Day 8: Visiting Air Force Museum, Lotus Lake, and Chengcing Lake

     It was sunshine in Kaohsiung. Our first stop was visiting Ganshan Air Force Museum which is open to the public only on Sat. and Sun. We had three gentlemen who were retired USAF and were stationed in Taiwan during the Vietnam War. They were interested in visiting the museum. So here we were. 

Picture from Taipei Air Station
This is the front gate of the Ganshan Air Force Base and the Air Force Academy along with the Air Force Museum.    

Picture is from Ann & Ted
There were some fighter jets displayed outside of the museum. The sun was very bright and it was not my cup of tea to see those fighterjets, so I along with the other ladies were waiting for the gentlemen at the souvenir shop. 

Day 7-- Kenting National Park to Chijen, Kaohsiung

     Maobitou Park

      We would leave for Kaoshiung and continue our journey toward the north. Maobitou Park was our last stop for our visit in Kenting National Park. This park is also one of the most visit spots in the park. The entire national park is formed by massive coral reefs for millions of years. Maobitou is due to fallen coral reefs which has formed a shape like a crouching cat looking at the ocean. Hence, local residents named itMaobitou which Mao means Cat and Bitou means nose head.     

Vendors sell all kinds of merchandises near the parking lots. 

This look out area is the best place to see the shape of the crouching cat. Also it is at the border of the  Bashi Straits and the Taiwan Straits. 

Day 6 : Kenting National Park

     It was raining when we arrived at the hotel. The hotel was in a remote area which is isolated from the city and there was any other restaurants nearby. Our choice for super was at the restaurant in the hotel. After having simple fried rice and one dish of vegetable and soup, we went to check the outdoor hot springs' pools. There were two pools under canopies and some pools were under the sky. Some Chinese tourists already enjoyed soaking in the hot springs. Because of the rain, my husband and I decided not to go for it. Our friends soaked in the hot springs and told me that they really did enjoy the hot springs. 

This was the view in front of the hotel. We left a little bit later than the Chinese  tourists. So we had a chance to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place.  

Since we visited the east coast, we had seen this scenery everyday. I liked the fresh and peaceful feeling. 

Pitrure from Ann and Ted
This was the outdoor hot springs pools in the hotel. The hotel website stated that "its hot springs came from a 1460 meter deep underground thermal water. Its quality is more pure than other hotels which hot springs were only from a few hundred meters deep." Every morning, the hotel will open the value of the pipe line which went all the way to the thermal water source in order to clean and maintain the pipe line. If you wake up early, you can see steam come out from the pipe line. 

We had traveled 403 km so far from north down to south on the east coast.  

We would take Highway 9 crossing the mountain to the west towards Kenting National Park, which wad established in 1984. It was the first national park in the southernmost part of Taiwan. It would take us about 3 and half hours driving (121km) without a break on a winding mountain road. So we left a little bit early, but it was still later than those Chinese tourists. Our first stop ten minutes after we left was a 7-11 store for cups of American coffee and snacks to go along with the mountain drive.   

Picture from Taipei Station
We stopped at the Daiwu rest area for our second stop, a pee break and also sightseeing. We were at Daniao village in Dawu township which is an aboriginal territory.   

Day 5 Visiting the East Rift Valley Scenic Area

     We left our hotel in downtown Hualien at 9 am and traveled south to Chiben, in Taitung county for the night. The rain hung in there all day with a light drizzle. It had rained since day one when we started our journey. Well, we all had to learn how to get along with the nature. 

     My husband's friend has a private airport in Hualien. My husband decided to take us to see his friend's airport at the last moment. So, I made a phone call to his friend for visiting his airport. That was not a problem at all. He had his employee waited for us. At the same time he invited all of us for a lunch. The idea was definitively not in our plans. So I had to say no to him. Don't be surprised for this type of hospitality as it is part of the Taiwan culture.   

One of my friend's hangers

His airplanes (picture from Taipei Air Station)