Sea, Plains, Rivers, and Forest

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.” This quote is from the American author Mark Twain. These days, when transportation is so much faster than in his era and travel costs are comparatively cheaper, it seems people are always in a hurry to reach their destinations, and have gradually forgotten to admire the scenery along the way. For this journey of ours, we have decided to casually wind our way through Yilan County at cyc­ling speed.

Poems by local writers about Toucheng, Yilan’s “first town,” are displayed above this literary walkway of alternating light and shadow.

Toucheng: A mix of old and new

We start off from “Touwei Street” (today’s Heping Street), the street around which the town of Toucheng first grew up. This is a place to go slow and explore the many old buildings hidden in the winding lanes, from the Southern Fujianese style of the late Qing ­Dynasty and the brick-built Western-style houses of the middle period of the era of Japanese rule, to the later steel-­reinforced concrete structures. Looking in particular at the first genera­tion of old residences on Heping Street, although the walls of the brickwork arcades are covered in moss and no one has opened the wooden wicket doors in front of the houses for a long time, this was once the most prosper­ous road in a town that was key to Yilan’s economic development.

Setting out from the end of Heping Street, we pass through long narrow lanes where we find “Arts and Culture Street” and “Literature Street”—places where creative artists have used a contemporary arts approach to preserve the history and literature of Toucheng. Works by local literary figures including the late writer Li Rongchun (a native of Toucheng) and the poet You Xiangxin are on display here.

At the Wangshan Leisure Farm you can see pumpkins hanging down from trellises while bees buzz busily about, pollinating the plants.

Ever-changing scenery

Turning left after crossing the Erlong River, the Yilan Coastal Bikeway stretches out before us. It generally runs parallel to Provincial Highway 2, and along the way you can gaze out across the white-capped waves of the boundless ocean, with Guishan Island in the distance. The middle section of the bikeway passes through the windbreak forest beside the sand dunes of Zhuang­wei. The trail is verdant and there is a slightly salty sea breeze, while there are old military fortifications (built to defend the beach) scattered among the low shrubbery. In the last section of the bikeway, from a bridge bathed in sunlight there is a view of the majestic spectacle of the Lanyang River flowing into the ocean. This extra­ordinary cycling route offers sea, forest, and river views.

Turning from the bikeway onto the provincial highway, we head to the nearby Wangshan Leisure Farm, where you can buy smooth-textured lattes that use mashed pumpkin instead of milk. Wangshan grows all five of the world’s major pumpkin varieties. Peng Shu-hui, daughter-in-law of the farm’s founder, relates Wangshan’s adherence to natural ecological methods: “We grow the vines in baskets and train them over metal frames, forming a tunnel filled with hanging pumpkins. Originally we did the pollination ourselves by hand, but later we decided to bring in the specialists.” Who are the pollination specialists? Peng laughs and points to a greenhouse directly opposite: “Over there we have a whole area where bees live.”

The Zhuangwei Dune Visitor Center, designed by architect Huang Sheng-yuan, hosts a video installation curated by the famous film director Tsai Ming-liang that brings the beauty of the sand dunes indoors.

Mianmin Hall

In search of food, we then follow Provincial Highway 7C into Luodong, where we come upon an unusual historic site, Mianmin Hall (Mianmin Tang), in the Luo­dong night market. Though small, Mianmin Hall was once an important center of religious Confucianism in Eastern Taiwan, set up during the Qing Dynasty. The age-old rules of the temple are still pasted on the wall, outlining the hall’s mission (which included govern­ment administrative functions as well as spreading religious Confucianism) in beautiful Qing-Dynasty official script. There are no beautiful brick carvings in the hall, and the colors are muted, but Mianmin Hall is unique in Taiwan in having “nine doors and three windows,” a design used for official government buildings in the Qing Dynasty. It is the only such building to have survived through the Japanese colonial era.

We again set out on our route, this time on an easy ride to the Chung Hsing Cultural and Creative Park, in Wujie Township.

Hanging white lights and the illuminated poem “Summer Scenery” are reflected in the water of this pebble-filled pond, creating a magical beauty.

Interplay of light and shadow

The park was formerly the site of the Chung Hsing Paper Cor­pora­tion, which once had a production capacity greater than any paper mill in Southeast Asia. After the company closed, the abandoned factory was transformed in 2015 into an arts exhibition park. During the day all the buildings are open to the public, with many works of art on display. After dark scattered lights go on, setting off the structures in near darkness and producing a magical beauty.

At the park’s shallow stony pond, reflected light dances on the surface of the water. Small white lightbulbs are hung overhead, waving in the breeze, and the illuminated text of a poem by Yilan-born poet Tina Wu stands beside the pond. The white lights reflected in the pond are like stars twinkling in the sky, while the yellow light of the poem appears like decorated pillars swaying in the water. It is a spellbinding sight.

Along the riverside, cool breezes carry the fragrance of grassy meadows and the sound of rustling leaves. Riding the Annong River Cycling Road is a joy for mind and body.

The Annong River Cycling Road

At daybreak, the mountain mists disperse and outside our window the Annong River reveals its beauty in the sunlight. We ride to the river and set out along the Annong River Cycling Road, which runs along the dike. On one side are broad fields, on the other the sometimes rushing, sometimes placid river.

