Members of the Atayal community of Hagay (哈凱部落) protested outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei today. They called on the government to provide permanent housing to replace the temporary housing they have been living in for ten years. They also called on the government to take responsibility for the impacts of the construction of the Baling Dam in the catchment of the Shimen Reservoir.

The Hagay community originally lived in a remote location in Fuxing Township of Taoyuan County (桃園縣復興鄉). About twenty years ago the community decided to move to a new location near the Baling Bridge (巴陵橋) on the Northern Cross Island Highway to make it easier for the children to get to school.

The construction of a check dam to control sediment at Baling and the impacts of Typhoon Herb in 1996 and Typhoon Aere in 2004 washed away the community’s land. They were forced to move into temporary housing. In the photo above Dai Li-juan (戴禮娟) is talking about the difficulties families face in the temporary housing which they have had to live in for more than ten years.

The community presented a letter of appeal to a representative of the Executive Yuan. They called on the central government to provide them with permanent housing and to take responsibility for the damage to their land and the ecology of the river caused by the construction of the Baling Dam.

The experience of the Hagay community also raises broader concerns about the impacts of engineering works and construction of dams in the Shimen Reservoir catchment area. Eight major check dams have been constructed in the catchment of the Shimen Reservoir in an attempt to reduce sediment flows into the reservoir. The Baling Dam was destroyed by Typhoon Wipha in 2007.

The photo above shows the Yufeng Dam in July 2010 at Marqwang which is further upstream from Baling. The dam is already filled with sediment so it serves no useful function except to harm the ecology of the river. I have only been making observations in the area for about a year but residents of the area tell of how the stream was much deeper and full of fish before the dam was constructed.

The government spends billions of dollars on engineering works in an attempt to maintain the quality of water in the Shimen Reservoir, but the effectiveness of the works is questionable. The case of the Hagay community shows the direct effects of these works on people living in the catchment area. If the construction of the Gaotai and Bilin dams goes ahead then the impacts on the Atayal communities in the area will be of an even greater magnitude.

• The ancient trees of Lala Shan
• 314 Tibet protest in Taipei
• Visit to village relocation site in Alishan
• Close Songshan Airport
• New media in Taiwan

I have just spent ten days accompanying John Seed on a trip around Taiwan. John is an environmentalist from Australia well known for his efforts protecting rainforests around the world and also as a philosopher of Deep Ecology. I met John at the Taoyuan Airport on the morning of 28 March. We then took the high speed train to Kaohsiung where we met Dr Lin Yih-ren who arranged John’s visit to Taiwan.

After lunch in Kaohsiung we went to visit the Qimei Community University and then went on a tour around the Meinong area. By the time night fell we were high in the mountains of Pingtung County staying at the Rukai village of Wutai. The photo at the top of this post shows Paiwan artist E-tan presenting one of his works to John. We met E-tan at the Autumn Moon Cafe (秋月e店) just above the town of Sandimen. The cafe is an amazing spot and is filled with great artworks. 

The next morning we went on a tour of Wutai village. The beautifully decorated stone buildings that fill the village are quite amazing. The church is also a very impressive building. Although many aboriginal communities go outside to raise funds to build a church, this church was built only using the resources of the community.

Driving out of Wutai we were able to see the deep scars that Typhoon Morakot had left on the landscape. There were still major roadworks going on in some places along the road. During this part of the trip we spent time in Gaoshu learning about the post-typhoon reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. John also gave a talk at the community university in Qimei (旗美社區大學). John has written an account of the first three days of the trip (pdf file) with photos by me.

On 31 March there was an eco-cultural night at Providence University. The evening featured performances by members of Rukai, Bunun, Seediq and Atayal communities that have close links with Providence University. The Xiao Rukai Band (小魯凱樂團 Drekai) put on an entertaining performance. They are very talented performers who combine music with stories about their experience of being aboriginal and the impacts of Typhoon Morakot on their communities.

