Although our route leads south, we first traveled north. About 45 minutes north of the city the high mountain range we passed through yesterday runs into the Pacific Ocean. At that point, sheer cliffs run nearly vertical and form part of a spectacular coastline. Well worth the extra time to get there and back. On our way back we passed Hualien again and followed the coastline to Taitung, passing many villages, including some fishing harbours, along the way. The road resembled the road we travelled on yesterday, a continuation of bends and turns with hardly a straight bit of road. We stopped to check out the fishing boats in one of the harbours. The boats are so-called "Longliners". The way they fish is by way of using long single lines which can be several kilometers in length and catch anything that takes the bait- not a good practice as that could mean that turtles and dolphins could be caught as well. Interesting to note that the way these boats are built is by means of placing the hull on a series of long large diameter PVC pipes which are curled up at the ends.

Halfway between Hualien and Taitung you cross the Tropic of Cancer and enter the tropics. The marker is similar to the marker in Rockhampton in Australia (although that is the Tropic of Capricorn on the other side of the equator) with the exception that here in Taiwan it is surrounded by dozens of buses full of Mainland Chinese tourists.

In Taitung, we stayed in a private B&B, an ordinary house with a Taiwanese family which made a nice change from the hotels we have been staying in thus far. The main lounge was also one of the living rooms of the family and filled with lots of interesting stuff, three cats, 6 clocks (all chiming at the same time) and low Chinese style heavy wooden furniture. Upstairs a very large room with polished wooden floors and a double mattress for each on the floor. All ultra clean and air-conditioned. These B&Bs are good value for money and give you the opportunity to have more contact with the local population

The next day we followed the coastline all the way to the most southern point of Taiwan. Michael kept on saying that he hopes that Taiwan won't be discovered by Western tourists so “we can keep the secret about the beauty of Taiwan to ourselves.”. I suppose this statement has some merit as during one hour we counted about 50 or more large tourist buses coming our way. All of these buses are full of tourist from Mainland China. Every time when we passed something interesting there were always several buses with selfie-taking Chinese tourists around. At times it just looks ridiculous as in places they line up to take a picture of themselves or others in front of a rock or other artefact.

To get away from all of this, we travelled along some well-surfaced narrow roads leading to the southern tip of the island. The black volcanic beaches started to change into ordinary sand and sand dunes. In one of the villages we noticed a place where you could rent Quad Bikes- we just looked at each other and within seconds agreed - Yes! let's do it. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. The owner stayed with us and lead the way through the dunes, starting off with the easier ones and later the more challenging varieties. Glad he was there as we could easily have lost all sense of direction and each other as well.

After one more lookout with some great views and watching the crazy Chinese tourists who often took pictures of us (I suppose they may not have seen many Europeans before) we reached the most southern tip and the town of Kenting (or Kending), enjoying the sights and food it has to offer.