Day 24 Rainbow Village (彩虹眷村) and BaGuaShan (八卦山)  to Lukang (鹿港)

This walk was designed to give us a bit more time than usual to relax and enjoy some of the wonderful scenery and historical landmarks along our route at a more leisurely pace. We would begin further inland than usual with a trip to two very popular tourist destinations south of Taichung, Rainbow Village and Baguashan, before walking approximately 20 kilometers southwest to our final destination of Lukang in northwestern Changhua County.

We decided to meet up at the McDonalds in the Taichung HSR station and jumped in a cab for a speedy six-minute ride to our first destination, Rainbow Village in Nantun District, Taichung. On arriving at this popular tourist site, the visitor is greeted by the sight of dozens of brightly painted military bungalows, the walls covered in artistic murals depicting animals, birds and people. The artwork was created by an old soldier, Huang Yung-Fu (黃永阜) who began painting houses in his military settlement to save them from demolition.

Huang, originally from Hong Kong, joined the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) in 1946 to fight in mainland China during the Chinese Civil War. In 1949, he fled to Taiwan with the defeated Chiang Kai-Shek. The settlement in which he was housed became run down and residents were offered compensation to move, but Huang remained. Bored with being the only person left in the village, he began painting a bird inside his home in 2008 and his artwork grew from there. Over two million people have visited the village since Huang began his painting. He died in 2024 at the ripe old age of 101.

After Tim had completed his time-honoured ritual of purchasing fridge magnets from the souvenir vendors, we all bundled into another cab and began a twenty-minute ride to our next destination: Baguashan. Along the way Martyn pointed out the proliferation of Tung trees (油桐樹)in the area, their white blossoms lining the hillsides. The Hakka people, a Han minority group who immigrated from China to Taiwan starting in the mid 17th century, tended to settle in the hilly regions of the island, especially those in the northwest, where we are walking today. They planted a large number of Tung trees for commercial purposes during the Japanese colonial era (1885-1945). The cultivation of the tree was important economically to the Hakka people, as the seeds were instrumental in the production of Tung Oil, which was used to make paint, varnish, caulking and wood finish.

Today, these trees grow wild and bloom profusely during April and May. Their snow white blossoms create an almost Alpine snow scene in the hills and numerous cultural events are held in celebration by the Hakka communities in locations close to the forests.

On arrival at Baguashan we clambered up the path toward the top of the hill to view the magnificent 22-metre-tall Buddha statue which sits in front of the Baguashan Temple. It was interesting to note the windows in the base of the Buddha statue. We ventured inside to see exhibits depicting the life of the Buddha. Martyn was keen to address the elephant in the room – but sadly it did not talk back to him. Walking around the temple I asked Rich and Martyn about their choice of life after reincarnation: Rich chose the life of an expat trailing spouse and even more strangely Martyn chose Vlad the Impaler, as in the 80’s he read an article which described Vlad as “Firm but Fair”!

Leaving the temple area, we wended our way alongside a stream and crossed over a busy main road to walk along Jieshou Road in a southwesterly direction. The weather was hotting up and we took the first of several air-conditioned breaks in an excellent 7-Eleven. We couldn’t help but notice that all the convenience stores we visited in the Changhua area had generous seating spaces for snacking, wonderfully strong air conditioning and very welcome toilet facilities.

We passed the Chienguo Technology University (建國科技大學), where Martyn’s son once played professional basketball for the Formosa Dreamers, and continued along a road which ran beside the Dapu Drainage Channel (大埔截水溝). It wasn’t long before we came across a pile of bricks by the side of the road, which delighted Martyn, who is a keen brick enthusiast. He was quick to point out that Taiwanese bricks are “softer” than British bricks and solid throughout – whereas bricks in the UK have a hollow in them known as a “frog”. It really is amazing how much new and useful information we learn on our walks!

When we crossed Dapu Road (大埔路) we noticed that there was a food tent set up to provide lunch boxes for pilgrims on the Matsu trail from Da Jia. A banner above the tent proclaimed: “We sincerely welcome the advent of Our Lady of Heaven from Zhenlan Temple, Dajia.” The lunchbox station had been organized by a local temple Matsu Association (彰化南瑤宮老二媽會) and the pilgrims were flocking to get their free lunchboxes.

