Pigeon Racing from Dong-Shan Road Exotic Pet Shop

     How naive I was to think it quaint the pigeons that the owner of the exotic pet shop flew over his store. In the early morning, I have often seen the man, cross-legged on his flat roof, smoking cigarettes like a chimney, as three dozen pigeons flew over his head around the condo in which I live in Beitun. I didn't realize he was exercising them for the great pigeon races.
     On the Chinese language TV station and newspapers there was a report of how PETA's investigation of cruelty to animals in Taiwan was getting results. More than a million homing pigeons die every year in private Taiwan open-ocean races. They are shipped out to sea in typhoon-strength winds and forced to fly back home. Less than 1% complete the races; they either drown from exhaustion, die in the storms, or are killed afterwards for being 'too slow.' 
     The Taichung District Prosecutors Office charged 129 pigeon racers, including the president of the Fengyuan Pigeon Club, with gambling and impounded $2 million. Not long ago, 32 pigeon racers from Kaoshiung's Zhong Zheng pigeon-racing club were charged, too. 

http://www.peta.org/action/action-alerts/first-ever-taiwan-raid-police-bust-pigeon-racers/

        When I passed by the shop, I saw the cruel and unusual way animals were kept: the terrapins had no room to move, a neurotic tropical bird on a perch, mostly naked of feathers, couldn't stop bobbing its head, while two albino animals sat cooped in small cage out front even on boiling hot days.  

     While sitting on a bench, I sometimes notice turtles in the Han River sunning themselves on rocks in midstream. I didn't know they weren't natural to those waters until my wife told; they are another example of animal cruelty. Either for religious reasons (to spare an animal's life and gain points for the afterlife) or for the convenience of disposing pets who have grown too large, some people put the turtles there, a hostile environment in which most will suffer and not survive.

    Years ago, I remember seeing a large terrapin at the entrance to a day market in Taipei. The man with the terrapin was asking for donations from passers-by so he could transport the animal back to where it came. I didn't realize it was he that had taken the animal from its  natural environment in the first place. 

     Since arriving in Taichung, my wife has taken to donating to TNR (trap-neuter-return) organizations in Taiwan. In our neighborhood, there are some well-meaning folk that leave food out for local street cats without realizing they are part of the problem. These cats have kittens that suffer on the streets, get chased by stray dogs, or worse. TNR captures these cats and returns them to the street to live out their lives without procreating; you can tell which cats have been neutered by the clipped ear. 

      In addition to pet-owners who abandon the pets they no longer want to care for onto the streets, there is a practice in Taiwan of some pet-owners of making their dogs ride on running boards of their speeding scooters; it is endangering the animals that could be hurt if they, or the owner, fall off. 

     Attitudes towards cats, dogs, and other pets is improving in Taiwan. For example, where before cats were treated like pests and shunned or abused, many people who once considered getting lap dogs are now going for cats as pets. In general, there is a trend to care more for one's pets and learn how to care for them.  

Rosh Hashanah in Taipei with Rabbi Einhorn

•     I contacted Amy to see if she was available to go to a Rosh Hashanah service with Rabbi Einhorn with whom she celebrated Passover this year; Rabbi Shlomi neglected to tell me if Einhorn was coming to his shindig though I asked. I would prefer to go to a service with Rabbi Einhorn in Taipei than Shlomi. Einhorn is 97! I e-mailed Rabbi Einhorn (Amy gave me his address)

• September 13^th we went to Taipei for Rosh Hashanah first night service and dinner afterwards in Rabbi Einhorn's shul in the hotel. As it was so shall it remain with the Israeli/Lubavitcher team aside as they were in Tianmu.

     Rabbi Shlomi replied, too, complimenting me and inquiring as such if I would be attending Rosh Hashanah ceremony and dinner with him. I told him I would visit Rabbi Einhorn. Shlomi reminded me Rabbi Einhorn was 97 years old, not 93 as I remembered from an article obviously written four years ago. Jeff Goldschmidt's half-sister, who joined Einhorn for Passover, won't be attending the pricey after-service dinner but I think Leona and I will visit her family while we are in Taipei two weekends from now. 

     Too bad Amy won't go to Rabbi Einhorn's Rosh Hashanah service and dinner but we will see her for a few hours before we go. I can only surmise the 1300 NT price tag for dinner is too high for their income.  Since she is related to Jeff, my former colleague at FDR, and because she is an ESL teacher living in Taipei, we have something in common. That she is Jewish, married to a Taiwanese man, and has a lovely toddler daughter makes me warm to her. 

