Hello everybody!
Welcome to...
This time, let's go to Lanyu
or Orchid Island.
In this video I will show you
images and footage of
a trip we made last month
to the beautiful island of Lanyu
also known as Orchid Island
which is located off the coast of Taitung
in southeastern Taiwan.
Here you can see a map of Taiwan and Lanyu.
We started our trip at Taipei as usual
and took the train down the east coast
to Yilan, Hualien,
and further down to Taitung.
From there we took the ferry...
There you can see Taitung.
North of Taitung is Fugang Harbor.
From there you can take a ferry to
Green Island, and further down to
Lanyu, Orchid Island.
A beautiful island.
This is how it looks.
It's one big rock.
There is a coastal road circling
the island and connecting
the few villages, like Yeyou,
Hongtou.
Further down, there are no villages
but interesting rocks, like the
Dragon Head Rock.
And then on the east coast there are
two villages. One is called Ivalino
in the indigenous language or Yeyin
in Mandarin and Dongqin.
Then further north there are some more
rocks, like the Warship Rock.
And on the northwestern side, there is the
Orchid Island Lighthouse.
And then there is Kaiyuan Harbor and
Yeyou Village. There you can see the
airport as well.
So we took the train from Taipei,
we took the night train, which starts
at 11 in the evening and takes 7 hours
to get to Taitung.
We tried to get some sleep
and we arrived at Taitung at 6 o'clock.
Then we took a taxi to
Fugang Harbor, which takes about 10 minutes or so.
There you can see the ferries.
It was early in the morning, so not
much going on there.
There you can see some fishing boats.
There you can see the harbor manager.
A fishing boat.
It's a small harbor north of Taitung.
We got the tickets at the ticket
hall here. And then we went to the ferry,
which is somewhere behind the boats
in the background.
Some fishing boats again.
And there you can see our ferry and
there you can see some other passengers.
Some tour groups.
And then we started our trip.
This is the ferry to Green Island.
And we slowly left the harbor.
I went straight to the upper deck
cause I like to sit outside.
And there we met a tour group, elder people,
who were happy to see a foreigner.
Then, after leaving the harbor,
the ferry follows the coast for a while,
and there you can see the high
mountains of southeastern Taiwan.
As you can see the sea was calm and
the weather was fine, no rain,
which is not always the case.
Sometimes the sea can be very rough and
can be quite "rocky".
There you can see the sun was shining actually,
although it was cloudy.
Everyone on board was looking forward to
get to Lanyu. It was the first time for us
and we didn't know what to expect and
we were very excited.
There you can see Green Island
in the distance.
You can see the island for an hour or so
on the left side.
It's much closer to the coast than Lanyu.
Then it was open sea. We couldn't see
Taiwan anymore, and we couldn't see
Lanyu yet.
My fellow travelers were sleeping inside
like many other people.
I don't like to stay inside, I like it on
the deck outside, watching the waves
and the wind.
The ferry takes about 2 and
a half hours to the island. And there we saw the
island for the first time. It's a huge
big rock in the ocean.
There you can see some of the
interesting rocks
on the left side and on the right side.
My first impression was, oh, the mountains
are quite high. Didn't expect that.
And it is a very green island.
Not many people live there, only a
few thousand or so.
There you can see the mountains are quite
tall, high.
I think the highest are about 500 meters
above sea level.
It's a very green island, lot of trees.
Then we approached Kaiyuan Harbor, which
is on the west coast, the only harbor
on the island.
In the background you can see the
Mantou Rock, Steamed Bun Rock.
There are not many ships there,
just small fishing boats.
Then the owner of our guesthouse
picked us up at the harbor and
he did drive us to the guesthouse.
Here you can see the first village.
He drove us to the guesthouse and
showed us a bit of the island.
Our guesthouse was in Yuren Village
on the west coast.
We also passed the small airport.
There you can see Little Lanyu, a small
island off the coast of Lanyu.
Our guesthouse was at Yuren Village.
The guesthouse is quite new,
but nothing special.
Then I went straight to the coast
to have a look, there is a small beach.
There were some people swimming, tourists.
There you can see the boats Lanyu is
well known for, or canoes.
