Taiwan

Liugui Township in Kaohsiung county, Southern Taiwan

In Kaohsiung county due to recent typhoons and landslides, traveling is quite limited, many roads are still destroyed, and many people in Taiwan avoid those areas now. However, for me, in love with southern Taiwan, it's hard to resist not to go over those mountain roads again. This time I want to show a bit of small mountain city called Liugui Township (六龜鄉) - it's no information in internet at all about it, and I want to fill this gap. Living here is really dangerous, as the risk of landslides are high, and the discussion whether people should go away from here still remains harsh in Taiwan. Now, in winter, when typhoon season is over, all here looks calm and silent, however, reminders of harsh summer typhoons and landslides are seen everywhere:

You can just imagine the power of raging river and what was happening here just a few month ago.
Mountains all around here looks somewhat like this:

 

 

All of them now have such a yellow sand sides, can see where the landslides were, and many of them lost their beautiful green trees cover, and now look like old, bald men standing lonely there.

Such a houses like the one above are at the highest risk to be washed away at next flood and typhoon. And there any many of them, and people prefer stay - would you like to move away from your own home?

Road goes up and up bringing us more to the middle of Kaohsiung county.

If you do not concentrate on the typhoon and landslides, views in Southern Taiwan is as breathtaking as usually.

It's fresh, just rebuilt road - and I hope this time it won't be damaged again so soon.

Luigui (Six Turtles) township itself if calm, rural southern Taiwan township with it's own 7ELEVEN, school, police and all other facilities you will find in any place in Taiwan.

Shops try survive here mostly hoping on passing traffic up to the mountains - to Baolai hotspring area. 

 

One of the most amazing things in Taiwan is the people - they live everywhere - you could drive the smallest road in most remote are - and still, you will find people sitting like this, and socializing. 

Luigui School - another thing I like in Taiwan - no matter how small is the township - school will be big enough and good building. Education is important.

Taiwan people like to do business - no matter, where and what - but you will always find someone selling something in most unexpected places.

 

If you really happen one day to be in Luigui - stop by to eat in this restaurant - it's common in Taiwan that not bright at all walls does not means that food is terrific and tasty. Local drink stand suggested us to try this, and it was really a good place.

It's as usually a family owned restaurant as most of such places in small cities in Taiwan.

Feeling of real Taiwan - it's how most of small family owned restaurants in rural areas look like.

 

Green vegetable is always present dish

炒麵 - fried noodles

蛤仔湯 - Clam soup

Nuts, pork and garlic offers really special flavor - very delicious

烤鮭魚 - Grilled salmon

In case you need directions:
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Chi-tou scenic area near Lugu township, in Nantou County

For Taichungers, good place for a fast escape from a noisy city is Chi-Tou scenic area, near Lugu (鹿谷鄉), which belongs to Nantou county. It is one of seven National Taiwan University's experimental forests, and are built mostly by students hands. It's all about walking over mountain trails like this:

If you like the feeling, then it's your's. Of course, as it is with all such locations in Taiwan, it is better to come weekdays, otherwise, those trails will be overcrowded same as in city, and place will lose it's beauty. So, as official government website for area says:

The air is fresh, and there are no undesired noises. Visitors can enjoy a leisurely and carefree walk in the quiet, secluded forest, experiencing the tranquil, dark green, natural environment.  

...it will be truth weekdays only, IMHO. Anyway, we were visiting the place Monday, mostly 老人家 (as I call them), from Mainland China were sneaking over the trails. As you might imagine, travelers from Mainland China differs from local 老人 mostly by noise created - they are much louder.

Taiwan fir, China fir, red cypress - those are everywhere, but for me personally, I like this feeling of bamboo jungle:

Different areas of the forest are connected by wooden or concrete footpaths and bridges:

During the winter, water in those small rivers almost disappears. 

Time after time you can take a rest at such shelters. You will want, especially, if your interests in your facebook profile does not mentions "hiking". 

Those trees were planted here in 1950's, and according to the signs, they were testing a distances - will it be OK, if distance between trees are that short? Well, for me they look pretty well, so experiment should be successful. 

