Without putting on a diving mask, it's possible to walk among fantastic rock formations hollowed out and shaped by the force of the sea deep below the surface, almost at the southern tip of the island of Taiwan.
A few steps from a lush green tropical landscape, it is easy to imagine yourself 20,000 leagues under the sea as you walk through the passage of "The Fairy Cave," one of the most remarkable of the many attractions at Kenting Tropical Park. It ranks as one of the most unusual formations in the world.
The movement of the waves far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean untold eons ago carved out a tunnel in the rocks that formed the earth's crust. As the mighty force of the water surged back and forth inside the tunnel, the rocks were sculptured into strange shapes. Today, shadows cast in the electric lighting from overhead add to the eerie effect as you walk along the path under and among the formations created by the sea. The Fairy Cave itself is 135 meters long (about 147 yards) and has a branch-cavern of 50 meters (about 54 yards).
Some time in the dim and distant past there occurred in this part of the world a mighty cataclysm. A portion of the earth's crust that formed the bottom of the sea was thrust up, out of the waters and several hundred feet above, to form the island of Taiwan. The upward thrust included the Fairy Cave - intact.
Also lifted up to the top of the hill near the island's southern tip were coral reefs built up in shallow water over the millenniums by quadrillions upon trillions of tiny coral polyps. Many roads and trails of Kenting Park are cut through banks of solid coral.
When my wife, Elinor, and I decided to visit Kenting Tropical Park, we found it was one of the least known attractions of the Republic of China. Taiwan has many other scenic places and Kenting is almost as far as it could possibly be from the populous Taipei area of the island's north. Many natives of Taiwan have never visited Kenting.
The trip we made included a personal discomfiture that left us feeling temporarily depressed and resulted in the change of a lifetime's habit. The visit also was one of our most rewarding experiences in human friendliness, as well as an opportunity for the leisurely enjoyment of exceptional scenery.
Kenting Tropical Park had its beginnings in the years when the Japanese held Taiwan, from 1895 to 1945. There were already many ancient trees and other tropical plants on the hill thrust up from the sea. Japanese horticulturists planted others, including a large grove of tall coconut palms that has become one of the park's most striking sights. But there had been no extensive developments when Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China at the end of World War II. The park and its facilities are operated by the Taiwan Forestry Bureau, as are several other outstanding scenic and resort areas.
The Forestry Bureau seeks to grow in Kenting Park as many Tropic Zone plants and trees as will thrive in this climate. The range is from towering coconut palms and gigantic silver-leaf and autumn maples to ground-hugging plants. Some plants like the hot sun; others prefer deep shade. Some are trailing and flowering vines. Many bear blossoms and fruit in infinite variety. Most are identified on markers with both their Chinese and Latin names.
Altogether, there are more than 1,000 different species - from the genus Abrus to Zizyyphus. More are being constantly added. They are obtained from other tropical lands, chiefly by gift or ex change.
One of the strangest native trees in the park bears silver-colored leaves and has above-ground roots that radiate from the trunk in strange "plank" shapes almost as thin and flat as sawn lumber or molded plywood.
We saw many varieties of birds and butterflies - some brilliantly colorful - but no wild animals. We were told that animals can be found in the mountains not far to the north - deer, bears, monkeys, wild pigs, two types of leopard cat, the large Formosan flying squirrel and the scale-covered pangolin anteater. Animals seldom venture into the park with its continuous stream of visitors.
The first leg of our journey to Kenting Park was a train trip of some 235 miles from Taipei to Taiwan's second city, the industrial port of Kaohsiung with a population of about one million. There is excellent plane service - with flight time of about 45 minutes - but the more leisurely train trip gives a closer view of the Taiwan countryside and the cities and smaller towns in between. We bought plane tickets for the return trip.
Railroad passenger service in the United States had so deteriorated in recent decades that it actually had been 35 years since I was on a train trip. We found the first class Chu Kuang express commonly called "the CK" - a pleasure. It left Taipei Station at 8 a.m. Broad windows gave us a fine view as we glided past brilliant green rice paddies - some with tractors and some with the patient water buffalo engaged in the work of cultivation. Here and there we cut through red soil hills, and passed enormous brick plants with their skyscraping smoke stacks.