      Today Leona and I are going to Taipei for the first night service of Rosh Hashanah with Rabbi Einhorn. In the afternoon, we will meet and have lunch with Amy and her family.

We met Amy’s family in an underground food court near Taipei Terminal.

We left at 3:30 and took the subway from there to the Grand Hotel station, then we took a taxi a short distance to the American Club. 

American Club, scene of Rabbi Einhorn's Rosh Hashanah  Buffet

     I spoke with Rabbi Einhorn and thanked him for helping me in 1986 but he didn’t recall; an amazing man for 97. He did an abbreviated service complete with his historical anecdotes about Hebrew being the mother tongue of all languages and the Christian cross being the symbol for death. His “and so on and so on” phrases lent detail for too much to say. But he had no glasses, ate well at the buffet, and seemed to enjoy himself. His 62 year old Taiwanese wife was there. Leona and I chatted with the folk around us, a Taiwanese attorney and Americans, and Leona had a good time. We were both pleasantly pleased at the variety of foods in the buffet (fish though no meat) and agreed that it was better than the food Rabbi Shlomi offered at this year’s Passover get-together.

      At 9:30 pm, we bid farewell and took a taxi back to the subway and back to the HSR, and Taichung railroad to Leona’s scooter which she had parked near the station. We got home at 11:30 pm. 

  I first met Rabbi Einhorn In Taipei 1985. At the time I had some strange notion that if my wife converted to Judaism, it would be better for our family. We already had a daughter born in America and a son was on his way. Believing the Conservative Jewish ideals I was blended into growing up, a son had to have a bris (a ceremony that entails the removal of the foreskin of the penis) but to have a bris, the mother and father had to be Jewish, and had to have a Jewish wedding. I am Jewish by birth, not by religious involvement but my Taiwanese wife was not. That is where Rabbi Einhorn came into the picture. I saw in the China Post that Sabbath services were held by this rabbi and I went to the service to meet him. 

     I felt close to Rabbi Einhorn; he was friendly and funny and flexible belying his orthodox training. I felt he was a mench from fringe of Borough Park Brooklyn, the hotbed of American Jewry and orthodoxy. I was from the fringe. I asked him to convert my wife. He said it was her choice, not mine, to be converted. With lackluster, my ex-wife went with me to meet the Rabbi. Out of respect, she took the dozen or so pages from the Old Testament, in English, that Rabbi Einhorn said she would need to study for her conversion. I was to translate and explain it to her. Somehow, her conviction met the Rabbi's approval and so she was given the name, Sarah, and was converted in the slimmest of fashion. Within a week, my pregnant Jewish wife and I had a Jewish wedding to make it all kosher. It seemed like a Las Vegas wedding but what of it. Not long after, our son was born. Rabbi Einhorn was there walking me through the procedure 

Einhorn arrived in Taiwan in January 1975 from Kuwait and started administering Jewish prayer services five years later. Einhorn now operates one of Taiwan's of 2 Synagogues in room 577 of the Sheraton Taipei Hotel 

The other synagogue, which caters mainly to the younger crowd and the overseas guests, is at the new Taipei Jewish Center. Along with religious duties, Einhorn has helped achieve and promote diplomatic relations between the Taiwanese government with the Eastern and Central Europe. Also, he is also the chairman of the Republicans Abroad Taiwan.

Because the state of Israel has full diplomatic relations with mainland China, it cannot fully recognize the government of Taiwan, which China considers separatist. Nevertheless, Israel maintains the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO). In 2006, there was $1.3 billion worth of bilateral trade between Israel and Taiwan.        

Rabbi Shlomi Tabib arrived in Taipei in 2011. He doesn't call his gig Chabad House, but it is. 
     In general, religious practice is far removed from the overwhelming majority of Taiwan Jews, especially because many of them, including Israelis, are married to Taiwanese women who have not converted to Judaism. 

