Sweet thirty hour stay - Taitung

1. Our host Aeles (tears in the Rukai language) at her restaurant Dawana (a place of rest)
2. Buddha's head (fruit) in a bowl bought from a Paiwan wood-craftsman 
3. The wood artist's most famous work - lily (flower)
4. Green Island on the horizon
5. Taiwan red quinoa 
6. Ancient 'hot stone technique‘ soup

My original plan was to go to Miaoli for a vegetable dyeing and weaving workshop with 林淑莉 Lin Shu-li a Taiwanese married into Atayal family and who demonstrated her skill in London in 2018. The workshop was closed until further notice. I therefore contacted Lily Wen (or Aeles Lrawbalrate in Rukai and 溫秀琴 in Mandarin) in Taitung if I could pay a long overdue visit - cancelled two years ago by typhoon. She readily welcomed and there I went with a friend.

(Note - For the Paiwan and Rukai peoples, lilies signify virtue and beauty in women as well as bravery and hunting power in men)

We were greeted by a local friend and taken to Sunlight Cafe 日光咖啡, a popular breakfast&brunch famed for its Italian bread such as ciabatta. I had heard from a Lonely Planet Taiwan writer a number of years ago that his Italian girlfriend was very surprised to find home-taste bread in Taitung, including pizza. Our friend seems to think bread and bakery local phenomenon was boosted by 'foreigners' who loved Taitung's easygoing and slow paced lifestyle and decided to settle down and make breads. The ciabatta I had was indeed delicious. Coffee and tea were good too. 

On way to book  into our stay tonight, we passed the famous Taitung 'Little White House' 小白屋 or Taiwan's 'Howl's Moving Castle'. It was built and patched and fixed in all directions several number of times over 40 years by a veteran soldier Mr Li using recycle junks. He passed away quietly in 2017 and seemed no one knew what to do with this creative structure. 

SMB Bethlehem Mission Society 白冷外方傳教會 
Someone who has a good connection with SMB recommended and arranged for us an overnight stay at church dormitory.  It was a truly sweet and mesmerizing experience. 
Upon arriving, we were greeted by a neatly kept front courtyard, a comforting and welcoming surrounding with cotton trees on each side of the entrance, rows and rows of loquat (in brown paper cover) among magnificent mango, peach trees. It's Taiwan botanical history to appreciate and well-maintained landscape to admire.  

Brother Augustin came to greet us speaking in fluent Mandarin and showing us around, where we soon saw Rev. Vonwyl, the most senior member at this church, moving about and talking in perfect Taiwanese (!). Information about their devotion and contribution to Taiwan can be found HERE.
On way up to our rooms on the second floor, Brother Augustin showed us a pile of freshly picked loquats and told us to help ourselves. He also thoughtfully telling us "These are 'old' type, they are smaller compared to today's, but the true 'Taiwanese' flavour." We can tell you, they are so juicy and sweet, and I actually did't bother unzip skin because it's so thin like grapes. 

National Museum of Prehistory
A tour at a near-empty museum! Many of the collections I understand are discoveries by Torii Ryuzo 鳥居龍藏 (1870-1953) at the nearby Beinan Cultural Park. This room is about the famous Penglai Movement/Formosa Orogeny， I believe, on my blog HERE.

Fruits of Taiwan beech tree 山毛櫸  - a plant survived the Ice age

Other information such as these I have yet to find time to absorb ...

Dawana Family Farm 達瓦娜家園
(No.22 Dongxing Rd, Taitung City, Taitung County,950)

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/dawanataitung/aboutrukai

Lily Wen our host and family belong to Taromak community who settled at Keteur mountain in modern-day Taitung County. Her 98 years old father was a 'messenger' who would run bare-foot to the 'next' tribal village in Pintung to deliver important message - such as the passing of a senior, Lily told me. "He would run none-stop and only allowed food or drink at the other end until message was delivered within the day."

The Taromak tribe has retained ownership of ancestral land, and both Lily and her son Cegaw take leading role in establishing a self-governing organization to protect ancestral lands and practice sustainable development based on tribal principles and traditions. Lily told me her Canada trip over 10 years ago of an indigenous food 'buffalo meat hamburger' experience inspired her and decided rebuilding on Rukai food culture. She went on to complete a degree in Austronesian anthropology, motivated to contribute and share her knowledge as well as skills to the community and beyond to overseas tourists and researchers. AND she plans to do a PhD as soon as an opportunity comes along! 