The next day we travelled to the Bunun community of Kalibuan in Nantou County which I had also visited a few weeks earlier. In the evening we drove up to Dongpu to enjoy a bath in the hot springs. I had visited this town eleven years ago when it was still recovering from the effects of the 921 earthquake. This time the local businesses also appeared to be struggling in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot. After dinner we saw some local Bunun people put on a show for the tourists in the foyer of the hotel.

The next part of John’s visit was to the Jianshi Township in Hsinchu County. John spoke at an Anti-Dam Concert in Jianshi and we then travelled to Smangus and Marqwang. I will write more details about this in a separate post.

The final place on the itinerary was Hongshi Buddhist College (佛教弘誓學院) in Taoyuan. John gave a talk about Deep Ecology and also spoke about some of his personal experiences practicing Buddhism. During several of his talks in Taiwan John mentioned that Arne Naess, the founder of Deep Ecology, defined Deep Ecology as “asking deeper questions.” There were some great questions at Hongshi College. Many thanks to Venerable Chao Hwei for hosting John’s talk.

John is still in Taiwan with the next part of his visit hosted by the Society of Wilderness (荒野保護協會). He is conducting a “Council of All Beings” workshop and then giving the keynote speech at the Environment NGOs Conference in Taipei on Sunday.

*More photos can be found in the John Seed in Taiwan set at flickr.

• John Seed in Jianshi and Smangus
• Hagay community protests against impacts of Baling Dam
• Tour de Taiwan in Taipei County
• Tour de Taiwan final stage
• Links 26 November 2007

The event began with the monks chanting blessings before accepting alms. Here the people are lined up ready to offer food to the monks.

Later there was more chanting by the monks on the stage.

There was a parade of Buddha statues led by the Golden Buddha from Ling Jiou Mountain (靈鷲山).

The parade also included some beautiful Thai ladies in traditional dress.

Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) addressed the crowd. He mentioned that there were more than 20,000 Thai workers in Taoyuan County. There are a total of 75,000 Thai workers in Taiwan, mostly men working in the construction industry.

After his speech Chu Li-lun was given the official honor of turning a fire hose on the crowd. You can see some people here enjoying the shower.

When all the speeches were over there was some Thai dancing to keep the crowd entertained.

Blue Sky band, with MJ Klein on guitar, came out to play their second set. Their first set in the morning was abruptly cut short.

There was a huge crowd and they went wild as Blue Sky rocked the Taoyuan Stadium.

A few people in the crowd were wearing red shirts. I don’t know if it was a political statement or not. They were certainly having a good time.

After Blue Sky finished their set there was a change in style as a group representing ethnic minorities from Yunnan Province, China Burma did some dancing.

It was a fantastic and entertaining day and great to experience a little bit of Thai life right here in Taiwan.

*More photos in the Thai New Year in Taoyuan set at flickr (to be uploaded over the next couple of days).

• Bitan Music Festival photos
• Taoyuan Airport Skytrain
• Taoyuan train trip
• Thai workers protest
• The best beef noodles

On my bike ride across the Northern Cross Island Highway I passed by the turn off to Lala Shan (拉拉山), just after Baling (巴陵). On Saturday I returned to the area again, this time via motorcycle, and visited Lala Shan. It is just as well that I didn’t make the detour on my bicycle. While the horizontal distance from Lower Baling is not so great, the vertical distance is. The road goes up and up and up. The photo above shows the view from about half way up.

The air was noticeably cooler up at altitude. Eventually we reached the car park and then set out to walk around the stand of ancient cypress trees. The trees are numbered and the signs also show the height, girth and age of the tree.

Only a few of the trees are tall and straight. The gnarled base of this tree has stood the test of time though.

This tree reaches for the sky.

Towards the end of the walk we reached tree 21. For those who don’t read Chinese the sign says, Tree 21, 55 metres high, 14 metres girth and 2,700 years old. It is incredible to imagine that this tree was already well established at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. It must have survived several thousand typhoons. The forest and old trees at Lala Shan are really amazing and well worth a visit.

