Lucky 28:

(Photo, couresty of CNA) The rapid increase in the population of Taiwan monkeys (Formosan macaques) in the Tsaishan area of the southern port city of Kaohsiung prompts the city government to hire people to drive them back into the woods.

Kaohsiung City Government has had enough!  The city is calling on the people, any 28 unemployed Taiwanese for a temporary job.  It’s monkey business!  NT$100 per hour or NT$800 for a day’s work for ushering-off the Taiwan monkeys (Formosan macaques).

These funny looking creatures have been pestering residents and tourists, and have even been known to theft!

This temporary assistance for the unemployed is one of among the various projects launched by the Koahsiung City government, in support of the Council of Labour Affairs (CLA) to relieve financial stresses and creating a more pleasant environment for all people.

Protection For You and Me:

The temporary job’s key goal is to assist in safeguarding residents and avoid unwanted confrontations between the people and protected animals, reported an official of the city government.

Roadside trail sign warns local passer-byers

The Formosan [Rock] Macaques (台灣彌猴) are included in the list of endangered species, in need of protection and conversation, Taiwan is as such highlighted with the breed, as is one of the few local species that the island provides.

In the once peaceful Taishan (柴山) area, the creatures enjoy an unusually rapid and high fertility rates, due to improper feeding practices, a habit increased among visitors passing through the area.  As a result, the primates have become overweight and diagnosed with hypertension.

There have been a number of reports on the monkeys having broken into residents’ homes or gardens, in search for food.  Among the reports, they have harassed tourists, who have had refused to offer free food or snacks.

Environment protectionists are pressing the city government to issue stricter rules in banning visitors from feeding wildlife animals.  Currently, there is a circulating fine of NTD $6,000 to violators – however, the rules were rarely enforced.

A family of monkeys are distracted as they scavage over the road for food, endangered by possible oncoming traffic.

The to-be selected “chasers” tasks mainly consist of chasing the monkeys from the open roads and reminding visitors not to feed the wildlife for the period of the next eight months (up to October, 2009).

Residents are willing to comply and even encourage the plan.

In costs, the government is taking from budget NTD $4 million in hopes that the project will change the habit for both sides and that gradually, the animals would then leave the people alone.

Taiwanese:

The Formosan Macaques on Wushan, Taiwan.

The Formosan Macaque (Macaca cyclopis) evolved from the Rhesus Macaque (M. Mulatta) ancestor, upon isolating themselves on the island of Taiwan.  Today, they are restricted to coastal rain forests in the South, and mountainous forests – due to human habitation and encounterment.

The studied population (roughly 790 members) occupies Mt. Longevity, a protected area with tropical lowland rain forest, located within city limits of Koahsiung.  From January 1995, there are 16 troops in monitoring on a regular basis across the general areas, at least three times a week.

>>> The study of the Formosan species, can be acquired through here.  <<

The Endagerment:

The Formosan Rock Macaque (Macaca Cyclopis), under wikipedia, is listed as "LC" (or Least Concern) in the level of Conservation Status.

In 1989, the Wildlife Conservation Law was intact: the survival of the creatures was in jeopardy, according to the reports of the time.

Professor of Biology at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Wang Ying says, “At least 3,000 monkeys a year used to be killed for food and other uses.  For example, people could buy ashtrays made from monkey skulls in night markets.  This tarnished Taiwan’s international image drastically.”

The image of Indiana Jones’ adventures comes to mind…

When the Aboriginals discovered that certain caves were the primates’ habitat, they resolved into capturing them for their meat for lack of other provisions.  Monkey-hunting still exist to this day.

A survey, conducted by the Council of Agriculture (COA) determined the effectiveness of efforts in assisting the rebound of the population as well to gain insight into their mysterious ecological balance and relations between human-and-monkey communities.

"The monkeys pick the reddest fruits to eat, and spit out the seeds. They cannot swallow them because that may cause indigestion," said Liao Ching-tung, a coffee farmer for 30 years who has recently taken up roasting the regurgitated seeds.

