A Weekend of Human Kindness

Among all the damage that two Taiwan bound typhoons could possibly wreak on this little stump of an island in the pacific, a cancelled hiking permit seems like a measurably inconsequential event. However, it is not so inconsequential if that permit is for YuShan, and if you have waited some four years to tread on its craggy spire of a peak.

This is where we found ourselves this weekend. We had a permit to summit, barring no inclement weather that would make either the 3+ hour bus ride through mountain passes to reach the base "camp" (base hostel, I suppose?) or the 12 hour hike itself dangerous. And that is just what we were presented with this sultry weekend. Two typhoons and a closed National Park. But - a significant but - we did not really know this until the last minute, and we had already planned the trip to the west to access the park. So, invalid permit in our hand we stuck to our plans and headed north, then south, to get to the west. It makes sense if you think about it...

Arriving in Tainan we were presented with lovely weather - sun, sun and heat. We found a hotel after a brief stint of searching and headed to the hotspot of all hotspots - the Taiwan Salt Museum. 

Salt. Museum. Salt Museum. 

And it was awesome. It is not just a museum, but it is a museum that comes with its very own salt mountain that you can climb (and lick if you are ...Crystal....so inclined). Taiwan has a very distinct salty history that is much more important to what Taiwan is today than we realized, and taking time to ponder this as we walked the halls of the museum was quite an interesting realization. Not only is the salt mountain and museum a nice place to visit, but the whole area is replete with demonstrations of Taiwan's salt legacy with brine ponds splattering the whole area. Now the salty brine ponds and the power of desiccation via the sun has been taken over by more mechanized systems, so these ponds are defunct memories of the past, but they still speak to a valuable brick in the development of the reality of what Taiwan has become. 

We traveled to the museum, walked up the mountain (hill.....) and plodded through the historical workings of salt in Taiwan, and then were presented with a problem. There is a new park, Taijing National Park, which is a highly important home to black-faced spoonbills during their migration. From October to early December  they (and 21 other endangered migratory birds) stop and re-fuel among the inter-tidal flats of this newly minted park. The inter-tidal flats, the mangroves (nearly extirpated from Taiwan now, save for this small region and a smaller still region in Taipei) and the birds combine to make for an ecological hotspot that is not to be missed. We are told. For, we were here in August with only a police guard on duty and a few oyster collectors splattered among the vast muddy flats. But it was stunning. What was more stunning was how we got there, which is the first act of human kindness for which this post is titled.

We arrived at the salt-area and walked and climbed and walked and walked and learned and walked and then decided that it was time to catch a bus to Taijing National Park to gaze at the place where the migratory birds will be in a few months.An homage to our avian brethren. Only, it turned out that the bus that normally went to the park was not in service while the birds were not there because, somewhat obviously now, there is no reason for people to go there when there are no birds. It was a seasonal bus, and this was not the season.

We spoke to a lady at the visitor centre, asking for directions and the like and told her that we intended to go no matter what and that we would find a way.  Could we walk, we asked? No. Well, yes. Yes we could. There was no law to stop us, but the time we were quoted seemed quite unpalatable. Then came the kindness that permeates all of Taiwan. 

"Its too far to walk...here....take my scooter."

After knowing us for no more than three minutes, she gave us her keys, helmet, scooter and told us only that she had no need for the vehicle today, and to come back whenever. Her kindness allowed us to visit a place that would have otherwise been untouchable at this time of year. No request for rent money, no hesitation or request that we leave ID, anything. She asked for no proof or assurance that we, strangers, would bring her scooter back to her.

She, a stranger still, just gave us her vehicle and wished us a good trip. We got to see mangroves and a place of ecological significance all due to her kindness.  

The next day led us to the interior of Tainan County, up in the mountains and to a hotspring hotspot. However, this, like so many other Taiwanese hotspring locales is replete with high-scale hotels that pump hot water into your bathtub, charge you exceptional prices for coffee, tea, eggs, anything, that is made with hotspring water and have an overall ugly tourist hue to the whole area. Its not like Wulu or Ruisui...its like hotspring Las Vegas.  It is quite distracting from the natural beauty that could be focused on. We decided to pass on staying here, and went for a long walk instead. And what a walk it was! 

•  three new bird species
•  tortoise shell beetle (FINALLY!!!)
•  2 crested serpent eagles up close....REAL close
• Graphium on film, finally
• our first substantial glimpse of a Taiwanese woodpecker (and mystery nest)
• water on fire...methane leaking from a natural spring, on fire
• hiking trail to monstrous temple
• discovered the 'sausage tree'

All along a little section of road that we probably would have missed/passed on/never known about had we decided to stay in the gaudy hotspring village. Walk on...walk on. 

