1/28/2012

Bogavilla Trail, Mindoro


We decided to leave the beach for a few moments on our last trip to the Philippines. Our destination: the Bogavilla Trail, Aninuan on the island of Mindora. From our hotel, it was a 20-minute walk. 


Along the way, we picked up Mila. I'm guessing now she'd been following us since we left the hotel. She told us she wanted to be our guide. We didn't need a guide, as the way was clearly marked, but I asked her what the going rates were. She said: "How much will you pay?"

"100 pesos?" I answered. She rolled her eyes, so I doubled the rate and she was on board.


Along the way, we came to Lucy's Bridge. Historical and beautiful, it was the only bridge over the stream running adjacent the Bogavilla Trail. We soon learned to appreciate it, as we were required to cross the stream at least a dozen times. I was wearing flip-flops, not the wisest decision for a two-hour hike. Mila fished them out of the stream on more than one occasion. 


Mila also bundled my child over the water several times. She's brought 11 offspring into this world, so it was second nature to her. She easily earned the 200 pesos we paid her, plus the tip.


Housing along the Bogavilla Trail. Life is pleasant in paradise.


Bogavilla Road, before becoming a trail: I've talked to other Western friends and we're roundly impressed by the upkeep of neighborhoods in the Philippines. Coming from Taiwan, I find this pride striking to say the least. Just to clarify, I was diving into my travel guide the first time I arrived in Taiwan as I had been educated to view Taiwan as a prosperous country. Looking at the surroundings coming in from the airport in Taoyuan my very first time, I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't understand how rich people could live in such dilapidated buildings or let the landscape fall to such disrepair. When I asked the locals what was going on, the typical answer was as follows: we're going to retake the mainland - there's no need to waste our time or money on Taiwan. More recently, I've been told there's a concept that the home is a castle and anything outside it sucks. In all fairness, Taiwanese people are shaking the dust off this legacy and starting to reclaim their heritage, see lots of restoration of historical sites, park construction and what have you.


Fork in the path along the Bogavilla Trail.


A home and possibly business along the Bogavilla Trail in Mindoro, Philippines.


Here we are at the head of the Bogavilla Trail once again, at the Lucky Store.

There is a connection between Taiwan (and China) and Mindoro. Mindoro, the first major island due south of Luzon, has been on the Chinese compass since the 9th century. This is when trading between people of southern China and this island entered the books. There is museum in Puerto Galera, the major town on the northern part of the island, with vases from China dating back five centuries: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick_cowsill/6709732175/ 

On a more personal note, my grandfather was stationed in Mindoro during the Second World War. This is his record:

On June 8 [1945] we flew to Biak again, from Biak to Moratai, from Moratai to Zamboanga, from Zamboanga to Tacloban, and from Taclaban to Mindoro in the Philippines, about 200 miles SW from Manila. This was to be our permanent base for a while. We arrived at the beginning of the rainy season, and for the next couple of months, the rain fell in torrents. Our first tent had no floors, and the ground was usually muddy and [wet]. Everyone was trying hard to find some wood to make floors, but lumber just doesn't exist on that island. However, a couple of weeks later, another crew shipped out and we got their tent, and it had floors in it much to our satisfaction.

Our crew was assigned to the Jolly Rogers outfit, of the Fifth Airforce. Being assigned to the Jolly Rogers was considered a break. This outfit was well-known as it had done some spectacular flying. On June 20 we were formally initiated to the group. We stood around our plane, with skull and crossbones, the Jolly Rogers symbol, hung around our necks, while a colonel administered the oath. The oath was to the effect that we promised to fly every fourth day and lay in the sack at all other times. Anything for a little joke!

When we weren't flying, we could do just about as we wanted. There was a small town about 15 miles away, consisting of approximately 25 houses. This town also boasted a big sugar factory, which had been out of operation for some time, a small railroad and about four engines, a school-house, a jail, and a justice of the peace. Every thing was very primitive, and since there was less to do in town than at the field, I seldom left the field.

My grandpa did leave the field on missions though. I'm pretty sure that since he wrote this in late June, 1945, when he hit the Gang Shan (岡山) Airport in southern Taiwan on July 9, 1945, he did so from Mindoro, Philippines.

To get to the Bogavilla Trail, grab a tricycle at White Beach and head west along the main road. You're looking at about 20 minutes and 50 pesos.

Hot Pot


I grabbed this film on my iPhone. With hot pot, you have to cook your own food. You're given a pot with a broth, in this case it was two in a divided pot (mild and spicy); then you are required to boil the ingredients yourself; my daughter was focusing on clams, shrimp and beef.

A lot of people say the best part is the dipping sauce. The key component is sand tea sauce (沙茶醬). Both my wife and I use it. My sauce is usually jazzed up with vinegar, cilantro, chives and fresh onion. My wife hates vinegar. She goes for chilis, chives, fresh onion and garlic. Taiwanese people normally opt for hot pot dinners in the winter. They say it warms the bones. 