There you can see another strange rock.
This was around noontime,
the weather was fine, quite hot acutally.
Close to the guesthouse are two churches.
These are taro fields and you can see
some goats.
Then we had lunch at
Yeyou Village, close to the harbor.
We had flying fish noodle soup,
fried rice with flying fish, and this soup,
which was a bit oily.
Then we had a look around at Yeyou Village.
We saw some drying fish there,
flying fish drying in the sun.
So we went there in May, the flying fish season.
You can see fish drying all over the island.
There we saw a church in Yeyou Village
and a small lane there.
Then we went to the high school of Lanyu,
which is quite beatiful because of the
patterns. From there you can see the
Mantou Rock.
Looks like a Mantou, like a steamed bun.
This is also at Yeyou, we saw more canoes,
quite pretty, clean and painted very nice.
But you are not allowed to touch them,
I didn't know that before the trip.
Then we saw some pigs. You can see a lot
of animals all over the island, pigs,
goats, dogs, cats. So if you drive or
ride a scooter you have to be careful
always look out for the roaming animals.
Then we went to this place, close to
Kaiyuan Harbor. We took scooters, the
guesthouse gave us motor scooters and
we rode to Kaiyuan Harbor. There is a
small lighthouse on a hill there.
And from there you have great views
There is the harbor. And there you can see
motor scooters you can rent and there
is also the only gas station on the
island, which is good to know.
You always have to look out that you
have enough gas in your tank because
there is only one gas station.
Also at the harbor we saw a fishing boat
where the fishermen unloaded the fish.
They just threw it on the ground there.
Quite a lot of flying fish.
The fish is not very big.
Maybe 20 centimeters. Big eyes.
The kids there decided it was too hot
and they just jumped into the harbor.
Simple joy.
It was actually quite hot on that day.
This is how they prepare the fish.
Not very hygienic.
Then they dry the fish in the sun.
Then we went further up the coast
to see the Lanyu Lighthouse,
which is on a hill. There is a small
road from the main road up the hill.
And there you can see great views
across the ocean.
The lighthouse itself is nice, but
you cannot get close to it, which
was a bit disappointing.
Then, in the evening, the owner of the
guesthouse took us on a little boat trip.
He is also a fisherman, so he took us
on a boat and showed us how he pulls in
the net with the flying fish.
He actually caught quite a lot of fish.
Big eyed flying fish.
In the net there were also some
smaller fish and longer fish and also
a bigger one.
There is the bigger one.
That was fun. So guesthouses might
arrange this kind of fishing experience.
Then the next morning I went to the coast early.
And I saw this scenery, which looked
a bit more like Ireland or Scotland
than a tropical island.
The coast there is quite rocky,
no sandy beaches.
I did make a short timelapse.
Interesting how the clouds are moving across the sky.
Then our photographer went on a little
scooter trip down to the south.
There he saw some goats and made pictures.
So you can see goats all over the island.
Sometimes they just walk on the street.
They are always nice to watch. A bit shy
but you can get good shots of them.
Then we had breakfast and after breakfast
our guesthouse owners arranged a
snorkeling trip for us. So we went to a spot
close to the airport. And we were really
amazed by the beautiful coral reefs.
Lot of different tropical fish and
a lot of different corals. We had the
life vests on and had floating rings, so
we were just floating at the surface.
And you could see quite a lot of beautiful fish.
It was like swimming in the aquarium.
So this is definitely something
you should do if you visit Lanyu.
Make sure you go on a snorkeling or
diving trip if you can dive. Very beautiful.
The visibility was quite good too.
Then we went to the other side of the
island to the east coast.
There is a road across the mountains
to the other side from where you have
great views.
There you can see Yeyin Village and
further up the coast
there is Dongqing Village.
In Yeyin Village we saw some pigs
on the road.
They were actually crossing the road
disregarding the traffic.
You can see the pigs are all black.
Then we went further north to Dongqing,
there is a bay, Dongqing Bay where you
can see the sunrise in the morning.
So if you want to see the sunrise you
might to want to stay in a guesthouse
at Dongqing on the east coast not on
the west coast.
Then we had lunch at this restaurant
which has an interesting interior design.