Once you spend some time in Taiwan, you'll quickly become familiar with a local phenomena I call "blue small trucks". Their exceptionally outrageous driving and almost 100 % presence over the island are proven also here in Chi-Tou.  

Some of the trails are covered by wooden chippings, they smell great, walking through them is really a pleasure - add the fresh mountain air, and you will get the picture.

Another "important" point for the area is university bridge and pond. 

The bamboo-arched bridge crosses over the blue waters of the pond.



There is a restaurant as well, however, I suggest a more special one, just down the road in Lugu - will
be introduced below.



You can't lost here, as signs are everywhere, you can grab a map at the entrance of the area. Eating is important. Right? So, I suggest this restaurant down the road - you will see the signs everywhere on a road:

As you can see they say 30年老店 - 30 nian lao dian, it's 30 years old.



This corner seat offers best view, but it's quite hot there, especially at summer.



You can choose to sit inside...



Or outside. Note the table on the right - that's a coffee - restaurant owner growths his own coffee. Below are some of the dishes you can get here:



Fish soup and bamboo...



Another fish dish



MuEr (木耳） - this restaurant kindly offered it as bonus. Taste is really like a sashimi!



Egg cake

 

View Larger Map That's where the LuGu and Chi-Tou are - for those seeking locations.

Yehliu Geopark in Nothern Taiwan - hoodoo stones and Belorussian ladies in swimsuits

Yehliu (野柳) is a cape on the north coast of Taiwan in the town of Wanli between Taipei and Keelung.
View Larger Map It's another yet choice for a visit, while you are in northern Taiwan. Most interesting here of course is so called hoodoo stones - all of them are formed by nature, and as a brand, or if you want - front symbol of this park is a stone called The Queen's Head (女王頭). It's a central element of the park, and if you come at weekend, you will need stand in a row (!) just to take a picture of it.



But let's start with "A" (Sesame street comes in mind, with cookie monster and others). Here is how the area looms looks like when you arrive:



Left side then is an entrance to stone park, and the blue building is a place where some guys (I was told that they are from Belorussia), performs some water show elements, dolphin shows take place and downstairs there is a live sea world exposition. Well, and of course there is a lot of restaurant's for sea food. Eating is important in Taiwan, remember it.





As you can see mostly all are restaurants.



My suggestion is to visit this one.



Host will quickly come to accept your order, but will not like to take a pictures. As I already said in post about rules for choosing a places to eat in Taiwan, do not look at interior of restaurants in Taiwan - never. Quality of food does not relates to that at all. Instead, look at how many people are inside.



Start with a appetizers. (do you want beer already?)





Sashimi (how to spell it correct?) is especially fresh and tasty here. It's reall a one you can say - you can swallow your tongue while eating it.



Also fresh shrimps





Kind of fish soup, I can't name it, but also have tofu inside



Octopus



Lobster



shi ban yu fish (石斑魚)

Now, once you are full (tzi ba la - remember say it in chinese), you can move forward to sea underground sea world and Belorussian ladies in swimsuits.



Of course admission is paid. Here's a price list. Synchronized Swimming Show is a ladies about I told before.

Show will start with a guy's climbing up the pole to perform a jump in the water





Taiwan flag vs Russian jumper

Later on, the swimsuits show:





... and then dolphins finally









...after the show, you can go downstairs to see all the live sea world. There are English annotations for each fish, so it can be interesting experience.

Catfish, lives in Nile river in Africa.







Dragon King Scorpionfish. Body color can be changed according circumstances.











Now, you are really ready to go to see stones



If you come here at weekend, you will not have a chance to make stones photos only. Humans on them will come in set.



The cape, known by geologists as the Yehliu Promontory, forms part of the Taliao Miocene Formation. It stretches approximately 1,700 meters into the ocean and was formed as geological forces pushed Datun Mountain (大屯山) out of the sea



A distinctive feature of the cape is the hoodoo stones that dot its surface.



These shapes can be viewed at the Yeliu Geopark operated by the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration.



Shame on me, but I was so busy to try make this monument along with sunset, that I forgot to check who's monument it is :(.



A number of rock formations have been given imaginative names based on their shapes.



The most well-known is the "The Queen's Head" (女王頭), an iconic image in Taiwan and an unofficial emblem for the town of Wanli.



