The South-Cross Island Highway is one of three highways that go from West to East (the other two being the North and Central). The reason these highways are famous is because they cut through the very centre of Taiwan, which is just one huge mountain range that pretty much runs from north to south of the island. And the South Highway is the most famous of them all because its goes through the highest mountain, Yushan (Jade mountain).
I am sure its possible to drive from Tainan (in the west) to Taidong (in the east) in one day, but we decided to take it easy, and camp for one night. So we drove at least a quarter of the way across before setting up camp.
There was a designated camp site in one of the large villages, but we refused to pay 400 dollars each just to put up camp and use the services. So instead, we drove to next small village, asked the local police where could we camp, and he suggested we use the school playground. So we did, and it was great. The school was closed, so no children to bother us, it had great views of the mountains and we had washrooms at our disposal, all for the bargain price of $0, not bad!
On the second day we reached the windy and cold summit, drove down to the eastern base of the highway, and then all the way down to Taidong. It was kind of weird how my layers of clothes I needed that day. At the summit, I was wearing, two layers of trousers, a T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, jumper, jacket and a hat. But a few hours later, I was driving along the sunny east coast in a T-shirt and my trousers rolled up.
Once we had reached Taidong, the plan was to stay the night, and the next day drive to Kenting. However, somewhere along the journey, my wallet was either stolen or lost. So that put an end to my holiday!
I tried, TRIED, to report my wallet as stolen, but after going to three different police stations in Taidong, nobody wanted to take my report down on paper. Probably because it was CNY and nobody could be bothered to deal with a foreign guy. I was then told to report it back in Tainan. Corey was pretty much to his last dollars, so he could not support the two of us for the next few days. So on the third day, I drove 6 hours straight from Taidong to Tainan, and when I got to the police station I was told, 'come back in one week, now is holiday!
Anyway, after a couple of days back in Tainan, I managed to get a few things sorted.
I still had five days of holiday left, and I was not going to spend them in Tainan. So, after borrowing some money (thanks Leeza!), I headed off to Xiao Liuqiu (Little liuqiu island). And that will be my next post.
1. I really don't think my scooter could fit any more. 2. My tent is the sloppy one, neither of us could quite work out how to put it up (You'd think they would have put instructions in the bag!)
The view driving up the highway
Its a long way down!
2. The view from Yakou, the highest section of the highway (2728 metres high)
And now its all downhill.
Tea plantations
1. Corey and I. 2. The east coast
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