In an era when subway systems and bike-share schemes are all the rage, buses keep plugging along in their own low-key, unpretentious manner. While high-speed and even traditional trains may get you to your destination faster, buses feature the densest network of routes, reaching almost every settlement in Taiwan. 

Once representing the very lifeblood of Taiwan’s economic development, buses are so ubiquitous as to be easily overlooked. So let us reflect upon how each bus is a repository of humanity and human sentiment as they journey to their far-flung destinations, allowing travelers to enjoy the scenery at an agreeable speed.

 

 

Like a transformer, the mobile library extends its “wings” at a schoolyard, offering children a chance to approach books and escape into the world of reading.

Lishan Junior High and Elementary School in Taichung’s Heping District is in a remote area where cultural resources are meager by the standards of more urban districts.

Once a month, the mobile library of the Shi­gang branch of the Tai­chung City Library takes a trip along the Central Cross-Island Highway to reach Li­shan Junior High and Elementary School and Ping­deng Elementary School.

As soon as the vehicle stops, children rush forward to surround the it. Like a transformer growing wings, it becomes a little library. “This is the moment that the kids wait for,” says Shi­gang branch librarian Liu Yu­ying.

Bringing the world to the village

The rural town of Li­shan in Tai­chung’s He­ping District sits at an altitude of 2000 meters. After the 921 Earthquake of 1999, the Central Cross-Island Highway was hit by landslides in the Gu­guan‡Deji section, cutting off Li­shan residents from the most convenient way to the city. To connect to the outside world, they were forced to go north toward Yi­lan on Provincial Highway 7A, go east toward Hua­lien on the eastern part of the Central Cross-­Island Highway, or go south through Wu­she and Puli on PH 14A. It wasn’t until emergency repairs to the Central Cross-Island Highway were completed in 2012 that the most direct route was reopened, for limited local traffic only.

That was also the year that the mobile library began regularly making the trip to Li­shan. In this remote, mountainous area, the children lack cultural stimulation. Consequently, the library took the initiative to put its resources into these children’s hands, in the hope of opening new educational windows onto the world.

The driver of the mobile library is 28-year-old Xiao Yi­ting. She adeptly steers the 3.5-metric-ton manual­-transmission vehicle on its 102-kilometer, three-hour journey through the mountains to Li­­shan, and on its return trip to Shi­gang. With a faint smile, she says she’s gotten used to the route’s challenges. But once, when heavy rains forced the closure of the cross-island highway, she was forced to take the detour northward via Yilan and the freeway, turning the return journey into an eight-hour trip.

It’s a long way, to be sure, but it’s worth the effort. Xie Shu­yun, the principal of Li­shan Junior High and Elementary School, notes: “For the children, it increases their channels of engagement with the outside world.” Director of curriculum Jian Wan­ting explains that extracurricular educational resources are hard to come by in Li­shan, so the children see the mobile library as something new and exciting, and it increases their willingness to approach books. That’s the biggest benefit of the mobile library.

For several years, local children have grown accustomed to visiting the mobile library every month. Liu Yu­ying observes that frequent borrowers share their experiences with classmates. When children are the ones communicating their enthusiasm for books, the results are much better.

Since the mobile library’s coming is something of a treat, students can often be seen gathering together on campus on the designated day of the month to peruse its offerings. Thus, the sight of children sharing their impressions of books has become a regular scene along this highway.

 

Fengyuan Bus Transportation’s route No. 6506 ascends to the highest elevation of any highway in Taiwan.

Yu Jiade regularly takes stacks of newspaper up to the residents of the mountains. His chats with Xu Xiuling of the Qingshan tea house are a daily occurrence.

Children’s endearing playfulness brings joy to Yu Jiade’s workday.

Warm service up and down the mountain

There is another route connecting Li­shan to Tai­chung—through Da­yu­ling and Wuling along PH 14A and through Puli. The small Feng­yuan Bus No. 6506 goes that way.

From Feng­yuan, 6506 passes through Shi­gang, Dong­shi and Puli, and then on up via Wu­ling and Song Syue Lodge, before reaching Da­yu­ling and finally arriving in Li­shan. The entire route stretches 175 kilometers. The bus departs from Feng­yuan Bus Station at 9:10 a.m., only reaching its destination of Li­shan at about 3 p.m.

The 6506 route currently has three drivers, including Yu ­Jiade, who has been navigating it for 16 years. He recalls that when the route first went into operation in 2000, its three scheduled runs per day were almost always full. Since the Central Cross-Island Highway partially reopened, its passengers have dwindled and now are mostly local seniors. The service now runs only once a day.

