If you get Smangus on your shoe can you get it off ???? Well fear not Smangus isn't a what. It's a where. And where it is waaaaaaayyyyyy up in the mountains of northern Taiwan. In fact Smangus is actually pronounced Smah-noose in the Atayal aboriginal language (and Si Ma Ku Si in Chinese) and it is a small village east of Hsinchu Taiwan.
I can tell you from personal experience it is quite an adventure to drive
there. While only 60 KMs as the crow flies from our home, it takes almost four hours
to get there by car, with the last hour especially hair raising on a very steep, single lane switchback road with no guard rails where
a wrong move could land you in the valley 500-1000 feet below. Indeed because a
small bus drove off just such a cliff last year killing 13, traffic is now strictly
controlled with designated times to go up or go down. If you're into the macabre, Google Smangus and bus and watch the bus back right off the edge of the road.
According to WIKI TRAVEL...
Smangus is a remote Atayal (one of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan)
village at 1,500 metres altitude in Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County.The village of 23 families is an experiment in communalism. The
system of communal management draws on traditional Atayal culture and
ideas from other sources including the Israeli kibbutz. Before the giant trees in the area became an attraction, Smangus was
completely cut off from the outside world. The fact that it is so far
removed from "civilization" does nothing but promote an air of mystery
about the area and the people who live there, which is why it was once
known as "Black Village". It is now known as "God's Village". The area didn't have electricity
until 1979. Making the community even more
remote is the fact that the only road to the outside world wasn't even
completed until 1995.
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| The view from our hotel room |
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The village has one hotel and a community eating room.. Natalie and Aileen had a great time playing with the local children when we arrived and the kids had just finished school....The kids were our fast friends for the duration of our stay!!
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| Smangus's two room school |
While there may be more beautiful spots, Smangus has its share of spectacular views and hikes through a mix of bamboo, temperate and tropical forest. It has a very untouched feeling which is hard to find in crowded Asia. We took a lengthy 10 KM roundtrip hike to visit the Ju Mu or Big Tree....a part of the forest where huge cypresses revered by the tribe grow.
Today in Smangus, the big crop is peaches which can only grow at high altitudes like this in Taiwan's semi-tropical climate.
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| Half the hike was through bamboo groves like this!! |
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| The Great Tree!!! |
| Aileen had the con on the camera.most of the trip. These are a few of her best shots!!! | | | | | | |  |
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| Si Ma Ku Si |
On the Atayal....
The
Atayal also known as the
Tayal and the
Tayan, are one tribe of
Taiwanese aborigines. (There are 14)
In the year 2000 the Atayal tribe numbered 91,883. This was
approximately 23.1% of Taiwan's total indigenous population in Taiwan, making them
the second-largest tribal group Evidence now suggests that they are the descendants of those who crossed
over the Taiwan Strait almost 7,000 years ago from regions that are now
inside southern
China, northern
Laos or
Vietnam. The Atayal are known as great warriors, as observed in the case of the
Wushe Incident in which the Atayal fought the
Japanese . In the pre-Japanese era, to earn his facial tattoo, an Atayal man had to bring back at least
one human head. These heads, or skulls, were highly honored, given food
and drink, and expected to bring good harvests to the fields