• Top five places in Taiwan
• Smangus and the Atayal spirit
• Hiking around Xindian & Maokong
• John Seed in Jianshi and Smangus
• The sun sets on 2006

I set off at six o’clock on Monday morning to ride across the Northern Cross Island Highway. This road, which Taiwanese call the Bei Heng (北橫), begins at Daxi in Taoyuan County and goes across the mountains to Yilan. I stopped to eat breakfast somewhere on the road between Xindian and Sanxia. Once I rode through Sanxia the worst of the traffic and urban ugliness was behind me. The scenery on Route 7乙 between Sanxia consisted of small farms with bigger mountains off in the distance.

At Sanmin I joined the Route 7 proper passing by Fuxing and the Xiao Wulai waterfall which I had visited before. I stopped on the Luofu Bridge to take a few photos.

Beyond Luofu the road narrowed and you really had the sense of being in the mountains as the road travelled along the side of a steep valley. The next stop was in Ronghua at an altitude of 510 metres. The Leaf Cafe (葉子咖啡) was a perfect refuelling stop. I made fairly good time and not long after midday I rolled in to the small town of Baling where I had lunch. Baling has hot springs and several hotels and would make a good spot for an overnight stop if you are cycling at a more sedate pace.

Beyond Baling the road headed further upward. You are really in the mountains here and there is very little traffic on the road. At the higher elevations there are cypress trees. The road kept going up beyond the sign in the photo above. I believe the high point of the road is around 1,200 metres. At this altitude the temperature is also noticeably cooler especially when the clouds started rolling in the afternoon.

Around mid-afternoon I reached Mingchi. I arrived there at the same time as two other cyclists and they asked me if I would like to share a room with them. I was grateful for their kindness and company. They were also riding the Bei Heng, but at a slower pace having taken two days to get to Mingchi from Taipei. Mingchi has a beautiful resort set amongst the giant trees of the Ma-kau Ecological Park (馬告生態公園). After taking a shower there was still enough daylight to walk around the lake at Mingchi and enjoy the beautiful forest.

The next morning I was on the road before seven. The road was fairly level for a while before the long descent down to Yilan began. On the narrow mountain roads people generally drive slowly and carefully. It is amazing how two vehicles can pass each other when it seems so narrow. Many people also shouted out encouragement to me as they drove past.

The road descends to the valley of the Lanyang River and follows its banks until it reaches the Yilan Plain. When I got to Yilan there was an ominous looking black cloud to the north and shortly before I reached Jiaoxi it started raining. I took shelter and waited until the rain stopped. I rode through Jiaoxi and started to head along Route 9 to Pinglin. It started raining again. I stopped for a while, but then decided to push on rain, hail or shine. The “nine turns and eighteen bends” afforded some wonderfully dramatic views of Toucheng and the ocean.

When I rolled into Pinglin for a late lunch the roads were finally dry even if I wasn’t. After a hearty lunch I started on the home stretch along a familiar road. A large golden statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva stands guard over the road on the climb up from Pinglin. It was still a bit further to the top of the hill but then it was a nice easy downhill run home.

The two day ride was a great experience and the forest and mountain scenery was especially beautiful. I should add that it is possible to take your bikes back to Taipei on the Capital Bus (首都客運) from Jiaoxi or Yilan if you don’t want to ride over Route 9 or one of the other routes.

*more photos in the Northern Cross Island Highway set at flickr.

#Thanks to Rank and Biking in Taiwan who have both posted helpful descriptions of the route (and some alternative routes).

Update: An article about the ride has now been published in Highway 11 magazine. It is online in both English and Chinese.

