After a stormy night, we got waken up by a lot of tourists, going for sight seeing. We didn’t realize at night, that we slept on the parking of some tourist attraction. As we didn’t feel comfortable with that many people, we left and had breakfast somewhere else. The surf forecast looked pretty good so we went to check out that surf spot “Cheng Gong“. We arrived to a pretty good wave (the best we’ve seen in two months in Taiwan) and a crowded line-up. Turned out it was Chinese National Day, and whole Taiwan was off for four days, so everyone headed to the east coast catching those good waves created by a big taifun in Japan. Anyways my boyfriend went surfing and caught the best waves he had in the whole trip. We stayed there overnight, to get in the water by first light the next morning, enjoying empty waves for at least one hour before the crowd showed up again. The wave is not working that often, as it needs a really big swell to work properly. So we were super lucky to score there.
Saturday night we drove the van to a Village called Dulan. It’s a 40 minute drive from Cheng Gong. In a place called “Sugar Factory” they got some nice live music there Saturday night and a bar as well. We got ourselves a bad hangover drinking lots of gin tonic.
We left the east coast to see some more places along the country. We spent couple of days close to Longquan Waterfall. We could park there, there was a river with crystal clear, fresh water and the weather was beautiful. You can hike up the river on the left to go to the waterfall, you gotta climb a little bit through the rocks of the river but nothing serious. On the right you can hike up the river finding some beautiful pools to have a bath.
We found out about some hot springs not too far from Longquan called Lisong Hot Springs. You gotta ride up the valley for about an hour to arrive almost on the top, then hiking down the canyon another hour. Bring some proper shoes (my boyfriend the genius just brought sandals), because it’s pretty steep. There are some ropes helping you to get down. Once you arrived down there, you gotta leave your backpack and everything which should not get wet there, before going to the hot springs. It’s not the easiest access, you gotta climb a little bit and have to brachiate through the river using a rope which is already set up. It’s possibly the most beautiful hot spring in Taiwan. Our recommendation is: bring a tent and sleep down in the canyon, so you can enjoy the hot springs twice.
When we were back in our car it was already dark, rainy and stormy. So we went back to Longquan again. On the way we realized that we are out of fuel, and the next gas station was super far away. We got help at the next police station. They gave us some Fuel to reach the next gas station. Police will always help you in Taiwan. Also if you need a toilet or shower, they can usually help you out.
The next day we went to Kenting area in the south. Surfing was not too good and it’s super crowded, so we found another waterfall, called “Seven Holes Waterfall” We hiked up further than the 7th hole to explore some more. At some point my boyfriend shouted I have to back up, realizing I almost stepped on a super big snake. Luckily the snake was also scared and left instead of attacking me. After that we left quick to the seven holes again, where we had lunch and a nice bath.
On Sunday you can find a nice night market in Hengchun. It was our favorite, even if it’s not really big. Monday we went to Baisha Bay, the most beautiful beach in Taiwan. It’s a white sand bay, and the water is usually super clear. If you go to the right, walking through the rocks you’ll have your private beach, far away from the crowd. It’s really nice down here, but also super windy. We spent many nights inside the van, playing cards, drinking beer and eating fried potatoes.
At the end we can tell, that traveling Taiwan in a van is the best thing you can do. You got total freedom and you can see all the beautiful places, which you wouldn’t by public transport. Also you can sleep next to the waterfalls and rivers, which is pure luxury.