According to the council’s estimate, the Formosan Macaque population has increased (from the time recorded) and is at approximately 250,000 grouped in some 10,000 troops.

“The increasing numbers of the Formosan rock monkeys (as they are often referred to) are symbolic of the earnestness of Taiwan’s conservation efforts.  It’s good to see Taiwan’s gradual redemption from its reputation as an animal-unfriendly country,” explains Wang.

The bad news is that the survey reveals the many problems in the complex relationship among humans and the primates as either populations increase.

“Of all the wild animals in Taiwan’s mountain forests, the tenacious Formosan rock monkey has the best learning ability,” says Wang.

According to the professor, the species is believed to hold the intelligence of a 3, or 4-year-old human child as well as complex personality traits.

Mayor of Kaohsiung, Frank [Chang-Ting] Hsieh (謝長廷), however, begs to differ from the Wildlife Conservation, and states that the Formosan macaques are “not endangered.”

Though as it may be, the only monkey species native to Taiwan, is only listed as “vulnerable” in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red Data Book, however the Mayor disagrees: the species is “far from being in danger of extinction in Taiwan.”

Hsieh further states that the “violent macaques” with “a strong tendency to attack mountain hikers” have been thus removed from Mount Longevity and relocated at “the campus of National Ping-Tung University of Science and Technology.”

Fierce Competition:

A visitor enjoying the local scenery of the mountains, is playful with a family of monkeys.

People may have been known to compete to feed the primates and they are more than eager to rush in grabbing the free food, which often results in fights.  The young attack the elder and death rates among the juveniles are at record highs.

Chang Shih-Wei, a research fellow of the Forestry Institute, and member of the Macaque Census team, elaborates on the situation, “… because visitors feed the monkeys, they go crazy when people arrive.  They have lost their previous fear of humans, and this causes people to mistakenly believe that there are monkeys everywhere.”

“When visitors feed monkeys or tease them, some are clawed or chased by playful and naughty monkeys,” Chang continues.

This is in comparison to those in the Fushan region of Yilan County where they enjoy a more peaceful life in the wild, despite spending an average of six hours a day, scavenging for food.  The Fushan region of the species hold a more balanced diet, feeding over 90 various plant species, consuming all things from roots, stems, leaves and shoots to fruits and nuts.

Chang expresses his concerns, however, “… feeding habits may also influence the ecology of the local flora…  The government should go beyond the work of repopulating a few protected species, and should put forward a more comprehensive plan to promote the island’s biodiversity.”

Thankfully, the current plan finally listened and observed the problem, hopefully it will be the answer.  Who will be the lucky 28?

Luodong (羅東) is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan. Its name derives from the Taiwanese aboriginal word Rutung/Lutung, meaning “monkey”. Luodong is famed for its large, beautifully landscaped sports park.

Rachel and I did not plan to visit Luodong during our Taiwan trip last year, but we ended up spending one night and a morning there for less than 18 hours (including around 8 hours of sleep time).

Having one extra day in Taiwan after we have finished our shopping and planned itinerary, Rachel and I somehow decided to visit Luodong to check out it’s famous parks. We consulted an official Yilan tourist brochure printed by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, and selected our accommodation from there – a homestay called 公園海民宿 – this proved to the biggest mistake of our short trip to Luodong.

lousy homestay

We called the homestay before we departed from Taipei. When Rachel asked about the accessibility to the homestay from the nearest train station, the owner assured us he will drive to the station and pick us up if we find it too far. As we were carrying quite a bit of luggage, this was a relief. Imagine how pissed we were when we called the same owner upon reaching Luodong train station and he suggested we take a cab… it’s not about the money, but the attitude.

At Luodong train station

During the car journey, the owner seems to be in rush to dump us in our room and leave us there. When we asked him what are some interesting places we can visit as well as a good place for dinner; he was extremely nonchalant and kept trying to recommend us to dine at two pricey-looking  western restaurants near his homestay (we did not come all the way to Taiwan to eat western food which are very common in Singapore).  He also commented that there’s nothing much to see in Luodong and all the night market in Taiwan are about the same even though there is a famous one in Luodong (utter rubbish as we found out later upon visiting the Luodong night market which serves vastly different food fares from the ones in Taipei).