Other formations include "The Fairy Shoe", "The Bee Hive", "The Ginger Rocks" and "The Sea Candles."





Evening mood in Yehliu - soon it's going to be dark already.

Jioufen - mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, Taiwan.

For those, who live in Taipei, or Taoyuen, and not yet visited this place - try to get there once you have a time. Besides night market (of course, what else), there is pure charm of those Japanese era architectures and houses.

Jioufen was only an isolated village until 1893, when gold was discovered in the area. The resulting gold rush hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule.

Tell me fast, what's annoying there? Yes, 7ELEVEN sign. Just same annoying as in Fenchihu train station old town (also featured in my blog). Many present features of Jioufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization, with many Japanese inns surviving to this day.



Jioufen, also known as Jiufen or Chiufen (Chinese: 九份; pinyin: Jiǔfèn; Wade-Giles: Chiu3-fen4), is a mountain town in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County near Keelung, Taiwan.


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The street runs through most of the village with a multitude of food such as yam dishes, stinky tofu and other local specialties such as peitou meatballs and mixed vegetables topped with peanut powder and ice cream.





Street is cramped with shops, eateries, homestays and restaurants and widely decorated by red lanterns.



Meat balls



Juice stand here. Jioufen sometimes also is referred as "Little Shanghai".



There are also restaurants, street stalls and dessert shops that provide a plethora of gourmet indulgences.



And that's the "nose problem" for a novice foreigner in Taiwan - stinky or tzo tofu. Later you will adapt to this smell, and finally also you will eat it. By the way trust me - it's taste is far better than it's smell. Well, one thing I am not sure - how about living in a flat, with a windows just above tzo tofu vendor?



Northern Taiwan snack - fried fish powder.



And that's tou gan - similar to tofu food. From soybeans.



Dry sweet fruits.



Not everyone thinks that need keep nostalgic japanese era and gold rush mood here. How about those neon "restaurant" signs? But the restaurant (and homestay at second floor) is not bad, however, expensive. We had a dinner there - for this price you get good food.



Shoes, Chinese brushes and scrolls, jewelries, toys and souvenir of all sorts will be offered you in a hectic way, because you look like a tourist. Hint - do you know how to DO NOT look like a foreigner in Taiwan? my suggestions: - Do speak louder as you usually did; - Do wear a striped T-shirt (not Hawai style); - Do not wear those shorts a-la travel style with big pockets - wear jeans instead; - Keep a tea in hand; - Ask your girlfriend take Louis Vouitton bag; - Use mobile phone when making pictures; - Overreact on fireworks, and try to make video of them using mobile phone; - Wear bluetooth even if you do not drive; - When someone is talking with on phone, instead of "I see" say - 'aa-- haa haaa --- aaaa - aaa -- aaa --- long string of those sounds and end it by "dzangzi la (that's all). - In winter dress more as you would usually do at this temperatures before.



Anyway, those shops still are waiting you buy something



Chinese fast food - noodles, dumplings, soup and the like



Heavy "discounts" today for nuts. I suppose, like for any other retailer, discounts here are 365 days a year. And for you only.



Tea shops in Taiwan always will be happy to sit down with and offer tea. You will drink, and finally buy. A lot. It's a marketing & sales trick called return the favor. Can you after a drinking tea with host go away without buying anything?



If you come too late, like after 9:30 - you see most of shops will be already closed



Gold museum down there

Place to stop on your way to Kenting

It's not yet even Hengchun yet, but's where the road already goes near the sea and you already can start enjoy gorgeous views of South Taiwan seaside. While it maybe be interesting to look at this from a window of your car, here I want to suggest a good place to stop - and drink tea, coffee or juice - whatever you like. It's somewhere after Fangshan, when you slow down your speed...


View Larger Map

... and stop until you see those flags:





Ping E road here is really breathtaking - one side it's mountain view, and another side - sea.



Simple chairs, and tables, and this tent barely will save you from rain - but hey, are you traveling to Kenting to see Hilton president suite class furniture?



Isn't that Southern Taiwan's romantic after all?



Sit by on any of those chairs...



... and try this unexpectedly fresh and high quality coffee - really it's not just a brown color water a-la 7ELEVEN - host's of this small coffee shop are proud of their coffee.

