Short Stay at Bunun Village

 Taiwan Tourism  is very much geared towards world standards of eco-tourism and environmental friendly kind of tours. The tour guides are world class and in fact I heard from many that some of them are engineers and even architects who part time as tour guides in order to beef up the very knowledgeable pool of tour guides. Indeed our tour guide has great in depth knowledge of culture and history and geography of Taiwan and his linguistic skill in Chinese is superb. He was politically correct at all times. He would apologise if he thought he said anything untoward even when joking.

The Ti Lun Hotel at Donpo is famous as an Indigenous Bunun owned hotel. It has special programmes for tourists. The whole village is in fact focused on tourism as an industry. You feel that you are warmly welcomed by the whole village which is in fact made up of many winding and hill paths and shops which sell all sorts of natural products from tea to exquisite wood carvings.

The scenery is picturesque and the people very friendly and professional in their industry and outlook. All of them are articulate and very customer oriented. They take great pride in showing tourists what they have and what they sell. Taiwan is in their heart and soul.

There are two churches in this former "farming centre": a Catholic Church and a Protestant Church. It was Sunday morning when we departed for another place so I had an opportunity to sit for a while in this Church. We left punctually at ten in the morning . The church here starts its service at 9:30 .am. The Bunun children are bright and intelligent and will go far in education.

This Plains (Chinese ) people make popiah skin from scratch.

Hilly path.

Bunun Oven

A Bunun woman keeping the paths clean from the winter leaves.

Pretty path

Bunun carving from a tree trunk

Bunun boy performers

Bunun girls doing a dance number for the evening performance in the Ti Lun Hotel.

 There are tours  conducted in English. But it would be difficult to find hotels having English speaking staff unless you book into 5 star hotels.

More information for you : 
Tonpo, a small mountain village adjacent to the Yushan National Park, is well-known for its excellent hot springs. Situated around the Chen-You-Lan Creek, the village enjoys spring-like weather throughout the year. Surrounded by mountains, the climate here is fairly mild in winter and rather cool in summer.
Located at the foot of Yushan and midway between Alishan and Sun Moon Lake, Tilun is surrounded with many natural attractions, such as forests, waterfalls, and cliffs.

Yushan or Mt. Jade, with height of 3,952 meters, is the highest mountain in the Formosa Island and is also the spiritual symbol for the people in this island.
For thousands of years, Bunun aborigines pray for a good harvest with beautiful sound of singing intertwined with the cascading waterfalls amidst the woods. Their mystic and ethereal chords echo and linger among valleys.

Hotel Tilun Donpo Spa
TEL: 886-49-2701616
FAX: 886-49-2701360
NO 86, Lane Kaikao, Tonpo village,
Hsinyi, Nantou, 556, Taiwan, R.O.C.
E-mail:a87297@ms19.hinet.net