the dawn of ilha formosa

Our five-day trip to the east coast of Taiwan was pretty intense, and it's hard to describe it with the concision required by a post. But since so far the strategy of describing every minutiae leaded to a de facto lack of posts, due to the feeling of being overwhelmed by all the aforementioned minutiae, I think it's better to do like with Tokyo: write down a few sparse memories, pretending they're notes for future, deeper reflections, which will never see the light.

We arrived in Hualien on Monday at noon, and visited the gorgeous Taroko park the very same afternoon. It is gorgeous by definition, since its main attraction are the spectacular gorges created by the water of the Liwu river. I have no idea whether there is any etymological correlation between the noun and the adjective. For sure, these gorges are gorgeous. The insistent rain spoiled a bit the pleasantness of the hiking, but it caused a magical mist to surround the mountains and rendered everything melancholic and mysterious. It wasn't too bad, anyway, given that we had an umbrella and... uhum, a taxi driver waiting for us at the end of each trail!
At night we went see a performance of Ami dances (Ami is one of the numerous aboriginal tribes of Taiwan, of which many populate the eastern coast), whose choreography was surprisingly articulated, and requiring great skill from the dancers. They were young, pretty, athletic, and looking incredibly bored. It was a real sufferance: seeing those beautiful bodies in colorfully lavish costumes move with such a lack of spirit and enthusiasm. Moreover, it was clearly a lot about selling souvenirs and photos to tourists, rather than an artistic performance aimed to resuscitate a cultural tradition. So it was at the same time over and underwhelming. Finally, we had dinner with Shen-yi's dad's friend, who was the organizer of our whole trip, and generously paid for all our taxi transportation. The dinner was delicious, based on fresh seafood. As everywhere else in Taiwan, you can pick up your own favorite sea inhabitant directly in the restaurant. Of course, the future dishes of yours are not exactly thrilled by this expectation, and some of them attempt a desperate escape. I couldn't get my camera in time to immortalize one such attempt by a frog, who jumped out of her prison, and found a, maybe temporary, refuge under a piece of furniture.

On Tuesday, after resting in our luxurious B&B (which was actually more like a hotel, with a huge room and private bathroom), we went pedaling on the surface of the Carp Lake, really pretty, for like a half an hour. Then we went to Hualien's Rift Valley. We first drove on Highway 9 through the valley between the central mountain complex of Taiwan and the costal mountains on the East coast. On the way back, we drove on Highway 11, admiring the coast itself, with its sudden, small red temples. At night, we saw the traditional dances again, this time the free-to-the-public version of amateurs, who proved to be much more lively and high-spirited than their professional counterparts! It was a real joy to see them dancing, too bad that we indulged in dinner for too long and got to see only the last part of their performance. We also did some shopping, and I am particularly proud to wear now a small Jaded Taiwan on my décolleté.

On Wednesday, we had an early wake-up, and went... rafting! I loved it. It wasn't too scary, since the Siouguluan river was very calm (for once, it didn't rain), but it was still pretty exciting. No pictures, though, either of us adventurers or of the impressive canyon we were in. It would have been totally impossible to bring a camera and not make it a useless piece of plastic: we were wet from head to toe most of the time. So cool! Less cool to take a train with plastic bugs full of wet, stinky clothes and snickers. Shen-yi didn't have an extra-pair of shoes and had to buy flip-lops, which he hates. Furthermore his very expensive glasses broke down (I almost underwent the same fate, and I was also hit at the mouth by his paddle, but fortunately neither my lip or teeth broke-- which would have not been fun!), and his knees ended being of a bright purple... I enjoyed reminding him that I suggested to put sunblock on them, but he thought it was fine to row four hours under the tropical sun in mid-day without it. I am mean... but he's stubborn!

