Stumbling into a Hakka enclave

Words and photos by Max Woodworth
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, Page 16

Meinung, Kaohsiung County, is a favorite domestic tourist destination because of the old town's traditional architecture and the area's Hakka culture.

As the sun lowered itself behind the limestone hills that surround Meinung, turning the rice paddies into shimmering mosaics of fluorescent green and silver and rimming the lingering charcoal-colored storm clouds in gold, the only thing left to do was to step off my bike and gaze absently at the landscape. I needed something, anything, to help take my mind off the pain being inflicted on my hindquarters by the marble-hard saddle of my rental bike and the idyllic rural scene was doing a good job at that.

Birds flitted in pairs through the rain-washed air, while directly before me a couple of elderly farmers waist-deep in water harvested the last of a pond's lotus roots.

Massaging myself, I concluded that -- in the grand scheme of things -- the pain was a small price to pay for this type of up-close and leisurely exploration of one of Taiwan's unique communities.

Hakka central

Meinung lies in a broad, flat valley recessed into the foothills of Kaohsiung County and is a major center of Taiwan's Hakka community. Portions of Hsinchu and Miaoli counties also host significant Hakka communities that historically maintained close links with Meinung as clans migrated north and south searching for productive farming land. But migration now is mostly by the younger generation in the direction of Kaohsiung and Taipei.

Too far from the southern metropolis to serve as a commuter town and with its dominant Hakka population being traditionally resistant to Han Chinese incursions, the town has maintained a pleasant scale and retained much of its original architecture and cultural flair.

With the young generation conspicuously absent, sleepy Meinung bears the distinct feel of an agricultural retirement community, or an open-air museum tended by the town's remaining residents.

This convergence of local traits puts Meinung near the top of the list for favorite domestic travel destinations and the pressure of the town's popularity can make itself felt on holidays, when crowds descend upon the town.

At this season, however, Meinung and the surrounding area's wealth of historical sites are virtually empty and the roads, being flat and in my experience free of delivery trucks, were a joy to pedal unhurriedly for an afternoon, the pain in my backside notwithstanding.

Loopy in Meinung

It may be a stroke of wild luck, but amazingly Meinung's most noteworthy sites lie evenly spaced along a fairly smooth circular line that loops along its northern edge and then swings back through the southern and eastern sections of the town.

Using the cardinal points for orientation, though, may give the impression of considerable distance, when in fact, each stepping-off point is practically within view of the next.

From the long-distance bus stop downtown, where most of the bike rental stores are located, it's a straight shot east to Zhongzheng Lake, which is rimmed by majestic palm trees and enjoys a dramatic backdrop of the area's hills. Most tourists make a bee-line for the pagoda on the lake.

Where they go after that is a mystery, because it's certainly not the Meinung Hakkas Museum (美濃文物館) located on the lake's eastern shore and open since 2001. The place at midday had no more than a dozen visitors and a check on its Web site this week showed I was the 732nd person to log on.

This small, but handsomely designed museum contains fascinating exhibits on the settlement of the area by Hakka people and detailed descriptions (in Chinese only) of their unique lifestyle, as well as agricultural technologies, clothing and art. The best part by far is the section on Hakka music, especially the tunes sung by men and women in a game of call and response while they worked in adjacent fields.

Emerging from the museum, my ears were pricked for the warbling courtship songs I'd just heard, but the stillness of the air signaled that the days when young Hakka tried to woo each other while tilling the soil were long gone. I was thankful, though, to the ethnomusicologist with the presence of mind to record those melodies.

From the museum, the remainder of the tour will vary in time depending on the degree to which visitors are charmed by the sights along the way.

Fans of arts and crafts -- such as Meinung's famous paper umbrellas and 1950s and 1960s Taiwanese kitsch -- will marvel at the displays of the Meinung Folk Village (美濃民俗村), while aficionados of traditional courtyard home architecture should move slowly along the section that cuts across the old town, through narrow alleys and past the Century Well.

Unlike in many rural communities where courtyard homes are left to crumble, in Meinung many of the homes are beautifully maintained and new courtyard homes are actually being built in the traditional manner.

Riding out of town again to complete the loop at Zhongzheng Lake, one passes under the impressive East Gate, which stands proudly over a busy street bearing a post-war reconstruction of the ornate swallow-tail roof that was first commissioned in 1755.

