Sitting on the tip of a half-buried "zhong-zih" terrapod
on the beach of Taitung, Taiwan, by the side of the Pacific Ocean, at dawn. The
breath I caught in coming to the clean east coast of Taiwan has just been taken
away. After a half hour walk along the the dyke path of the Taiping River from
the B&B near the Kai-Feng Street Bridge, I needed this restful
view.
Smokey Cat is equally inconvenient to everything in
Taitung, which means my wife and I had some good exercise walking, but when we
found our stride, we were on to Taitung's Bohemian survival plan.
Taitung City, on the
south-east coast of Taiwan, was not only one of the last places on Taiwan
colonized by Han Chinese; it had remained a backwater deep into the 21st
Century. I have already written about the breathtaking views and return of
aboriginal culture in the mountains around Lu-Ye.
Taitung City took center stage on our recent visit.
Arriving at lunch time Saturday after a four hour train ride from
Taichung (one hour HSR and three hours diesel from Zuo-Ying, Kaohsiung) we went
via Ping-Dong up the east coast. The ocean vistas along the way are amazing.
Get a seat on the right side, buy a train "bien-dang" lunch box and
you are set.
The new Taitung train
station is quite far from downtown in the coastal city. It was chosen
to be so distant by local politicians that saw a chance to speculate in land
sales by enticing investors to buy the land near the station. After
they sold the land, at a premium, the value dropped; after all, there is
nothing between the new station and Taitung. Only taxi drivers benefit
from the distance between the station and Taitung; don't pay more than
200.
Since my wife and I visited a few years ago, Taitung has made a
remarkable change for itself, with a bohemian attitude no less, though
urbanization has brought a movie theater, shopping mall, an Eslite
Bookstore, and many western food franchises. Its abandoned sugar processing
plant and railroad line have become the core of a new bohemian lifestyle that
has already attracted many progressive Taiwanese and ex-pats.
Taitung has done what other famous cities have famously
done: taken an abandoned urban rail line and changed it into a pedestrian mall.
High Line Park in Manhattan and Promenade Plantee in Paris are the two main
models. Taitung, too, has an area of abandoned rail link that they have added
boardwalk to, landscaped, and encouraged businesses to open up their back doors
and build entrances.
Starting from the downtown end of the line, at the old railway
station, there is the new Taitung Railway Art Village. Several buildings were
converted for exhibition space and grassy park where the stockyard once was for
families to enjoy. On most evenings and weekends, the
local indigenous merchants set up stalls to display their crafts and
food stuff.
As you walk along the right-of-way, the bohemian air starts
to peculate as you see new community centers, cafes and bistros popping
up. One place that got our attention was Cheela Cafe .The back entrance was so
tropically enticing with aged planks leading up, with a modern cafe at the
front. My wife and I had the best homemade cinnamon buns we've ever had in
Taiwan along with a large variety of fresh brewed coffee and tea. There was
real New York style cheesecake!
Back outside on the old rail pedestrian mall, we were witness to a
tree massacre. In an attempt to landscape the path, tree pruning was outsourced
to someone who had no aesthetics about tree trimming. It made us think
that although Taitung had intentions of luring tourists with the new bohemian
folk life style, they haven't gotten all the kinks out yet.
Walking further on, we came across a bright red
building, just around the corner from Obama Bakery. Occupying the second floor
is the Taitung Theater. This organization shows Eastern European Films sent to
them from their Taipei foundation. The films are subtitled in Chinese but
most of them are not in English; ex-pats beware. It seems
the students who get public service credit benefit most from the film
showings. The screenings are poorly attended but since it is publicly funded,
the management isn't concerned. In New York City, these films would bring in
$20 a ticket and be sold out weeks in advance. I wished this theater was at
least in Taichung where I could enjoy some showings. In Taitung, it lends
itself to the bohemian survival plan but void of local relevance.
On Sunday, our first full day of visiting
Taitung, I snuck out before dawn while my wife slept and walked a block
away to the dyke road along the Taiping River to the Pacific shoreline. It
would have been better if the B&B had offered bicycles for such a trek but
I couldn't resist it knowing an ocean wasn't far away.
I was taken aback by the beauty of the river side as I spotted
some grazing water buffalo. Their owners let them graze freely until they are
needed to till their fields; quite a perk for a beast of burden. The
clouds tried to reach over the enormous mountains to the west; the palm trees
hugged the dykes.
When I crossed the last
bridge over the river, fearing that the sky was starting to lose its bluish hue
and I would miss the dawn, I hurried. Then, I spied the end of the river. Though
I had to cross a footbridge over a putrid sewer runoff to get there, I left my
cares and woes drain along with it and rushed to the shoreline. This Brooklyn
boy needed to witness the crashing of sea waves, to feel the earth tremble and
smell the salty air of the Pacific Ocean, anyway. I ignored the filth.
Breakfast at the Smokey Cat would be served soon. I had a date
with my wife I didn't want to miss, so I bid farewell to the Pacific and headed
back. We had one more day ahead of us before we were to train back to Taichung
Monday.
Sunday, we walked down Kai-Feng Street and back to the Old
Train Line. On the way, we spotted an interesting restaurant on a corner with a
large clay pot. The sign said "homemade chicken soup." It was just
what the doctor ordered in the damp chill of a tropical ocean side town in
winter. The proprietor placed a thick glove on her hand and reached into
the steaming pot to pull out a smaller pot, one of dozens lining the shelves
inside.
We got our soup to go and went on our way to find our next
adventure. We Turned left at the Old Rail Promenade when we
reached Obama's Bakery, and went to find the perfect bench to enjoy our
soup. We found one looking out over a pretty wash near a cultivated field along
the path, now divided for bikes, too. The Jewish penicillin penetrated our
weary Taichung-polluted noses as our glasses steamed up with every
sip. The bones disintegrated in my mouth.
The Taitung City Bikeway is a 32 km. loop around the city
following the old tracks out to near the new train station before heading back
through the Forest and Seashore Parks. We were headed to the old Sintung Sugar
Factory Arts Center in Dulan Village near the old Ma-Lan Station. Taitung
couldn't get more bohemian than this.
The Sintung Sugar Factory, abandoned since the late 90's, was
taken over by artists that transformed the deserted plant into studios and
showrooms. There, exhibitions from craftsmen are held for art aficionados.
Handicraft shops display the work from indigenous artists. Groups from
Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan are also present. With
concerts, a coffee house, and even a B&B, the Sugar Factory is the matching
bookend to the other side of the Old Taitung Rail Promenade.
After an afternoon perusing the
handicrafts, we got back on the tracks and headed to the old part of town for a
very special farewell dinner. We couldn't leave Taitung without enjoying the
seafood specialties at Taitung's oldest and most famous restaurant,
Wan-Ba-Tsu. Their best dish has got to be the turnip coated fried fish. I
suggest you call in advance as they are often swamped with banquets and dinner
parties.
After dinner, we took a long walk back to Smokey Cat through old
Taitung, a city preserving its past cultures while investing in a future of
tourism with surfing contests, bike paths, a gateway to Green Island, badminton
tournaments, and most importantly, a bohemian shot of fresh air that
should get a lot of progressive west-coasters and ex-pats moving to the clean
side of Taiwan. Up the mountains, near Lu-Ye, there is even more fresh reason
to visit Taitung. But whatever you do, don't miss seeing the Pacific Ocean and
walking the Old Rail Line.
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