{"id":1021,"date":"2010-11-10T21:57:30","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T14:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2010-11-10T21:57:30","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T14:57:30","slug":"taiwans-big-sur-a-bat-cave-indians-lobsters-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/2010\/11\/10\/taiwans-big-sur-a-bat-cave-indians-lobsters-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan’s Big Sur, a Bat Cave, Indians, Lobsters and more!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

Total Miles Traveled:<\/strong> 40,432<\/p>\n

It looks a lot like California’s central coast, but it’s Taiwan’s east coast, complete with dramatic mountains, dark volcanic rock, and turbulent seas. \u00a0 Today, we’re headed out of the mountains, back towards the sea, to make our way to southeastern Taiwan.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

On the way out of Taroko Gorge, we noticed a vendor selling tribal handicrafts… a Taiwanese Indian pirate cap – you seriously won’t find those anywhere else in the world! \u00a0We’re taking orders now… \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0Seriously though, a lot of the tribal art\/handicrafts we’ve seen is not unlike American Indian art we’ve seen back home, or even in South America!<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

One of our stops was to do a tea tasting…<\/p>\n

\"Tasting<\/a><\/p>\n

… before heading to a Taiwanese Indian dance performance. \u00a0It reminded me of seeing dance performances in the Hawaiian islands.<\/p>\n

\"Taiwan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Taiwan<\/a><\/p>\n

After the performance, we headed back to the coast.<\/p>\n

WARNING … TANGENT: \u00a0At this point, I just have to mention how awesome mobile technology is these days. \u00a0Lisa had to send off an important email for her work and I, well, I had to set my lineup for Fantasy Football. \u00a0Using EDGE network access on my unlocked iPhone, I created a wifi access point that shared my internet connection with Lisa’s laptop, allowing her to access her Gmail and send off an email with attachment. \u00a0And, I was able to use my Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football app to set my lineup! \u00a0All of this while we were speeding along the east coast of Taiwan in a minivan. \u00a0Seriously? \u00a0Yes, it was awesome!<\/p>\n

Now back to the trip. \u00a0Along one stretch of highway, we came across an art studio run by a local aboriginal.\u00a0 The story goes that he was unsuccessful in his trained vocation.\u00a0 When he got older, he gave up and started to make art for fun.\u00a0 The style was so well received that he has started to increase manufacturing.\u00a0 In fact, while we were there, he was negotiating a manufacturing deal in China.\u00a0 Pretty neat! \u00a0\u00a0Good for him! \u00a0It’s a good reminder for us to follow our dreams!<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

The cafe was on the coast so we started to get glimpses of the beautiful Big Sur-esque scenery we had heard about.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, we stopped in a local fishing village for a snack, which turned out to be more of a meal. \u00a0They said the lobsters were in season. \u00a0Here’s my Dad proudly displaying a giant spiny lobster.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

Here he is again with the second lobster, only this lobster wasn’t so happy he was holding him by his antennae. \u00a0So he kept flapping his tail forcefully. \u00a0Gotta love the expression on my Dad’s face!<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

And, here are the lobsters, steamed to perfection. \u00a0Quite good – firm, sweet meat. \u00a0Probably a bit overpriced but you don’t get lobster this fresh every day.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

Later we stopped for a real lunch – all you can eat shabu shabu with local mountain veggies, ‘shrooms, meats, and other good stuff…<\/p>\n

\"Shabu<\/a><\/p>\n

After lunch, we got back on the road … here we are at a scenic point… beautiful isn’t it?<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

The waters here are actually quite rough, it can be very windy, \u00a0the beaches are rocky, and the whole east coast of Taiwan is susceptible to typhoons and rock slides. \u00a0That and the fact that the coastal land is reserved for indigenous Taiwanese tribes is why there hasn’t been much development despite the beauty you see here.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

So, as we headed further south, our driver stopped at a place which looked pretty boring – no view, just the mountainside.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He wouldn’t tell us where we were going.\u00a0 We climbed up the mountain a bit and were shuffled into a small dark cave with what looked like an underground river\u00a0and a boat that pointed in to the darkness. \u00a0Sweet!<\/p>\n

\"Bat<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can guess, the water is freshwater from higher up on the mountain and is draining slowly toward the ocean.<\/p>\n

The cave is a perfect hiding place for thousands of bats, belonging to several different species. \u00a0They were all trying to sleep as we floated below them. \u00a0We couldn’t help thinking – were they going to relieve themselves as we looked at them from below?<\/p>\n

\"Bat<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Back on the road, we visited a couple of temples – here’s one with a lot of buddhas lined up that made for a fun photo:<\/p>\n

\"Buddhas\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And a national park that featured a “nine-arches bridge”:<\/p>\n

\"Nine<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Nine<\/a><\/p>\n

… with a fantastic view of the coastline…<\/p>\n

\"Nine<\/a><\/p>\n

We stopped for some shi4 jia1 (buddha head fruit) which tastes a bit like banana with large black seeds. \u00a0It spoils very quickly so you gotta eat’em fast!<\/p>\n

\"Shi<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, we stopped at this park near the Taitung airport known for its “tofu” and “ginger” shaped rock. \u00a0I didn’t really see the ginger part, but the “shelves” of rock are the tofu. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\""Tofu<\/a><\/p>\n

Phew! \u00a0There was a lot in this post. \u00a0I think we actually covered two days here, not one! \u00a0 For all the photos, check out the slideshow below:<\/p>\n

[flickrslideshow acct_name=”tony-chen” id=”72157625321426419″]<\/p>\n

Next, we head back to Taipei…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Total Miles Traveled: 40,432 It looks a lot like California’s central coast, but it’s Taiwan’s east coast, complete with dramatic mountains, dark volcanic rock, and turbulent seas. \u00a0 Today, we’re headed out of the mountains, back towards the sea, to make our way to southeastern Taiwan. On the way out of Taroko Gorge, we noticed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}