Menachem Mendel Schneerson
whom Chabad Jews call "The Messiah"

     Contrast the secular Jew with the idolaters, atheists, and Mormon Christian missionaries in Taiwan. I have no mission. I am a Jew, being here now, not wanting to convince anyone to be a Jew like me or to not be a Buddhism-Taoism idolater There is no need for me to interface with Gxd through an intermediary or lose my faith.      The universe is clockwork; regular. I have no masters or rulers, by choice. I am a wage slave, a retired slave, but a slave nevertheless. No government will get me to abandon my belief that we are all born with equal rights. I will not adhere to some caste or class system set down by someone else's power scheme.        Indeed, the worst religion junkies are capitalist materialists who would destroy the world with pollution from unsustainable gadgets; I would rather walk through a park than through a cheesy street fair, any day, rain or shine.      But the choices for a Jew in Taiwan, as anywhere, are the same as in the U.S.; the Israeli mafia, the European intellectual working class, the orthodox cloistered in mystical history, or the secular all-encompassing belief that everything we do is Gxd's will; argue all you want. No divine comedy placing arrogance  above Gxd in atheist denial will do anyone any good. You may as well build a golden bull and ride down Wall Street. 

      I will not be going to Yom Kippur service because I don't want to travel to Taipei again during the week; if it were in Taichung, i might go. However, Einhorn is too old to travel and Shlomi prefers to hold services up north in his comfort zone.
     On this Yom Kippur, no one has asked me yet for a second chance. To be fair, no one has mortally injured me to expect from them a second chance for me. Last month, I offered a second chance, on Facebook, five people. All but one accepted my 'friendship' after I had blocked or unfriended them for various reasons. I offered friendship to other locals in Taichung but they stood me up; they know my number if they feel like calling. 
     In the other way, I have not turned anybody down. Surely I have sinned and require forgiveness, but only from Gxd and not from anyone I know; Gxd knows what I've done wrong. I try to do the right thing every day. To cloister myself with Jewish tradition or rely on other Jews for sincerity and friendship, more than goyum, is not in the cards; I'm not supporting Israeli hegemony or liking Jews who do. 

A Takarazuka Weekend in Taipei

8-16-15 Sunday 

Thai Restaurant near Taiwan University

      It has been a very social weekend with more action than I have seen in weeks if not months.

Friday morning Leona and I took the scooter to the Taiwan Railroad to the HSR to the Taipei Metro When we arrived in Taipei, we went straight to Gu-Gong Station neat Taiwan University. We perused Eslite bookstore (buying nothing) and had Thai lunch at our favorite spot.

 We went to see Takarazuka performs The Rose of Versailles at National Theater in Taipei.  

The Takarazuka Revue (宝塚歌団 Takarazuka Kagekidan) is a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan  . Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shōjo manga and Japanese folktales. The troupe takes its name from the Hankyu Takarazuka rail line in suburban Osaka. The company is a division of the Hankyu Railway company; all members of the troupe are employed by the company.(Wikipedia) 

I commented  on Facebook that the tone of the musical-dance review show from Japan made the Rockettes look like sluts. The three hour show was fun although I hardly 

understood Chinese word translated on LED screens from the Japanese libretto. The acting and costumes were dazzling. Leona absolutely loved it. Her brother and mom had seen a Taiwanese version of the all-female theater when he was a child; Leona was too young. It was always a dream of her mother to see the original Japanese cast, a dream Leona fulfilled for her.

Women make up the primary audience of Takarazuka; in fact, some estimates say the audience is 90 percent female.There exist two primary theories as to what draws these women to Takarazuka. One is that the women are drawn to its inherent lesbian overtones. One author states, "It was not masculine sexuality which attracted the Japanese girl audience but it was feminine eroticism".The competing theory is that the girls are not drawn to the implicit sexuality of Takarazuka, but instead are fascinated by the otokoyaku (the women who play male roles) "getting away with a male performance of power and freedom". ^(Wikipedia)

     After we left the National Theater in CKS Park, we went to see our hotel room in the Shin-Shin Hotel, a two floor modification up to the seventh and eight floors of a ratty apartment building with a window view (at least there was a window) facing an urban highway interchange. Leona had gotten the room because another hotel she looked at was booked. This hotel, she reasoned, was on the same subway line as the National Theater and was a few blocks from the Rao-he Night Market. What she neglected to consider was that it wasn’t on the train line to Shih-Lin where we would meet the Hung family Saturday morning, but more on that later. We had fun at the night market buying  yummy snack foods and some shirts, a bandana, and an inflatable tube (you read right) for Nala who insists on scratching the wound on her back that she gave herself back in May. We got back to the hotel but I had a had time getting to sleep on the hard bed.