On hindsight, I believe the owner was trying to convince us to stay in our room and not wander around at night so he won’t have to drive and pick us up again later. He kept reiterating to us that there were free shuttle buses around Luodong and the last bus timing back to his homestay is around 9pm.

To make things worse, we were shocked to discover a pair of dirty underwears in our room wardrobe. There were also no towels provided. When we asked the owner about the latter, he suggested we use tissue papers to wipe ourselves, making no effort to even help or whatsoever.

To cut the long story short, Rachel and I ignored the dubious owner’s ill advices, and chose to venture out. This proves to be the right choice. The Luodong night market was very interesting and we ate a lot of delicious local food that night. Here are some photos to share:

At Luodong night market

Open-air free concert

Close-up of the rockers

Stall selling school uniforms

Pirated Mickey Mouse (or is it Minnie?)

Old, deserted arcade centre

Snow White spotted

Interesting looking building which we didnt get to visit

Some kueh which looks very nice but tastes like crap

Close-up of the kuehs

牛舌饼 - famous Yilan snack

assorted lu wei

排骨鸡

Taiwanese Roti Prata

famous stall with very long queue

Close-up of the sought-after 卜肉

Chicken or duck neck

Octopachi

assorted fried food

Some pork cutlet we ordered

More fried stuff

cheap popsicle

Food hawkers aplenty

Popiah with peanut and ice cream fillings

Close-up of the auntie shaving the cube of peanuts

Note the layer of vegetable beneath the ice cream

Greedy Rachel

other types of popiah

We have to cab back to the homestay as we missed the last bus. Rachel and I were harbouring evil thoughts on whether we should call up the lazy owner and pester him to come and pick us up. After all, it was only ten plus pm and the journey is a short drive of around ten minutes. In the end, we got soft-hearted. We reasoned that maybe the owner was a sick man and could not afford to move around too much. It won’t be nice to bully a sick man.

The next day, Rachel and I visited the famous sports park in Luodong – directly opposite our homestay. As the park is man-made, there’s nothing exceptionally spetacular about it in our view as both of us much prefer natural landscapes. We did not spot any monkeys, but there were many fat squirrels running around. Here are some photos taken at the park:

Fat squirrel 1

Fat squirrel 2

Fat squirrel 3

peaches!

some flowers

some rocks

King Arthur's castle?

Nah... it's the hotel which towers over over puny homestay located behind it

From another angle

Sports park of course got sportsmen!

Someone hit a home run

Tired... and bored

Very tired... and very bored

By noon, both of us were exhausted by the heat and bored by the park’s emptiness. We promptly checked out and took a bus back to the train station to return to Taipei. The lazy owner was not there when we checked out. We can’t find him, so we just left his room keys to a nice lady who apparently rent the lower floor of the homestay to use as an office.

Bye bye Luodong!

All in all, Luodong could have been a much more fun place to visit if we have done better research before going there and perhaps, have more time to spare. It didn’t help that the owner of the homestay was very unhelpful. I won’t say he was rude; rather, it was his indifference that pissed us off. If you are thinking of visiting Luodong, please do not stay at 公園海民宿 – other than the non-existence service, it is not exactly cheap either. We found out that the room rates were more expensive than a budget hotel within walking distance from Luodong train station.

Technorati Tags: Luodong, 羅東, yilan, yilan county, luodong night market, luodong sports park, luodong national park, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, 公園海民宿, green park homestay, lousy homestay, poor travel accomodation in taiwan, luodong train station, kway, 牛舌饼, 卤味, popiah, ice cream popiah, peanut popiah, 排骨酥, taiwanese roti prata, 卜肉, octopachi, fat squirrels

View the large

After I had gotten out of the forested area full of butterflies, I made my way to the higher elevations of the trail. I started on the Caoling Line of the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷步道草嶺線]. This section is 4.5 kilometers [~2.8 miles] and gives some great views of Taiwan’s mountainous northeast coast.

