Leisurely journey-Dunghe day 2 mini-sized harvest festival 22ap2k6

Those who accumulate merits feel grateful to have chances to do virtuous deeds, which is the most precious thing.

Weather: a starry sky without artificial lights.

I have never spent longer time to participate in a harvest festival

When it comes to aboriginal harvest festival, all I can think of is images in a flash and short memory from television reports and news, magazine articles, and documentary film…

( inside of woven bamboo utensil 22ap2k6)

(outside bottom of bamboo utensil 22ap2k6)

When the day was getting dark, inside a glass cabinet next to the door was a delicate bamboo utensil that was made by a tribal artist.

(profile of bamboo utensil 22ap2k6)

When the night fell, the chorus of frogs came from the pond behind me.

Amis dinner included pork and unknown wild delicacies.

Nearby there were pig’s internal organs being roasted above the fire.

Almost in a second, aboriginal people got dressed with their traditional costumes. They introduced harvest festival and showed visitors how to wear and immerse in the ambience of harvest festival songs and dance.

It was a pity that I did not take part in the dance this time. After I finally grabbed several chances to join harvest festival dance at other tribal villages, I was moved by this close spiritual connection with other people when we were performing ritual steps hand in hand to go around a circle one after another and singing to the rhythm of the dance.

I realized when you had been through the whole ritual; you would be attracted to it.

(dance in small-sized harvest festival and friends from Germany 22ap2k6)

(dance for small-sized festival 1-22ap2k6)

Cepo' was not sure whether the black dog was Kuro or not?

(ps: Kuro , a black dog was kept by director of East coast national scenic area administration.)

(dance for harvest festival 2-22ap2k6)

(dance for harvest festival 22ap2k6)

At the ending of ritual dance, probably out of a flash of feelings, tribal elders especially old women began singing old songs that were seldom heard one after another, which seemed to call back tribal cultural inheritance.

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Savage villa 23-24ap2k6

The sparkling stars and fluffy fog gives a sense of limitless ambience,

The low river and scenery among clouds seems like putting on makeup

By Tang dynasty, poet Han-Yu

23-24ap2k6 weather:rainning

Home stays seem to arouse lots of people’s interest in discussions, survey, and presentations — different types, different sizes, different operations--some put stress on style of architecture; some emphasize the country experience; some use ecology as their selling point; some offer limited budget hostel while some invest in luxury palace-like guesthouses; some decorate them like a fairyland; some put on a sigh”home stay “that is registered from the authority concerned. If you own a piece of land, everybody who meets you will naturally put up this question,” will you establish a guesthouse?”

In west of Australia, usually without sighs on the door, you have to be lucky to find home stays. Back in 1990’s home stays cost 120 in Australia dollars for a person but they would not guarantee you warm welcome, home made dinners, or snacks in the fridge. Even worse, hosts were often absent. Perhaps I was fortunate or streetwise as I was young traveling a lot. When I studied in Australia my home stay hosts who have no kids treated me friendly. I could have snacks in the fridge as I liked for free, and they offered me a huge portion of Australia special cuisine as dinner. Not only that. Their villa is situated in residential area with a small swimming pool and a lush yard that I remembered in the middle stood a mulberry tree laden with lots of hanging purple fruit. I really felt like I stayed at a place—a home away from home, warm and cozy.

By testing of time, successful operators need not depend on government’s promotion, or specialists’ advice. They have already gone beyond confusion about what home stays are like? What’s more, in addition to….

Showing unique style of managing guesthouses, these proprietors are making those who stayed for a few days obsessed by their lodging and those who have not visited look forward to staying.

(morning in the Savage villa1-24ap2k6 )

Standing at the parking lot that was covered with lush turf, I looked up the bamboo trees on the top of the mountain among morning fog while the chirp of birds and insects like the breeze blowing through my ears as if I were lying on the deck chair with a pot of tea embracing the space with my lingering spirits.

Numbers and associations between numbers that were created by Arabs made up stories in the past. A camera man living at house no. 1 in Hualien, one of my friends, invited me to the trip to Dunghe. Before that, I traveled along the east coastline to Dulik as far as I could. After some occasional meetings, making contacting with friends through chance gave me opportunities to explore a legend of Beinan in the mountain. From the diary and photos on the blog, I realized the hardships they had been through and the satisfaction they had when their establishment set up. The pictures could not totally match what it looked like at present; the diary and photos were abbreviated and shortened—all the rest left in the memory of people.

Without guidebooks used by travelers, only by words of mouth I took a period of almost lifetime to reach the destination that could be done in 30 minutes with a racing car in full speed. the breathtaking seaside and mountain scenery along Taiwan provincial route 11 also made my speed slower. Thanks to my caring hostess called to ask if I got lost, I could go on the right track. Past the green tunnel, after spotting a wooden hand made street sigh, I drove across a makeshift bridge covered with cement. A pebble-and-dirt trail and a barking guard dog leashed by chains led me to the villa door as you can see in the photo.