The ugly view from our hotel window near Rao-He Night Market

Rao-He Night Market entrance
with location of free bathrooms

  There was dissonance between me and Leona when I suggested we buy cake as a gift for the Hung Family in addition to the gift money for Niu-Niu and Xiao Tien-Tien, the baby girls born in March and May. Leona finally agreed to give each 1600NT (unclear why though I suggested double h’ai for Jewish good luck) after I had initially wanted to buy one baby a mobile and give the other another gift. Though I mentioned the Krispy Kream stand at the Taipei Terminal, since other bakeries were closed at 9am, it slipped her mind and we went to board another train to Shih-Lin. When I reminded her of my request, she unhappily got back on the train, the wrong train, and headed to comply with my wish. It being 10am already, the time we had agreed to meet, I withdrew my request disappointedly and we headed to Shih-Lin where we met Mr. Hung at the station, without any gift other than the babies’.

   On the MRT, we passed the Grand "old" Hotel on the
 way to visit Shih-Lin to visit my old friends, the  Hung
  family with whom I taught ESL in 1986         

The lunch at the Shih-Lin Seafood House wasn’t special but the company was wonderful; Jenny, her husband and bay, Edison, his wife and baby, and Mr. and Mrs. Hung, the folk I taught with back in 1986 before the shirt hit the fan with my ex. The Hung’s knew what I went through and supported, even gifting me a gold ring before I vacated Taiwan with Simone, Ariel, and Renna to protect them from their mother’s abuse. It was an emotional three hours of chatter and laughter. In the end, before we were driven directly to Taipei Terminal, I turned to Mr. Hung. “You knew I would come back to Taiwan, didn’t you?” He nodded his head, both of us with a tear of joy in our eyes. It was the first time we had visited them since we moved here almost three years ago. 

Typhoon Soudelor - Day by Day

8-4-15
     Parts of Northern Taiwan have already picked up over 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain in the 24 hours ahead of the storm's approach, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

     As of Friday midnight, some 82,000 homes were without power, according to Taiwan Power Company.

     Schools and government offices in some areas were closed Friday for all or part of the day. Taiwanese airlines have announced flight adjustments, canceling a number of domestic and international flights for Saturday, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. Railways have likewise suspended high speed and regular train services, said the Agency.

     The Central Weather Bureau has warned 16 cities and counties they're likely to experience intense rain and powerful winds from Soudelor. Earlier this week, Soudelor became the strongest storm on the planet so far this year with peak winds at 180 mph (290 kph), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center

8-5-15 7:22 am Wed. 

     The typhoon is extremely big and heading this way tomorrow evening. Leona mentioned going to South Borough to Costco (not to lose bonus points) and to Cat's House to get cakes for Chinese Father's Day this weekend before the storm hits. I wish there was something I could do to protect the palm trees on the patio from being shredded by the winds it was in the last large typhoon last year. Leona tied rope to the trees the weekend I went to Taipei to see Jeff and his sister (neither of whom has contacted me since, nor I them) but there's no torque. 

8-5-15 5:51 pm Wed. 

      With the typhoon coming, I have one more morning to take a bike ride. By Friday morning it will probably be wet around here until Monday; that’s three mornings I can’t ride the bike up the Han River. Abstaining from smoking Jerry adds to the “snow day” feeling of the typhoon days. I can’t drink any liquor, either, because of the danger of gout. I have to relax and do things like read, write, sleep, blog, nap, and perhaps organize some photos. . I hope to talk with the kids, too. What I shouldn’t do is snack. Tomorrow will be the last day to go out, but we will pick up two Fathers’ Day cakes and food from Costco. It will be a bad combination to stay home and eat. I must be on my guard.

8-6-15 6:51 am Thurs. 

     The sky is hazy but no sign of a typhoon yet.  There is little wind and the pigeons from the neighbor with the pet shop down Dong-Shan Road are getting their morning exercise. They remind me of Sal Armele whose father had a whole room of birds across the street from the Loew's 46th St. movie theater; captive birds. There is something so horrible about keeping birds in cages.  I digress. The point is it is a beautiful sunny morning. Latte is marching around on the patio. The buttered English muffin was delicious. I just finished my Facebook 'liking' and comments. 

8-8-15 3:58 pm Sat. 

