World Class Scenery on the Hengchun Peninsula   
1. Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs and the National Aquarium   

The Ssuchunghsi hot springs and open-air water therapy have become Pingtung's latest attraction. At holiday times there's a constant stream of visitors to the local South Formosa Hotel.

On their way to Kenting, the major resort city on the Hengchun Peninsula, visitors can stop off first of all at one of Taiwan's four most famous springs, the Ssuchunghsi hot springs in Checheng. You can bathe in the healing open-air calcium carbonate spring water to wash away any travel-weariness, then savor a cup of the unique local coffee. This is truly one of life's great pleasures. 

Taiwan, surrounded by water, has abundant marine life. You can see a microcosm of its ecology at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

Another favorite tourist destination in Checheng is the famous National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, the largest in Taiwan, with its original "Taiwan Waterworld." The Coral Kingdom Display reopened in summer 2001 and it was thronged with visitors at its reopening ceremony. The aquarium complex is open until 8 p.m. in holiday times and we suggest that to avoid the really crowded times, you come in and see the fish feeding at 4.30 p.m., then wait until the crowds disperse a bit before checking out the coral. For the feeding display, underwater divers go into a huge fish tank to feed a great variety of fish, including stingrays, great sea turtles, and sharks. Something very important is to remind people that strong light can harm fishes"eyes. It can alarm whole schools of fish and even incite some to attack their feeders. So, when you're taking any photos, be absolutely sure not to use the flash. 

Creating the Coral Display cost several hundred million NT dollars. A walkway takes visitors slowly downwards around an enormous round column-shaped water tank. Gor geous tropical fish dart about at the top level, and you can see all kinds of bearded corals swaying back and forth in the water, before you finally come to the world of a sunken boat. The sight of it lying on the seabed, its skeleton spotted and streaked as it rusts away, sends shivers down one's spine. This, and the schools of sparkling, glistening translucent fish are sure to excite the limitless imagination of young visitors. 

2. Three Treasures and Three Curiosities of Hengchun 

In times past Hengchun was known as Langchiao. A county administration was established there during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty and a city wall built. All four of the old city wall's original gates remain completely intact to this day, and the East Gate still retains a section of the city wall which lends a rich sense of what it must have been like in former times. 

About five kilometers east of the Hengchun city wall is Chuhuo, famous for its ground fire. Chuhuo is situated on a mud rock layer with abundant underground natural gas. The gas continually escapes because of faulting, so if you strike a match, flames appear from the ground and spread about in all directions. It's especially awe-inspiring in winter and spring, when the weather is drier. 

After driving through Hengchun, you'll see small commercial vehicles beside the road selling bags of onions, three large bags for just NT$100. It's a reminder of the times of the "three treasures of Heng-chun,"namely onions like these, sisal, and watermelons, but these days such treasures don't spark much interest. 

Near the Third Nuclear Power Plant is the Sisal Museum. The sisal plant has thick hard leaf blades with sharp thorns. Sisal used to be used in making rope and it was planted all along the Hengchun coastline to prevent Communist paratroopers from secretly invading, now both things of the past. 

Hengchun also has its "three curiosities" its powerful chinook-type wind that blows down from the mountains, betel palms, and the old musician Chen Te, who had a world famous hit. The Taiwan Railway Administration is planning on extending the western north-south railway from Fangliao to Hengchun, so more people will soon be able to get to know this beautiful old city. 

3. Kenting National Park 

The Kenting area has a profusion of top-class hotels, including the Kentington Resort. Situated between the mountains and the sea, it offers the finest facilities. Guests can completely unwind and enjoy being pampered.

The U-shaped Kenting National Park extends over more than 30,000 hectares, encompassing both mountain and sea areas. The landscape is rugged and the terrain highly varied. Its marine monsoon climate has quite distinct wet and dry seasons, which interplay with the local topography giving rise to the almost magical profusion of local conditions experienced here. Generally speaking, if you come for a three-day/two-night trip, you'll only get a tiny glimpse of what there is to see, and have little opportunity to explore its wonders. To really do it justice, try and stay a few days longer to savor the details, enjoy the bird life, or observe the stars. 

Kenting can be called Taiwan's most popular tourist destination. 
Its flat expanses of shell beaches are ideal for watersports such as swimming, surfing, and skin diving. At night cool breezes blow and visitors can wander through Kenting's downtown area and enjoy the romantic ambience of the open-air bars and coffee lounges. The Howard Plaza Hotel is a hot favorite with the younger set; they can't tear themselves away from its underground Spaceport 9 and Waterworld entertainment venues.

