In November 2023, two friends from Hawaii visited Taiwan. During their stay, a four-day itinerary was planned for them to the mountains of Alishan (southern Taiwan) and Sun Moon Lake (central Taiwan) with emphasis on indigenous Tsou culture, high mountain tea, and local hospitality. This tour was led by Cheryl Robbins, a Taiwan Tourism Administration-licensed tour guide specializing in sustainable tourism to Taiwan’s indigenous areas.

Day 1

Departing from Taiwan’s second largest city, Taichung, our first destination was the Chashan Community, the southernmost indigenous community of Alishan Township in Chiayi County. Its residents are mostly from the indigenous Tsou tribe. However, indigenous Bunun and Han Chinese (Hakka) people also live here. The tour guide, Cheryl Robbins, has been teaching this community’s guides for many years including guide techniques, itinerary design, and how to introduce the community and its culture in English. After lunch in the community’s main restaurant, we checked into Only on This Mountain Guesthouse and prepared for an afternoon swim at a local waterfall. This natural swimming hole is on private property, so it is necessary to go with a local guide. Our local guide prepared a wonderful barbecue on site and others from the community came and shared with us how they like to spend their time here, such as floating on a raft or catching shrimp.

After our swim, we headed back to the guesthouse to shower and change clothes and then ate a wonderful dinner at the community’s main restaurant. We were the only visitors that night, so the cook came out and chatted with us, which these two said was one of the highlights of the tour.

Day 2

Following a leisurely breakfast at the guesthouse, we explored Chashan’s streets. In front of each home is a hufu, which is one of this community’s features. The hufu resembles a pavilion or gazebo and is made of wood and thatch. Traditionally, it was the “living room” of the home where people socialized and shared food.

Another feature is its many wood carvings, each describing an aspect of Bunun or Tsou culture or a legend. Then, we headed to our next destination, the Xu Long Tea Processing Factory in Xiding, stopping to walk along a suspension bridge that overlooks a river gorge. The owners of this processing factory harvest tea in their adjacent plantation. This is one of the few places where tea leaves are still processed using traditional methods.

We first ate lunch, which consisted of homemade Hakka dishes, made by the owner’s wife. For these two friends, eating a homemade meal inside a tea processing factory was another highlight of this tour. They said that it was something unique and unexpected. One of them, a self-professed foodie, wanted to express his thanks to the cook directly, without any translation help from the guide. They carried out a simple conversation using a translation app. It was a heartfelt and memorable moment for them both. Then, we walked through the tea planation with her and learned about tea processing from her son. We were encouraged to try one of the steps ourselves, mass rolling. This involves placing the tea leaves in a special bag and rolling the bag so that the leaves are tightly wrapped. To end the afternoon, the owner’s wife served tea in the style of the Chinese tea ceremony.

Our accommodation for the night, Applause in the Mountains, was a large hotel nestled deep in the mountains and surrounded by tea plantations. The scenery was gorgeous and the rooms were comfortable, but as it mainly serves tour groups, it was a bit crowded and loud. Here, we had hot pot for dinner, before settling in for the night.

Day 3

This was a long but beautiful travel day. After breakfast at the hotel, we set off for the National Alishan Forest Recreation Area. From the parking lot, we took a shuttle bus to the top of Giant Cedar Trail, which consists of several sets of wooden stairways through beautiful forest.

We did not walk back up, as this trail leads to a station of the Alishan Forest Railway. This railway was originally built over a century ago by the Japanese during the time Taiwan was a colony of Japan (1895-1945) to haul logs from the mountains. It is one of the few alpine railways in the world and its Z-shaped switchbacks are also rare. To fully experience it, it is best to start from Chiayi City. But, if time does not allow, you can do what we did, ride part of it from this trail back to near the entrance. A ticket window is conveniently located on the platform.

 After returning to the parking lot, we chose one from among the many restaurants that serve mostly stir-fried dishes and ate lunch. Once full, we continued our journey, stopping near the Tataka entrance to Yushan National Park to observe a group of Formosan rock monkeys.

By late afternoon, we had arrived at Sun Moon Lake and headed to the Wenwu Temple. The name refers to the mixture of gods worshiped here, including those in charge of literature (wen) and war (wu), such as Confucius and Guan Yu, respectively. This unique collection of deities came about due to the consolidation of two temples that were destroyed when a dam was built to generate hydropower, raising the water levels of the lake. From the roof of this temple are spectacular views of the lake.

It was then time to check in at Doris Home B&B. This is a clean, comfortable, and well-located guesthouse (near Shuishe Wharf). It is manned by a friendly staff and lots of cats. This guesthouse serves breakfast but not lunch or dinner. However, there are a number of eateries nearby.

Day 4

As our last day was a Saturday and Sun Moon Lake can get crowded on weekends, we got an early start at Shuishe Wharf. Several cruise operators offer lake cruises with three stops: Shuishe, Ita Thao, and Xuangguang Temple. We chose to get off at Ita Thao, as this is where the indigenous Thao people live. As Sun Moon Lake is a major tourist destination, indigenous culture is not obvious here. However, in the commercial area around the lake it is possible to try some indigenous foods. On that day, a market was set up at the wharf, which we visited and then strolled along the picturesque boardwalk to the cable car station. This cable car runs between Ita Thao and the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, a theme park and outdoor indigenous museum. It is a great way to view the lake from above.

However, we opted to leave Sun Moon Lake and explore some of the surrounding indigenous Bunun communities (specifically Dili and Tannan), then return to Taichung to visit Grandpa Rainbow Village.

Grandpa Rainbow Village was one of many communities for housing military veterans in the late 1940s. Most were not built to last and have been torn down. Huang Yung-Fu unexpectedly saved his community from the same fate. In his 80s, he began painting the walls of the community with colorful murals, which have attracted large numbers of visitors from all over the world, earning him the nickname Grandpa Rainbow. It was fortunate that we visited when we did, as the 100-year-old Grandpa Rainbow passed away two months later.

If interested in a similar experience, please contact us at specialtytourstaiwan@gmail.com