It's historically a settlement of the Atayal Aborigines, and it's a popular tourist destination due to its hot springs, scenery (including mountains and a majestic waterfall), food, and Aboriginal culture. There are a lot of mountain trails in this area, and we often come here to hike, and sometimes to eat afterwards. It was pretty crowded this time, it being New Year's Day:
Following my recent pattern of visiting places where Andrew Zimmern ate, I decided to try my hand (or, should I say, mouth and stomach) at the restaurant Taiya Popo (泰雅婆婆), which sits right on the main drag. It specializes in Aboriginal cuisine.
I ordered two of the dishes that Zimmern ordered: betel palm salad (涼拌檳榔花) and tmmyan (的麼面). The latter, pronounced something like "damamein", is salt-cured pork fermented in jars. It tastes something like prosciutto with sour yogurt. The sourness comes from lactic acid produced by the fermentation of the meat, and the acid "cooks" the meat and kills harmful pathogens.
I didn't order the fried bee dish Zimmern ordered, because it was rather pricy, but when I come with others sometime I will order it then to share. Interestingly, the boss lady noticed what I chose, and asked me if I saw the Travel Channel show. I told her "yes", and she was very happy. She's the one who sat next to Zimmern as he tried the food, and she's every bit as sweet as she appears on the show. She also gave me a free cup of millet wine and wished me a happy new year.
Then I went to the Wulai Atayal Museum, which was worth a visit at NT$50 (aboutUS$1.50).
It has an interesting collection of artfacts, and gives explanations of various customs, beliefs, hunting techniques, cooking methods, and more. One diorama shows a pair of hunters, a father and son, out setting traps. Press a button, and there's a recording of a conversation. The Chinese version makes full use of Atayal accents in the Mandarin dialogue, adding an interesting air of authenticity (even though the dialogue itself is forced). The English version is presented in cheesily inflected American accents.
I remember reading a 19th century ethnography describing Aboriginal knives as being placed in half-sheaths: "The knife is of iron, eighteen inches long, sharp-pointed, and generally crooked, with a one-sided open hardwood sheath." - G. L. Mackay (1896). Well, here is one, just as described:
My main complaint was with the headhunting exhibit, which was peppered with tu quoque defenses of the practice, as if saying, "Well, yeah, sure we practiced headhunting, but who are you to judge us? After all, you Chinese killed people in wars and conquests. So are you really any better than us?" Sigh. Please, just present the facts, and stop trying to make value judgments.
At one point, I overheard the museum staff engaged in a conversation. But the weren't speaking Chinese. They were speaking Atayal!! This is the first time I had ever heard anyone converse in Atayal! Being a language geek, I was overjoyed. I attempted to use my cell phone to record their conversation, but it didn't work out.
The museum then closed (the annoucnements made in Atayal, Mandarin and English), and I went back onto the tourist drag. I saw a vendor selling sausages made of Formosan wild boar (Sus scrofa taivanus). It came in two flavors: plain and maqaw. I asked the guy what maqaw is, and he described it as "Aboriginal mountain pepper." Turns out it's a peppery, lemony spice harvested from the seeds of the native lauracea tree Litsea cubeba. I bought a sausage and it was delicious.
I decided to go back home before too many people started crowding the buses and roads.
