It’s 8:22 pm on Thursday, May 22, only a few hours after landing in Taiwan, and my brother, David, has just got to get outside to film Taiwan’s famous musical bin lorries as they arrive, as scheduled, exactly on time on the street where they’re staying in Taipei. This scene – of him chasing bin lorries – is to be repeated over and over in different cities as we travel around the island over the next few weeks, interspersed with forays into every Family Mart Convenience Store we pass to hear their jingle when the door is opened. We are now all humming the Family Mart tune wherever we go! Added to all the fun, I invited my good friend, Ah-Guan from St. James’ Church, Taichung, to come with us on our tour around Taiwan ~ and she fast become known for her multiple coupons and free offers of bubble milk tea, coffee, tea eggs or ice-cream from every 7-Eleven or Family Mart, plus making sure we had plentiful supplies of tea bags, milk and sugar at every place. Thanks Ah-Guan! As a result, we were all happy and smiling the whole trip, including in all the numerous photos we posed for, like this one at Bunun Leisure Farm, bows and arrows in hand. Photo poses galore, ah, what a fun time we had!

David and his wife, Anna, came to Taiwan from May 22 to June 8, their first ever visit, but one long-awaited with much excitement. They’d had 3 months of chopstick practice, learned a few words of Chinese, and studied all the history and travel books available, but still nobody could really prepare them for all that heat! David and Anna live in the Lake District, UK, and have spent many years looking after both sets of elderly parents ~ and now that they have a bit more free time since my mother’s death last November, so they wanted to come to Taiwan before the real heat of summer sets in. At this time of year, it’s either really hot and sunny with beautiful blue skies, or else it’s pouring cats and dogs for days on end. May-June is the plum rainy season in Taiwan, and fortunately, when it rains, it does cool down; otherwise, the temperatures are mostly in the 30s, a bit of a change from the UK!

We spent 5 days in Taipei at the start of their visit, and then 3 more days towards the end. There were plenty of warm welcomes from all my friends, Bishop Lennon Chang and the diocesan office staff, Dean Philip Lin, Deacon Claire Wang, Marjorie and Winston, and everyone at St. John’s Cathedral and Kindergarten, plus Rev. Joseph Ho and his family at St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung. David and Anna also visited Joseph’s brother, Ian at the Carl Becker Violin Shop in the National Concert Hall – Anna loves all things violin, and David all things piano and organ. While they were here, we also celebrated David and Anna’s 35th wedding anniversary and Anna’s early birthday with the Tan family and former English class students from Advent Church, visited the Tan family home and horses along the northern coast, and popped into Advent Church and met Deacon Christina Hai. Ah yes, thank you everyone!

On only their second full day in Taiwan, and despite the terrible weather forecast, we got to the top of Qixing Mountain, 1,120m (with 400m of ascent from Xiaoyoukeng), the highest peak in the Yangmingshan Mountain Range – gosh it was wet! We also visited all the sights around Taipei, Taipei 101, National Palace Museum, Grand Hotel, Di-Hua Shopping Street, National Taiwan University, Dadaocheng, Tamsui and on their final full day, we went to Jinguashi, beyond Keelung, in the cloud and rain to see the POW Memorial and to visit the old mining town of Jiufen.

On Tuesday, May 27, we took off on a 7-day anti-clockwise all-the-way-round-Taiwan trip by train. I’m really grateful to Lisa in the diocesan office for helping me book all the tickets; everybody we met was amazed that we had managed to get such tickets, especially on Dragon Boat Festival weekend; it’s not easy to do! First, we went by High-Speed Rail to Taichung, where we spent the night at St. James’ Church, Taichung, to meet up with Rev. Charles Chen and his wife, MaryJo, for tea-drinking in their home, followed by dinner. So delicious! Then the next day we went by Puyuma Express Train to Tainan to meet up with Bishop David Lai and his wife, Lily for lunch and tea-drinking at their home. Also, so delicious! It was so great to see them all and to hear stories of their early lives; we are grateful for their hospitality and to those who helped us along the way, especially Rev. Lily Chang and Ah-Guan at St. James’ Church, and Rev. C. C. Cheng and his wife at Grace Church, Tainan.