Lily's Kitchen and Farm

We were greeted by two friendly and dutiful 'Taiwan Mountain Dogs', those with distinctive inwardly curled ankles - one of them a white 'crest' on its chest! 'Friendly and dutiful' I describe them as they bark to raise an alert, but they don't intimidate.

 Lily made us nice pot of hot tea

Something I don't see much among Northern aboriginal villages is (use of) coconut shell. Lily uses it in landscape, firewood and (eating) tools. Reminds me the Philippines and Palau my last two trips of the Austronesian.

DIY oven chimney is a wine jar! Innovative and smart!

In the steel drain bowl on the little chair is tana (Zanthoxylum ailanthoides), which is used in a variety of dishes in Lily's kitchen and is great to flavour wakam (hunter's smoked pork). At the back on the worktop a wine jar similar to the oven chimney of the above photo!

More than a thousand years ago, the leaves of the alianthus-like prickly ash (Zanthoxylum ailanthoides) were used by Chinese people as medicine and a substance to ward off evil. In recent years in Taiwan, however, what is known to several tribes as tana (and to Mandarin speakers as cìcōng; to Westerners it is angelica leaf or prickly ash) has been marketed as an indigenous ingredient. An alternative name, translatable as “birds don’t step on it,” alludes to its thorniness, but the young leaves of this perennial are exceptionally rich in beta-carotene, vitamin E, and ascorbic acid. According to the website of the World Vegetable Center, they also contain useful amounts of calcium and iron. The Amis add chopped, de-thorned tana leaves to fish and chicken soups; the Puyuma have been known to fry them with snail meat. Tana or maqaw are sometimes added to tea, to give it a little extra kick.  (Source A Culinary History of  Taipei)   

Homemade preserves - most pineapple, but the middle one is Noni (Indian Mulberry) - which I first saw in Palau, since seen it grown in Hualien. 

Environmental friendly utensils and containers made of large betel-nut leaves have been encouraged in recent years (see youtube HERE) And that is the 'pot' later used for our 'hot stone soup'!

Lily's son Cegaw was tending a pig family at the other side of the kitchen  - Lily said "that's the father and children".  I asked " and where is the mother? "
"The mother 'graduated' .....". 
"We slaughter pigs here - Cegaw does, I don't." From our book research, I learned private slaughter is prohibited decades ago in Taipei area. 
"Not here" says Lily "Sometimes Taitung university brought pigs to slaughter here in our land." 

Rukai tribesmen frequently hunted by themselves, and were expected to stay within specific woodlands where the right to trap and shoot had been passed down by an ancestor. Such privileges are still recognized within the community. According to Kurtis Pei, one of Taiwan’s foremost wildlife experts, the sizable nonhunting tracts between each man’s hunting grounds, together with a custom of no hunting at all during late spring and summer (when hoofed animals breed), give the Rukai system a degree of sustainability. This was true, he concluded, even after the tribe’s post-1945 embrace of Christianity had freed hunters from the traditional restraint of bird divination. It also came at a time when most of the boars, muntjac, and serow (goat-antelopes, Taiwan’s only native bovid) that were being taken from the district in Pingtung where he did his research were destined for nonindigenous consumers on the lowlands. (Source A Culinary History of Taipei)

Lily took us to her 'farm' to pick up leaves and weeds for our dinner, turns out her 'farm' is the entire forest about 15 minutes' drive from Dawana! 
I asked if something interesting worth stopping, "please shout out!" "Oh... WWII air raid shelters then... about 20 of them, all on this side of the road...." (YES!!)

One that particularly stands out is this one - with pile-stone fence outside and inside. I asked what is there inside, tempted to poke around... "Nothing there, just bats living there" "Bats?! Forget it!" muttering to myself.

Lily picked up heart-shaped leaves piper betel -  Laoye 荖葉 in Mandarin, Dangaw in Rukai, outside one of the shelters.

