草山知性之旅

草山知性之旅

台電近百年招待所→陳誠副總統行館(台電俱樂部)→52號(俞國華行館)→草山行館→行館週邊日式建築→大楓香→小隱潭(蔣宋美齡)→楓香道 →紀念碑→王陽明銅像→楓香&櫻花→羽衣園→辛亥光復樓

活動聯絡人：李秋霞 0932-923-070

湖山社區生活地圖

　 　草山，臺北的後花園，為臺灣旅遊聖地。草山人於農事外，不是在停車場的大遊覽車間穿梭叫賣，就是擺攤嘶喊「茶葉蛋、燒酒螺，汽水苛拉米魯！」。合歡山下雪，也能立即迅速爬上合歡山賣燒仙草薑湯。許多嫁到陽明山的媳婦，經過數個花季的操練，更是強悍俐落。這數十年來，不知多少遊客在草山拍下了出遊照片，或 曾買了草山的紀念品，甚至覺得山上的地瓜湯，特別甜美辛辣，特別燙口。遊客們買走了紀念品，或許不知草山媽媽們一早帶著學齡前的孩子耕種地瓜野菜，入夜後 趕著製作紀念品，準備隔日擺攤的生熟食。

曾幾何時，書局便利商店陳列架上，陽明山泡湯賞花指南的書如雨後春筍般出版，甚至擺設於比暢銷書更顯眼的位置。隨意在搜尋引擎鍵入「草山」二字，更是不及瀏覽的相關網頁，再深入查詢，許多學術人士早已積極研究著陽明山，才驚覺草山不只是故鄉，更是臺灣重要的資源與場域。

「草山」，現在被稱為「陽明山」，可以說是臺北人的後花園。但日日生活在其中的人，對這塊土地又有多少的情感與理解呢？這一代的孩子，又對這塊土地擁有多少的 情感呢？因此草山溫泉社區發展協會結合在地的湖山國小，在北投文化基金會的協助下，期盼建置湖山社區生活地圖，讓更多人重新認識陽明山，不僅滿足知性知 識，更增添情感的記憶，也讓草山不只是旅遊導覽中的一個熱門區域。

草山耆老們是真真切切地經歷過草山景物人文之變遷，後代子孫或接續耆老的謀生方式，或遷移下山，但耆老們的回憶與被延續的生活型態就是人情部份，而這些部份 正隨著時間安靜地消失，安靜地令人措手不及。因此透過湖山里生活地圖的建置，我們希望可以為他們留下重要的口述歷史與記憶，並建置湖山社區生活地圖。

A trip to Yangmingshan National Park

March 16, 2009
Taipei, Taiwan A trip to Yangmingshan National Park
(to see all the full size photos of Yangmingshan Park trip click here to go to my Flickr set)

I describe Taiwan to American friends as a place the size of New Jersey, with the population of Canada, divided into a about a dozen ethnic groups (depends on who's counting), speaking about the same number of languages (or more). Did I mention about 80% of the island is uninhabitable because of steep mountains and jungle?

Yangminshan National Park is more like the majority of Taiwan's terrain than the crowded cities along the western coastal plain. The forest cloaked mountains rising above the city to the north, was once the cool, scenic preserve of the elite. Now, with the island's political and economic development, the park is open to the public. City buses (the #260) run to it and, in fact, the National Park is part of the city.

But you would never know it.

The park is actually larger in land area than Taipei proper. Like American national parks, roads and small towns dot the interior. Camp grounds, nature study sites, trails laid out to see butterflys (best hiked in May and June) and trails to see the cherry blossoms and azaleas (best hiked now), areas of interest to geologists, and areas of interest to people just going out for the views, areas of interest for artists, and for those just looking to relax in some of the many hot springs doting the old volcanos.

A friend attending a business meeting at the park offices in Yangmingshan took me along several hours before the meeting to a local restaurant with a fantastic view of one of the valleys and, incidentally, one of Generalissimo Chang Kai Shek's villas.