Get away from it all on Taiwan’s east coast – hot springs, fried flowers, indigenous villages, and mountains
We visit Taimali Township, travel the Flower Route and eat fried daylilies, ascend Kinchen Mountain and watch the fishing boats come in at Sanhe in the last of our three-part series on the east coast of Taiwan
It’s a midweek afternoon, and a few local men are having a barbecue on the long Taimali Beach in Taiwan’s Taitung County. My friend and I have stumbled across them on our third and final stretch of our trip exploring the country’s less trodden east coast – following a stop in Doulan and Green Island.
Taimali Township, a collection of rural villages, sits along an expanse of high-cliff coastline, by the winding Number 9 highway, with a huge expanse of soft black sand below. Word has it swimming is banned here due to a voracious undertow.
The men are sheltered from an early winter wind in a thicket of palms. A good amount of a bottle of kaoliang winer has already been drunk, and they are red-faced and in good humour.
We head on a scooter for Taihe Village, a few kilometres south. From in front of Taimali train station, visitors can watch the sun rise over the eastern horizon.