????????????DONG'AO & NAN'AO maybe the CUTEST CORNER OF TAIWAN (東海岸:東澳&南澳)
Third day of our recent East Coast trip. We visited the southernmost parts of Yilan County, including Dong'ao and Nan'ao. Very special places, indeed! :)
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Gear used for this video
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Panasonic Lumix GH4:
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PANASONIC LUMIX G X Vario Lens, 12-35mm:
PANASONIC LUMIX G Vario Lens, 100-300mm:
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GoPro Session 4 & 5
Travel in Taiwan magazine (2017-05-06)
By Rick Charette
Coastal Scenery – Dong’ao and Nan’ao
The inexpressibly impressive Su-Hua Highway twists and turns, often high above the sea etched into the cliffs, 118km between Su’ao and the coastal city of Hualien. On this trip we venture south to the town of Nan’ao. The highway, a delivery vehicle to magisterial scenery in places, began as a mere footpath hacked from the coastal mountainsides by China’s Qing Dynasty government between 1874 and 1876. From Nanfang’ao to Nan’ao, the terrain is defined by steep cliffs footed by wave-pounded rocky shores, indented periodically by bays, small fishing ports, and narrow arable alluvial flatlands.
The Dong’ao port, small and tranquil Fenniaolin Fishing Harbor, is reached from the coastal highway via a long cliff-base road beside a broad turquoise-hue bay and gravel beach decorated with a fantastic kaleidoscope of stones each an artwork in itself, each a painter’s canvas of marvel-inducing color variation in miniature. The coastal highway here, seen above, snakes along so high up that crested serpent eagles drift below rather than above it.
The harbor is on the north-side foot of nose-shaped Wushibi, the most prominent headland along the Su-Hua Highway, which projects far out into the sea. Clamber over the dike-wall on the harbor’s ocean-facing side to enjoy the thrilling seascape of wave-washed reefs and water-surrounded rock formations at the hidden-away “Secret Rocky Shore.”
In Nan’ao, the Chaoyang Trail starts by the roadside just before Chaoyang Fishing Harbor. Stretching 2.2km, it runs up and over 181m-high Guishan (“Turtle Mountain”). The steep first section is conquered in 10~15 minutes, delivering hikers to a hilltop lookout with a commanding overview of harbor, sea, Wushibi on the north, and a narrow arm of the fertile, farm-dotted Nan’ao alluvial plain. Keep an eye out for tree frogs trailside, and eagles overhead.
If you happen to understand Chinese, and happen to search online for good places for a Nan’ao meal, you’re sure to come across the effusive recommendations given the country-warmth Good Eats Café. On the main floor of a two-floor residence just off the coastal highway on the Chaoyang Harbor road, it’s run by a Taipei refugee whose plan to move here to run a small organic farm morphed into running the café to showcase healthy local produce. Meals, based on what she has just harvested and purchased at Chaoyang Harbor, include such Taiwanese rural-style treats as chicken soup with mustard greens and yam, Hakka-style “tofu” made with peanut and rice powder (no soybean), and pumpkin cake.
Good Eats Café (好糧食堂)
Tel: 0919-117-273
Add: No. 13-1, Nan’ao Rd., Su’ao Township, Yilan County
(宜蘭縣蘇澳鎮南澳路13-1號)
Website: okogreen.com.tw/blog/4326 (Chinese)
Chaoyang Fishing Harbor
This harbor, sleepy most of the day, is bracketed by high bluffs. Wushibi serves as the natural barrier on its north side. The waters beyond the harbor are the richest fishing grounds in Su’ao Township’s south area. The rocky shores here are also a favorite with shore fishermen.
Local buyers and tourists flock here daily at around 7am and 4pm, when boats arrive laden with catch from the deep open sea and especially the rich Kuroshio Current that rushes north off the east coast. After boats dock impressively large and high-value migratory catch is tossed up, and camera-toting tourists are mightily impressed with the seemingly chaotic yet highly disciplined public buying process, carried out rapidly with surprising quiet.
Finish your southeastern Yilan expedition with a windy walk along long, long Mystery Beach, just south of the Chaoyang harbor/trail area. Nature’s power is on glorious display here. Artists delight at the prodigious pile-up of driftwood specimens driven high up the beach by Taiwan’s typhoons, and the mighty coastal currents create tremendous roiling waters that bash the shore with thundering audio accompaniment.
Chaoyang Fishing Harbor 朝陽漁港
Chaoyang Trail 朝陽步道
Fenniaolin Fishing Harbor 粉鳥林漁港
Mystery Beach 神秘海灘
Su-Hua Highway 蘇花公路