China Airlines 611 crash near the Penghu islands in 2002 - Air Crash Investigation episode

Yesterday I had stumbled upon quite fresh, and recently aired - in march 2009 Air Crash Investigations episode.
I remember that case widely covered in a TV, because the aircraft just came apart in several parts in midair - that was really a total mystery when it happened.

Those bloggers who may read this maybe remembers also the media coverage in Taiwan - I was not here yet at that time - but it seems that first versions were about China's missiles, considering that they had some military activities that day in Taiwan straight.
Moreover - we all here (I suppose) are frequent fliers for the Honkong - Taipei route, so I was thinking that this case is somewhat even more interesting to us. 
Interestingly enough as well is to mention, that once I arrived here, my wife, and also most of the friends here, all of them avoided China Airlines, even if it was cheaper - Cathay Pacific or Dragonair were a choice, and this is how I got a Marco Polo card as well.
That time, everyone was blaming CA as "noo, they lost my bag, and they did that and they did this" - and so on.
But I was really surprised to know, based on this episode, that at that time CA had one of the most bad safety records in world - as the film says - 1 major accident in 4 years! That's pretty much, isnt't it?

Here is the episode iteself:

Part 1:



Part2:



Part3:



Part4:



Part5:



Flight 611 no longer exists. Shortly after the accident, China Airlines changed the flight number to 619, which now serves the Taipei-Hong Kong route along with existing flights 601, 603, 605, 607, 609, 613, 615, 617, and 803. That's what is said in this Wikipedia summary.

Kolka, Northern Part of Latvia and some occasional beach pictures taken on road

Although I know, that it is good tone to keep blog as topical as possible and I had positioned my as Taiwan related only, I can't resist to make some exceptions time after time.
This time I wanted to share some pictures I took in Latvia during a last trip. We decided to drive from Jurmala to Kolka this June 2009.
Kolka (Livonian: Kūolka) is a village in Kolka parish on the tip of Cape Kolka in Courland in Latvia, on the coast of the Gulf of Riga in ancient Livonia. It is home to the last remnants of Latvia's Livonian ethnic group, whose Livonian language is highly endangered.
First and nice surprises are already on the road to Kolka. Somewhere on the the road...

...between Mersrags and Roja, you will find a beautiful & calm beach, surprisingly enough - swans also are living here.

Golden sands, blue sky, rocks, calm sea & swans - a really nice place here.

It's worse to stop also in Roja. Here, if you go through this township and turn to the see - you will soon also find a nice sea views.

This time it's green all around here.

Now, turning to Cape Kolka itself, it really astonishes you with all beauty of this northern courland part.

Luodong night market in Yilan county, North-East Taiwan

It was much bigger as I was expecting to see. It was much more impressive, vibrant atmosphere surrounded and there was much bigger selection on food than you would expect from regular nightmarket allover Taiwan.
It's just same impressive, and maybe even bigger than Fengchia nightmarket in Taichung, located nearby my flat. Definitely, Luodongers can be same proud and self-acclaim it as biggest and most popular tourist attraction as sometimes Taichungers do with Fengchia nightmarket.

Luodong (traditional Chinese: 羅東; pinyin: Luódōng; Wade-Giles: Lo-tung) is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan. Its name derives from the Taiwanese aboriginal word Rutung/Lutung, meaning "monkey".





Same as in Fengchia nightmarket, and in most big nightmarkets in Taiwan - it has several parts. As you might know, night market is "night" because it appears on a particular street only in evening, so it will be always a situation that one side will have a shops - inside the buildings, usually selling clothes, glasses and jewelry, and in front of them - food sellers and all the usual shelters selling everything starting from fake Gucci bags made in China and ending children toys, also presumable from mainland. This part of market for you as a foreigner might be less interesting, however, take a walk to breath the atmosphere of friday evening in Luodong - food smell rises in the air mixed with loud voices of clothes sellers - a cacophony of sounds you will find only in Taiwan. Take a walk with me - watch the below video and especially listen the noise - NOISE of nightmarket.





In old fashioned brick-and-mortar business the location is the most important factor for any retail shop. So for this shop promotional banner with weak call to action is OK, to write by hand - as you can see still it's full of people there.



