The Tour Islanded On: Day 3

Morning of day 3 we woke up and headed all the way south to the southern point called Kenting for the day.  Then started our way up the East coast where we ended up in Taitung.

Day 3 will be remembered as the day of walking..

and walking...

and walking...

...and walking.

A ton of things to see and lots of scenery.  

Also, tons and tons (and tons) of sweating...as you will see in pictures to follow.

Nothing like hiking in humidity.

I really mean that...nothing. 

We first stopped at a little fruit stand in the middle of nowhere right on the ocean.

They had the best pineapple samples I have ever tasted in my life...and since I'm a semi-impulse buyer, I indulged in a full pineapple, which I split with Katie.

(sisters)

They cut the pineapple there for you which was great.

Fresh, delicious pineapple bites.  Amazing.

After the fruit stand we headed all the way south to the southern point.  We went to the Kenting National Park which is pretty much the entire southern tip of the island.  The rest of the day was spent in the park going to different locations within it.

There we started the first of many walks that day.  We went to the top point of a mountain where you could see the whole south coast.  It was incredible.

The rock above is called "Nixon Rock" because it looks like the profile of Nixon...supposedly.  I had to google it but it works.

The next walk was to a lighthouse all through the forest to get there.

Above is called The Kissing Rocks.

The ocean is just beyond underneath.

The Eluanbi Lighthouse.

I have no idea what that tablet means but whatever.

The next part was a long walk through the forest which was so cool.

Samson above is showing us the trail and different stops we'll be taking.  He mentioned "there is a part with 300 stairs so prepare yourself"...woof.

Let's do this.

(it was raining on and off that day, thus the umbrella)

We walked through a greenhouse at first, thus the two plant pictures.

So many stairs!

This was right after the 300 stair climb.  It wasn't that bad.  I practically ran them though to get them over with faster.

At the top of the stairs there was a modern-looking pagoda that was above the trees that you could go up and get a 360 degree of everything around you.

(a sign at the top)

So much green!

After the building we just kept on walking through the forest forever.  It was awesome.  But I won't bore you with the million pictures I took of trees.

All the texture you see above and below is actually coral reef from billions of years ago that used to be at the bottom of the ocean (as it was explained to us).  Pretty cool!

We finished off the long hike by going through a cave.  Samson warned of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" in the cave and so to not be loud.  He volunteered me to go first because I looked the most "delicious."  Oh Samson, such a kidder.  I was the tour mascot for 5 minutes.

Leaving the cave.

After all of this I was done for the day, so thankfully all we had left was a two-hour bus ride north on the east coast to the hotel in Taitung.

Formosan Naruwan Hotel

My room.

I hardly remember it because I tuckered out almost instantly.