The area is a beautiful grass-covered slopeland. Luckily the weather wasn’t hot when I went. It also gets quite from the wind up there.

View the large

One of the signs stated that because of trampling from cows and people, the soil has become so compacted that long rooted trees cannot grow here. Also, the high winds prevent trees from growing over five feet.

At this point, hikers have the option of taking the 3.5 kilometer [~2 miles] Shihguanyin Trail [石觀音線步道] or the 5 kilometer [~3 miles] Dasi Trail [大溪線步道]:

I chose to take the longer trail.

The trails have distance markers every 0.5 kilometers, so you can be constantly reminded of how much you wish you took the shorter trail.

Before I knew it I was atop this trail’s tallest peak: Mt. Fanshuliao [蕃薯寮山] at 456 meters above sea-level:

I had packed a lot of food for the trail, but I was starving by the time it was over. From the end of the trail to the train station I think I walked the longest distance possible in Taiwan without seeing a single 7-11 or Family Mart. I did however find a small mom and pop store which sold snacks and refreshments.

An abandoned Catholic church:

Dasi Train Station:

These two guys were doing a few renovations to the station. They kept me company during the time spent waiting for the train. In this picture one of them is giving the internationally recognized hand gesture for, “He’s crazy”.

One last pic of the train station. I usually like to take a lot of pictures of old train stations, but I was too tired to this time:

Other posts in this series:

• Creatures of Flight
• Taiwan Water Buffaloes

Like Yangmingshan National Park’s Cingtiangang, the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷] also provides an opportunity to see grazing water buffaloes.

At some parts of the trail there are barricades to prevent the water buffaloes from going to certain areas. The tracks around these barricades show that the cattle always find a way around.

For awhile on the trail I was wondering if I would encounter any water buffaloes blocking the trail. Sure enough that was the case later. I really didn’t know how to proceed at first: Should I just walk slowly and calmly past them? Should I run past them in reckless abandon screaming? Ultimately I chose to walk through the grass to the side of them while maintaining a distance and narrowly dodging dung along the way:

More posts in this series:

• Creatures of Flight
• Views and Dasi

Athyma selenophora laela [單帶蛺蝶]

Yesterday’s hike started much the same way the Caoling Historic Trail hike ended. I left Taipei by train for Yilan County’s Dali [大里]. I started by making my way from the Dali Tian-Gong Temple [大里天公廟] to the area on the Caoling Trail near the Tiger inscription where visitors have the option of turning south along the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷].

Heliophorus ila matsumurae [紅邊黃小灰蝶], female

During the start of the trail I was greeted by the sounds of birds and insects both familiar and unusual. There were plenty of butterflies along the lower altitude areas of the trail where it wasn’t so windy [special thanks to flickr contact Frederic D. for help with identification].

Heliophorus ila matsumurae [紅邊黃小灰蝶], male

Species unknown

I saw a handful of birds along the beginning of the path, but this beautiful Muller’s Barbet was the only one I was fast enough to photograph:

Muller’s Barbet [Megalaima oorti 五色鳥]

The trail I took ended at Dasi Riverside Park. It was there where I saw a squirrel carrying what looked like a piece of bread in his mouth. Out of nowhere a Formosan Blue Magpie came swooping down to take the bread.

Formosan Blue Magpie [Urocissa caerulea 臺灣藍鵲]

A small scuffle ensued between the magpie and the squirrel. I was too busy fishing my camera out of my bag during the fight, but I did get a few pics of the triumphant magpie and the defeated squirrel before one flew away and the other walked away.

