Lan Yu Things to Do

Although Chinese cement block housing has taken over much of the island, you can still find a group of the old style Lanyu housing on the south east side of the island.

The old style houses are half build into the ground and fortified with stone. (Presumably to protect the locals from the many typhoons that pass along this way....)

Even these old houses havent escaped the trappings of modern civilization, tho'.. (Note the electric meter on this house....)

Just about the best place that I found to watch the sunset is north of the airport on the west side of the island. You may have to shoo a few goats away to get a decent viewing, tho'.... (see warning tips....)

There are a few hiking trails around the island, most notably the trail to a small pond (Lanyu Tianchi) on the south side of the island. Trail is not the best, though it appears that they are now improving/widening it a bit.

I dunno the name of this particular rock formation, but I have to say taht it is one of the strangest ones that I have seen. Kinda looks like a big tiger rearing up and swatting away with its paws....

Anyway with the many typhoons that blow thru here, I'm sure that these rock formations are ever changing.

Located on the southwest side of the island...

A rock formation off of the east side of the island.... Its said that towards the end of WW2 the American Air force mistakenly though this rock formation was a Japanese battleship and bombed the hell out of it.... (I dunno if thats true, but their is a plaque nearby that gives this accounting...)

Located just off of the airport runway, you can see a large rock jutting out above the surface of the water. Underwater is a series of huge boulders that go down to a depth of about 35 meters.

Quite the epic scenery down here, weaving thru the array of underwater rock formations.

I dunno what the real name of this dive was, but there were lots and lots of sea snakes about.... (close to the harbour on the west coast of the island....) and the local guide we were with kept grabbing them by the tail with his bare hands... (see warning and danger tip...)

To each his own, I guess....

Stunning shipwreck in about 35 meters of water... This was a 200 meter long Korean cargo ship that sank about 25 years ago off the west coast of Orchid Island. The ship is decorated with an abundance of healthy soft coral and sea fans...