Trifter

From Taitung, a little coastal city in southeastern Taiwan, I rode a small, roaring plane 60 km across the blue waters to Lanyu or “Orchid Island.” The plane landed at 8:55 am at a small airport with a one-room air terminal. Using English and some halting Mandarin, I tried to confirm my return flight that afternoon, at 4:30. After some trouble and perhaps misunderstanding, the clerk at one of the desks realized that yes, I did have a roundtrip ticket, “huilai de piao”, and that I could return at 4:00. So after that, I used the bathroom and bought some more bottled water at the little sales counter where they were selling a few other tourist knick knacks and food.

Then I made my way outside and found a road that led out of the small airport. Not knowing where it would take me exactly, I just started walking down the road, with my backpack on and my luggage in hand because I was not able to leave it anywhere at the airport. Scooters and cars passed me on the road and quite a few stopped and offered me a ride to wherever I was going. One group even seemed to offer to take me to their home to stay. But I was only going to be here for a day and I was not of the habit of taking up with strangers so I politely declined all offers from private citizens. I just ambled along down the road. I sat to rest at one point and arrange my luggage. Then I looked up and happened to see a small brown man working in the foliage. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth. So I guess I got to see a Yami in a loincloth, something I had read about in magazines but had never seen in real life. (Note to the reader: Yami is a popular term used to describe the Tao tribesmen who inhabit this island.) I politely said, “Ni hao” and then I decided to move along down the road so as to give him some privacy and give myself some privacy as well!

The Goat Beach

As I wandered along the road, I saw a pebbly beach down below and I left the road to go down and see the beach. A herd of goats on the beach moved away from me when they saw me. I looked around for a herdsman but saw no one at first. I left my two heavy bags among some rocks on the hill above the beach and went down to the shoreline to play around a bit. I heard a whistling sound a few times. I didn’t know what it was. I stopped to eat a snack among the rocks with my bags. Then I decided to move along and use the beach as a shortcut. The goats drifted away from me and bleated in protest at having to move. I stayed away from them mostly. I heard the whistling again. I assumed it was from the owner of the goats. I hurried along, not sure if I was trespassing or not. I then spotted a figure in red ahead of me, and I guessed that that was the herder of the goats. Not wanting to stick around to find out if I was allowed on the beach or not, I climbed up the steep, rocky hill to get to the road. Doing it with my two heavy bags in tow left me breathless, so I stopped by the roadside to rest.

Yehyu Village

After resting, I continued to walk. I walked and walked for an hour or so, until I finally started seeing signs of people. There was a workplace of some sort, it looked like a mining operation or something of the kind but maybe it was just a storage facility. I then came upon an elementary school and I saw some pens enclosing some wandering chickens and some black pigs. All the pigs I saw on the island were black. Then I eventually saw a green sign with the white lettering, “Yehyu Village”. So I had finally come to a small town or a village. I walked to the houses and followed the little lane that ran among the buildings. The buildings were mostly small and unimpressive square frames, but some were brightly painted. A brightly painted church with a cross caught my eye. I took a picture, but unfortunately my camera wasn’t accepting pictures that day because I somehow lost all my pictures!

Dogs and goats wandered freely in the streets and everywhere else. I also saw more chickens and pigs. Clearly these people raised a lot of animals as well as grew plants, as I saw lots of planted, irrigated small fields. Some looked like bean plants but I don’t know what they were. I learned later that the crops typically raised on the island are taro, yams and millet.

I wandered about in Yehyu village and eventually came to a port where a boat was coming in, full of tourists. Tour buses were there too, carrying more tourists. I wished that one would take me back to the airport but I didn’t bother to ask. I stood on the edge of the port and was awed by the clear blue of the water below. It was a bright, tropical turquoise color that looked very inviting. Above me was a small lighthouse structure on the pinnacle of a rocky hill. A trail led to the top, which I promptly followed. The small lighthouse structure proved to be a nice protection from the strong winds that threatened to blow my camera away. After surveying the land from on high, I trekked back down the hill and started back through town. I stopped at a little supermarket to get more water. The building’s doors were closed and I didn’t even know that it was a supermarket until somebody told me. I went in and got some water bottles. Then I went to the little gas station near the port where I had been before, to use the bathroom. The door to the bathroom was stiff and hard to close. There was no doorknob on the door either- just a hole where a doorknob should’ve been. The door itself was comprised of a fiberglass type material that you could kind of see through-not much privacy in that restroom. Just one toilet was inside with a cracked toilet seat and no toilet paper. I had found already in Taiwan that toilet paper was not a given in public restrooms. I had to supply my own. When coming out of the bathroom I had some trouble getting the door to open. I was afraid I would break it. But I pushed and strained and the door scratched and screeched partially open so that I was able to squeeze through and wash my hands in an outdoor sink with no soap.