For lunch we had a simple meal, cold noodles,
fried rice,
Italian noodles.
There was a cat sitting on the window sill.
The neck was injured.
If you like cats,
there are a lots of cats all over Lanyu.
Btw, all the photos in this videos were shot
by our photographer, Ah-Guo.
Then I walked around Dongqing a little bit
and saw some pigs,
those were kept in an enclosure.
It was lunchtime,
so they were sleeping.
And there you can see how the mountains look in Lanyu.
Lush forest. There you can see more goats.
More pigs.
You can see a lot of junk as well,
around the villages.
This is Dongqing Bay again.
And this is the main road throught Dongqing Village.
Not much going on there.
And those canoes you can see them
quite often in pictures of sunrises,
because people go to this beach to shoot
the sunrise. The sun will rise on the left side.
In Dongqing there is also this interesting
pillar with motives of Tao canoes,
and flighing fish, and the silver helmets worn by the
people during festivals.
There is also an art studio where we did
take some pictures.
There is the pillar again.
There is some more drying fish. You can
see that we had a lot of fun there on the
island.
This is actually a bus station. There is
indeed a bus service, which circles the island
a few times a day, but it is more for
locals, not for tourists.
And behind Dongqing Village on a hill
there is a cross from where you have great
views.
Then we went further up the coast to
the Lovers' Cave, which is not actually
a cave, but just a whole in the wall.
There you can see the bay again.
It was actually quite cloudy there,
but it was not raining, maybe it was
raining in the mountains.
There you can see a huge rock, and there
is the hole in the wall.
To get there you have to go north
of Dongqing and then look for a small
road on the right side, there is no
sign, so just look for a small road
down to the coast.
And then you can get close to the hole ther,
but you have to be careful, because the stones are
quite sharp. So don't wear flip-flops.
And we did look around and took some photos.
Quite an interesting place,
interesting volcanic rock.
There you can see the hole, there is water
down there.
It's quite deep, so you don't want
to get too close, you don't want to
fall down there.
This looks more dangerous than it
actually was. But you have to be careful.
Cause it is quite high up.
This looks like a head, a very nice silhouette.
Strange rocks are among the scenic attractions
of Lanyu. Lanyu is a very beautiful place
with a lot of interesting scenery.
Then we saw goats coming from the plain.
And they gathered at this rock. We found out
that goats like to go to higher places in
the evening. Maybe they feel safer there.
The climb very high up on the rocks.
They are good climbers. I wonder where they
sleep at night, cause there are no flat spaces.
You can see goats all over the island.
They are everywhere.
Then there were more coming.
They crossed the water there.
I like goats. It's fun watching them,
especially the little ones.
This was late in the afternoon and they
probably came here to stay for the night.
That's my guess. This is a typical scene of Lanyu.
If you see pictures of Taiwan with
goats on rocks, then it definitely must be in Lanyu.
And we said Good Bye to the goats
and went further up the coast to see more strange rocks.
First, what's called the
Warship Rock, or Battleship Rock.
It's a bit off the coast and looks from afar like
a battleship.
And the Beauty Rock is this one,
also very strange, right by the main road.
This is on the northern side of the island.
Then we went further..., back to the
western coast, past the harbor, and south
of Yeyou Village is this spot where you can
see the sunset, but we didn't have luck with
the weather, so the sun was somewhere behind
the clouds there. But nevertheless it was
quite a beautiful spot. There you can see
there were also goats on the rocks.
Then I did make a little timelapse again,
without the sun, but I liked how the clouds
where moving across the sky.
It was actually a bit darker than it looks here.
You can see the Mantou Rock.
From this angle it looks very round.
Then it was time for dinner and we had beef noodles.
Strangely they don't seem to have
goat meat noodles.
And we tried this drink.
It's not a pineapple, it's a screw pine fruit drink.
I didn't try it, so I am not sure how it tastes.
I think not very special.
Then the next morning I got up very early
and went to the Weather Station, which is on a hill,
on the road connecting the west and
the east coast, and from there you have a
great view across the eastern coast.
And there you can see the sunrise.
Unfortunately the sun was behind the
clouds again, but it's amazingly beautiful
up there. So if you want to see the sunrise
make sure you get up early and ride a
scooter up there to the weather station.