Pulling up in front of iron barred door on the plate of which read number 1, I was looking for the totem in the memory -- different from the real one. I saw several dancing-away-from-the-stone genies hand in hand colorful painted on the bottom left of a giant stone. They had been hid from my sight the first time I came here.

The bell was ringing with the sounds of geese and different breeds of dogs. With silky straight hair and in a black yarn dress and silver flip-flop high heels, my hostess came up to greet me at a more-than-100-year house. I suddenly sensed that wearing in my formal suit seemed awkward for today.

Freshly made aromatic herbal tea gave a light scent slowly permeating in the woods.

My hostess showed me around to any designed corner, any art of work and any shared experience of hers.

~ A pair of lambs just kept seemed painful because of carelessly eating grass polluted by pesticide.

~ A spiritual practitioner stayed at a retreat outside the house before I came.

~ Keeping geese could not avoid snakes (a neighbor of mine once had told me that lime powder and goose’s dung could keep away from snakes. Creeping through lime could cause skin to fester.)

~ Plaster that filled the cracks or holes on the walls.

~ Mr. Chiang …..

It was a pity that I did not have much of my big portion of dinner at a British-run restaurant in Taitung I guessed I was full at that time cause I had lunch too late.

In the serene night with falling rain gradually stopping, Cepo’ was sitting at a distance from a big table quietly listening to stories shared by my hostess.

At the end of the stories she left two colorful garden decorating books in hardcopy for me with a chain of keys. Cepo’ flipped through the books while I was waiting for the night egrets to catch fish on the pond. In the middle of the night geese and dogs seemed to fall asleep.

A friend once said, “If you are talking on the phone wearing a smile, though the person talking to you can’t see you he/she can feel your heart.” The same way when you are open-minded you can almost touch creators’ hearts and minds. Immersing in an ambience of classics it offers through reading Shakespeare, Tagore.

Cepo’ also noticed that lamps made in drifting log each on the sides of the dressing table shed warm and dim light, which seemed to tell different stories.

The night egrets did not land on the pond next to a pavilion. The rain kept falling outside, this time I came to Hualian I did not take a third time hot shower till today in the bathroom decorated with gravel on the floor and clam shell on the wall. After soothing my half rough skin I wrapping myself in sheets comfortably in bed looking around the setting. A piece of long yarn ornamented with small wild life pattern hanging on the ceiling, the shaking noise made by the fan of the broke air-conditioner, and the irritating smell of paint work just finished on the walls combined to join my sleep. During the dream-like state of occasionally alternate sleeping and waking, I seemed o be attracted by the long mirror on the right side into the history….

Breakfast: stuffed bun and soy milk. I already had on the third successive day.

With lots of thanks for my hostess’s heartfelt hospitality I wish her sustainable operations for her Villa.

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Coconut baby-Dunghe tribe 23ap-25may2k6

The joy of life lies in every minute of growth 23ap-25may2k6

(baby coconut palm in water-took from Dunghe 28ap2k6)

Three-day-two-night trip to Dunghe in Taitung is unforgettable. Tribal people’ passion was like the Dunghe shining sun. The itinerary planned suitable for visitors’ needs, leisurely but intensive, made us feel tribal people’s considerations.

Before leaving, I was given lots of baby coconuts as gifts and given directions to take care of them: put in vases, and water them every day that could be treated as interior decoration. Cepo’ interested in living objects. Like other people’s need for hurrying home, my car was not big enough to hold all these precious gifts, so I just took three of them with me.

According to tribal people, imported 5 or 6 years ago this new breed of coconut palm can be ripe and harvested when reaching the end of three years of growth. The obstacles of distribution and the culture that neglects old traditions and values new trends in Taiwan cause coconut less popular. Some farmers cut off half amount of coconut palms. These young coconuts were survivors.

Tow of the coconuts grew with about 15-meter-tall shoots. One of them kept in front of A-Ching’s cottage was taller when I visited A-Ching a few days ago.

From this trip I really learned something which is Amis tradition “sharing” When I first met a lady who was nicknamed “Taitung savage sister”, I gave her the last coconut. Since then I had no chances to see her again.

As you can see in the photo, the coconut kept at Cepo’ farm sprout short shoots just like newly born baby. I put it in an iron container, full of water that was outside the huge scenic windows, while I was waiting more than a week for it to grow. But it remained unchanged. When the wind was blowing hard the baby plant would float in the direction of the wind.

(floating coconut like a snail17may2k6)

After 20 plus days, the coconut sprang 2 fresh shoots that felt rough—not soft and tender as most plants.

In a certain angle to observe it looked like a snail floating on the water. When A-Ching came here, it’s leaves turned larger to make it seem like a little whale with a tail fin.

(coconut is growing up12cm 25may2k6)

When baby coconut was a month old, it measured 12 cm long. I found that it grew 4 roots underneath its body (as you can see in the next photo)

( short young roots spring from coconut25may2k6)

I have eaten coconut. But I have not seen the cycle it follows specially when it was young until now.

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