Then, as we were walking down the road to what we thought was a small town where we could stay, we encountered act of human kindness part two. A man we purchased coffee from earlier drove by, stopped and asked where we were staying. 

Us: "Baihe"

Him: "Its too far to walk"

Us: "Um....whatever the next town is, then"

Him: "Nowhere to stay there..."

Us: "....."

Him: "Get in, I will drive you wherever you want to go....back to the hotspring village, to Baihe, Chiayi, anywhere".

So, from another complete stranger came an offer that saved the day. He drove us over half an hour away to the next train station, saving us form what would have been a foot-killing walk along a road that had no end for a hotel-dinner searching couple. It would have been a long, hot, boring evening trying to find a place to sleep in a town that had nowhere to sleep. 

Two acts of kindness, done without hesitation. Two strangers who made our trip wonderful. This is what Taiwan is made of. If salt was the economic backbone of yesteryear, humanity is the social backbone of today. Value that can not be valued by money, and a value that so much of the world lacks. But not Taiwan. And they still have a lot of salt, too. 

"I thought we were going to have a typhoon party..."

Two tropospheric assaults are heading through the western flanks of the Pacific, and we just happen to be in the way of one of them. The little curl that is appearing in the projected path is curious, but by all accounts we will be in for an old fashioned typhoon either tonight or early tomorrow morning. As I type the winds have picked up to "audible" and the rain has maintained at "drizzley but potentially bad 'cause, holy cripes those clouds in the distance look horridly dark". It is bound to get worse...

In non-meteorological news, I (solo) just returned from another jaunt to the south to do more field work. Every two weeks I plod southward to count, measure, plant, count, plant, count, climb, collect and other things that keep me busy and dirty in Taiwan's epic karst forest. At night I get to go for a night walk and spy the curiosities of the evening world, and this trip granted me some nice photo op's that I thought I should share. Above is a civet nestled in a tree while it tried to avoid me seeing it, and below....

 Lizard, Gecko...two competitors for the cutest critters of the forest floor.

Centipede, green snake (thats both its colour and its proper English name)...two competitors for least enjoyed encounters in the forest. Actually, the snake is no cause for concern. But, I was told that the night before I arrived at the field station they spotted a banded krait in the dormitory kitchen.

 My seeds are growing up! Four week old Ficus benjamina seedlings making their way in the world. Some of these lucky folk will make it back to the forest, the others will forever be a memory and a number in my notebook.

 Now, as we wait patiently for nature to toss us around and break windows and bend trees, it is time to get back to work. However, upon my suggestion that tonight would be a great opportunity to catch up on Chinese studying and some work/planning, I was greeted with the quip that titles this post. Party for every occasion, apparently?

Bike Trip: Hualien to Ruisui via 193

 This Saturday we took to the road and headed south along highway 193, from our home in Hualien to Ruisui. We intended to stay in Ruisui for the night and re-connect with our old stomping grounds but after exhausting all hotel and B&B options...we were forced home on the train. But that was all fine and good - it was an amazing day and an amazing ride. We left Hualien around 10am and got to Ruisui at about 4pm.

Highway 193 hugs the interior of the coastal mountains, with its counterpart 11 following the ocean side of the same range. This section of 193 is a placid stretch of road that is rather car and truck free compared to its counterparts, 11 and 9. It is also a much more interesting ride as the road curves and twists and climbs along the valley, whereas 11 and 9 are much more direct (though, this is not in the least a condemnation of highway 11...it is in itself a spectacular ride).

The Eastern Rift Valley, Coastal mountains to the left, and in the distance you can see the Interior mountains. The road we biked followed the Coastal mountains, also following watermelon and pomelo fields

Snakes; dead and dead. On the left a snake that died from heat (this is a common occurrence, unfortunately) and on the right a snake that died from a tire. Earlier we also saw a dead snake that was killed by a big rock...thrown from a human hand. A poisonous snake is a threat, and it is common also to see the well-known poisonous snakes killed as protection to farmers and residents. 

Along the way, further south, we get into pineapple territory. On the left is a lunchtime guest that kept me occupied for some time (mostly because I could not focus on it!)

Camera on an angle....the road was actually flat here. So goes the battle of using a bike seat for a tripod. In the background is a pineapple field and some betel nut palms. 

The ride from Hualien to Ruisui is quite nice, and this trip topped off the trifecta for us - we had done the trip along highway 11 (multiple times, and across the coastal mountains themselves), 99% of the trip along highway 9, and now the full trip along highway 193. Next trip.....who knows!

