We have found out where to go if you want to be alone. The beach. Specifically, a normal sandy expanse. Today, Saturday, it was easily 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The sky was clear. There was a gentle breeze. And we had the large beach to ourselves, excepting a small work crew. one bicyclist, and a swimmer who was there only a short while apparently collecting seaweed. This was our first time visiting a beach in Taiwan, this one being less than an hour away from a city of 2 million people, none of whom seem to appreciate the beach.
The work crew had filled many bags with debris and trash, presumably from the typhoon.
(Above: girls stuffing each other’s pockets with shells; work crew in the background)
They wore long pants, long sleevs, face maskes, hats. If there was any skin exposed, it wasn’t on purpose. They worked diligently in the 90+ heat. Natalie, Carlie, and I had swim suits under our clothes, but would have been conspicuous if we had dressed down.
There was an obvious lack of development and local population, although it did look like there had originally been very nice facilities at the beach entrance, possibly for a regular kite festival. There are other places in the US and around the world that continue to draw crowds of sun bathers and beachcombers. Often development is extensive even though storms occur regularly. That doesn’t seem to be the plan here.
After that bit of peace and relaxation, we headed to the very northern tip of the island to look at some sand stone formations referred to in the guide book. We found many people here, but it was not so crowded as to be unpleasant. Before we had completely found the entrance to those, we visited a small inlet where scuba diving lessons were going on, then walked out onto a massive cement pier that looked like it was accidentally formed by a giant playing jacks.
See photos below:
Lots of nice sand –
river outlet
Greg and kids
first treasure
hermit crab
mom w/kids
Idaho river rock?
Natalie hunting shells
big, ugly green thing (not Jesse)
look at this rock, Mom
3 billion year old umbrella handle fossilized to the rock
“What?! You don’t believe me?!”
polished glass
father and son
Greg and Jesse way out there
partially melted? rocks in lava
old dressing rooms?
blanket flowers and others
so much patio!
and turn around and go down the stairs
Greg’s Honda w/ indispensable GPS
Houses close to beach
scuba class, but not for us
beautiful water
giant pier
long path to sand stone formations
almost there
giant mushrooms?
don’t cross the red line
shadow family portrait
