TAIWAN: III

Here are some pictures and their accompanying stories from Taitung, a city south of Hualien. It is much more rural and much more agriculture based than Hualien. Not that Hualien wasn't agro based, but TAitung was just that much more so. It is a great place, we spent much time here, and it was the jump off point for two offshore islands and many inland destinations - everytime we wanted to go somewhere new it seemed we had to start our journey by going to Taitung and then bumping around from there. The only down side was that we were never able to rent scooters - Taitung enacted, or took it upon themselves to enact - a no international lic. law. So, we were usually scooterless, unless we made it further inland and found a small town that rented scooters. So, Taitung was a very common place for us to end up, and we fell in love with it. Or grew to love it. Or, probably most precise, grew to accept it. There was always a hassle of some sort, but that made the trips all that more enjoyable. This weekend was my birthday, and we actually split it between Taitung and Hualien.


The day after my bday was Taiwan's equivalent of our Nov.11 - for them it was Feb. 28 (2-28) that they remember their past battles and their history of warfare and the history of Taiwan (as it was basically a long drawn out battle....this is just the snipit of info). They brought a few battle ships into the port in Hualien and allowed the public to go on board and view the ships and guns and (if you could read chinese!) read about the ships history and such. So, the pics of the ships and port are from Hualien, the others are from Taitung.


One more thing - Taitung always had gorgeous weather, and Hualien usually had gorgeous weather. When we left Taitung to come home to Hualien for the 2-28 ceremony it was gorgeous, and when we got to Hualien it was cloudy and chilly. I got burned in Taitung and then I bundled up in the mist in Hualien. So great a difference in temperature and weather in such a short distance (3 hour drive).

ABOVE - The band plays to honour the lost soldiers and to welcome the people.

BELOW - The Taitung Bridge. Read below, but this is a closer view. There were actually stairs along the majority of it because the humps were so steep and without steps of some sort it would be quite a challenge to walk fluently.
BELOW - Crystal along the coast, on the volcanic rocks. I presume she is getting ready to sit down and soak up some sun.
Below - Trevor along the coast, on the volcanic rocks. I think I am searching for crabs, which are plentiful along the coast and especially along the volcanic regions.

ABOVE - Gun inspector...everything look alright. Go ahead.......
ABOVE - Me at the market in TAitung. This pictureis actually the wrong one, I intended to post one where you could actually see more than 1/2 of me and some blurry sights, and maybe ill post the better one later. But, that is me at a typical roadside market.

BELOW - The famous Taitung Bridge (the proper name escapes me right now).


ABOVE - Crystal in the middle of a wonderfully eroded sandstone scape on the coast. The grains were rather loose, making for uneasy walking, but it was geologically satiating to see the curves and erosion of the rocks for the whole coastine.

ABOVE - Two of the ships at the 2-28 ceremony in Hualien. The city in the background is Hualien.

BELOW - Me in Taitung, waiting for a bus to come by and take us back into town. Se stopped by a small house/store along the side of the road and got some refreshments and settled, waiting for the next ride.