The meandering bike trail runs through a big stretch of orange‡yellow bald cypress trees, and Highway 7C is visible across the fields. Riding on, we approach the upper reaches of the Annong River. This is the area where San­xing Township’s famous scallions grow, and fields of them are waving in the breeze that blows off the mountains that rise in the distance, creating a stunningly beautiful backdrop. The pedaling is easy on the almost level bike trail, and you can focus on enjoying the splashing of the river and communing with the tall trees along the banks.

The beauty of Zhaoying Temple, Taiwan’s only Mazu temple that faces the mountains rather than the ocean, lies in its simplicity.

The simple beauty of temples

We head north along a small road beside the Lanyang River, then turn left to return to Highway 7C, which takes us into Yilan City. Here we head to the historic Zhao­ying Temple, where we meet local historian Yeh Yung Shao. He says that although Zhao­ying Temple is not large, in his eyes it is the most beautiful temple there is.

“Each era’s temples reflect the aesthetics of that era. Zhao­ying Temple’s beauty lies in the simplicity and restraint of all aspects of its design.” Yeh draws attention to the temple’s orientation, asking, “Since it’s dedicated to Mazu, protector of seafarers, shouldn’t it be facing east, toward the ocean?” It is only then that we realize Zhao­ying Temple in fact faces the mountains.

“During the reign of the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang Emperor, Zhaoying Temple needed to be renovated, and a fengshui master said that if the temple continued to face east, it would help people earn a lot of money, but if it faced west, toward the mountains, it would bring people numerous descendants, and only then would people go there in large numbers.” Following this advice, in 1834 Zhaoying Temple was rebuilt as Taiwan’s only Mazu temple oriented towards the mountains. “In Daoguang’s reign, the classical architectural style dominated,” says Yeh. Walking to a “dragon pillar,” he tells us, “There is only a single, vivid dragon carved onto this pillar, without any other embellishments. The carving is simple yet intricate, and the overall aesthetic is balanced and ­flowing.”

Yeh also guides us to look up at the yuanguang, carved wooden cross-members placed below short beams to stabilize the building structure. A common sight in temples, they showcase the skills and aesthetic sense of the artisans who made them. “Here openwork carving is used to create figures on an unfurled scroll, in a scene full of alleg­orical meaning.” As a researcher and restorer of ancient monuments, Yeh has seen countless historic structures, but his favorite designs are those that display human nature. “People are in fact very simple, and when building temples they directly carve their greatest hopes into the building components. These are mainly related to good fortune, prosperity, and long life,” he says with a smile.

The Memorial Hall of Founding of Yilan Administration, housed in a Japanese-era building in Yilan City, commemorates the establishment of a Qing-Dynasty administration in Yilan in 1812. Exhibits in the hall testify to more than two centuries of Yilan history.

A garden in the forest

Leaving Yilan City, we get onto Provincial Highway 7D and head directly for the Fushan Botanical Garden, entry to which requires a prior online reservation. The steep, narrow road that connects the botanical garden to the outside world takes a lot of energy to ride up.

The garden serves three functions: conservation, research, and education. Carrying binoculars, we enter by way of a wooden boardwalk after passing a large stone tablet made of ancient petrified wood.

We first see a pond filled with aquatic plants, providing an excellent environment for creatures living in the pond, which in turn attract many species of birds to feed on them. We are told that the ambiance of the scenery at the pond changes with the weather. On clear days little grebes dive below the surface kicking up splashes of water and the scene is bright. On rainy days there is fog and mist, and the sight of raindrops striking the surface of the water is entrancing. Assistant researcher Lin Chien-jung, who is beside the pond observing the aquatic plants, says: “In winter you can see mandarin ducks that migrate here to escape the cold of their northern breeding grounds.”

Because annual rainfall here is 4000‡5000 milli­meters and the site is at a low elevation, the botanical garden is a paradise for epiphytic plants. “Giant trees on which a variety of different epiphytes grow are known as ‘tree condominiums.’ This is an extremely important form of symbiosis in the rainforest ecology,” explains Lin. He suggests we use magnifying glasses and binoculars to closely examine the variously sized “tenants” on large trees and the many “condominiums” spread throughout the forest.

Lin also tells us to walk very slowly because just a few meters ahead there are a number of Reeves’s muntjacs strolling past as they search for food. There are also some Formosan rock macaques sunning themselves on the grass. Meanwhile, two or three long-­bodied crab-­eating mongooses slip quietly past the pond.

On this cycling trip, besides riding on bike trails and seeing scenery and historic buildings, we also rode along the beach, climbed into the mountains, and went into forest. We saw animals, ate fine food, and laid down unforgettable memories in our minds and in our photographs.

The forest at the Fushan Botanical Garden is home to many wildlife species. Slow down your steps, lift up your binoculars, relax your mind, and enjoy their company!

In this enchanting ecological pond you can see many kinds of aquatic plants that are rarely found elsewhere. The endemic Taiwan yellow water lily (Nuphar shimadai) is one of its most beautiful.