Lovely Little Luichui

So after battling the CNY traffic on our bus, Daphne and I finally made it to Kaosiung from Kenting, where we were to catch our fairy boat to the small island of Luichui. Growing up on the Great Lakes of Michigan with a home on Beaver Island I was very used to ferry boat travel. I was stunned to see the size of the boat. It could not even carry cars. It was smaller than any boat I've ever seen in the great lakes to ferry passengers, and the big waves of the ocean did a good job of making us feel woozy. Luckily it was only a 20 minute ride.

The manager of the hostel met us with her scooter as well as one for us. The hostel price was 2500 NT, but that included the ferry boat round trip tickets, the room, a light breakfast, tickets to the nearest sights and a scooter from them for the entirety of our visit, as well as a guided night tour of some of the sights. The name of the hostel was only in Chinese, but here's the website: http://servers.ooops.com.tw/about.php

Hello Luichui!

After unloading our luggage at the hostel, we decided to find some dinner before the night tour. We found a barbecue place with some karaoke. The oysters were unbelievable, the fish was delicious, and the meat and vegetables paired with singing Taiwanese tourists was exactly what we needed to boost our energy after a long day of travel.

Fish and oysters, after the beef, corn, sausages and assorted veggies

We finished just in time to meet up for the night tour. While most of it was showing sights that I would rather see in the light, there were some historical stories, some legends, and some rock shadows made by flashlights that held our interest. There was also a couple sights of love birds sleeping in trees all snuggled together. Mostly, we found that this free tour was a good way to familiarize ourselves with the island so that we could come back in the daylight.

And that we did. We scootered around the whole island to see all of the major sights. It is mostly one big tourist trap, but since there are not many tourists that visit this small island, it wasn't crowded and still enjoyable.

The one sight that I really enjoyed seeing was the Black Dwarf Cave. It can hardly be called a cave, since it's just large enough to squeeze my skinny butt through it, any one taller than 5' or weighing more than 115 lbs would have a problem--and it's definitely not an adventure for the claustrophobic! My favorite part was the history of that cave. The original inhabitants of Liuchiu Island were Siraya aborigines. In the 1600s Taiwan was under Dutch occupation, and when The Golden Lion was shipwrecked off the coast of Luichiu, everyone on the ship was slaughtered by the island population. In retaliation, another Dutch ship came and massacred all of the aboriginals on the island. Those who managed to escape--several hundred--fled to Dwarf Cave and hid there. I cannot imagine so many fitting in this small crevice! The story ends with the Dutch filling the caves with oil and burning those inside alive. It's a chilling story, and to stand in that cave was an experience that I'm glad that I had.

Daphne squeezing through Black Dwarf Caves

Another place worth visiting are the Beauty Caves. We did not stick to the walking paths inside the fences, but climbed through the rocks and cliffs outside, getting some incredible views. The legend of these caves were that in the 1600s a Chinese statesman and his beautiful daughter were shipwrecked nearby while fleeing the invading Manchurians. They made their home in this cave and lived off fish and plants. After the father died (presumably of old age as no other reason was given), the aboriginals found the girl. Rather than leaving his body, she bit off her own tongue and killed herself.

Beauty Caves

Another must see is Vase rock. While there's not much to see or do once you've seen it, it is an iconic image of the island and is quite beautiful. After Vase rock we got some sashimi at a local place, picked up a few beers and hung out at Zhong Ao Beach until it was time to catch our boat home again. Zhong Ao is not the best beach if you like to swim--there's a no swimming policy--and it's not a white sandy beach but a pebble beach, littered with sea glass, shells and coral of all sorts of colors. I spent a lot of time collecting stones, shells and glass for my bamboo plant back in the states. The view was beautiful though and the beach was practically empty.

Vase Rock

Little Luichui is a day trip, maybe two if you don't do much either day. It's not a place that I would travel a long distance to go to, but if nearby, it is a great little known island for exploring!

Goodbye Luichui!

We had one stop before we went back home to Zhongli. The High Speed Railway station in Kaosiung. While looking for dinner at the station, we came across the most glorious pizza I have ever tasted at Pizza My Heart, on the 3rd floor. We chose the truffle pizza. It was mind blowing. The cheese was light and gooey, truffle flavor was in every bight, and it was cooked to perfection. And a bonus the sold micro-brews there--a rare find in Taiwan. Amazing truffle pizza and a Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar was the best way we could have possibly ended our trip. I would travel a long distance to eat there again!

Daphne and I enjoying good pizza and good beer