Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine January 2018 | Page 117

Travel | Taiwan
1 Eastern Taiwan is a place of myths and
legends, and of towering peaks and ancient
coastlines, many still pristine and rarely visited.
Perched on the banks of
the Lanyang River, Yilan
City is home to bustling
farmers’ markets, timeless
temples and villages...
Traditional Arts or the Yang Shih-Fang
Memorial Gardens, a former temple complex
dedicated to a civil servant who fought for the
protection of the region’s unique culture that
now boasts an arts village where practitioners
continue his endeavours.
Within the garden’s restored temple buildings,
I meet retired school teacher Chester Lim, who
spends his afternoons making traditional Taiwanese
lanterns from bamboo papyrus and fibres. Scores
of colourful finished products, in all shapes and
sizes, dance in the late afternoon breeze.
5 Senses – Taste
FLYING FISH
Flying fish follow the Kuroshio
current up Taiwan’s eastern coast
and are regarded as a sacred staple
for the indigenous Amis and Yami
(now known as the Tao) tribes, who
celebrate the species with an annual
festival each year, culminating in
the arrival of the fish each March.
Flying fish are typically cured in sea
water, dried, shredded and enjoyed
as a snack, with certain species
designated to be eaten by women
and others by men. Traditional
singing and dancing greet the fishing
fleets when they return to land.
Ikan terbang berenang mengikuti
arus Kuroshio di pesisir timur Taiwan
dan menjadi makanan pokok suku asli
Amis dan Yami (sekarang disebut Tao).
Mereka mengadakan festival tahunan
untuk menyambut kedatangan
ikan-ikan tersebut setiap bulan Maret.
Ikan terbang biasanya diawetkan
dengan air laut, dikeringkan, diparut
dan dinikmati sebagai camilan. Ada
spesies tertentu yang ditujukan untuk
dimakan oleh wanita, dan ada
yang hanya dimakan oleh laki-laki.
Nyanyian dan tarian tradisional
digelar untuk menyambut kapal-kapal
nelayan saat tiba di darat.
“It’s important that we retain these traditional
arts,” says Lim, as he smooths out soaked pulp
over a fibre frame. “We get a lot more visitors
from the capital and even overseas because of
the tunnel, and it’s a chance to show the Taiwan
that was. If we don’t hold tight to these
traditions, who will?”
I meet some of those visiting city dwellers in Silks
Place, one of Yilan’s boutique hotels, at the aptly
named Sky Garden. The garden boasts a series
of mineral pools set at varying temperatures,
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which prove popular with gaggles of gossiping
middle-aged Taiwanese women. Submerged up to
the tips of their brightly coloured bathing caps in
steaming water, they giggle as I douse myself
under one of the cold-water jets, the last of
the day’s light fading beyond the mountains.
“It’s nice to come here and remember how
beautiful Taiwan can be,” says one somnolent
soaker, to the nodded agreement of her friends.
“We try to get down here every few months; we
visit the temples and soak in the hot pools, and try
to find a little piece of calm. You always forget
just how beautiful the east is, until you return.”
The next day I continue south, this time by local
train. We race across Yilan’s vast green plateau,
before diving beneath the Central Mountains
range. Darkness envelops the train carriage, to
the shrieks of children on a school excursion,
but minutes later we emerge from the rock to
the expanses of the Pacific, which is now much
closer. The landscape is perpetually lush as
clouds gather above the sliver of land wedged
between sea and soaring mountain tops.
Many visitors to Hualien, eastern Taiwan’s largest
city, gravitate towards the iconic Ji-An Wild
Vegetable Market, where Amis tribespeople sell
the traditional vegetables and herbs they’ve used
in food and medicine for generations. But I’m
headed into the mountains, tracing the Su’ao–
Hualien Highway back north, cruising along
the tips of the beautiful Qingshui Cliffs, to the
entrance of the remarkable Taroko Gorge.
This unique landscape has to be one of Taiwan’s
best-kept secrets. Nestled in the heart of the
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