Last weekend, we made a 34 hours whirlwind trip circulating Taiwan (more precisely 3/4 of it, 930 km). We did not plan for the trip. We left home in Taipei, on impulse, at 11:30 AM, Saturday, driving along the rugged east coast of Taiwan toward south, crossing the Tropic of Cancer at 5:30 PM into Southern Taiwan. We arrived at Jhihben (知本), a hot spring spa resort at 7 pm, driving almost 390 km. We spent the night in a nice hotel. The next day, we drove up the Route 20, The Southern Cross-Island Highway, toward west.
This highway is really only a road that is wide enough for two car to pass each other. The construction of the road started in 1968 and finished in 1972 with the loss of 116 lives. Whenever there is a Typhoon or earthquake, which happens very often in Taiwan, the road is broken. It took 3 million USD yearly just to maintain it. The first photo was taken when we were just on our way toward west. Looking at the skyline and I was joking with Grace that we were going to drive pass the highest mountain range at the upper left hand corner. But indeed, the road took us there, the mountain pass, Yakuo, is at 2722 m above sea level.
This highway is really only a road that is wide enough for two car to pass each other. The construction of the road started in 1968 and finished in 1972 with the loss of 116 lives. Whenever there is a Typhoon or earthquake, which happens very often in Taiwan, the road is broken. It took 3 million USD yearly just to maintain it. The first photo was taken when we were just on our way toward west. Looking at the skyline and I was joking with Grace that we were going to drive pass the highest mountain range at the upper left hand corner. But indeed, the road took us there, the mountain pass, Yakuo, is at 2722 m above sea level.
This photo was taken after we cross the moutain pass and started to descend. You can see the road along the mountain at right hand cornor. The length of this highway is just over 200 km and took us about 7 hours to cross. We then took the Highway 3 toward north, a nice and easy drive of 340 km to Taipei. We arrived back home at 9:30 PM Sunday. It was an adventurous journey, but the scenery was worth the trip.
7 comments:
Gorgeous!
Stunning shots!!
Wow--if the scenery was like this for most of the trip, it sounds very worthwhile! Road trips are so fun sometimes :)
Wow!!!amazing, I love the photos and the scenery.Just look at the sky it look cool.
Long gone are the days when I would do such a trip - would have loved it.
Beautiful cloudscapes of some awesome landscapes, thanks for sharing something I'll never see in person:)
Love your tropical skies. When we were in taipei the coast road was unfortunately too dangerous and damaged.
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