We then spent 2 nights in Kaohsiung, kindly hosted by Rev. Deledda Tsai at St. Paul’s Church, who, along with her senior warden, Isaac and his wife, plus other church members, gave us such a warm welcome. On Ascension Day, Thursday May 29, we spent the whole day in Kaohsiung, in the morning visiting the Kaohsiung Lighthouse on Cijin Island, apparently the only lighthouse in Taiwan where the weather vane uses Chinese characters for north, south, east and west, and then in the afternoon Isaac took us to the opposite side of the harbour entrance to see the former British Consulate at Takao, both places oozing with British trading history. On the way, we passed an interesting sight of a lady walking her pet pig, and lots of houses, newly painted in bright colours. The houses are beautiful, giving Kaohsiung a bright new look, so different from its previous association with heavy industry and pollution. We also visited the excellent Railway Museum at Hamasen, the Banana Pier, and the new Kaohsiung Music Centre, built like hexagons. The following day, Friday, was a holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival weekend. We’re grateful to Ms. Hung and her son, George, for picking us up – and all our luggage, and driving us to north Kaohsiung where Mr. Yun-Hung Di and his wife treated us all to a very yummy breakfast, followed by a visit to the old city walls and to Lotus Lake, famous for its dragon and tiger pagodas. David is very interested in military history as related to World War II and later, and was fascinated to learn about Mr. Di’s military background as an infantry brigade commander, so Mr. Di presented him with his flag, hence the photo below. Thank you to Ah-Guan for organizing our Kaohsiung visit, and all our good friends in Kaohsiung for their help and hospitality!

On Friday, May 30, we left Kaohsiung Train Station on the 11:00 am Puyuma Express Train for Luye, Taitung, on the south link line that crosses from west to east Taiwan through a series of tunnels through the mountains. It is many, many years since I traveled all the way around Taiwan by train, so it was exciting to say goodbye to the west coast and suddenly come out of a tunnel and see the east coast- the Pacific Ocean – there before us. We were heading to the Bunun Leisure Farm, set up by the Rev. Bai Guang-sheng in 1995, after serving 11 years as a Presbyterian pastor in the village church. Through the “Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation”, his aim was always to develop a sustainable tourism industry with a Bunun flavor, including performances, a weaving studio, coffee shop, guest houses, and restaurants. All the employees are Bunun people, and it has clearly greatly benefited the local community. Although it suffered during the pandemic, it is gradually building back up again. I like to see the dancing performances, but they don’t take place every day, so we had planned to be there over the Dragon Boat Festival weekend to see one. The Bunun people are especially famous for their 8-part harmonies, and in the event we saw 2 performances, and took part in the archery, shopping, coffee, meals as well as walking to the local Taoyuan Village, which now has a brand new 7-Eleven since I last visited. Rev. Bai was there on site, even at 6:00 am on Saturday morning, and he always remembers me, even though the last time we met was at Chinese New Year 2021 (see my report of that visit here). He was in the news recently at a gathering to celebrate his retirement, but he told us that, having reached 70, although he needs to retire as a Presbyterian pastor, he can continue on for the next few years as chair of the foundation. I love going to Bunun Leisure Farm and even though it was mostly wet and overcast, I still love seeing all the dancing, and we had a great time!

The Bunun Leisure Farm kindly offers a pick-up servce to and from Luye Train Station, and having picked us up at 1:30 pm on Friday on our arrival, so they delivered us back to the same place to catch the same 1:30 pm train 24 hours later, as we worked our way north up the east coast to Hualien. Last year, despite making all the arrangements, we had to cancel 2 trips to Hualien due to the terrible April 3, 2024 Hualien earthquake, and subsequent typhoons and landslides, so I was keen to get there this time! Only a few days before this trip, there were landslides on the northern rail route from Hualien to Taipei, so we were very pleased to actually arrive in Hualien and to be met by Rev. Antony Liang, vicar of St. Luke’s Church. He and his family and church members gave us a very warm welcome over our 3-day stay, and it turned out to be just in time, as a few days after our visit, Bishop Chang announced that Antony would be moving on August 1 to become rector of St. Timothy’s Church, Kaohsiung. We attended the morning service on Sunday, June 1, which Antony kindly adapted into a combined English and Chinese service, had lunch with the church members, and then went exploring around Hualien, to the beach and the night market, where among plenty of interesting things, they were actually selling crocodile/alligator BBQ meat. Ha, never a dull moment in Hualien! Early each morning, we got up to walk along the nearby river and see the sunrise. It was lovely. Thank you Hualien!

On Monday, June 2, we took part in a tour, one of three on offer, all heavily subsidized by the government to help Hualien’s tourism industry, which has been badly affected since last year’s earthquake. We visited the beautiful Qixingtan Beach, famous for its stone sculpture festival, and then went to Taroko Gorge Visitors Centre. Taroko Gorge is Taiwan’s most beautiful and most famous must-see tourist attraction, but it was devastated by the earthquake, and most of it remains closed, and may take several years until the land is stable enough to be fully reopened. (As I write this on Thursday, June 12, I’m thinking of last night’s 6.4 earthquake at 7 p.m., epicenter at sea, about 70km south of Hualien, at a depth of 30.9 kilometers, fortunately no reports of injuries, but all these earthquakes and aftershocks will not help matters, plus there’s reports of a tropical storm in the next few days, forecast to bring heavy rains to south and eastern Taiwan). The road up to the top of Taroko Gorge is currently open for about 15 minutes every few hours during the day to let vehicles through, but the hiking trails are still closed and there are a lot of roadworks and landslide repair work going on. Still, we were able to drive to the visitor centre and then walk down to the famous bridge and temple arch entrance and see a little of the magnificent gorge in the far distance.