We crossed the main road and carried on walking alongside the drainage channel which was now full of water and looked more like a river. Turning a corner, we were greeted by a massive sign with the word “haemorrhoids” screaming out to all who surveyed it. The Taiwanese have never been shy about selling ointments to those suffering from the dreaded Chalfonts. We spied a large construction site up ahead and were greeted happily by groups of migrant workers heading out toward it. The friendly foreman also took a great interest in us and after some gentle persuasion from Elaine he agreed to let us take a short cut over the construction site to join our route on the other side.

After some skilled google map orientation from Elaine and Martyn we were once again moving in the right direction toward Lukang on the wonderfully named Ma Ming Road (馬鳴路). I mistakenly understood this to mean “horse whinnying sound road” but after some quick research it turns out that Ma Ming is the Chinese name for a Buddhist poet called Aśvaghoṣa. Again, what new and useful information we learn on our walks!

As we plodded on down the very straight Ma Ming Road in the hazy mid-afternoon heat the flow of story-telling reached a zenith. Elaine told us how the pharmaceutical company she worked for was once lent on by pigeon-racing gangsters to ensure a plentiful supply of steroids for their athletic birds. This led to Rich recounting a tale of losing money on pigeon races and another about punting on the horses, whereby he lost a distressingly large amount of money and then won most of it back again on the same horse.

All this story telling had made us thirsty and as luck should have it there appeared on the horizon another vast Family Mart with superb facilities. As we sat in the generous seating area we heard a ferocious roar of an engine. It turned out the garage opposite specialized in tuning luxury sports cars and they were revving up an obscenely expensive McLaren in the back of the premises. Seems like the country folk in Changhua have expensive habits.

We eventually reached the outskirts of Lukang and entered the town through a park. Martyn saw a set of old decaying chairs in the park and was excited. Besides being a keen brick enthusiast, he’s also very enthusiastic about old chairs that have been left outside. We had passed quite a few old, decaying chairs on this walk and each time Martyn could hardly contain his excitement. He took photos.

Lukang rose to prominence as a seaport in the 18th and early 19th centuries (its heyday was from 1785 to 1845). It was the most populous city in central Taiwan until the early 1900s. The city declined after they refused railroad access, but this also resulted in preservation of many old buildings, unlike larger cities in Taiwan, where they were mostly demolished as a part of modernization efforts. We entered the town on one of the main roads that passes through the town – Chungshan Road. We passed dozens of wonderful historical buildings.

As we strolled down Chungshan Road we were treated to shop after shop displaying carved wooden figures and religious ornaments (佛具) for use in temples and Buddhist ceremonies. There were several workshops in which we saw finely carved palanquins (used to carry figures of deities from temple to temple) crafted by skilled artisans. There was one outside a shop in which bulbs of garlic were being dried in the sun.

Our final destination was the magnificent Lukang Mazu Temple  (鹿港天后宮)and it did not disappoint. This spectacular temple was dedicated to the Chinese Goddess Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to sea/ocean. One of the oldest temples in Taiwan, the Mazu Temple (or Tianhou Temple) is sometimes claimed to date back to 1590. It was renovated again in 1927 with most of its present structures completed by 1936.

The area around the temple was buzzing with tourists and local vendors selling all manner of local crafts, souvenirs and delicious snacks. Tim could not resist buying a couple of glove puppets depicting characters from swordplay stories. The monkey puppet would make an appearance over dinner, telling silly jokes.

We settled on having dinner in a Thai restaurant for a change and were lucky to stumble across an excellent one – The Old Royal Thai restaurant (老皇家泰國餐廳). We ordered an array of sumptuous dishes (the chef was quite liberal in his use of chili peppers!) and bottles of Thai beer fueled the jokes and story-telling that accompanied the wonderful Thai feast.

Nicely fed and watered we wandered over the road to the town’s sports park (鹿港鎮運動場) and continued with beer and snacks. Any pretense to eat healthily had now fallen away as sticks of raw carrot had taken a back seat to bars of chocolate and bags of crisps. As usual, we had totally earned it! After an impromptu kung fu display from Tim on the athletics track we bundled into a cab and made our merry way back to the Taichung HSR station. Another fabulous day’s walk!

Total Distance Walked Today 21.4km.

Distance Walked in Total 445km.

End of Day 24. Tim Greenwood (aka DJ Timmy Tim).

Note: In the first map below, we took a taxi from Rainbow Village to the Bhudda Monument and then walked all the way to Lukang. The second map shows our total progress so far. This may be our last walk for a few months due to various overseas trips plus the fact that we’re heading into the unpleasant heat of the summer. Stay tuned – we’ll be back later in the year for more fun in Taiwan.