A very angry and confused squirrel:

More posts in this series:

• Taiwan Water Buffaloes
  
• Views and Dasi

On Tuesday, I took a train to Fulong Station [福隆車站] to enjoy a walk along the Caoling Trail [草嶺古道]. The Caoling Trail once served as an important link between Danshui and Yilan. The area I hiked is the only surviving section of this historic trail. I learned of this trail from a post by David Reid a while back. I had been determined to go ever since reading about it. Luckily, due to recent events, I don’t have to work on Tuesdays until I move next month, so I have a little extra free time on my hands.

There are a couple of sculptures outside Fulong Station. They were created by the Taipei Railway Workshop of the Taiwan Railway Administration using discarded parts from diesel-electric locomotives. They were installed at Fulong Station when the it was reconstructed in 2005.

Across the street from the station there is a visitor center complete with a few brochures, some displays on the history of the area [Chinese only], and a room of carved driftwood art. Needless to say, I didn’t spend long there. I walked to the nearby 7-11 for some food and water to take on the trip and was on my way.

View the large

The path to the trail has a lot of small farms and nice scenery to enjoy. The weather was cool that day and there was a gentle breeze [which ultimately turned into a much stronger wind at the higher points of the trail].

There were a few butterflies along the lower elevations of the trail. This gorgeous one is the only one that stuck around long enough for me to photograph. A big thanks to one of my Flickr contacts and fellow Nikon-shooter Frederic D., who identified the creature as Symbrenthia hypselis scatinia [姬黃三線蝶].

Before long I made it to Yuanwangkeng Riverside Park [遠望坑親水公園] which is where the real trail begins. At the park I found a restroom and a vending machine, which was wonderful because I was going through my 7-11 purchases a little faster than expected.

Being a weekday, the trail was almost deserted. I only pasted by a dozen people on the whole route.

The trail is made up of cut-stones like those found on most of the popular recreational walking trails around Taiwan.

Also along the trail are a few smaller trails which aren’t marked on the map. I assume the majority lead to the area’s private farms.

“Boldly Quell the Wild Mists” Inscription [雄鎮蠻煙]:

The Northeast Coast National Scenic Area Administration is kind enough to have installed plenty of Chinese and English information plaques along the way…

The four Chinese characters on this tablet were inscribed by Taiwan Regional Commander Liu Ming-deng, who, when traveling to Yilan along the winding stone pavement of the old Danshuei-Lanyang Trail in 1867, encountered stinging rain and thick mist. This made him conscious of the difficulties faced by the brave men and women who opened up this part of Taiwan, and he inscribed “Boldly Quell the Wild Mists” on a huge stone lying on the flank of Caoling Mountain. This is the largest stone inscription in Taiwan.

Tiger Inscription [虎字碑]:

The Northeast Coast National Scenic Area Administration:

When Taiwan Regional Commander Liu Ming-deng arrived at the Caoling Pass during an inspection tour of northern Taiwan in 1867, he was buffeted by such strong wind and thick fog that he could not tell his directions. In accordance with the ancient Chinese saying. “Clouds obey the dragon, winds obey the tiger” he inscribed the Chinese character, “Tiger” to suppress the wind. Legend has it that Liu Ming-deng loved to write the character for tiger, and that his calligraphy indicated differences of gender. The “Tiger” inscription written by him in a Boai Road military compound in Taipei is male, while the “Tiger” on this stone is female.

On the way to Dali [大里], hikers are rewarded with a spectacular view. It is around here that the trail splits, with the option of heading down towards Dali or taking a longer route to Daxi [大溪] via the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷]. I was told by some hikers that the path longer path takes 5 hours. Given that it was already early afternoon, I opted to take the shorter path to Dali.

View the large

The Lu House [Reed House] was once an important stopping place for people making the journey along the Caoling Trail. Its ruins are all that remain:

Walking along the beach on the way to the train station, to the left of this photo is Dali Tian-Gong Temple [大里天公廟]:

And finally, the journey came to an end at Dali Train Station:

Waiting, waiting, and waiting…

Two workers were busy building a wheelchair accessible ramp when I arrived:

Maybe next time I’ll take the hiking path from Dali to Daxi along the Taoyuan Valley… I still have a few Tuesdays left before I move to Nantou…