Island Tour Taoyuan Stop: Visiting the Sky City of the Beiya Tribe
Editor's note: Acheng's green round-the-island trip has reached its seventh stop. His "irregular itinerary" overturns the usual form of traveling around the island: at every place he reaches, he stays, works and helps out for a month. So there is no order, no north or south, and he even revisits places he has already been to. He does not insist on the formality of circling the island, but pursues a felt understanding of life. For his round-the-island itinerary, see here. The seventh stop brings him to the Biya tribe in Taoyuan.
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Round-the-Island Stop 7: Taoyuan (Biya tribe)
It was my first time making bamboo tube rice by hand. This time the tribe received an order: a hotel wanted eight hundred bamboo tube rice. I took part in the making process, and this was also my first experience of wrapping bamboo tube rice. I was very excited, and I took part in the whole process: cutting bamboo, washing bamboo, preparing the glutinous rice. The tribe is a cute little one with about 15 households, mostly uncles and aunties around 40 to 50 years old. Do not underestimate them; you could say they are sharp. In half a day they cut bamboo, washed it and made bamboo tube rice, and harvested moso bamboo shoots. You have to be especially careful with moso bamboo shoots: they must be processed right away, because once they are exposed to the sun they change flavor. We harvested nearly 200 jin. During the process, I saw the tribe's traditional knife sheath, which was very cute. It took only one day for everyone together to prepare all the materials and have them ready.
The remaining follow-up work was peeling the harvested moso bamboo shoots and boiling them first in a boiler. The auntie said: the cooking method is rather special, using firewood burned slowly; with an ordinary gas stove, the flavor is different. I remember that while harvesting moso bamboo shoots, the auntie told me: it is very strange, in the past this piece of land could not grow much, but this year it yielded abundantly, while last year it yielded abundantly and this year it grew only a little. It should be said that plants all have their own character, and we do not need to force them too much. After hearing that, I felt that the power the land gives us is truly wonderful.
Hearing secrets I did not know, I felt it was awful. I heard that in ordinary making processes machines are used, not like in the tribe, step by step and slowly, because to keep bamboo from getting bugs, it is all soaked in chemicals, and this stuff just goes into our mouths. For mass production and rapid growth, is it really good to earn profit this way? We may be slow, but the making process is lively: everyone gathers together, chats and sings. It took us two days to present the finished product completely. This experience is truly happy. I really admire the tribe's unity and strength: everyone is willing to spend time, help together, and finish together. This feeling lets me enjoy being part of it, and I am also very happy to have a hand in this bamboo tube rice activity, and to understand better the benefits of eating healthy food.
Leaving this tribe, travel means learning to say goodbye. The hunter uncle said he wanted to take me as his godson. The beautiful auntie cooked delicious mountain vegetables every day. A tribal auntie said: Acheng, do not go, stay on the mountain and open a grocery store. I laughed. I really like the nature here. Although the life lived is not that of a rich person, it is a simple and plain attitude: what one faces is not complicated civilization, but an attitude of reverence for nature. One idea I learned in the tribe is that you do not necessarily have to eat delicious dishes; mountain vegetables are another kind of enjoyment. I love mountain celery to death. Goodbye!!! Biya, I will come back.