At the end of Kenting's main road, after rounding the Oluanpi Lighthouse at Taiwan's southernmost tip, you enter the Lungkeng Coral Reef Conservation Area. The terrain here and at Chialoshui, slightly to the north, has been eroded and scoured by the sea, to leave all kinds of huge, bizarrely shaped rocks strewn all over the natural terraces. And there are sea trenches and deep pools which just take your breath away as you marvel at these wondrous natural creations. 

Kenting's terrain is extremely varied. Extensive luxuriant hill pastures, where cattle and sheep idly graze, begin just a few feet from the shore. And the Kenting Forest Recreation Area is a miniature showcase of Taiwan's tropical rain forests, full of scenic delights. Go for a stroll, take some deep deep breaths and let the Mother Nature's energy wash through and over you. 

About 45 minutes" drive from downtown Kenting is Mt. Nanjen, which has Taiwan's only remaining low-altitude primeval forest. Here you can get a glimpse of the old Formosa and what the Kenting paradise world must have originally been like before the Kenting region was opened up. The Mt. Nanjen Conservation Area contains hills, lakes, marshes and a stretch of coastline. Within its 500 hectares can be found a third of Taiwan's entire range of plant species, and many examples of Taiwan's other living organisms, including the Formosan rock monkey, the japalura lizard, the jambo dragonfly, and the pancala snail, making it a real-life natural history museum. 

After entering the Mt. Nanjen area visitors can follow a hiking trail for about 4.3 kilometers, to finally climb to the summit of Mt. Nanjen, over 400 meters above sea level. The view is glorious, and at the foot of the mountains stretches out the long unbroken Nanjen Lake. When the weather's fine it's like a clear blue mirror, and it eases your heart and mind. 

4. Dune Buggying at Chiupeng, Ocean Views at Hsuhai  

The Mt. Nanjen Conservation Area contains a vast variety of plants and animals. A maximum of 400 people are allowed to enter on any one day, to prevent disturbance or damage.

If you leave Kenting National Park and head from Mt. Nanjen towards Pingtung, there's a relatively unvisited tourist track which goes northeast towards the coastline. Because fewer people go there, its pristine tranquility is particularly striking. Screwpine growing along the sides of the mountain track and looking as if it might attack passers-by is held back by wire netting. The scene is bleak and desolate.

In recent years it's become a craze to get a jeep and go for a buggy ride on the sands. It all began here at Chiupeng. The two dune areas at Chiupeng and Kangtze cover a wide area of more than 200 hectares. In winter Pingtung's peculiar mountain wind 

Nanjen Lake with its exquisite scenery nestles tranquilly amongst mountain peaks.

wildly sweeps up the sand on the beaches, where it piles up forming sand mounds in long continuous lines. You can sit in one of the modified high-powered jeeps of the professional operators, and drive through water, over rocks, whirl about on the sand, and then hurtle downwards from the top of a sand mound as high as a five-story building. Your heart will really race--there's simply nothing to compare with it! 

Sand dunes rising and falling just near the beach are one of the masterpieces created by the chinook-type wind that blows down off Pingtung's mountains. Visitors who want to experience the thrill of dune buggying can hire a jeep and hurtle downwards from a more than ten-meter high dune.

Equally stimulating is to take a ride in one of the high clearance nine-seater mini-vans and go "leaping about" on the Chiuhai grasslands. The vehicle gets jolt ed and bumped around between giant rocks, and people who don't have a strong enough spine might find being thrown about like that really unbearable. Since the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology set up a base here the Hsuhai grasslands have already shrunk considerably. Nevertheless gazing down from the quiet summit of Mt. Hsuhai at the mysterious deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean and clouds floating by in the distance lets you feel you are in another world, and a deep sense of relaxation and calm completely envelops you.
 

Some Travel Details *The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium: Address: 2 Houwan Road, Houwan Village, Checheng Rural Township, Pingtung County  Phone: (08) 882-5678 / 0800-024-545.  *Visitors to Mt. Nanjen and Lungkeng Ecological Protection Area must first apply for an entry pass, and must go to the Kenting National Park Headquarters to check on current conditions before entry is allowed. Mt. Nanjen is closed on Tuesdays and for two months every year. For information about the regulations regarding access to protected areas please contact the Kenting Office on (08) 886-1321. Regarding applications for a pass, phone 08-886-2048, or check out the website at http://www.ktnp.gov.tw.  *Chiupeng Dune has three dune buggy operators. Dune buggy hire costs NT$300 for a 15 minute session, and jeeps are NT$1,200. The price includes an instructor. These businesses close at dusk. Contact: Kangtze Vehicle Team on (08) 881-0241.  *To hire a minivan around Hsuhai contact the Hsuni Parking Station on 08-883-0429.

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