Eulianbi

Last weekend we went down to Eulianbi on the southernmost point of Taiwan. It's not too far from where we live, but it took three hours because of the twisty steep road through the mountains that come right down into to the ocean. It's amazing driving along where frequently we can see where the road was recently covered by a rock slide from above, or half the road has collapsed from below. It's an ongoing battle with nature, and the road always seems to lose. They were very busy keeping the road open and fortunately we were able to get all the way through.

Most of the beaches at Ulianbi are volcanic rock, not the most pleasant for walking, but incredible to see the waves crashing against where the lava has spilled into the ocean. Then there are some beautiful sand beaches from the crushed coral. We went out snorkeling (on our own this time, without all the gear, wetsuit, floatation device) and enjoyed the colorful fish and coral among the sand and volcanic rock. McKinley didn't like it when I would disappear to swim down to the bottom; I had forgotten how much harder it is to sink in salt water.

We spent the night at a campground near the beach, McKinley made friends with some Taiwanese kids. She's certainly not proficient in Chinese by any means, but its wonderful to see how she has learned to play and communicate enough with other children to have fun. She shared some sparklers with them and then they brought to us a bag of Lienu fruit (cone shaped, bright red on the outside, and white on the inside, sort of the texture and flavor of a pear). Then she gave them some chocolate marzipan that Anika had brought from Italy. And so they returned with a container of pickled Daikon. Finally we had to ask McKinley not to bring them anything more. We crawled in our tent to read some more of "Howle's Moving Castle" that we had been enjoying during the car ride.

The next morning we drove further along the coast. During the fall and winter, the strong winds off the ocean blow sand up on the cliffs, then in the spring and summer the heavy rains wash the sand down again to the beaches, which creates some beautiful patterns of sand and rock. These winds, which seemed to be particularly strong when we were there, also provided ideal conditions for people flying radar controlled gliders. So we enjoyed watching them dive and soar, until the wind drove us off.

The mountains are a result of volcanoes and the thrust of plate collisions as Taiwan is being heaved out of the ocean. We drove inland up a steep road, but all along the way were formations of coral, that somehow, not so long ago, were under the ocean I suppose. It's hard to imagine!

A bit further on there was an impressive array of satellite dishes, radar, etc. At first we couldn't figure out what this was all about, but then we saw the military uniforms, and . . . "Duh!" (we're right across from mainland China and remembering that the Taiwanese are keeping a careful eye on their big brother).