1/06/2012

Fishing in Taiwan

This is a video my friend at Taiwan Angler http://www.taiwanangler.com/ put together last summer. He hasn't posted for a month and a half, but it's the cold season in Taiwan:

1/01/2012

The Bridges of Banka

The Hsin Tien (新店) River in Wanhua during the 1800s

I was digging around in the British Consular reports for information on Li Chunshung (李春生), the 19th century (1838-1924) Taiwanese comprador who worked with John Dodd to export oolong tea out of, I think, Danshui. Together, they put Formosan tea on the map. I haven't come up with much, but I did stumble across this 1881 account of Banka, the  Shapichu (Shapaochu) aboriginal word meaning "place where canoes meet," from which Monga (Wanhua 萬華) gets its name. I call my blog "Wanhua Taiwan" so I want to throw it up. The following was submitted by Thomas Watters, the British Consul in Danshui at the time:

Sir,

I have the honour to submit an Intelligence Report for the period from August 6th up to this date [November 9, 1881].

1. Political Summary. On the 12th September the Governor of Fuhkien, the well known Chen Yu-ying arrived at Kelung on a tour of inspection. It seems that by an Imperial decree the coast defenses of this island have been put under his sole control. Before crossing over he sent three officials on ahead to herald his arrival and collect information...

One of the first acts of the Governor was to inspect the Kelung Fort. This he condemned as worse than useless, and he gave orders for the immediate construction of certain outworks for the fort. He did not visit the Government Coal mine, but it is supposed that one of his subordinates went to it in disguise and made numerous inquires. From Kelung the Governor went to Banka [Monga AKA Wanhua] where, it is said he made strict investigation [used as a non-count noun, I guess] into the state of public business in each yamen. On the 15th he visited this place [Danshui], and minutely inspected the now-abandoned Camp behind the Consulate and the site for the proposed new fort. This fort is to be built on the north bank and near the mouth of the [Danshui] river... From Banka he went to Hsin-chu where he beheaded one man and from that he went to Changhua where he beheaded another...

While at Banka the Governor gave orders for the erection of a bridge over the Ya-chia [大甲溪] river. This is said to be an enormous undertaking. The Ya-chia river runs into the sea about 30 miles, I am told, south of Tamsui, at the place where Hsin-chu Hsien borders on Chuan-hua Hsien. During the rainy season it is a vast torrent rushing with irresistible force and carrying with it large quantities of earth and stone. All the Hsien in the North of the island are to contribute men and money and the Governor assigned three months as the limit within which the bridge is to be constructed. But he afterwards extended the limit when he found what difficulties were in the way of the undertaking. The construction of the bridge will cost the people an immense amount of money, and those who know the nature of the river say that the bridge cannot last long. The Governor has given orders to have the bed of the torrent deepened and stone embankments made.

The report veers off now:

The relations between the Chinese and aborigines have been very bad lately. The savages are much exasperated at the inroads which are made on their territory by Chinese woodcutters. Some of these latter were last week engaged in felling a tree when savages attacked them and killed two. This occurred within two days' journey from Tamsui.

An English engineer named Malsch is at present engaged in making experiments at the Petroleum wells in the interior. He is employed, I believe, by the Chinese Merchants Co., but I have not heard whether his operations have been successful. The savages in the neighbourhood of the wells are said to be in almost open warfare with the Chinese...

Watters comes back to Banka at the end, under the heading of General:

On the morning of the 25th September [1881] we had a very sharp shock from an earthquake which lasted a few seconds. It caused much damage among the Chinese houses at Banka, but it only shook the foreign houses. It is said to have been the greatest earthquake experienced here since 1864.

*****

There are loose ends here. First off, was the bridge over the Ya-chia River (大甲溪) ever built? "But he afterwards extended the limit." I'm not aware of any bridges spanning Banka's waterways until the Japanese era. As far as I know, the first was Firefly Bridge (螢橋) http://ow.ly/8f1CE, which went up in the early 20th century, so I'm guessing a few more limits were extended and then he quietly stopped with the extensions.  Although many great public works were imagined at the end of the 19th century, nothing really got built or established until the Japanese took over in 1895. The Ching (清朝) was not only incompetent but also despised by the locals (aborigines and Chinese alike). Neither group wanted to assist the mandarins and the planners they occasionally brought in. They just wanted them to go away. Watters touches on the mood with the murders of the woodcutters and resistance to the petroleum wells.

Were any of the rivers or harbors dredged by the Ching? Again, I know this was a point of focus during the Japanese era. The Ching however let the harbor in Tainan silt up. That's one of the reasons the capital was shifted north toward the end of the 1880s. Ships and boats could no longer navigate the southern port. I've never heard about any important pre-Japanese dredge projects up north either. Banka (Wanhua 萬華), once the third most important dock in Taiwan, fell out of favor in the 19th century because it became so silted vessels could not move up the Danshui River to its shores. When the Sino-French War broke out in 1884, the Ching actually dumped junk in the mouth to impede warships. 

I don't mean to completely rag on the Ching. It seems this fellow Chen Yu-ying had some progressive ideas when he wasn't lopping off heads. The resources, will and vision simply could not at the end of the day been there because the poor fellow was in the employ of the Ching Dynasty (清朝), recognized as a laughingstock by this time in every manner and way.


Report in the easily recognizable hand of British Consul
 Thomas Watters

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