Shoes & apparel shops compete with each other not only using bright red signs but also sometimes switch on very loud "lai lai lai (come come come) recorded voice "spam" - very annoying in fact.



It's the woman's world out here.



Target customer for those apparel shops are teens and students - as you can see they are also most popular demographic group seen here.





it's a food selling area already in above video. In 0:19 and further notice the row - waiting in a line for dumplings stand.



Juice stand



Call to action for kids - entertainment here for everyone, and you will go out from market with very thin wallet. However, with full stomach.



Lu wei - same as in Fengchia night market and everywhere else. Taiwan people like it a lot, and with various flavors.



different fried food selection





Dumplings. Cheaper than in Fengchia nightmarket. And even more cheaper than in Kenting nightmarket - I had wrote about it here.





Kiss of Love cherry juice. No, it's not pathetic. It's Taiwan.





I can't stop wonder why Taiwanese man so like those striped shirts? My all are with palms and flowers, like those in Kenting...



Restaurant area in Luodong night market - yes, crowdy. But, it's a nightmarket!



Friday night - it's hard to find a place to sit.

















Time to relax. Luodong style massage.





Those games are not just for kids - for big kids also. In love. After Kiss of Love cherry juice.

Fulong beach in Gongliao Township, Taipei County, North East Taiwan - where is the promised golden sands?

I am risking to appear spoiled and impolite - but where is the "promised" golden sands and impressive views?
Maybe it's a long long traffic jam, we were stacked at this Dragon boat festival holidays, or maybe my fanatical devotion to Kenting, but I was disappointed for what I saw. Maybe first time I say about something in Taiwan like that, and I hope last time also.
Impersonal Wikipedia says, that there is golden sands... click on a link to see their picture.
Well, what we saw, is just posted below.





Sand was in fact close to dark brown and quite dirty - far from one you can see in Kenting. OK, it's Nothern Taiwan, and one of rear beaches there but still...

and then this temple just near parking:



Well, IMHO, when you want to see temples, you go to temples, and when you want to enjoy sea views, palms, bikinis and surfers - a large temple is a last what you expect to see... at least for me so. By the way I did not went in - maybe it's not a temple at all? Someone was there?

OK, waves - those who are surfers for sure will enjoy them. Waves are really great there.

Manjhou Township, Pingtung county, Southern Taiwan

One of the first rural townships you will stumble upon if you decide to take a trip from Kenting up to Taipei along the east coast of Taiwan in Manjhou township.
Stop by here if you have time - as most of east side rural townships it has much more untouched old buildings and will get you more feeling of how real Taiwan - not polished for tourists one like you would find in Alishan, looks like. As a matter of fact, one of the scenes for Cape7 movie was made here, in one of those old buildings. More on Cape7 movie here.

Once you see the sign of Manjhou, it's already a reason to stop, because there are one of the first gorgeous eastern Taiwan coastal area landscapes waiting for your camera:





It won't be so much cars there if you come and regular weekend - it was dragon boat festival time when I made this picture.



Once you are in a township, numerous old buildings appears just in front of you. Eastern Taiwan is really much more intact as in terms of nature as also for living & culture. Some says (me also sometimes), it looks more poor than Western and Nothern areas.





Southeast coast as seen from Manjhou township in June 2009.



It will be harder to find such houses in Nothern Taiwan.



Unfortunately, they are dissapering fast and become replaced with such faceless block houses scattered all over in island in rural townships.



Kids play ball in one of backstreets in Manjhou.



Eastern areas (this in fact is still south part of Taiwan - belongs to Pingtung county), really are maybe not that rich as those in Nothern Taiwan, because here are much less factories and people make living most by farming. Ironically, the sign on this quite poor outlook house offers "money on credit".





Farmland in Manjhou.



I also tried to drive up on one of those small mountain roads.

It was worth to do it - below video in my opinion is not so worth for a view - but just listen a sounds!! You will never ever hear something in noisy - terribly noisy Taiwan's cities like Taichung, Taipei or any else bigger. 24h per day, motorcycles will drain your nerves system driving again and again - well, that's city life. I could not stop listen that: