David on Formosa

I read an article in Thursday's China Post about the Shimen Reservoir (石門水庫) in Taoyuan County. The article said that the area was a good chance to experience Atayal culture. The Atayal (泰雅族) are the aboriginal tribe that live in the mountainous areas of Northern Taiwan.

I made an early start and headed out through Sanxia (三峽) to Taoyuan County (桃園縣). My first stop was the Miaofa Buddhist Temple (妙法寺) which had a line of golden Buddhas along its driveway that caught my attention. I stopped to take some photos and look around.

When I got to Daxi (大溪) I turned left towards the Shimen Reservoir. I didn't have a particular route or destination in mind, I just wanted to see what I could discover. Not far down the road I passed the place where Chiang Kai-shek's remains are stored. It is in a village called Cihu (慈湖). I knew this place was in the area but I didn't know exactly where. I didn't even bother to go in and have a look.

A little further down the road I got to the village of Sanmin and I saw a sign pointing to the Bat Cave (蝙蝠洞) which sounded interesting. I almost got mauled by a couple of mad dogs on the way there. The cave was a bit of a disappointment. It was just a very large overhanging rock and I didn't see any bats either. Still the location and surrounding forest was attractive.

Not far from the Bat Cave I saw a small village with an interesting church. Up on the hill there was a modern tile-covered concrete church, while in the valley below there was a beautiful stone church. The stone church looked quite old, but I was surprised to discover that it was built in 1963. It was a beautiful building nonetheless.

Next I continued along the mountain roads and up the road to Dongyan Shan (東眼山). I had been here once many years ago. The road was very popular with both motorcyclists and cyclists. I got to the gate of the park, but didn't go in. The skies weren't very clear and I wasn't prepared for hiking. However, now that I know I can comfortably ride there by motorcycle, I will come back another time to hike to the top of the mountain.

I headed down down to the small town of Luofu where two interesting bridges span the Dahan River.

There was a small museum (復興立泰雅織工藝文物館) here which showed how the Atayal traditionally made and weaved cloth from a kind of plant. A lady at the museum carefully explained the whole process from the harvesting of the plant through to weaving and dying. In the past the Atayal only had black and white in their fabrics. The use of other colors only occurred when artificial dies became available.

After that I headed to the town of Fuxing (復興) to have a look around. There is a lot of local produce on sale in the streets and mushrooms, both raw and cooked are one of the most popular products. I had some for lunch along with another local specialty — bamboo tube rice (竹桐飯). Another interesting thing was some of the street signs where written in Chinese characters and what I presume to be the Atayal language written in romanised form.

I headed back to Sanxia by a more direct route. I was surprised how close it actually was. There were plenty more things to see in the area like the Xiao Wulai waterfall and the Lala Shan old trees. I'm sure I will head back there soon.