      I have been home riding out the typhoon that began to blow at 2:00 am as Leona and I slept. Friday was the last dry day and we took advantage by going to our favorite short steak house for lunch. I had time to ride my bike yesterday morning, too. In the evening, Leona and I shared a bottle of wine and some cheese we’ve been saving for our last three Friday evenings in.

       At 2:00 am, we heard a crash from outside on the patio and looked to see the mosaic tile table that I had propped up against the bush that had a broken pot from the typhoon a month ago, had fallen over as the plant fell. We also noticed the plastic retaining fence above the ledge had folded over or blown away ripping three wooden slats from the ledge. Meanwhile, the palm tree had become tipsy and was leaning on the ledge. I brought inside the pinwheel and metal sun chatchka that were bouncing off of the tea room air-conditioner and also brought in the Arizona route 66 sign that was making noise.  The steel girl planter had fallen over behind it and moved the protective sleeve. We were up with the howling wing until past 4:00 am and then managed to get back to sleep but not before we let the cats into the house from the enclosed patio which rattled dangerously. Thank goodness, the roof was still there and the minimal damage was some wine corks that had fallen off the beam as the structure shook in the 80 m.p.h. wind.

             There was no bike riding today when I woke up around 9:00 am. My first task was to go down to retrieve the broken plastic fencing that had blown off our ledge and one of the wooden slats it had taken along with it. I cleaned up the debris on the outside patio in anticipation of the rains that were to follow; I didn’t want the debris to block the drains. We watched the news on TV and saw all the property damage with the dangerous heavy rains still to come.

       It was drizzling heading into the eye of the storm until 1:00 pm, now on the backside of the storm, it has been pouring outside. I took a nap after lunch and have been on the internet ever since.

8-9-15 

       The rain has stopped in Taichung. It looks like I will be able to ride the bike this morning. In the afternoon I have to repair the tattered and bent plastic fence around the patio before I can let Latte go outside. We also need to buy a new pot for the plant by our bedroom; it cracked a month ago and, luckily, we hadn’t bought a new one yet before Friday night’s monster winds.

8-10-15

       The rain has stopped. It is hazy but there are no rain clouds over Taichung. I didn’t study any Mandarin since last Wednesday’s class but I look forward to going to class in half an hour. Nala is taking a nap beside me on the desk. She is so adorable. Latte is sleeping somewhere else after darting around the house a little and picking on Nala. He couldn’t get rid of his energy on the outdoor patio as I haven’t finished replacing the torn off part of the safety fence.

8-11-15 7:35 am Tues. 

      The outdoor patio is looking good after I spent about three hours on it yesterday finishing replacing the fence the typhoon blew down early Saturday morning. After lunch, Leona and I went to the gardening nursery to find a replacement for the pot that cracked a month ago; we found a matching black ceramic pot, heavy and square-bottomed, so the plant won’t be blown over so easily during the next big wind.

A Trip to Guguan's Hot Springs and The Atayal Jew's Harp

          Leona and I got back from Guguan a few hours ago. Despite the constant rain from Friday night on, we had a wonderful time. When you plan for a trip, it is good to be flexible; being together with the one you love is the only thing that matters. Of course it would have been nice if the weather were clear and we could go on more hikes in the mountainous rain forests, but fate intervened to keep our get-away as sparkling as we liked even if there were no stars in the cloudy sky.

Dajia River Dam rebuilt after it was
 breached in the 1999 earthquake.

          Every trip begins with transportation to the destination and in Taiwan it is no different. The best case scenario is to make the modus operandi facilitating an escape as pleasurable as the crime of vacationing itself. Contrary to Taiwanese public opinion, driving a car or motorcycle to a vacation spot is not the way to get off on the right foot; how can the driver enjoy the scenery when he or she must concentrate on not hitting the vehicle in front or driving off a cliff on the hairpin turns of Taiwan mountain roads, not to mention the traffic or finding a place to park once you arrive? Going by bus, train, and on foot are the only ways the all parties on the trip can enjoy themselves and each other without keeping one eye on unreliable GPS directions.

      To go to Guguan from any point in Taiwan is easy, convenient, and dirt cheap in Taiwan. Furthermore, you don’t want to mess with currency when you are on the road to salvation. I have only two words for you if you plan to trip around: Easy Card! Go to any convenience store, ask the clerk for a “Yo-Yo Card.” It costs 100 NT; add at least 500 NT to it and you are set.

