I moved to Hengchun. I was looking at the post I made near the top of this thread, and Iām not that happy with a couple of the spellings I used. Iād spell ę½®å· as āChaozhouā and ę»æå· as āManzhouā now. These spellings are what I see more often locally.
Other places to go?
Houbihu Port might have the best seafood in Taiwan. Iām not sure. Iām still thinking about it.
The Sichongxi (I think thatās the most frequent spelling) Hot Springs are not awesome, but if you visit off season theyāre not bad. They built a new trail above the hot spring area focusing on the areaās Japanese history. Itās kind of interesting.
The sand dunes in Manzhou are hard to get to but worth the effort. Just be aware that thereās almost nothing to eat around there.
Fu-An Temple in Checheng is probably the best place in Pingtung to get covid. Personally I could give a f*** about covid, but if youāre worried about that donāt go to Fu-An Temple.
The Liloong Mountain Trail in Shrdze is a nice hike.
There are a lot of less-visited waterfalls in Laiyi.
The Wanjin Catholic Church is somewhat interesting, but be aware that parking in that area can be a challenge.
The beef pot in (central) Wandan is nice. That area is NOT scenic, but if youāre passing through the beef pot and a Taiwan beer make for a fine meal.
Driving the Mountainside Highway from Fangliao to Gaoshu can be fun. I also biked that road a lot.
Unpopular opinion, but I think Xiaoliuqiu is incredibly overrated. Sea turtles? OK, but thereās not much else on that little rock. It also gets some of the worst air pollution in Taiwan via the industrial area across the water in Linyuan District.
Wutai is worth going to. The big, famous suspension bridge down the river in Majia is also worth a look.
Seems like the wrong god to visit anyway. äæē大åø maybe. I have the feeling most people visit the Fu-An Temple to get lottery numbers. The lottery places around there do a brisk business.
Thanks, that one doesnt look familiar will check it out next week for sure! better enjoy while its winter, those trees make me think summer is harsh hehe.
We normally go around the old taitung area, the park I mentioned above or the one by pacific to see the animals. since covid, those are pretty the only 3 we hit up usually, quite interested tossee the new ones. Lots of new interesting ones recently. is this a government project they are redoing them all?
There are tons of parks around Taiwan with new childrenās facilities. Feels like the slide and swing manufacturers are out-competing themselves with every new or refurbished park.
seems of lesser importance at large, but great to eb sure! I suppose this is one of the ways foreign nations pretend to support taiwan, by stating they accept the safety of museum collections and infrastructure here? unlike most other nationsā treasures stolenā¦a win, albiet minuscule.
Gotta say, regardless of display opinions, there is quite a lot of genuine history on display in this country. either free or relatively cheap. one of the many perks here Lots of propaganda too, which makes it all the more fun!
Not necessarily replying to the OP (who made this post almost 10 years ago) but replying for future visitors of this thread.
The official name of the island is Liuqiu (ēē) but Japan also has a group of islands with the same name (Ryukyu Islands). The locals here colloquially call the Taiwanese island ālittleā Liuqiu (å°ēē) to differentiate it from the āgreaterā ēē (Ryukyu Islands) in Japan.
I go every chance I can get, maybe once a month during the warmer months. Itās only about a 45-minute drive plus 20-minute ferry ride from Kaohsiung.
In the winter I usually charter a yacht with a large group of friends which takes us to the island from Kaohsiung. We usually hop onto the island and take a quick 30-minute walk around the little town.
Small island, good for walking or biking around even though every single Taiwanese tourist will be riding on an overpowered 125cc gas scooter (there are a couple of steep slopes so a 50cc equivalent light electric scooter will do if you need to go up there, but otherwise completely unnecessary).
Great for:
Hanging out on the beach
Snorkeling (great views in the shallow parts)
Scuba diving (At least the boat dives. Shore dives are no better than snorkeling)
Free-diving
Paddle-boarding
Canoeing
Glass-floor boat tour
Nature walk
Small town walk
Seeing large groups of giant sea turtles (if youāre lucky youāll see a few centenarians larger than a full-grown man)
Bonus:
Lots of cheap all-you-can-eat Taiwanese BBQ options
A couple of great Thai restaurants
A couple of great shave ice places
A wide variety of clean and modern accommodations suitable for every budget (usually owned and run by city folk from Kaohsiung or Taipei with higher cleanliness standards)
Things to note:
Weekends are full of tourists, but the drive to/from Kaohsiung will be much quicker and smoother
Weekdays are pretty nice and empty, but the drive to/from Kaohsiung will likely take you through rush-hour traffic
To sum up, 10/10 would recommend (at least if youāre already in southern Taiwan).
I think the name Xiao Liuqiu came really late. Early Europeans thought Taiwan was 3 islands, and the original Little Ryukyu name was assigned to one of the supposed islands. Someone probably assigned that obsolete name to the island after people all but forgot what it was originally called.
When the Dutch conducted their massacre, the island was called Lamey. The first Dutch Protestant mission to Taiwan, George Candidius, also referred to it as 't Goude Leeuws Eyland after a ship wrecked there called the Gouden Leeuw. The massacre of the islanders was in retaliation for killing the crew of the Golden Lion. The name was translated into éē 島 and used for a while.
There also wasnāt any recording of the island again for a long time afterwards, and when it first popped back into the Qing records it was recorded as Samaji and Tugin.
Lots of propaganda too, which makes it all the more fun!