Taitung Travel by Bus

Michella Jade Weng, Presenter:
Hi. We're in Taitung today and we're about to visit a walking tree. But we must stay quiet. Otherwise, it might run away.

But first, we need to pay respect to the resident deities. The man making bamboo cups for the rice liquor that we've brought is Aliman, the director of this "forest museum."

Aliman, Forest Museum Director:
After a ritual like this, we get receive their blessing and the OK to proceed.

Wow!
Amazing huh?
Looks like a dozen or more trees!
One tree.

Aliman, Forest Museum Director:
This is a white bark banyan. But people in our tribe call it "the walking tree." When we're marking land, there's a tree here, a rock there, so we say, "over here this is yours, over there is Aliman's." But after a while, the original tree might be torn apart by typhoons or earthquakes and the center of the tree moves to the left or right.

You can even climb some of these trees. But first let's head further into the forest where Bunung tribesmen used to hunt.

Aliman, Forest Museum Director:
This is where we hunters used to sleep. The forest is our refrigerator, our pantry. Our entire life is related to it. Now everyone's modernized and has forgotten the relationship we have with the forest. So when people come here, they come to learn and we treat them like our friends and we learn together.

Feels like a scene out of "Tomb Raider," doesn't it?

[[music]]

There are lots of places to visit in Taitung, and if you don't want to bother with driving, you can come by train, then make use of the sightseeing bus, which will take you to the walking tree, to Luye and all the other fun places in between.

This guy with the long hair, thick glasses and flipflops is Adu. He is actually one of the best storytellers in Luye. He'll take you cycling and show you how to get up close and personal with the land, literally. He's already convinced more than 200,000 visitors to lie down on this road.

Adu, Luye Storyteller:
Sleep. Go to sleep. Just don't sleep until it's dark. Then the people picking you up will be the paramedics.
Let's look behind us. Doesn't it look like a lake in the sky?

With each travel experience usually comes a pleasant surprise and a new understanding of things. Luye's not the most famous of places, but through silly little activities like lying on the road and looking at things upside down, it's surprsingly lovely. And the people here - I've found them to be part of the reason why I'd like to come again.