Ilan (宜蘭) is a popular place to visit and spend a few days, but few visitors get to take part in Aboriginal life, so the Tourist Industry Marketing Guidance Group (觀光產業行銷輔導團隊) is organizing trips to give travelers the experience.
While traveling with tour groups is ideal for some, for others the idea crushes romantic notions of roaming the forests of northeastern Taiwan in perfect freedom. After three days and two nights under such circumstances, however, it is difficult to complain, having met some of the warmest and most accepting people in the world and learning about jungle life -- even becoming an honorary member of a native tribe and ... falling in love.
After successive waves of Han migration, the Japanese occupation and Chinese Nationalist (KMT) rule, Aboriginals have been marginalized. Dreadful stereotypes of poverty and alcohol-stricken communities permeate the popular media, but it would seem this does little to prevent the Aboriginals that I met from living life to the full.
Our group stayed at Ya Yun Min Su (雅韻民宿), a quaint bed and breakfast in Da Tong Xiang Gong Suo (大同鄉公所), where the facilities are more than adequate. After coming to terms with the fact that we would not be issued a traditional loincloth, or weapons, we filled each day with nature walks, visits to waterfalls, hot springs, bed and breakfasts, teashop and trinket shops, all within a 20km radius.
The tour begins
A waterfall, locally known as Pu Bu Yi (瀑布一) or Waterfall one was our first destination. Tourists have got a bad reputation here because of their littering and the Ju Liao Xi river (九寮溪) parking lot was a man-made nightmare of dams and overpopulated public swim holes. They looked refreshing, but were claustrophobic. A 3km trail to a serene riverbed, however, found crystal clear waters in which one could happily spend a lazy afternoon.
Along the hiking trails, Aboriginal guides taught us which plants were edible and warned us about the poisonous varieties. They pointed out the abundance of flora and fauna in the area.
People in Da Tong Xiang Gong Suo eat well, we found. On the first night we had mountain pork and free-range chicken, vegetables ranging from mountain guo mao (過貓) to kong xin cai (空心菜), and local ma gao tea (馬告茶), brewed from the leaves of a mountain tree of the same name. To complement dinner each night, there were countless bottles of Xiao Mi Jiu (小米酒) a fermented rice wine that resembles Smirnoff Ice, but puts the vodka label to shame.
As in any small town, people are on a first-name basis with one another. This is easy enough, as family members all have the same first name. In addition, boys take their second name from their fathers; girls all take their second names from their mothers. While this could easily confuse a visitor, the members of the tribe that arrived during the meal from their white-collar jobs in the area were greeted with toasts and expected to entertain the diners with a song before they could join the feast. Each newcomer sang beautifully and did so without complaint.
It was at one of these dinners that I was to receive my tribal name, Gu Mai. This means worm and I was given the sobriquet for my insect-like performance at the waterfall earlier in the day. After receiving such a "noble" name there was little choice but to toast the tribe's elder and have a song-and-dance.
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