      Since we live in Beitun in Taichung, if you want to go to Guguan, it is best to take a Taiwan Railroad local train to the Feng-yuan station. Outside the station in Feng-yuan, there is a little bus depot. Get the # 207 bus; it departs at least once an hour. The ride takes about ninety minutes. The bus will make many stops at first but by the middle of the trip up the mountain, when the view goes from heart-breaking through the 1999 earthquake destruction zone to breath-taking view through the valley along the Dajia River, it is almost non-stop. When you arrive in Guguan, go to the cultural center for brochures and maps. In the center, you will see a display:

Jew's Harp Display in Hot Springs 

White Pine Ice Pop Display

 “Atayal Traditional Cultural Artifacts” is the name of Bobao Yasu’s start-up. The packaging is slick and the spelling is American English but the items Bobao and his wife make are not “artifacts” per se. Placed in the Hot Spring Cultural Center which was opened in 2005, the display is one of a few there along with pine tree ice pops. The center is where we picked up maps, brochures, and got information.
 Being a mouth harp aficionado, having played in a blues-rock band for a number of years, I was interested in the mouth organ called the “Jew’s harp,” actually a derogatory term invented by anti-Semites in Europe and appropriated by the American English speaker who carried the subliminal prejudice to Taiwan. Let’s keep the name, anyway, to remind people in Taiwan how my people are treated - not unlike how indigenous are treated in Taiwan - but use the Atayal for the musical instrument, “le-ong,” instead.

      Guguan, in Bo-Ai Village of Heping District, is northeast of Taichung, 800 meters (2,600 ft.) above sea-level. It is located on the Central Cross-Island Highway, the one that used to cut through Taiwan in Taroko Gorge before the 921 earthquake of 1999 and Typhoon Toraji decimated the roadbed and made it unpassable to tourist going to Hualien on Taiwan's east coast. The many businesses and hotels along the route have suffered for fifteen years of it. Today, only old-time Taiwanese visit this spot, international tourists having to take the long way around to Taroko Gorge. 
     The hot springs in Guguan, are odorless and carbonic, with a pH of 7.6, 48-60 degrees Celsius. Most of the dozens of hotels and spas there have hot spring, some public, some private. The Dajia river, where fisherman can still catch small trout, rises up across footbridges from the valley into luscious rain forests of creeks and waterfalls with a dozen trails of various lengths and challenges.   
          My wife and I stayed at a place called Li Chih Shan Shui. The name is too small to read in English but it is well worthy finding because 

Li Chih Shan Shui Spa

The view outside our private Jacuzzi

it is secluded behind the main road near the bus stop up a path a few minutes from the entrance. We were fortunate to stay in the VIP suite, an upgrade because of the lousy weather that caused
cancellation. Prices range from 1200 NT to 10,800 NT. By taking the public bus to Guguan, you can splurge 
on a room with a private hot spring Jacuzzi. Meals are included in many rates.

Private Jacuzzi with a great view of the river

     
     Once we got settled in the hotel, we walked out looking for a place for lunch. When we saw the crystal clear fish tanks outside the Jin-Gu Restaurant, we knew we had found the right spot. The cooking there was tasty and inexpensive. We opted for fresh ferns, deep fried salted pork, and fresh steamed baby trout raised in Dajia River water. The only English menu in town made it all clear. As the rain poured outside, we chatted with the owner, Mr. Chen Jien-Sen, who has run the restaurant there for thirty years.
     "Say, you wouldn't know where we can find this place that sells Jew's Harps, would you?" My wife asked after I insisted he must know. He did know! We gave him the phone number from the display and he made a phone call.
     "They are not there today; they are away in He-huan-shan, a few hours away in Nantou, to teach a class of indigenous handicapped children who he just couldn't let down, despite the driving rain. "He will be happy to see you tomorrow morning, okay? Call me up when you're ready and I'll drive you to his place" We couldn't believe our ears! We were in for a real treat. 