Still, our trip was so far a complete success...
Then, I realized I really needed to go to the hospital.
Now, my friends know well how during the summer I routinely mute from the resistant, fever-immune athletic being I am in winter into a pathetic play field for all sort of minor health problems, about which I complain all the time. An evergreen is every sort of conjunctivitis, which in the recent years switched from bacterial to allergic, which is way more annoying and persistent. I coped with it the first two weeks of the Taipei trip. But on Wednesday, I realized that my second greatest summer enemy, which for decency will remain unnamed, had decided to participate to my vacations once again. Tired of self-diagnosis and self-medication (better: tired of the fact it wasn't working. I love self-diagnosis), we headed, with some difficulty, to a Buddhist hospital known for its excellent facilities. I'll skip some other inconveniences, and get to the conclusion. A few hours later, I had a diagnosis. Actually, besides the big medical terms, it amounted simply to the description of symptoms I had... Exams didn't bring to any definite answer. So, rather than self-medicating myself with one drug, the doctors gave me three, to cover all the options!
Relieved that I didn't have anything serious, and disappointed by the lack of some House-like bright revelation, we went back to the B&B we thought we had definitely left. It was too late to travel to Taitung. We were at that point grateful for any sort of lodge. My arms were aching terribly due to the rowing, and Shen-yi was half-burnt and half-blind. We slept until the six a.m. alarm reminded us of the train to be caught.

On Thursday, then, we arrived in Taitung, where we took the boat to Green Island. The boat trip is not among the experiences we'd like to repeat. I have never seen so many plastic bags, and so many crew attendants ready to get rid of them. We made it without having to use them, anyway, and Green Island was there to reward us with its lavish vegetation and outlandish cliffs.
The highlight of those two days is certainly the snorkeling. Also in this case, no pictures, sorry. Trust my word that it is quite a superb view down there. I have never been at the usual snorkeling venues in the Red Sea, and I had only a vague memory of Hawaiian ocean bottom. I was amazed at seeing how close to the shore you could see these incredibly colorful fishes, of every shape and kind. Nemo's scenario is not an exaggeration at all. We were also very lucky, since we did snorkeling in one of the only two sunny days of the whole trip. In the morning we had enjoyed the sun on the beach. I was amazed to find out that we were the only two persons there. Taiwanese don't like (and many cannot) swim, and (girls) like to get tanned even less. Their usage of beaches is basically as a background for dozens of cute pictures. I regret that we didn't bring a camera and therefore I can't show the crystalline water in which we bathed, but I can tell you it was a sweet experience. It's actually not very feasible to swim there, unless you're very skilled. But I enjoyed to dabble around in the quietest areas of the bay, in my usual duck-style.
Of course, this brought even more attention to me, the weird foreigner, who didn't go around with hat, long sleeves, long pants, and GLOVES, when the temperature was only of 35 degrees C, as all the other girls. Oh, I forgot the umbrella. It's customary for Taiwanese women, who esteem whiteness over everything else, to walk under an umbrella. Some succeed in doing this even on the scooter.

Oh, scooters. They are the only means of transportation on the island. So I ventured for the first time to ride the scooter while carrying someone else. I thought worse, it's actually pretty easy. I felt very proud, and it was fun to represent such a challenge to cliches: we were the only interracial couple of the Island, and the woman was driving the man!! About cliches, however, a forthcoming post will say more.

The medical bulletin, unfortunately, was yet to be concluded. Shen-yi ended up with a several layers of skin painfully removed from his toe, and I got a semi-serious burn on my calf. I really really hope the scar will go away!! I got it because of the stupid habit of giving to the scooter an extra resting leg. This makes it easier for unexperienced riders to park it, but the scooter is hence more inclined on one side. Therefore the silencer is more exposed than it should be. So, parking close to another scooter, and going backward, I got my calf burnt. Yes, you can still laugh at me... For what concerns Shen-yi's accident's details, go ask him.

It was a very intense vacation in the wild nature of Eastern Taiwan. We were pretty exhausted at the end, after having hiked, paddled, rowed, swum, bathed, rode, and walked. We saw beaches, cliffs, gorges, waterfalls, rivers bends, mountains, lakes. Oh, and I was almost forgetting the springs, the hot sea water springs, of which the Island is proud. We scolded ourselves in the nice pools of fumigant water.

But the most intense experience, the most striking view, didn't come from nature, but from Man.
On the Green Island, we visited the “Oasis Villa”, the place where political prisoners were sent during the White Terror. Soon I will post something about this dark period of Taiwanese history, so similar to the dark periods of many countries, including mine. In it I will also recall our visit to the museum dedicated to the “2-28 incident”. For now, check out some of the photos of the Oasis Villa. They're eloquent by themselves. How sad, how appalling humanity can be.
But how relieving it is to see the gate open, the cells empty, to go around halls where art exhibitions are now the only guests, and to think that Taiwan is a vibrant democracy, one more in this martyred world.