Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 15: Pingtung 屏東 (Xiaoliuqiu [Little Liu Qiu] Island 小琉球), Kaohsiung 高雄 (K-Arena 高雄巨蛋, Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐, Love River 愛河)
Today I headed to one of the more beautiful islands in Taiwan, which is Xiao Liu Qiu Island 小琉球, or Little Liu Qiu Island. Since I had planned to meet my Kaohsiung friend for dinner tonight, today's schedule was really precise and packed and a bit hardcore but still humanly possible to be done haha. This place is famous for snorkelling and getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Cheap seafood (& sashimi) is also readily available here (& Donggang) although I didn't really get to try. Most Malaysians rarely visit this place since it is quite out of the way.
To get to Xiao Li Qiu island I first had to take a bus from Kaohsiung to Donggang 東港. Since the bus company do not sell tickets a day before the trip, I could only get tickets for that morning. So at 6.15am I was already at the bus station, which is located next to the Kaohsiung Main station, to grab my tickets to Donggang at 6.35am, which cost NTD 200 for both ways.
The bus ride to Donggang was about one hour, in which I reached central Donggang at around 7.30 am. It is about another 10 minutes walk to the harbour (~1km). If you have extra budget you could always grab a taxi but walking is still reasonable. And at about 7.41 am I finally reached the harbour to my relief and bought the ferry tickets (NTD 410 round trip) to the island which was set to depart at 8am. Any hiccups throughout my journey of getting here and I would definitely not make it lol. There are two ferry operators here, one is privately operated and another one is seemingly a public funded one. Just go for the one I went and you should be fine. =3
The trip to the island's Bai Sha Harbour is only 30 minutes so for those who are prone to seasickness may not be too worried. As you step out of the ferry, crystal clear seas await you.
The whole island is only 9km around you could actually easily walk it in a day but I was too lazy and too short of time for that, hence I grabbed an electric bicycle (NTD 300 for whole day) instead haha.
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| Snorkelling in the background |
There are ample shops and food nearby the harbour where Penfu village is located. On other parts of the island it is pretty secluded.
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| Clear Blue Seas |
There are a few notable landmarks around the island, notably the Flower Vase Rock 花瓶岩 which is just nearby the harbour. Here you do some wading or snorkelling. There are sufficient signboards around the island so you should be able to find your way around but it's still if you have data plan available for navigation.
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| Flower Vase Rock |
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| All ready to go snorkelling |
There are also a few caves to explore around the island and you only need to pay NTD 120 to visit all of them. So be sure to keep your tickets properly. Also I managed to secure student discounts for myself so i only had to pay less than that haha.
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| Beauty Cave |
If you wish to spend the night here, there are ample B & B's as well.
One of the ex-army bases on the island:
There are also multiple hiking trails with proper steps if you are up for it. I explore about 2 and then my legs gave way.
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| View upon the cliff |
At about 1pm I then arrived back at the main town area to have my lunch after successfully making a full round around the island. I settled for a bowl of tuna fish rice at a restaurant for NTD 70. On a side note, Xiao Liu Qiu island is also a duty free island so there is a duty-free shop next to the harbour. Not like it sells a lot of nice stuff though compared to the airport.
I boarded the next ferry at 2.30pm which brought me back to Donggang and had to wait for another 30 minutes before the bus came and brought me back to Kaohsiung city. This marks the end of my journey at Xiao Liu Qiu island! Certainly worth a half-day visit if you are in the area.
I arrived back at Kaohsiung and headed to K-Arena where I will meet my friend for dinner. The Balvinie had actually set up a huge tent to promote its whisky and distillery. Really quite interesting to see how whisky was actually made and I even got a free glass of whisky to try hehe. People also get to pay to try other samples but prior reservations had to be made.
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| Free whisky |
For dinner we decided to have Din Tai Fung. Come Taiwan of course have to try their signature restaurant right? Likewise in the Taipei branches, the queue here was crazy as well. I had to wait about 30 minutes to get to my table of 5. One of the more unique dishes I tried would be the red-bean paste Xiao Long Bao, otherwise it's pretty much standard food haha. Paid NTD 390 after splitting the bill. Yikes.
Since the night was still early I then headed to one of Kaohsiung's landmark, the Love River to have a stroll before heading back to my hostel. Initially I was supposed to head up towards Tainan today but had a sudden change of plans. One night of accommodation had to be burnt. Oh well, part and parcel of backpacking haha.
- Day 15 end-
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