From there, it's a short jaunt back to Zhongzheng Lake. On my visit I made it by dusk, at about the time when the saddle was beginning to get the best of my wits.

Thankfully, the road into town from a row of benches perched on the lakeshore was short and, as it cut through a patchwork of rice paddies undulating in an early evening breeze, thoughts of the local Hakka drink leicha (擂茶) and a generous bowl of flat noodles powered me forward and made me think another day of riding wouldn't be too bad after all.

▲Getting to Meinung:
Buses leave from the Kaohsiung Bus Company (高雄客運) terminal next to the Kaohsiung Railway Station almost every half hour. For schedules check www.ksbus.com.tw.

▲Rental bicycles:
Several stores located near the Meinung long-distance bus stop rent bicycles.

▲Places to stay:
Meinung Huang Wu Richao (黃屋日照), a small hostel with friendly hosts, offering clean rooms and prices starting at NT$1,000 per night for a double. Tel: 0937 334 826. Check www.mrcdn.net/house for details and a map.

Renzji Village (人字山莊), a cozy hostel on the outskirts of town near Zhongzheng Lake, with doubles starting at NT$1,200 per night. Rooms are available for groups of up to 10 people. Tel: (07) 661 5990. 66-5 Minchuan Rd, Meinung Township, Kaohsiung County (高雄縣美濃鄉民權路66-5號)

▲Useful addresses:
Meiguang Flat Noodle Store (美光粄條店), 87 Chungshan Rd, Sec 1, Meinung Township (美濃鄉中山路1段87號)

Meinung Hakka Inn Leicha Bar (美濃客家驛棧擂茶舖), 142 Chengkong Rd, Meinung (美濃鄉成功路142號)

Meinung Folk Village (美濃民俗村), 80, Ln 421, Chungshan Rd, Sec 2, Meinung (美濃鄉中山路2段421巷80號)

Meinung Hakkas Museum (美濃文物館), 49-3 Mintzu Rd, Meinung (美濃鄉民族路49-3號)

Kuangde Hsing Paper Umbrellas (光德興紙傘), 361 Chungshan Rd, Sec 1, Meinung (美濃鄉中山路1段361號)

Kuangmei Hsing Paper Umbrellas (光美興紙傘), 128 Chungshan Rd, Sec 1, Meinung (美濃鄉中山路1段128號)

Chinhsing Hang Blue Clothing Store (錦興行籃衫店), 177 Yungan Rd, Meinung (美濃鄉永安路177號)

Where to eat and drink:
No trip to Meinung is complete without eating its famous flat noodles. It's difficult, in fact, to know which made the other famous, but the owners of the Meiguang Flat Noodle Store (美光粄條店) could make a strong case for their noodles doing the boosting for the town. Now in its third generation, the store is located at one of Meinung's few stoplights and is conspicuous for the antique-looking sign hanging over its storefront announcing that the eatery's been open for 45 years and running.

Tucking into a bowl of their noodles, it's easy to see why this is the most famous joint in town. The noodles are made fresh daily by the storeowners to ensure that they keep a consistently strong texture after being dunked in the rich homemade pork-based broth. And a fistful of fresh sprouts adds crunch to each bite, while scallions and a healthy dollop of the local hot sauce will open travel-weary eyes.

The roadside store has a large seating area in an adjacent alley; but for the authentic experience, try to sit at one of the restaurant's three original tables. If the noodles don't suffice, the pork knuckle and fried greens in garlic can round out a meal for several people.

Another experience not to miss in Meinung is leicha, a traditional Hakka drink based on ground green tea with the addition of ground peanuts, sesame seeds and a host of other ingredients that vary from store to store. At the Meinung Hakka Inn Leicha Bar (美濃客家驛棧擂茶舖), a rustically decorated teahouse, the leicha includes sweetened popped rice added to the mixture just before drinking. The sweetness takes the bitterness out of the tea concoction and adds some crunch for the first few sips.

Part of the fun of drinking leicha is grinding the ingredients oneself. For this, the store provides a small mortar and pestle. The finer the powder, the better brew, but grind it too much and the drink loses its earthy texture. The abundance of ingredients cools the tea rapidly, so it's best prepared in small portions and steeped in boiling water.