Taiwan Trek, Day 6: Like Okinawa only with mountains, or a more Asian Hawaii

Now sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

Today is Friday the 13th, but it appears I got all the bad luck out of the way the previous day,  when downpours put a damper on our excursions and I ended up putting a dent into our rental in a hotel parking garage. Although the day began with rain...:

The view this morning from our Chihpen hotel room

...that would be the only precipitation we would see for the rest of the day, as the thick clouds appeared unable to make it past the Coastal Mountain Range. We were on the road and moving north on Highway 11 away from Taitung 台東 by half past nine. The first stop of the day was at Hsiao Yeliu 小野柳 - though it didn't bear much resemblance to its more well-known northern namesake, my daughter was interested in the unusual coral and rock formations, the product of thousands of years of water and wind erosion:

Though the crowds were light at that time of the morning, any calm was shattered by the fighter jets screaming overhead, which we learned from a worker were practice runs in preparation for an air show to be held tomorrow. Admittedly, it was kind of exciting, though I can only imagine the terror an enemy combatant would feel as one of these planes suddenly appeared on the scene:

The views began to get more impressive as we continued along Highway 11:

Passing through one of the numerous towns and villages en route:

The next stop was the Platform of the Three Immortals, a series of eight arched bridges connecting the mainland to a small coral island. The name comes from the supposed connection between three large stone formations on that island with three of the Eight Immortals of Chinese mythology. Or something like that. If the bridges look familiar, it's because they're often featured in tourist literature on Taiwan:

Looking toward the mainland from the island. I would've liked to have walked around but a signboard said it would take at least a couple of hours to do the full trail and we had a long drive ahead of us, so we headed back across the bridge and to the parking lot:

There were so many places to stop and admire the views. Like at Shihyusan 石雨傘:

The water looked very inviting in the heat and humidity, but most of the beaches on the east coast are rocky and the sudden drop offs in water depth often create dangerous currents and riptides:

One of those WTF in Taiwan moments occurred when we drove by a torii 鳥居 with the Japanese-looking words 男人の石 ("Man's stone") etched on the wall behind it:

I wasn't surprised to see what lay at the end of the driveway. Amber stayed in the car:

Back in the Nissan, the views continued to impress, resulting in a lot of pulling over and getting out:

Less impressive was our next destination after Sanxiantan, the Caves of the Eight Immortals 八仙洞. Only about half of the caves were open to visitors due to trail damage, and except for one that had been converted into a Taoist temple, there was very little to see, despite the fact the caves are the site of the earliest human habitation in Taiwan:

Perhaps it was the earlier stop at the 男人の石, but the largest of the caves reminded me of a vagina:

The perfect antidote to the humidity turned out to be a papaya milkshake 木瓜牛奶:

Another Tropic of Cancer monument, though not as popular with visitors as the one on the parallel Highway 9:

We stopped for lunch at the Xibulan Visitor Center 奚卜蘭遊客中心. While the food was being prepared, I strolled across the New Changhong Bridge 新長虹橋, which spans the Xiuguluan River 秀姑巒溪, a popular rafting spot:

While I was on the bridge, a small temple procession passed by. It must take a lot of faith to be willing to wear something like that on a day when the temperature was over 30°C (86°F) and the humidity was around 80%:

The food was worth the wait. I had the very tasty "Noodles Served With Alianthus (sic) Prickly Ash Olive Oil", and then picked up a bottle of Lemon Wheat Ale brewed by Highway 11 Craft Beer:

Making a stop at Dawan 大灣:

Hualien 花蓮 eventually began to appear in the distance:

We pulled up to the Fullon Hotel Hualien 福容大飯店花蓮 at around 1630. The view from our room - on the left in the background you can make out the Chateau de Chine Hualien where we stayed earlier in the week (it's the white building with the blues, reds and yellows on its exterior):

A refreshing dip in the third-floor outdoor pool and a not-so-fond farewell to all the sweat I'd accumulated on the drive up from Taitung:

Of course we overdid it at the hotel buffet during dinner this evening, but that Lemon Wheat Ale went down so well in the room afterward. What, did you think I drank it while driving earlier?:

Our trip comes to an end tomorrow with the long drive back to Fengyuan. To be continued...