Each time he drives the bus up into the mountains, Yu first stops briefly at the Qing­shan tea shop along the Puli‡Wu­she highway, where he picks up a stack of newspapers so that mountain residents can have an opportunity to read “today’s news.” (If sent by mail, the papers will be received a day after publication.) So long as he’s capable, he’s amenable to helping out as much as he can. Xu Qiu­ling, Qing­shan’s owner, says, “The drivers’ relationship with residents along the route transcends the typical passenger‡driver relationship. When the weather is bad, the drivers do what they can to bring needed supplies up the mountain.” With his crow’s-feet wrinkles deepening as he laughs, Yu is visibly embarrassed upon hearing Xu’s praise. Yet the truth is that drivers have long been considerately carrying goods and people up and down the mountains without any fanfare.

From Feng­yuan, at an altitude of 200 meters, the bus climbs to the highest elevation of any Taiwan highway in Wu­ling (3275 meters). With a difference of more than 3000 meters in elevation on the route, along with unpredictable weather in the mountains, Yu has experienced the inconvenience of being trapped in the mountains when conditions suddenly change. Nevertheless, Yu hasn’t wanted to swap routes. Mother nature rewards him with four seasons of beautiful scenery: spring cherry blossoms, verdant summers, autumn maples, and winter snows, as well as an occasional “sea of clouds.” These scenes have left indelible impressions on his memory.

Yu is very familiar with the winding mountain roads, and his driving technique makes them seem as smooth as silk. The roads are narrow, and buses and trucks that ply these routes are typically equipped with CB radios, so they can relay information about current road conditions and avoid meeting each other at pinch points. The radios are a driver’s small joy. The voices filling the airwaves can’t help but bring smiles to people’s faces.

On the small bus, everyone has their own life story to relate. They take to chatting easily even when they aren’t at first familiar with each other. One old couple on their first visit to Taiwan, who came all the way from Bei­jing, boarded at Puli. They are visiting their uncle in Li­shan, who came with the Nationalist government when it decamped for Taiwan in 1949. The 6506 bus ride is the last leg of their long journey.

After resting for a bit in Li­shan, at 5:00 p.m. Yu swaps out the 6506 sign for No. 6508 (Li­shan to Wu­ling Farm) and goes to Li­shan Junior High and Elementary School to pick up students, who are out of school for the day. The bus fills at once with life and laughter. Yu says he enjoys the innocence of children. He’s been transporting these kids for nine years. Along the way, the bus stops and the children swarm outside to a general store, where they purchase snacks for the rest of the journey. The sight of the children satisfied and laughing is another scenic image captured along the highway.

 

As Li Xiang plies the local lanes and alleys day after day, he regularly experiences serendipitous encounters.

Combining his work with photography, Li Xiang captures poignant moments in his journeys as a mailman. (courtesy of Route Culture Co., Ltd.)

Li Xiang, who has become part of the fabric of local life, waves to an old lady on a bicycle.

Memorable back-alley scenes

Performing their duties no matter the weather, mail carriers are also regulars on Taiwan’s highways.

Li ­Xiang works out of Tai­nan’s Shan­hua Post Office. Everyone calls him Chai­chai (“Postie”), and he’s been working as a postman for 12 years now. Wearing a helmet, he drives one of those iconic green post-office motorcycles. He handles about 40 kilos of mails per day over a route of more than 50 km. For the first nine years of working at the post office, he was very systematic in his approach, working quickly to get off work as soon as possible. But over the last three years, he’s been going out with a camera, taking photos regularly and posting them at “Chai­chai’s Work Journal” on Instagram. Netizens originally from the area enjoy seeing photos that capture images of their old homes or stomping grounds.

Tagging along with Li ­Xiang one day provides a demonstration of just how tight a mail carrier’s schedule is. There’s virtually no time to plan or compose photos. Yet Li says: “By opening up my own senses, I have a catalog of images that I’ve seen for myself floating in my mind. Consequently, when taking photos, I just let my intuition set up the shot.” Whenever he enters a lane or alley, he snaps some pictures guided by his memories: “Every alley has something outstanding to encounter.” Whether it’s an elegant old house or a dog (that “enemy of postmen”), Li engages with them on a daily basis.

And it’s not just the quaint, retro scenery. Those old husbands and wives waiting by their doors for Li to deliver their letters shape the landscape of human sentiments that Li experiences every day. Li takes the initiative to say hello to the seniors, and they chat about events of the day. By delivering their mail year after year, he has become a part of their lives, and they a part of his. The photos he frequently takes of them all have stories behind them.

What do these streets that Li passes on his daily journeys mean to him? “They represent an essential part of my existence.” The image of Li delivering mail has become one of the highway scenes embedded in our own memories.

Highways are like lines of fate linking people who would otherwise lack any connection. The act of traveling together down the same stretch of asphalt becomes a beautiful memory to share. Li likes to say of his photo­graphs: “By accident, the focus always gets placed somewhere unexpected.” Journeys on highways are like that too.