From Taroko Gorge, we visited the nearby town of Xincheng, Hualien’s oldest town. The Xincheng RC Church is built on the site of a Japanese Shinto Shrine, and at the entrance to the site is a Shinto arch with the words which translate as ‘RC Church’ on the cross beam. In 1895, when the Japanese took over Taiwan, they established a police station in Xincheng with responsibility for taking control of the indigenous people of Taroko Gorge, the Truku. They forced them to relocate down from the high mountains, and all the animosity, anger and hatred spilled over when one of the Japanese policemen assaulted a local Truku girl. The Truku people responded by attacking the police station and killing 13 Japanese police officers. This led to the Japanese army being sent in and the start of a long-running war with the Truku; many were killed on both sides. The Japanese government buried the bodies and built this Shinto Shrine in Xincheng to remember the Japanese killed. After World War II, when the Japanese left Taiwan, the shrine was destroyed, and nobody would ever go near the place. In the late 1950’s, the RC Church, with some Swiss priests (the most recent of whom, Fr. Gabriel Délèze continues living and serving there today) bought the site and built a church there – in the shape of Noah’s ark – and they insisted on retaining the remaining Shinto structures like the archway, the lanterns etc. In the place where the memorial had been, they built the altar, and where the actual temple had been, they put a statue of the Virgin Mary, in front of a beautiful view showing the mountains of Taroko Gorge. They also built a school and a hospital on the same site, though I think they have since closed. The church is very famous for its huge Christmas Nativity Scene. It is very moving to think that what was a place of war and hatred is now a place of prayer and peace. We also visited some other sites in the Hualien area, including the old Japanese military housing, now transformed into a place to eat, drink and shop, where we enjoyed more yummy ice-creams!

On Tuesday, June 3, we returned to Taipei, also by Puyuma Express Train, and as we traveled along the coast, it was clear that landslides remain an ongoing threat, particularly with all the rain. The mountains on that section of the line go straight down to the sea, so the route goes through a lot of tunnels. We were pleased to get to Taipei safely! After a few days in Taipei, we set off again for St. James’ Church, Taichung, where we spent the final weekend of David and Anna’s visit, hosted again by Rev. Lily Chang, and on Friday evening, Samuel and Luanne invited us for a wonderful dinner, thank you! On Saturday, June 7, Ah-Guan kindly offered to take us to Nantou, Taiwan’s only landlocked county and the only one we had yet to visit on this trip. We went to Sun Moon Lake, and she invited our good friend, Yu-Mei to join us. Ah-Guan is from Nantou City and Yu-Mei is from Puli, very near Sun Moon Lake, so between them, they knew the best places to go for everything. We had such a wonderful time, thank you, ladies! The weather was sunny all morning and then clouded over in the afternoon with a major rainstorm on our return drive. A few temples, a boat trip on the lake, snacks and meals, a visit to the ‘living basin’ and day lily farm, plus lots of tea, coffee and ice-cream. Ah-Guan, by now, had got to know us very well and was on hand to make sure David and Anna had plenty of things to eat and drink at every convenience store, whether 7-Eleven or Family Mart; she even recorded some of the Family Mart jingles for us! On Sunday, June 8, we worshiped with St. James’ English Congregation for Pentecost, followed by coffee hour and then lunch in quick succession, before walking around the art museum and seeing the sights of Taichung. We really enjoyed meeting Jerry and Jean, Antony’s parents, DJ and Daphne, Claire’s parents, plus Rev. Sam Cheng and his wife, Julie. In the summer of 2000, when my parents first visited Taiwan, Sam was a high school geography teacher, not yet ordained, and during his summer holidays, he drove us all around the island, following a similar route to what we did this time by train. I have so many happy memories of that trip!

As we set off for the Taichung high-speed rail station on Sunday afternoon with Rev. Lily Chang, Ah-Guan turned up to say goodbye to David and Anna; they had all become good friends by then with so many happy memories of bubble milk tea, Family Mart jingles, bin lorries, coffee and ice cream!

And so from there to the Taoyuan Int’l Airport to say goodbye, and to check in their luggage, including David’s lightsabre (aka traffic wand/baton), complete with flashing light and siren, that he bought in Taipei for his walks on dark evenings around the Lake District; fortunately, it was no problem to pack it in the hand luggage – this is the first visitor I’ve ever had who’s bought a lightsabre! 😂 Thank you, David and Anna for coming all this way, for providing so much entertainment and fun, and one day, please come back again, and in the meantime, encourage the rest of the family over to visit. And a big thank you to everyone in Taiwan who helped make this visit such a success, for all your welcomes and hospitality, meals, tea, advice and help in so many ways! Thanks be to God, and thanks to you all!