Lan Yu Travel Guide

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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....) 

 kenmerk Says:  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. 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  There were so much nice healthy coral growth on this wreck that it was hard to pick where to shoot.... I just hope this island stays off the beaten path to keep it that way.... 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  Beautiful dive just off of the port. A series of blue holes, and swim throughs. The area is decorated with sea fans, and populated with sea snakes.... 

 kenmerk Says:  Now, don't just go meandering down to the coast, expecting taht you will get a prime perch for that sunset view.... Seems to me that the locals get priority on seating.... (The local GOATS that is....) I saw these guys up on this little rock out cropping watching the sunset... 

 kenmerk Says:  Remember, whatever you do, please don't grab the one of the many poinous sea snakes in these water by the tail.... (Especially bare handed, this is definately a no-no...) 

 kenmerk Says:  Tho' Orchid island is basically a safe quiet place, BEWARE !!! There are more than a few four footed prowlers about....And these guys are agile. See this goat entering the second story window of a building.... (No idea how he got up there, or what he might be prowling about... 

 kenmerk Says:  A few of the traditional canoes lined up here... These boats are used mostly for festivals and local celebrations... I'd like to get out to Orchid Island when one of these parties is going on, though. From the pictures I've seen, it does look to be quite the bash....... 

 kenmerk Says:  Walk my way,And a thousand violins begin to playOr it might be the sound of your helloThat music I hear,I get Whispie the moment you're near....Well, the firewater of choice amongst the natives out this way appears to be Whispie, which is a locally Taiwan produced concoction...