Then, after the sunrise, it was still
early in the morning and I rode the scooter
down to the east coast and then around
the southern coast. I made a longer video
of me riding the scooter and it's somewhere
on this Youtube channel. This the faster version.
The road is a bit bumpy and the
video is quite shaky. At least you can
how it is when you ride down the east coast.
You see the southern part of the island, there
are no villages or houses. It's just
mountains on the right and the ocean on
the left side.
Then you come to the southern tip, there are
some strange rocks as well. Helmet Rock.
Sleeping Lion Rock, goats on the street.
And then we had breakfast, and then we
went together to the Green Green Grasslands,
which are on the southwestern side of the island
south of Hongtou Village.
And there you have green grassland and you can see
there is a trail there.
It started to rain a little bit, there are raindrops on the lens.
We did take photos there of the
Green Green Grasslands.
And then, if you follow the trail you come to
these cliffs, which are quite impressive.
Quite surprising, we didn't expect that.
There you can see the beautiful water down there.
It's quite high up, maybe 30-50 meters.
So you have to be careful, don't get too
close to the edge. We made photos there.
I don't think you can go down to the beach,
to the water. I didn't see any trail down there.
It's quite steep.
Could be a good site for rock climbers.
Beautiful how the water is so azure.
There in the distance you can see Little Lanyu again. Small Lanyu.
This is also a nice spot for watching the sunset
when the weather is fine.
Then we went further down the coast again to the
southern tip. And there is another
interesting rock, which is called the
Dragon Head Rock.
I am not sure what the dragon head is, maybe the top part.
It looks a bit like a dragon.
Then we went a bit further down south and
there are two more rocks, the Sleeping Lion
Rock and the Elephant Trunk Rock.
I don't know which is which or I can't see
any lion or elephant trunk, but it looks interesting.
Then it was time for lunch,
and we went back to Hongtou Village on the western coast and
there is a small restaurant. First we had ice cream.
We saw a fat sausage dog
and a fat cat. Both were fighting a little bit.
And then we had lunch. First ice cream.
And this is fried flying fish with rice and
I had a curry rice, very tasty.
These are some tourists, they enjoyed their
time on Lanyu. Yeah, victory.
And also at Hongtou Village, there are
some souvenir shops where you can buy souvenirs.
This is one of them.
There was a stray dog outside.
Then we went to the
Lan En Cultural and Educational Foundation, close to the
airport. They have some exhibits about
local culture. And there is also this
interesting building where we made photos.
Then it was almost time to get back to
Taiwan and I had an hour or so time, so
I went back to the coast. This is actually
the spot where we did go snorkeling.
And I had a final look at the western coast
and I went to the water and listened to the waves.
Then we were back on the ferry and we saw
the same group we saw when we came and
they were as excited as before.
Then we saw a yacht, a sailing boat.
And you can see, the weather changed.
The minute we left the harbor it started
raining so we had much luck during our trip.
For two days on Lanyu we had no rain at all,
just a few drops maybe.
Then we left the harbor.
The ferry was turning.
So we only spent two days, would
have been nice to stay a few more days, but
we had a great time there. I really enjoyed
the scenery, and the snorkeling of course,
great snorkeling, and talking to the
guesthouse owner was also interesting.
He told us a lot about Lanyu, the people there,
and we learned quite a lot.
You can see the weather was really changing
to the worse.
And that's one thing you have to watch out for.
If you plan to go to Lanyu, make sure that you
follow the weather forecast, because during
bad weather often the flights are cancelled
or the ferries are cancelled. And especially
during the summer when there are typhoons
approaching you better don't go there
because you might get stranded on the island
for a few days because there are no ferries
or planes. Also during bad weather, if the
ferries are going, it can be quite "hard".
You can get seasick quite easily so you
better bring seasickness pills.
Yah, thanks for watching. That's all for
today. Hope you liked what you saw.
Going to Lanyu is very much recommended.
It's so different from Taiwan and it is a really
interesting place. If you want to learn
more about Taiwan you can read our magazine
online or you can download the iPad app.
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Thanks for watching, and see you again soon!
Bye bye!