Baby trout raised in river water

Mr. Chen calls for directions

     After an evening of wine sipping in the Jacuzzi, we were tenderized and ready to go on our adventure into the Atayal community down just down the road.  
     Mr. Chen called up the artisan one more time to get exact directions. We met Babao in his mini-van at a junction across the Rainbow Bridge, one of three red structures the government had built after the earthquake and typhoon.
We drove a few minutes away down rainy roads until we reached Bobao's home and Mr. Chen bid us goodbye.  
     "That was very nice of Mr. Chen to bring us to you," I said.
     "Many foreigners find us through him because they see the sign that he has an English menu. We appreciate him very much. Please, come in." We entered a corrugated aluminum 
 structure with long tables and a display of homemade arts and crafts. 
          "There was a Canadian folk musician that discovered the Atayal le-ong years back," Bobao said reflecting. "He was so interested that he went on a search to find out where he could get one. He contacted the Taiwan Aboriginal Culture Affairs Bureau and they did a search. Finally, after ten years, he came to visit us and learned about the history of the le-ong."
          As we  sipped tea prepared by his lovely wife, Bobao Yasu told us the origin of the "le-ong" as it is called by the Tai-ya (Atayal) people. For centuries before the first Europeans encroached on Taiwan, the indigenous Tai-ya lived on the plains west of the mountains. The community became too large and so the elders chose to spread out across Taiwan in all directions. They tried to avoid head-hunting in other tribes' territory but needed a way to keep in touch with each other when returning from a hunting trip. On their return, the tribe played the le-ong, which sounds like indigenous bird calls, to let their settlers know they weren't enemies approaching. 

          The "go-gao" is a Jew's Harp made of bamboo without a copper strip, copper from Dutch arms left behind after Koxinga expelled the European colonists. A warrior was rewarded with one or two copper strips to his go-gao depending on his exploits. Three copper strips were reserved for the le-ong of medicine men who used the instrument in incantations and magic spells. The warriors gave their le-ong to their wives as gifts of love. It is only recently that the le-ong has been used for musical purposes.      

Assorted hand-made le-ong and go-gao

          During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the le-ong was banned; the Japanese realized the instrument was being used by the Atayal warriors to pass secret messages to defend themselves and attack the invaders from the north. in the 2011 Taiwanese film Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale depicts the resistance 
Taiwan indigenous people put up against the Japanese. On October 27, 1930, hundreds of Japanese converged on Wushe for an athletics meet. Mouna Rudao led over 300 Seediq warriors in a raid of strategic police sub-stations to capture weapons and ammunition. They then moved on the elementary school, concentrating their attack on the Japanese in attendance. A total of 134 Japanese, including women and children, were killed in the attack.

          Aboriginals have criticized politicians for abusing the "indigenization" movement for political gains, such as aboriginal opposition to the DPP's "rectification" by recognizing the Taroko for political reasons, with the majority of mountain townships voting for MaYing-jeou.

 Vietnamese sign for foreign brides of Atayal

          The Taiwan regional government promoted Bbao's art. They sent slick packaging for it and put it on display in the hot springs museum. They even sent Bobao around the world as an ambassador of Taiwanese indigenous culture similarly to how Darwin came back from South America with Patagonian giants or Wild Bill Hickok returned from the wild wild west with plains Indians. Not as bad as an entire village from the Amazon brought to Coney Island for the gawking pleasure of the Brooklynites, but Babao felt that way, with body guards around him to protect the natural treasure, without interpreter to interact outside of their purpose. There was even a businessman who wanted to take Bobao under his golden wings and mass produce his Jew's Harps in a factory on the Mainland for distribution worldwide. Bobao was having none of that. He wants to spread his people's story like smoke spreads; naturally. 

Leona and Mrs.Yasu got along like old friends

          We went to Guguan not knowing we would have the  pleasure of meeting Mr. Chen, or Mr. and Mrs. Bobao Yasu. Travelers should never lose the opportunity to go off the map and learn about the lives of natives in the vicinity, in this case, the indigenous Atayal people.

Mrs. Yasu in the workshop shed

     Guguan's clean mountain air, without the rush of tourists you find in other spots around Taiwan. is refreshing. There are many trails to burn, and the accommodations when you return from hiking range from bed and breakfast, to hotel spa, to campsites. There aren't too many stores or restaurants though there is a 7-11 and Family Mart, On a rainy weekend in Central Taiwan, do yourself a favor, get on the #207 bus from Feng-yuan (you can also get a bus from the HSR station in Taichung) and ride up to Guguan before it becomes too well known again.  The medicinal hot springs are just what you need to take the stress off during Taiwan's busy winter.