Xiaoliuqiu, Taiwan~ a compacted holiday with food, seafood, and so much more~

Hi Everyone~

The last four-day holiday weekend I travelled to Xiaoliuqiu with a friend of mine.

I would like to share my experience as a guidance for you all~

First and foremost, transportation.

1. Train or Taiwan high speed train
$ Buy a ticket to Zuoying station 左營站
If you travel on a normal weekday, book at least 5 days prior to get the maximum discount online, or else you can go and buy nonreserved seats on the day of departure to save about $50.
I took the train from Banqiao to Zuoying, non reserved seats, $1545

2. Go to donggang harbor 東港碼頭

Here, there're 3 way to do so.
1) Take metro $20 from high speed train station 高鐵左營站 to gaohsiong station 高雄車站 and transfer to bus 客運 $ 118 for any bus that goes to 東港. This is the method I took but allegedly it takes longer, which I cannot be sure.
2) Take the bus 台灣好行 墾丁線 to dapengwan 大鵬灣. Donggang 東港 is inside the 大鵬灣 national park, so it's definitely accessible, through, I guess asking people along the way. Taiwanese are all very friendly~
3) Taxi. A taxi ride from 高鐵 to 東港碼頭 is ubiquitous during travelling seasons. A whole taxi should take around $500 - 900. If you have pre ordered a room in one of the inns, you can ask for any known taxi driver, who will most definitely give you a lower price. This is the method I used on my way back cuz t was just too tiring. xp

Once transportation is settled, is living.

All the hotels available in xiaoliuqiu are B&B, or inns (I don't know the difference). There's no chain hotel in xiaoliuqiu primarily because the size is too small, I think. Therefore with that in mind, don't expect fancy luxurious rooms with swimming pool and spa. There are certainly these kind of rooms, but rare and should be hard to find.

Personally I lived at 南國海岸 $1800 (a non holiday price), an inn near 蛤板灣, the famous beach of xiaoliuqiu, and 美人洞, the turtle watching site. They have 8 rooms in total, varying in size and guest number. I think it's very clean and comfortable. I picked my inn by location near the beach and the turtle seeing site instead of near the over populated and urbanized area. The beach is literally 5 mins away on electronic bicycles. We went to the beach almost 4 times during my 2 day visit. The turtle watching site is about 15 - 20 mins away.

Think that's all settled~ now is some of the MUST DO and MUST VISIT of xiaoliuqiu~~~

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Personal favourite tourist MUST DO!!!

1. 潮間帶

This is the activity where you go to beach when it's low tide and observe all kinds of organisms that's specialised in the area. I think it's the
This is something all tourists does at all beaches, I think.

2. 浮潛 scuba diving
Doing this activity in Xiaoliuqiu allows you to be in close contact with the tortoises and the coral reefs. Since Xiaoliuqiu is an island that is build up by coral reefs, the view is absolutely spectacular!!!!!!

3. Take a boat that has a glass beneath to observe 綠蠵龜
You have to go to the harbour you came onto the island on, about 10 steps away from where the inns will pick you up. I haven't take this but it'd really obvious and I'm sure you can ask about it. Plus the signs of it is really big and obvious, so I'm sure you'll find it~

4. Watch sunset

THIS IS A MUST!!!!!!! The sunset at Xiaoliuqiu is surreal and superb!!!!!! So calming and comfortable~~ It's my favourite part of the entire trip!!!!!!!!!!

MUST GO!!!!!

1. 蛤板灣

The most famous and accessible beach of Xiaoliuqiu. The sunset photos are shot right there~~~~

2. 美人洞

A really beautiful place where you can see the tortoises 綠蠵龜. This tortoises is endangered and protected in Xiaoliuqiu, so it's very rare to see and thus you HAVE TO SEE IT!!!!!!!! The view is really really beautiful~

There are of course many others~ you can go discover yourself~~~~~~ the lack of time there is really disappointing...

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After all these activities, hunger is inevitable~ Let me share my meal schedules~

Day 1 Lunch
山豬溝餐館 near the tourist spot 山豬溝

This was the amount we ordered, and we finished them all~~
The food there is relatively cheap and really good!!

The fried fish egg 炸飛魚卵 is really surprising and famous, something you guys should definitely try. All the fried fish are really nice~ and the "fly fish" 炸飛魚 itself is really cool, something you wouldn't be able to try elsewhere. In total the two of us ate $840, kind of expensive but we were really hungry so we ordered more than the usual amount.

Day 1 Dinner

For dinner, me and my friend went to this really local fish restaurant, which basically just look like any other restaurant near any ports or harbour in Taiwan. A disadvantage of these restaurants is that some of the price are not fixed, so you will need to ask before you order or else beware of the consequences xp. However the advantages are that you can always get the most fresh seafood and you can ask for recommended method of cooking. They usually turn out to be really good~!!!
My friend and I had a miso fish soup 味增魚湯 $500 and a three cup balloon fish 三杯河豚 $300 (don't know how to translate the dish's name..). The soup was amazing!!! but a little expensive because of the fish. I wouldn't recommend the balloon fish with the three cup sauce because it over shadows the flavour of the fish, so probably consider another flavouring.

Day 2 Breakfast
For the breakfast we just ate what the hotel offers because 1, it was raining, and 2, we were too lazy. If you've done a little research you'd know that breakfast is a famous thing of Xiaoliuqiu. There're a lot of breakfast shops and all kinds. However upon research, there isn't any breakfast shops around our inn, so we gave up the idea.

Day 2 Lunch
After breakfast and buying souvenirs we went to the urban street where we had dinner last night. It was raining so not a lot of people are on the street, which created another feeling of Xiaoliuqiu. Then we went to 阿對麵館, another famous restaurant we searched online. However I do not recommend this restaurant because the food isn't as good as I expected. Not only is it too salty, it is also very oily. I guess the fame it has brought down its quality.
The night of day 1 we joined a tourist group and the guide says in Xiaoliuqiu, a lot of the locals will go out and hunt octopuses. So we literally ate as many octopuses as we can. All of them are similar but I recommend the one at day 1's lunch's restaurant.
After this we went to have a sea shell Baobing, which is kind of like a crushed Popsicle with foods on the top. I personally doesn't like it, but it's a famous specialty of Xiaoliuqiu so you could try it out.

Day 2 Afternoon snacks
On the high speed train we were hungry so we bought a $80 railway lunchbox onto the train as late lunch/afternoon snacks.

Unfortunately we only went there for 2 days, or else there will definitely be a lot more food to allure you all~~

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Finally before you leave, Souvenirs are another MUST BUY in Xiaoliuqiu.

The must buy item from xiaoliuqiu is 麻花卷, which is a mostly home made local snacks from the locals and eventually becomes really popular. You can find this literally EVERYWHERE!!!!! so just pick the shop you prefer. I tried a lot of the shops since they all give samples. The one I like the most is the one beside my inn, about 8 mins away on bike, called 素花圈. Even if you can't find it, I'm sure others wont be too bad as well~

And hey, I think that's all I would like to tell you about Xiaoliuqiu~~ surely there's a lot more about the beauty of Xiaoliuqiu if you dig down into it~~ enjoy your holiday in Xiaoliuqiu, it's truly a wonderful place~~~~!!!!!!!!!!

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Thank you for reading~ Ariel's Conch~~