• The ancient trees of Lala Shan
• Top five places in Taiwan
• Cycling: from the marginal to the mainstream
• Links 26 May 2008
• Photo in Sky Couch magazine

I've ridden the HSR, MRT and TRA, but there was still one train system in Taiwan that I had yet to ride. It was the skytrain at the Taoyuan International Airport. I was at the airport today and had some free time so I thought I would take a ride and take some photos too. 

This little two carriage train shuttles passengers between Terminals One and Two of the airport.

The cars are self-guided running on concrete tracks, much like the Muzha line of the Taipei MRT. 

And here is a view inside the carriage. As the journey between the two terminals only takes a couple of minutes it is barely necessary to sit down.

More photos in the Taoyuan Airport set at flickr.  

• Taoyuan train trip
• Domestic aviation industry in decline
• What I am studying this semester
• Close Songshan Airport
• Letter in Johnny Neihu’s mailbag

Back in May when I visited Bangkok I met Ajarn Sulak and he informed me that the INEB* Conference would be held in Taiwan in September. I offered to help and soon I found myself busily involved in the planning and organisation of the conference. 

The conference took place from 31 August to 2 September 2007 at Buddhist Hongshi College (佛教弘誓學院), near Zhongli. A four day study tour visiting Buddhist organisations around Taiwan took place after the conference. 

The first formal event of the conference was a press conference. This was held at the Keng Tu Yuan (耕讀園) in Taipei on 29 September. The media contingent was small but included BLTV (人間電視） and the Apple Daily (蘋果日報). The panel of speakers at the press conference was made up of Ven. Chao Hwei (釋昭慧法師) and Ven. Shing Guang (釋性廣法師) of Hongshi College, Dr Yo Hsiang Chou (游祥洲), chief coordinator of the conference, Mr Zhang, the owner of Keng Tu Yuan, and myself. I am not sure if any reports appeared in the Chinese media, but the China Post and Taipei Times both carried articles. 

The conference bought together about 60 participants from 15 different countries. Most arrived on 31 August before the opening ceremony was held in the afternoon. It was great for me to be able to meet some of the people I knew from when I used to work in Ajarn Sulak's office in Bangkok. Phra Santithammarangsi, the monk on the right of the picture above, attended a course I taught at the Wongsanit Ashram in 2002. 

It was a great honour to be able to welcome Ajarn Sulak to Taiwan. The last time Ajarn visited Taiwan was in 1998 to receive the Unrepresented Nation and People Organization (UNPO) Award. He is pictured above with Ven. Shing Guang and Ven. Chao Hwei shortly after arriving. 

Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Secretary General of the Presidential Office, was a special guest at the opening ceremony. She gave a short speech about her personal experience of Buddhism. The other speakers were Ven. Chao Hwei, Prof. Hsia Cheng-hua (夏誠華), President of Hsuan Chuang University (玄裝大學), Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa and Dr Yo Hsiang Chou. 

The theme of the conference was "Engaged Buddhism: from Social Welfare to Social Change". This is a point that Ajarn Sulak frequently emphasizes. He says simply offering charity to the poor is not enough. There is a need to challenge the status quo and overcome structural violence. As I was busy with working behind the scenes I didn't really have the chance to participate in the proceedings of the conference. 

At the closing ceremony Ajarn Sulak announced that Ven. Chao Hwei would become the fourth patron of INEB. The three patrons of INEB are His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Ven. Somchai Kusalacitto representing the three main Buddhist traditions. Ajarn Sulak said he felt it was very important to have a bhikkhuni as patron for more balance. I don't think there could be anyone better qualified than Ven. Chao Hwei to take on this role. I felt it was a very special moment.   

I must express my sincere thanks to Ven. Chao Hwei and all the staff and students at Hongshi College. They were the most wonderful and generous hosts. A report on the study tour will follow soon.  

* International Network of Engaged Buddhists (國際入世佛教協會)

# More photos of the conference at flickr. Update: Also see the photos on the Hongshi College website.

• INEB article in Hongshi magazine
• Farewell to Formosa
• INEB study tour: Taipei
• INEB study tour: from north to south
• Call for papers – 2009 NATSA Conference

I got up early this morning and caught the 7:25 high speed train from Banqiao to Taoyuan. I didn't really want to go to Taoyuan for any special reason. I just thought I would take another ride on the high speed train and then return via the regular train.

