High mountains, steep valleys, suspension bridges, hot sun, blue sea, white surf, yummy sugar-apples, pink cherry blossom, betel nuts, indigenous people, dancing, art, mountain villages, lots of churches, cheeky monkeys waiting to steal your lunch, impressive scenery ~ all these and more are waiting to welcome you all to Taitung 台東!

Taiwan’s far distant SE county is separated from the rest of the country by the central mountain range, so it’s always been the most difficult to get to – especially for those who don’t like tortuous winding roads over mountains or slow train journeys. But now there’s a brand new road and tunnel much of the way from Pingtung – yes! These are the views driving along Taitung’s coast….

Chinese New Year is a great time to visit Taitung because the rest of Taiwan can be cold and wet in winter – but while Taitung might be a bit wet, it won’t be very cold and it certainly won’t be that endless miserable cold that haunts Taipei and the northern coast all winter long, don’t I know it! 😭 In summer though, Taitung can be very hot – so winter is THE time to visit! There’s even a few cherry blossom out in the mountains…..

We managed to spend a few days there last week, February 8-11, fitting in our visit just before Chinese New Year. My good friend, A-Guan from St. James’ Church, Taichung, and another friend, Shiu-Chin from Grace Church, Tainan organized everything ~ and off we went! The place we always like to stay is Bunun Leisure Farm 布農部落 in Yanping Township 延平鄉, in the mountains above Taitung City. There are 5 villages in Yanping, mainly Bunun Indigenous People. Bunun Leisure Farm is near Taoyuan Village 桃源村, and was set up by Rev. Bai Guang-sheng in 1995, after serving 11 years as Presbyterian pastor in the village church. Through the “Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation”, his aim was to develop a sustainable tourism industry with a Bunun flavor, including performances, weaving studio, coffee shop, guest houses, restaurants – and it’s still going strong! This is us with Rev. Bai….

There are plenty of other places to stay in Taitung of course, but Bunun Farm has a great atmosphere, lots of art and culture, the food is grown and produced locally, they employ lots of young people who are so friendly and always recognise us from previous visits ~ so, all in all, it’s a very meaningful place to stay. Their dancing and 8-part singing are very famous too, with daily performances….

Ah, it’s a great place!

This time we also visited Taoyuan Village, about 15 minutes walk away ~ we went very early in the morning. As it was just before Chinese New Year, so people were out and about cleaning their homes and streets ready for the festivities. Rev. Bai said there’s over 100 children in the elementary school and over 60 in the junior-high school. There’s 2 main churches, RC and Presbyterian, but also some other smaller churches like True Jesus Church. Taoyuan Village is the centre of the Yanping Township government so there’s lots of government buildings too. And plenty of brightly painted buildings – ah yes, I love it!

We spent last Tuesday, February 9, visiting the coast, working our way from Taitung northwards to Dulan and Donghe, where the cheeky monkeys were hanging out at Taiyuan ….

And the next day we visited the very remote and tiny Shanli Train Station and nearby Kalito’od Church 山里福音教會 in Beinan Township, where sugar-apples are growing everywhere, and also loquat (pipa). The fruits are covered in paper bags while they mature, to stop them being eaten by hungry animals ….

In a nearby noodle shop, the very creative owner, now aged 80, had taken all the used disposable chopsticks left by customers – to make wooden models. Most impressed!

And early on Chinese New Year’s Eve, in torrential rain, we said goodbye to Bunun Farm and set off back to the west coast. By the time we got to the southern part of Taitung and up into the mountains, the sun was out!

Special thanks to A-Guan and Shiu-Chin for organizing such a great trip, doing all the driving and booking and arranging ~ I just took photos! It was fairly non-stop action all day long, and we certainly made the most of it all. Taitung though is a very laid-back kind of place, where even the dogs and cats lie on the station platform enjoying their morning nap…

Grateful for safe travels and, in this pandemic – while so many other countries are in lockdown – that we are able to travel freely around Taiwan with little problem, armed with just face-masks to wear in shops, restaurants and crowded areas. Many people in Taiwan did suspend their Chinese New Year travels after worries about a cluster infection of about 20 people spreading from a hospital in Taoyuan a few weeks ago, but it seems to have been contained, which is good news for all. We are grateful that the government and health authorities continue to do a great job in this time of crisis, which has caused so much suffering worldwide. Our prayers continue for all those affected .