Shan Ding Lu

If you have visited or lived in Taiwan and traveled around a little you will know just how beautiful a place it is and how genuinely hospitable people are. Well Lanyu Island off the south east coast is both beautiful and friendly but in a way that makes it a very pleasant getaway from Taiwan proper.

Back in Perth a family island holiday for us usually involves a week on lazy Rottnest Island.  I have wished to visit Lanyu for many years so with the kids on summer holidays we packed our bags and ventured off to see what it is like.

Firstly the island is volcanic in origin so the geology and geography are quite different from the mostly metamorphosed and alluvial Taiwan.  At 13 km long and 32 km around it has a steep hilly centre surrounded by thin strips and scallops of flat land. There are plenty of places where the hills plunge almost directly into the ocean.

There are 5 small settlements on the island. The people here are more similar to the northern Philippines than Taiwan and indeed very different from Chinese. The local language is apparently understood by those from the northern Philippine islands. Unfortunately many of the younger generation are no longer fluent in this language.

We visited in the middle of summer which is peak tourist time, though it didn’t have a tourist trap feel to it. Visitors we met were mostly extended family groups, student groups and young couples. We also met a group of mostly English teachers from Chiayi camping on a remote eastern beach making a real getaway from Taiwan living.

The easiest way to get around is by scooter. It takes a couple of hours to circumvent the island, an excellent way to spend the day. The next day, for a change, you can turn around a scooter the other way.

One place that I was eager to see was the low-level nuclear waste facility on the southern tip of the island. Spare a small rocky island a few kilometers further south, this is the furthest most point it is possible to get away from Taipei within Taiwan. The perfect place for nuclear waste dump! Except that it is in the path of typhoons, only just above the high tide waterline and on a geologically unstable land-mass. Someone told me the locals were duped in to believing they were getting a fish cannery.  There is a moratorium on new disposal and it is due for complete de-commissioning by 2010.

Lanyu just has an incredibly lazy feel to it. Which was just perfect for the type of break we were after. We collected hermit crabs and ran crab races, swam, tried catching some fish and generally just enjoyed discovering the island.

Lanyu reminded me more of the South-east asian islands than our favorite Rottnest. But for a relaxing and enjoyable island get-away we can all highly recommend it.

Tags: Children, Fishing, Taiwan, Travel // 12 Comments »