Travelling from Banqiao to Taoyuan the train passes through a number of tunnels and in about ten minutes the trip was over. The next time I take the high speed train I must go at least as far as Taizhong to get a longer experience. The Taoyuan HSR Station, like Banqiao, is also underground.   

I took this photo of the train in Taoyuan Station. Notice the dirty marks on the front. They are probably a result of hitting birds.

The station was eerily quiet. In a few years there will be a rapid transit line here with connections to Zhongli, the airport and Taipei. Maybe there will be a bit more action then. I had breakfast at MOS Burger and wandered around the station for a while taking photos. 

The photo above shows the bus that runs between the HSR Station and the Taoyuan International Airport. I took a different bus to the centre of Taoyuan City. There were buses to the airport, Taoyuan and Zhongli. They leave every hour or so, which matches the current frequency of trains on the HSR. 

It cost NT$30 for the trip to Taoyuan by bus. There were only two passengers when the bus left the station, but it picked up quite a few passengers along the way. I was astounded when the bus passed a huge shed full of Fresian dairy cows. I didn't manage to get a good shot of the cows, but I caught the shop next door to the dairy.

The Qujian Che (區間車) of the Taiwan Railways is a stark contrast to the sleekness of the high speed train. The railway station in Taoyuan was buzzing, a stark contrast to the almost deserted HSR Taoyuan Station. The return journey to Banqiao was standing room only. 

• Taoyuan Airport Skytrain
• High speed trip to Xinzhu
• HSR from Taichung to Taipei
• Shi-Da class outing to Yingge
• Thai New Year in Taoyuan

I took a few good panorama shots on my travels around Taiwan over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon I went out to Neihu with my friend Keith. We had a look around Dahu Park (大湖公園) which has a large lake in its centre (photo above). The Neihu MRT line is under construction along the edge of the lake. I was a bit disappointed to see that they haven't even completed pouring the concrete yet or started constructing the stations. At least with the line above ground it is easy to monitor the progress of the work. 

In the background of the photo of Dahu Park you can see the small mountain Kangle Shan (康樂山). We hiked up there and had a look around. The hiking trail seemed little used and from the top of the mountain it looked like you could hike all the way to the top of Yangmingshan without passing through any urban areas.

The last photo was taken at Xiao Wulai (小烏來) in Taoyuan County. It was taken near the viewing platform for the waterfall. The photo takes in the small town of Luofu (羅浮) and the Dahan River (大漢溪). Just downstream from here is the upper reaches of the Shimen Reservoir (石門水庫). There are also two bridges across the Dahan River which I captured in this panorama shot and in a bunch of other shots.

You can see more panorama shots in my photo gallery and also at flickr.  

• Taipei panorama
• Hiking in a different light
• The sun sets on 2006
• New photo gallery
• Some photos from Taiwan

The best thing about the waterfall is the fantastic view of it. You can not only take in the entire drop of the waterfall but a vista of surrounding mountains and valleys. Its worth noting that getting to the viewpoint where this photo was taken involves no hiking. You can drive there by car.

There are a few short hiking trails around the waterfall. Near the top of the waterfall you can see the "Wind Moving Rock" (風動石). A large boulder that appears very precariously balanced. You can walk down to the base of the falls, but can't get really close where you might experience the roar of the water. They were doing some work there and I guess access was restricted for safety reasons. 

The "Long Rainbow" Bridge (長虹橋) leading to the base of the waterfall.  

After I finished exploring the area around the base of the waterfall I rode further up the valley where I had this magnificent view. 

• Some panorama photos
• Hiking in Wulai
• Cycling to Wulai
• Mum and Dad visit Taiwan
• Wonderful Wulai