Last day on Lamey Island



Ringo is my hero. Nothing to do with music. I saw a YouTube video of his 83rd birthday party in Beverly Hills. He looks 50. The scuttlebutt is that he is a vegan and that that is the proximate cause of his youthful appearance. (Hair coloring looked like another factor to me.)


    I leave this island tomorrow morning, set for a long trip up the east coast of Taiwan. I have to get to Taipei which should be easy. There’s no high speed rail on that coast so I’ll need to resort to long bus rides along mountainous terrain. 

I skipped most of the tourist stops and set myself the task of trying out every accessible beach on Lamey. Most of the littoral here is rocky but there are a few places where you an gambol down to a patch of sand that gives you an opening to swim in the cool waters of the Pacific. I found four such places. 

Secret Beach

Beauty Beach: tricky coral outcroppings make it slightly hazardous to get to the open ocean, but a nice place. Rated B+

Venice Beach (yes, that’s the name): a wide expanse of sand but too much coral to make swimming free and easy. Rated C.

Zhongao Beach: right next to the ferry terminal area, the best pure beach on the island, a wide expanse of sand with minimal coral to impede a luxurious swim. The only bad part is there is no shade so you must endure intense sunlight to partake. (they did build a wooden structure up hill from the beach that offers shade). Grade A.

Secret Beach: my favorite of the lot but very small. Snorkelers use the narrow channel to swim out to interesting coral sites. Grade A-.




    I embarrassed myself at dinner this evening. I ordered a delicious shrimp stirfry meal and a bowl of soup. I didn’t realize that here in Taiwan soup is not a side dish but the main course. The bowl was huge. I’m sure the kids in the restaurant were bemused by my faux pas. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last day in Taiwan

  Hengchun I spent one day in this coastal city. Late that day I got an email from Melody. Her mother was deathly ill, and in the hospital. My presence was needed immediately at home (well, actually in Los Angeles). I bought a plane ticket for the next day. Thanks to Taiwan’s great transportation system I got back to Taipei in five hours. I spent a few hours trying to purchase some gifts, then headed to the airport for my flight. The plane left just after midnight. Twelve hours later I was in LA.  The health scare faded, I’m happy to relate. Medy is now healed and at home. I lost a few days of my journey but that’s no great problem. 
Read more

Sloth

06-18-23 Sunday What can be said about a life with so little substance? I wake up; I take a tour on the hammock that occupies half of my porch, maybe an hour each morning?; then I read for a couple hours on the rattan couch in my living room; followed by a couple hours looking at YouTube videos on my laptop; then more reading and hammockery. Somehow the hours pass and the day is gone. All the while I persecute myself with accusations of sloth (the charges are clearly valid). How do I justify doing nothing for two weeks? Generally on my travels I don’t tarry anywhere very long, always seeking out museums, bicycle tours, parks, restaurants, riversides. But Princesa has none of these. There is a small port that I visited one of the first days. I’ve spent some hours investigating the city with its myriad shops and markets, but there isn’t much to see. I took a ride to the nearest tourist attraction, the ‘Underground River’, but that was a vapid exercise further ruined by an argument I h...
Read more

Impressions of the capital city

Impressions of Taipei You are unlikely to be greatly disturbed in Taipei. Crime seems nonexistent. Places to eat are so abundant they seem overbearing at times. There is just enough English to allow a Westerner to survive with minimal bumps in the road. There is a Starbucks on every corner…..seemingly. There are neighborhoods where teens and young adults carouse in clubs, bars, and comfortable places to linger over a meal.  Yet this isn't a place where strangers will come away with great memories. Concerts and plays are scarce if thatś your hope. Beaches are distant (but accessible by public transit). And there is the overbearing presence of the heat. For reasons I can't fathom there is no liberating fog in Taiwan though Taipei is only a few kilometers from the ocean. And the wind…..it is almost entirely absent unless you hie yourself to  the surrounding mountains. Thus Google routinely reports ¨36 degrees, feels like 46¨ (thatś 115 degrees to the English world).  My bigg...
Read more