 Vine climbing Laoye is everywhere, wrap around trees and shrubs

The white-flower plant is Bidens Alba 大花咸豊草.What used to make Taiwanese herbal tea 青草茶 qīngcǎo chá 

A short drive from the forest, we saw a sea of 'red' - but Lily points out "there are actually two patches. The front patch is mixed sorghum 高梁 and Taiwan red quinoa 紅藜. "

"The patch behind is only red quinoa." It was late afternoon and cloudy, but one could imagine how beautiful vibrant reds it would have been on a bright sunny day. 

Native red quinoa (Chenopodium formosanum) was surely part of the paleo diet, although some researchers think indigenous people preferred millet and taro. In 1918, when a combination of drought and unusual cold led to severe food shortages, aborigines in the south fared better than other groups because red quinoa— also known as djulis—can flourish even in arid conditions. (Source A Culinary History of Taipei)

A fish farm - apparently a reputed one where Lily stopped to pick up the fish she ordered for our dinner.

Last stop before heading back to kitchen - Taromak community center and village. 
The deadly hundred-pacer viper holds an important part of  Taiwan's southern indigenes including Paiwan, Rukai and Bunan culture. A quick look at Lily sister's lovely and neat home! She does home beekeeping for a number of years now - "Been stung a few times, now pretty much immune" she says. 

Back at Dawana, while Lily went preparing dinner, we explored and admired more of the surrounding vegetable wonderland - 

Unlike in Southeast Asian culture, betel leaves (piper betel) which contain curative and healing health benefits are consumed in a variety of interesting ways - in Taiwan, Laoye are used only to wrap binlang (betel nut). But things are changing now especially in Taitung where they grow abundant, I have heard and now to witness local food innovation @Dawana. A coconut-shell plateful of binlang is our appetizer, though I passed and didn't take any. The white flower Bidens Alba are those Lily picked earlier.

Autumn Turmeric 秋鬰金  - known to some 'king of turmeric' for its supreme quality.

Front right - Taitung wild tomatoes to make salad sauce.

The Dinner

Hot stone soup 石頭鍋 - Stone boiling is an ancient cooking technique to heat food with directly exposing it to flame, reducing the likelihood of burning, and allowing the construction of stews and soups. The old story about Stone Soup, in which a glorious stew is created by placing stones in hot water and inviting guests to contribute vegetables and bones, may have its roots in ancient stone-boiling (Source HERE)

In Taiwan, it is probably best known as traditional Amis soup in Hualien, of which we had a section about it in THIS article. Only uncracked meaical stones (known to Mandarin speakers asas maifan shi; 麥飯石)of the right size are used for cooking. Other types of stone tend to split and contaminate the soup. The stones are  placed in a cauldron, and heated over an open fire. The rectangular soup pot improvised by folding and tying the sheet-like part of betel-nut leaves I believe is neither ancient nor tradition but modern innovation. Scorching hot stones are first dunked into a pot which holds nothing but water, to remove any ashes. The stones are then quickly moved to the second pot, where they retain enough heat to keep soup hot longer. 

Ingredients include ferns and leaves picked from Dawana and Tilapia 吳郭魚 Lily ordered and picked up earlier. The stock is wonderfully cooked with vegetables, sweet corns, carrots and mustard greens.

The round veiny leaf plate is talibaw (Macaranga tanarius) 血桐, native also to South East Asia, Papua New Guinea and Eastern Australia. 

Note - THIS academic article (Journal of Archaeological Science) interests me, I lived and took Indian-reservations trips in Utah, and now 30 years later, I can relate there and here through an ancient cooking technique. Kind of cool thinking about it. 

Abai 阿拜 -The Paiwan delicacy cinavu (fermented millet and pork; some call it Paiwan sushi; among the neighboring Rukai tribe it is abai) is wrapped in the sour, edible leaves of  Trichodesma calycosum 假酸槳 and not simply to make it easier to handle. Like plastic wrap, the leaves help keep the food fresh a bit longer and they are said to prevent those eating it from suffering a bloated stomach. One of the ingredients in Paiwan cinavu is powdered taro, which the Paiwan also use to stuff mountain-boar intestines. 
(Source A Culinary History of Taipei)

Lily's Abai is the BEST I have ever tasted of this millet wrap (I have tasted quite a few yes. First time from a Paiwan-Bunan couple in New Taipei where I first heard the term 'Paiwan Sushi'). Lily's contains no taro, Lily says some do, some don't. 

