finally, after ten years, he came to visit us and
learned about the history of the le-ong."
As we sipped
tea prepared by his lovely wife, Bobao Yasu told us the origin of the
"le-ong" as it is called by the Tai-ya (Atayal) people. For centuries
before the first Europeans encroached on Taiwan, the indigenous Tai-ya lived on
the plains west of the mountains. The community became too large and so the
elders chose to spread out across Taiwan in all directions. They tried to avoid
head-hunting in other tribes' territory but needed a way to keep in touch with
each other when returning from a hunting trip. On their return, the tribe
played the le-ong, which sounds like indigenous bird calls, to let their
settlers know they weren't enemies approaching.
The
"go-gao" is a Jew's Harp made of bamboo without a copper strip, copper
from Dutch arms left behind after Koxinga expelled the European
colonists. A warrior was rewarded with one or two copper strips to his go-gao
depending on his exploits. Three copper strips were reserved for the le-ong of
medicine men who used the instrument in incantations and magic spells. The
warriors gave their le-ong to their wives as gifts of love. It is only recently
that the le-ong has been used for musical purposes.
During the
Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the le-ong was banned; the Japanese realized the
instrument was being used by the Atayal warriors to pass secret messages to
defend themselves and attack the invaders from the north. in the 2011
Taiwanese film Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale depicts
the resistance
Taiwan indigenous people put
up against the Japanese. On October 27, 1930, hundreds of Japanese
converged on Wushe for an athletics meet. Mouna Rudao led over 300 Seediq
warriors in a raid of strategic police sub-stations to capture weapons and
ammunition. They then moved on the elementary school, concentrating their
attack on the Japanese in attendance. A total of 134 Japanese, including women
and children, were killed in the attack.
Aboriginals have criticized politicians for abusing the
"indigenization" movement for political gains, such as aboriginal
opposition to the DPP's "rectification" by recognizing the Taroko for
political reasons, with the majority of mountain townships voting for Ma Ying-Jeou.
The
Taiwan regional government promoted Bobao's art. They sent slick packaging for
it and put it on display in the hot springs museum. They even sent Bobao around
the world as an ambassador of Taiwanese indigenous culture similarly to how
Darwin came back from South America with Patagonian giants or Wild Bill Hickok
returned from the wild Wild West with plains Indians. Not as bad as an entire
village from the Amazon brought to Coney Island for the gawking pleasure of the
Brooklynites, but Babao felt that way, with body guards around him to protect
the natural treasure, without interpreter to interact outside of their purpose.
There was even a businessman who wanted to take Bobao under his golden wings
and mass produce his Jew's Harps in a factory on the Mainland for distribution
worldwide. Bobao was having none of that. He wants to spread his people's story
like smoke spreads; naturally.
We
went to Guguan not knowing we would have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chen, or
Mr. and Mrs. Bobao Yasu. Travelers should never lose the opportunity to go off
the map and learn about the lives of natives in the vicinity, in this case, the
indigenous Atayal.
Guguan's clean
mountain air, without the rush of tourists you find in other spots around
Taiwan. is refreshing. There are many trails to burn, and the accommodations
when you return from hiking range from bed and breakfast, to hotel spa, to
campsites. There aren't too many stores or restaurants though there is a 7-11
and Family Mart, On a rainy weekend in Central Taiwan, do yourself a favor, get
on the #207 bus from Feng-yuan (you can also get a bus from the HSR station in
Taichung) and ride up to Guguan before it becomes too well known again.
The medicinal hot springs are just what you need to take the stress off
during Taiwan's busy winter.
