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Pingtung's
Mountains and Coast
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| Get away from it all on a motorized raft, and feel the salty sea breeze caress you as you weave in and out amongst rows of oyster racks at Tapeng Bay. |
On those scorching hot summer days, do you think about getting right away from the oppressive humidity in the large cities" You needn't spend a lot, and you don't have to leave Taiwan. Just take a trip to the mountains and sea waters of Pingtung, where you can fly through the air hang gliding, and explore the underwater beauty of coral; or perhaps, sample all kinds of Fujianese and Hakka food delicacies, and even take part in a Rukai tribal banquet personally prepared by a Rukai chief. Perhaps the best thing of all would be just letting the deep sea waters and verdant mountain forests of Pingtung at Taiwan's "tail,"along with its feast of amazing historical landmarks, wash your eyes clear and rinse away the weariness that's crept into body and mind.
Covering an area of more than 2,700 square kilometers, Pingtung is shaped rather like a long handle, with Kaoping Creek and the Central Mountain Range forming the two outer edges of one end. Pingtung borders on Kaohsiung to the west, and Taitung to the east. The famous Hengchun Peninsula is situated at the other end of the "handle,"surrounded by the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel and the Pacific Ocean. The county has 33 urban and rural townships, the highest number of any county in Taiwan.
Topographically, Pingtung can be divided into three quite different kinds of terrain: a western coastal plain, an eastern mountain area, and the southern Hengchun Peninsula. The Pingtung region was originally called Ahhou, based on the name of an Aboriginal settlement. Mt. Peitawu in Pingtung's northeast, some 3,000 meters high, is sacred to both Paiwan and Rukai tribespeople. A couple of years ago Taiwan's first Hakka Culture Park, in Pingtung County's Liutui area, was personally opened by President Chen Shui-bian. Having culture parks of these two great peoples here in the one region, is testimony to the richness and fertile beauty of Pingtung's multicultural community, in which both tribal and Chinese traditional culture find vibrant expression.
Pingtung's terrain too is extremely diverse, especially on the island of Hsiao Liuchiu, long called Paradise on the Sea, and in our first National Park, in Kenting. Since 2001 the Bluefish Tuna Festival, organized and promoted by the Pingtung County government, has attracted thousands of visitors each year from all parts of Taiwan to come and enjoy the mountains and relax in the water, clearly demonstrating that Pingtung deserves the title of "Taiwan's No. 1 Holiday Destination."
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