Then I wandered back up through the village and stopped at a little eatery to try some local food. I ended up getting some mango juice and a rice-chicken meal. I also bought some small key chains of little men and painted canoe figurines from the shop next door, watched over by an aboriginal man. I didn’t eat all my food because I didn’t want too much food in my belly for the walk back. I started on my way back to the airport at around 2 in the afternoon, leaving 2 hours time for me to reach the airport in order to not miss my flight. It was starting to get sunny- it had been cloudy before. And I realized I was getting quite sunburned. I had failed to put on sunscreen. I didn’t want to use my umbrella for shade either. So sunburned I became.

As I journeyed back, a man in what looked to be a touring van, stopped and offered me a ride. I accepted because he appeared to be a tour guide. There was one other person in the van, a girl. He gave me his business card, “Lamuran”, it read. He took me to the airport so that I got there about an hour and a half early. Having more time than I expected, I decided to take a walk in the opposite direction from the way I had gone before. To my surprise and dismay, I found that there was another town, “Hongtou” much closer than Yehyu had been, only about a 10-minute walk from the airport! Here all along was a village 10 minutes away when I had trekked for 2 hours the other way to reach a village! Exasperating as it was, at least I was able to cover more countryside the other way.

Hongtou Village

In the village of Hongtou, which happens to be the township seat of the island, I saw a beach where people were snorkeling and men were working or sitting and talking. I saw some of the famous Yami canoes-some finished, others under construction. They were all painted with the same red, white and black designs. Evidently these canoes are a very important part of Yami life and are crafted from planks using pegs to put them together, no nails are used, traditionally.

Then I walked back towards the airport and went to a place called Lanen. I didn’t know what it was but it appeared to be some sort of meetinghouse, perhaps a community center. Many elderly aboriginal people were sitting outside the building and inside I saw a large group of people assembled in chairs in a gymnasium area. Some people in white shirts and dark trousers or skirts, who appeared to be more ethnically Han Chinese, were on a stage. Some times they spoke, and at other times they sang and clapped and swayed in rhythm. I understood enough to know that they were singing about Jesus and so I figured it was some sort of Christian meeting. Seeing the elderly ladies in their sometimes brightly colored clothes, clapping and singing and swaying with the rhythm of guitars and tambourines made me think of a Southern Baptist Church or something of the kind. I was made to think reminiscently of an old Cherokee Baptist meeting in the old days put on by missionaries. I sat in the doorway and watched and listened for a bit, and I tried to imagine my great-great grandmother, Eliza Beaty, who was a Baptist convert and probably part Cherokee, participating in such a meeting, sitting in the church, swaying and clapping to the music.

After a time of immersing myself in this community event, I made my way back to the airport. I was able to get a ticket and fly back in the little plane to Taitung-my Orchid Island adventure forever finished.

The End of my Adventure

Seeing it from the plane, I could see the little villages on the coastal edge of the island and a brown-colored road snaking around the island’s perimeter. If I would’ve had a motor vehicle or a bicycle and more time I could have circled the island. But all I had were my feet so I was only able to see a couple villages. But evidently there was more to be seen. The island’s center appeared to be mountainous and lushly green, and seemingly unpopulated. The little island seemed to be an undeveloped little piece of paradise where people live quiet lives, fishing, making canoes, raising livestock and growing crops, as well as doing things in town, such as shop keeping and schooling children in the schools.

At the airport I saw some other Caucasian tourists who had been on the plane with me. One asked me if the island had been what I expected. I affirmed that I enjoyed my time there. He remarked that it hadn’t been much more than the usual. He didn’t appear too impressed with his tour of the place. But I found the trip to be a simple yet treasured fulfillment of a dream I had long had while in Taiwan where I taught English, the desire to see a place I had read about in National Geographic and before could only imagine. Thus, I was happy to see the simple yet colorful sights that I had seen, a reality of a dream that I could add to my list of life experiences.