Abai is wrapped in two layers of different leaves - edible inner leaf alabolro (Trichodesma calycosum) and inedible outer leaf Alpinia zerumbet, commonly known shell ginger  月桃葉  - The large long-shaped leaf plate or wrap you see in Hakka or indigenous restaurants, and here @Dawana picked from Lily's garden. 

Green papaya salad in tomato dressing- It is a Southeast Asian dish and Lily's was delicious served with freshly-made dressing of garden-picked wild tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Visually appetizing on bed of Alpinia zerumbet.  

Laoye Jiaozi 荖葉餃子 - Must try
One of Taitung food innovation - pork and betel leaf filling dumplings. They are sold in frozen too at Prehistory museum Cafe where Lily works. The soy sauce dipping also very nice with chopped betel leaf, garlic, and little bit chili pepper. 

Thanks so much Lily for a fond memory of interesting local tour and delicious food!

Second Day Delights

Overnight at Bethlehem Mission SMB, in the morning before depart, another walk around admiring the interesting range of fruits and plants grown in this neatly maintained landscape garden. Some of them 'old-time' fruit trees that are much taller in height or grow smaller fruits than what we see and eat today - a result of agricultural development over decades.  

The wild tomatoes Lily used to make salad sauce. 

Distinctive sour than cherry tomato. slightly smaller in size.  

Raspberry bush

 Mango tree  3-floor tall

 Jackfruit tree 3-floor tall

  Church built in 1953

'Water Flowing Upward' Donghe Township

A visual illusion of water flowing upstream due to the surrounding landscape

Passing a couple of cute shops at stops including Taitung Sugar Factory

Lusakasak 魯魁 and Yuanai Workshop 原愛工坊

Our local friend took us to see his celebrity friend Lusakasak 魯魁 and told us a heartwarming story about an elementary school principal, without whose nurture and encouragement, there would have been no Lusakasak today.

Lusakasak is a semi-retired Paiwan wood craftsman who mastered carving lily flower. He is the first generation who attended Yuanai workshop 原愛工坊 initiated by former Xinxing 新興 primary school principal  Cheng Han-wen 鄭漢文. During Cheng's term 1998-2010 at Xinxing, seeing the many challenges indigenous community faced - shortage of male employment opportunities, frustration and despair of mothers and grandparents, children growing up neglected with low self-esteem and weak desire to learn. He founded Yuanai initially a textile workshop to train mothers within indigenous community to start up a small business, bringing incomes to help build a stable home. It then developed into Wood workshop, from which Lusakasak and many of his peers were encouraged to learn and develop handicraft skills, coupled with organisational sponsors and resources, to open a door for job opportunity when they are ready. Equally important be confident and proud of what they do.

More details in THIS article and THIS youtube. 

A bowl I bought is this made with Phoebe Zhennan 楠木 decorated with colorful pieces representing Paiwan glass beads art culture - seen on photo the necklace Lusakasak wore that day. 

Buddha's Head 釋迦 Hometown

Friends say "you can't go to Taitung without bringing back Shi-Jia (Buddha's Head fruit) !" So we stopped at one. Its industry in Taitung is phenomenal, local friend says they grow all seasons - the quality, the texture, the taste AND the varieties, I think, is phenomenal.

The fruit is sometimes called custard apple, sweetsop, and in Taitung I witnessed the perfect place to learn about its history in Taiwan (more followed on Beinan archaeological site) - 

Sugar apple is native to the tropical and subtropical parts of Latin America and the West Indies, most of which are in the low altitude areas. The fruit was introduced to Taiwan by Dutch colonialists about 400 years ago. Sugar apple goes by various names, including Buddha’s head and custard apple. In Taiwan, it has been called the foreign litchi or Sakya. The name of foreign litchi comes from the fact that the unripe fruits look like litchi and it was from a foreign country. As for its second Taiwanese name - which is more commonly used nowadays, people call it Sakya or Buddha's head, because one variety resembles the top part of Sakyamuni's head.

Although the fruit is not native to Taiwan, Taiwan has become the largest sugar apple cultivating country in the world. Sugar apple is grown in southern Taiwan in Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties. Among them, Taitung is the largest production area in Taiwan. In Taiwan, the fruit can be harvested from July to February.