Kenting Field Work

Just off the plane back from Canada, and off again we went. I had field work scheduled, again, so we headed south for another four days of sunshine (rain) and cool blustery breezes (epic heat). Actually, the weather was wonderful...at times. Even when it rains, the heat still encapsulates you with glee so there is little to worry about. And there were still, of course, the monkeys and butterflies and birds and the skinks and the frogs and the flowers and the coral and the sika deer and everything else that really combine to make Kenting not just an epic field site to study me figgies, but an epic place, completely . No dead goats this time...Crystal was happy (while I was merely satisfied).

As usual, we never once touched the beach. Hualien to Fangliao to Kenting to my scooter hook-up and then to the forest. Only stopping for bananas and coffee along the way.

Three things were notable on this journey, aside from the fortnightly scientific work that needs to be done.
First, we got to explore Sheding,  a new section of the park to us (we had actually been there before, three years ago approximately, but never covered as much ground as we did this trip nor did we get to witness the extent of the park. This little adventure remedied that, and also provided me with ample figs to extract seeds from!). Second, we got to witness a cool, albeit not-so-amazing-if-you-grew-up-in-the-tropics, plant cycle. Lastly, we got to see, once again, the gem faced civet. Lurking around the palms and the larger species in the garden, as they seem to like to do, we caught a prolonged glimpse of one little critter. Here are the stories:

Prologue: We hiked through Sheding Park in search of more figs from my little favourite Moraceae, Ficus benjamina. Along the way we ended up hiking through a cave full of (potentially) macaque feces, watch macaques feed (they were largely undeterred by our presence, quite unlike the troop(s) that occupies the forest plot itself - habituation in progress, perhaps) and finally get a nice view from atop a platform. However, if you an spot it, the macaques also played a role in this part of our day too as they have decided to take advantage of the covered platform and gather here....and poo. It was everywhere. Everywhere.  

The plant:

Barringtonia asiatica. To make a wonderfully amazing biological story short, this is a plant that occupies a pollination niche separate from much of the angiosperm world. B. asiatica (hereafter BA) has evolved alongside moths and bats to complete its sexual cycle, and in doing so has turned its proverbial face on the daytime and its cohort of species and has become a plant of the night. The cycle goes something like this:

Late afternoon preparation....

Darkness display....

And a few weeks later this seed develops...

Having evolved a partnership with the night, this species will only be seen to bloom after it is dark. A chemical reaction to the onset of darkness promotes the waiting flower to bloom and entice pollinators with a bouquet of fragrances and the promise of nectar. They come, they pollinate, and the plant drops the male parts (stamen) and the petals and sepals (corolla and calyx) to the ground and gets to work putting energy towards growing a seed. This leads to a "morning after" crime scene of sorts, as seen below. Make it bigger if you want to catch all the beautiful aborted parts strewn across the ground.

An interesting sidebar here is the timing of all the flowers on a single tree. There is a distinct asynchronous pattern within each tree, so no single tree will every produce all its flowers in one night. There is a distinct flowering season, but no distinct flowering night. So, you can come back and see the same sex show the night after the first, and then again and again until the tree is done. As a result, the pollinators are kept at bay (and kept in the area) in a process called trap-lining, whereby the, say moth, can visit tree A - B - C - D on monday, and then return to the same trees the next night, and then the next, continuously until the season is over. The term is taken directly from the same hunting technique where one checks the same "lines" of traps each day/week. Trap-lining is a trait that is often cited as something the pollinators do, but I like to think of it as a result of the circumstances that the trees establish. I like to think the trees are in charge. Semantics, I know. 

Night time show on the branches of BA.

Moi, while I am kanning a piao liang specimen. 

And, lastly - our friends of the trees (the ones that dont try to intimidate me.....*old man fist shake to the macaques*). Civets!

While we were unilaterally consumed by the night flowers, Crystal spotted  upon a branch above two eyes peering back at us. It lingered, we watched...it lingered, we watched...it left. Civets are not of concern ecologically, but their role in forest ecosystems is definitely important, especially for Ficus species, so it is always nice to see them around. And they are damn cute.

 And that does it. That was the weekend - we plodded through the forest for a day collecting data and figs, I sat in a lab and toyed with experimental design queries in trying to get the seeds to tell me their secrets and counted sesame sized seeds, Crystal hiked the trails and pondered life (whatever for, I am not sure..we know the answer is 42), and we eventually made it back to Hualien to be witness to a violent CRACK of an earthquake. Not a rumble, tremor, shift, shake....but a crack. Like somebody split a bowling ball in half, only the bowling ball was our planet, and the crack was under our feet. F you see kay - ing most scary moment of Taiwan yet.

Back in the heat...

Well, well, well....

Back home and back in the routine of life in TW. I have sweat my compulsory ration of sweat for the day, though it is yet noon, and we are unpacked and organized. Life starts anew... .