Taiwan Spiritual Travels
It is located south of the Tropic of Cancer and east of the Pacific Ocean. It is the country’s least populous county, and half of the county’s population lives in Taitung City. The best way to get around Taitung is to rent a scooter or a car, even within the city, to get to the tourist spots, it will be easier if you have your own mean of transportation. The easiest is to stay in Taitung City and take day trips to explore the county, but there are also a couple of nice accommodation options in the countryside.
Every year, the location of the festival changes as different cities in Taiwan take turns to host it annually. Eight Fairies Cave has more than ten sea caves in which many people worship. It is also a prehistoric site where a considerable amount of Old 台東伴手禮專賣店 Stone Age (3 million-10 thousand years ago) was found. Trendy craft beers and alcoholic drinks are must-buy souvenirs for buddies. After your nice vacation in Taiwan, the next thing you would possibly do is catch up with your friends over a drink!
In the two days we spent there, we exchanged numerous smiles and hellos with locals, but never quite breached the awkwardness of approaching or “chatting up” the locals. Our guesthouse was owned by a Tao person, but he was almost never around, and we mostly dealt with the young Taiwanese people hired to staff the hotel. They are not big fans of being photographed, nor do they like people wandering into their yards or homes to gawk at them . Therefore, you may notice that I don’t actually have any photos of Tao people in this article. Another of Taiwan’s smallest aboriginal tribes is the Thao people.
Not only is Taitung a wonderful destination in itself, it’s also a great gateway to Taiwan’s east coast, whether you visit in the middle of a road trip, or use it as the jumping-off point for one. Hi Penny, I was able to rent it because I have a local Taiwanese scooter license. One of my friends lives in Taiwan but doesn’t have a scooter license, so he couldn’t rent one. I think in the past they didn’t care, but now you kind of have to have a local or international license to rent at most places in Taiwan.
First, you’ll need to get to Taitung, which takes 3.5 to 5 hours on the local train from Taipei . Alternatively, you can fly from Taipei’s Songshan Airport to Taitung. My two travel mates doing what they do best, and some flying fish.
When picking us up at the habor, the hotel owner’s father took us to a rental shop. Yeyin Cold Spring (野銀冷泉, Do Mibenen) is one kilometer south of town and is the best place to cool off on the island. Here a cold spring fills multiple pools by the sea on the coast. Since it is south of town, we saved it for the end of the day, after finishing our counterclockwise loop around the island.
For everything you need to know, including the best places to stay, see my guide to visiting Dulan. Little Yeliu is indeed less impressive than its northern namesake. It is less showy, with no Queen’s Head rock or anything like it.
It is the most famous, and most popular hike in Taiwan hence it often features on the bucket list of local mountaineers. Although it has easier high mountain hikes, being physically fit is still required to climb it. To reach the summit, it would take two days from the trailhead. This is Taiwan’s version of beef jerky but made extra thin and crispy.
Take a boat ride down the river, explore the many trails and waterfalls, hop on a mountain bike, or try to spot some of the bird species which call this park home. While frequent buses travel between Taitung Station and downtown, having to ride one of them every time you want to eat short rice noodles or explore a colorful temple would be a major pain. He’s credited with inventing a lubrication device that distributes oil over an engine’s moving parts.
If you are wondering what to do in Taitung, don’t miss this amazing bridge. The eight-arches cross-sea bridge taking you to Sanxiantai Island is a famous landmark in eastern Taiwan. The bridge represents the waves of the ocean and also the Chinese dragon. The island was once connected to the mainland and used to be home to the Amis tribe, it’s now uninhabited and classified as a nature reserve area. A local legend state that one day, 3 gods visited the island and left their footprints there.
Zhiben is famous all over Taiwan’s east coast for its spring water, one of the purest you’ll find in the country. If you choose to go there, don’t expect a wild and natural hot spring. Zhiben is a spa destination, a lot of hotels and spas have been built here. They use the water from the spring in their facilities and offer a wide range of services. The water from the hot spring is too hot for anyone to swim directly in it, that’s why you won’t find any “natural” hot springs there. The sprawling municipality of Taichung is one of Taiwan’s premier tourist destinations, a city with a population of more than 2,000,000 inhabitants and, as a result, with a lot of interesting attractions.
Beitou hot springs are of three types that include green sulfur, white sulfur, and iron-sulfur. Each bathhouse may have different etiquette and general rules regarding gender separation, clothing rules, and food and drink. You can find out about another great natural cold spring in Taiwan in my guide to the east coast from Yilan to Hualien, or plenty of wild hot hot springs in my guide to Yilan County.
A Taiwanese man is considering what will be his family’s next meal at one of the many street stalls in Taitung City. Chen Family Mochi uses Taitung Chihshang glutinous rice to make especially flavorful mochi. Taiwan Lantern Festival is celebrated on the first full moon of the Chinese New Year, and it usually takes place over a couple of weeks. The festival highlights colorful lanterns on the ground that feature Taiwanese icons. The different lantern exhibits with different subjects are often displayed in multiple areas of the city.
A few minutes before the top, a signboard and small parking area indicate the path to Little Heaven Pool, a small pond that is a five-minute walk. A few minutes after passing through Dong Kou, you’ll see a sharp turnoff on the left for Lanyu Lighthouse (蘭嶼燈塔) and Little Heaven Pool (小天池, Do Wawanoanito), the latter of which is indicated on the turnoff sign. The Twin Lion Stones (雙獅岩, Jipanatosan) demarcate the northeastern corner of Orchid Island.