(Source Council of Agriculture)

Lin Dow Coffee Workshop 林道咖啡工作室

Panoramic sea view from the workshop run by Lin couple passionate about coffee and promoting coffee, we were invited to try freshly brewed coffee from a variety of beans, and guided by a list of how these different in taste, process and source. Website HERE.

Probably sensed our curiosity and being from Taipei, Mrs Lin showed us this 'spinner' and asked if we know what it is - no, I don't. It is the dried bud of they call 棋盤脚 (Lecythidaceae/Indian Barringtonia),literally 'chessboard leg' as the square base resembles the board. Apparently, the plant is national treasure under several regional names, in Lanyu (Orchid Island) Tao people call it 'Devil's tree' 魔鬼樹 as they flower only in deep dark night.

Dongxing Power Plant 東興發電厰

Dongxing (formerly Danan 大南) is the only operating plant built under the Japanese rule in Taitung. Dongxing village is the largest Rukai community Taroma in Taitung, formerly named Danan. It was renamed in 1979 in the best interest of the community after a big fire, a big disaster (Danan 大難 in Chinese).

East Taiwan Electric Power Industrial Co., Ltd. was constructed in 1941 and completed at the end of 1942, the generator was blown down by the U.S. forces while transporting it from Japan to Taiwan. It was officially operating in 1945 - the last power plant completed by the Taiwan Power Corporation during the Japanese rule. Designated as a historic building in 2005, it is one of a small number of power plants in Taiwan that still use single-axis single-wheel vortex water mills. It maintains a complete Japanese-style factory building, with the exception of interior renovations of a different appearance. The construction technology of the structure and the external wall rain shower panels also characterizes the building technology of the time. The external passage is a small suspension bridge that hold only six people. 

It is in secluded natural beauty settings that a stop-by is recommended if you are in the neighborhood. More on THIS youtube. 

Beinan archaeological site 卑南遺址 and 
Goben (National) Farm 國本農場

Last stop before catching an evening train back to Taipei - Beinan cultural park was closed but we had a quick walk about, thanks to the local guide pointing me to the right a large well-maintained white Sanheyuan 三合院 residential building, situated a short distance to the evacuated slate-stone graveyard in 1980. The white building belongs to a 'Wang' 王 family and is called Goben (National) Farm 國本農場. Only now I know the extent of Beinan archaeological site and the fact that the Wang family land was part of the evacuation. 

A Farm of historical value and a case study of modern immigration, colonization and Taitung agricultural development. 

Goben Farm was founded in 1940, eight minutes walk to Taitung Railway Station. The historical building was completed in 1941 by Mr Wang Deng-ke 王登科 from Tainan who came to Taitung on a mission to promote Taitung sugar industry and develop cultivation technique. A wall has inscription 'Yama 王' identifying the Wang family mentioned in this interesting article with full details HERE. 

Magnificent Longan tree! Longan honey Taiwanese favorite because it doesn't crystallize. In THIS article. 

Annona Montana Macfadyen 山刺番荔枝 ( aka Japanese Buddha's Head)

This is interesting Taiwan fruit history I had no knowledge of, 刺番荔枝 literally 'spiky foreign lychee' is commonly translated in English soursop.  Further googling tells me this tree here is 山刺番荔枝 literally 'mountain spiky foreign lychee' which is Guanbana or Mountain soursop or Japanese Buddha's Head and so on, native to Central American, the Amazon, and islands in the Caribbean. It is said introduce to Taiwan from the Philippines in 1917 and is a 'royal fruit' enjoyed by Japanese emperors due to its fruity fragrance and nutrition value. 

A 'Japanese Buddha's head' tree grown at Pingtung university of science and technology. 

Update photos (9/8/2020) from Hope Weekend Organic Market. Taipei.

Anana 阿娜娜

(After note - I don't know if there is a reason sorghum and red quinoa are grown together , I didn't get an answer, I assume they are harvested together. Anyways, reminded me of these bamboo chopsticks I brought home from a Lahu (minority) village in Yunnan China where sorghum husks is used for natural dye (so has Taiwan apparently). It not only gives a nice natural pink colour but also prevents mold! Some with grains attached and somehow I see how they can be related, and maybe the mix has a reason.)