Taitung 台東, Chinese for “East Taiwan”, is in the Southeastern corner
of Formosa. Due to its remote location and isolation by mountains from Taiwan's
main population centers, Taitung was the last part of the island to be colonized
by Han Chinese immigrants (late 19th century), and it is still sparsely
populated even today. Thanks to its isolation, Taitung mostly
escaped the urbanization and pollution that have happened in the most of regions
in Taiwan, and remains a pristine nature wonder.
Getting there ...
My brother has arranged this trip and invited us to go to Taitung. We
took the HSR (High Speed Rail, 高鐵 ) from Taipei to Zuoying (Kaohsiung) in the
morning, and transferred to Taiwan Railway (臺鐵) 普悠瑪號 (Puyuma) to Taitung.
The best thing on the Taiwan Rail was the delicious
lunch box which brought back many
good memory in the past. We arrived in Taitung at ~ 2PM and got the rental
to start to explore the countryside of Taitung.
- Luye (鹿野)
We first went to Luye and rented bikes for an easy ride.
We saw many sugar apple trees (釋迦) along the way. It's a perfect day
(cool and no harsh sunlight) and perfect route (flat and no cars) for bike
riding.
Luye Highland (鹿野高台) has a large area of grass land and
is the first place constructed with a fresh image of hot air balloon in Taiwan.
Since 2011, Taiwan International Balloon Fiesta has been annually held here from
late June to early August.
- Chisheng (池上)
we stopped by a small restaurant to have some
traditional Taiwanese
street food (stinky tofu 臭豆腐 and tofu pudding 豆花). It's really
good to have such snack after the activities in the afternoon.
- Sinasera Resort
The main
"point" that my brother planned this trip was to take me to a special
restaurant "Sinasera 24"
for an "unforgettable" meal. Sinasera 24 is a very fancy restaurant to
enjoy a formal French dining experience. It was a "no-menu" dinner.
The chef created
a set of
dishes using exotic wild animals (and their "unusual" parts) such as
snake, peacock, bee chrysalis, ostrich, pheasant, etc. Out of 10+
dishes, I think I could only eat 3 or 4 of them. To be honest, I think
the stinky tofu we had in the afternoon at a street restaurant was much
better :-)
Second Day (12/23) ...
.
- Jingang Boulevard (金剛大道)
Jingang (“King Kong”) Boulevard, accessed by
taking County Road 13, starts just north of the coastal highway’s 85km
marker. The “boulevard” is a minor road situated between the ocean and the
coastal mountains, one of which, Mt. Jingang, is said to resemble the head
of a gorilla (hence the name of the road). Although in recent years this
road has become quite popular on social media, it remains a quiet spot most
of the time. Close to the highest point of the road is most photogenic
1.5km-long straight section which looks like leading to the ocean.
- Sanxiantai (三仙台)
Formerly, Sanxiantai was a narrow and elongated cape
into the ocean. When the neck of the cape was eroded by the tide, the rest
of the cape was disconnected with the land and became an island. It is said
that three gods (三仙), named Li Tieguai, Lu Dongbin and He Xiengu visited
here and left three pairs of footprints. There is also a famous eight-arch
cross-ocean bridge connecting to the island. But unfortunately the
bridge was closed for maintenance when we were there. We spent quite
some time here to enjoy the views, tide pools, and rocky coastline.
- Chenggong Fish Pier (成功漁港)
My brother took me here to show me a
unique mailbox
on the pier. However, when we got to the pier, someone told us that
the mailbox has been removed a few months ago...
- Taitung (台東市)
We went back to Taitung City to have an early dinner,
the famous local rice noodle (米苔目). We walked around the city
center and wandered to the old Taitung train station. We had stayed in
Taitung for a couple of summers before because my father was working here a
long time ago (45 years ago?). The city downtown has totally changed
and I could not match much to my childhood memory.
Going Home ...
It's a short 2-day relaxed trip to a rural part of Taiwan that I have not
come back to visit for such a long time. Thanks to my brother to arrange
this trip and to travel with us (although the Sinasera dinner was too fancy to
me to enjoy :-)). It's nice to see the different side of Taiwan!
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