Large and relatively new industrial plants extend almost the full length of Taiwan, a mark of the industrial revolution that is rapidly changing the Republic of China from agricultural society to developed nation. The building of modern schools has accompanied the march of industry. The Republic of China has free nine-year education and schooling beyond that at nominal cost. We saw many schools that would be a credit to American cities.
From the train window we also saw reminders of China's ancient past and cultural heritage - red brick temples with curving tiled roofs and colored glass figures of dragons, phoenixes and flowers along the roof ridges. Some were large structures, others were tiny chapels in the fields. Here and there, usually along hillsides, were cemeteries with their rows of white cement and brick tombs.
Changhua Buddha is a 72-foot tourist attraction. (File photo)
An immense statue of Buddha - 72 feet high can be seen from the train at Changhua south of Taichung. This is a worthwhile side trip.
Farther south, the rice paddies are frequently interspersed with sugar cane fields. The cane thrives on the warm, moist climate; it grows thick and higher than a man's head. Taisugar, a government corporation, is one of Taiwan's biggest enterprises. Many of its mills are located along the railroad. Sugar has several by-products. TSC raises thousands of hogs on feed made from cane residue.
A novelty for Western visitors to Central and Southern Taiwan is the three-wheeled truck. These sturdy little vehicles with two-cyinder motors, steered like motorcycles, may be seen chugging along roads and narrow pathways. They can carry amazingly large loads.
We enjoyed a pleasant lunch in the dining car as the train sped south from Taichung. We arrived at our hotel in Kaohsiung in time for several hours of sightseeing before nightfall.
Kenting Park is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Kaohsiung. Unless you have your own car, the best way to get there is by the Golden Horse express bus. There are two a day: 8 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. The hotel can obtain tickets.
We took too long over breakfast and missed the morning Golden Horse bus. We didn't worry, because there are frequent and inexpensive ordinary "highway buses" traveling the same route. The only trouble was that a very large number of others also wanted to take the bus south from Kaohsiung on that Sunday morning. There was much crowding as we climbed aboard. As is so often the case with buses on Taiwan (and anywhere else, for that matter), there were more passengers than seats. I had to stand up for about the first third of the journey.
A few blocks from the Kaohsiung bus station, I casually felt my left hip pocket and made a shocking discovery. The pocket was empty! My wallet had been lifted by a skillful pickpocket while I was caught in the crowd boarding the bus.
I had for years heard warnings about pickpockets - and that the hip pocket of a man's trousers is the most hazardous place to carry a wallet. But the habits of a lifetime are hard to break. I had been carrying my wallet in my left hip pocket since I was old enough to have a wallet.
I am not suggesting that pickpockets are more prevalent in the Republic of China than anywhere else, including the United States. A cousin of mine had his wallet lifted during a visit to California Disneyland. Since then he and his wife have not had one good word to say about the Magic Kingdom!
The wallet stolen at the Kaohsiung bus station contained most of our money plus identification cards, pictures and a driver's license. Fortunately, several credit cards and our plane tickets from Kaohsiung to Taipei were safely inside a coat pocket. My experience on the Kenting trip was a lesson learned the hard way and established a new habit. I have since carried my wallet in a front pocket of my trousers. Not quite so convenient to get at, perhaps, but a location which would give a pickpocket more trouble.
Elinor took stock of her purse and found we had about enough money to pay the bus fare from Kenting back to Kaohsiung and taxi fares to the Kaohsiung airport and from the Taipei airport home. But not much over.
The route from Kaohsiung south to Kenting has a pleasant prospect. The plain between mountains and sea narrows, widens and narrows again. A bus is even better than a train for seeing the countryside close at hand. We passed more bright green rice paddies, more fields of tall sugar cane, fields of onions and other vegetables, and plantations of banana trees with their enormous ragged leaves and huge bunches of fruit - an exotic sight for visitors from the temperate zone.
The bus stopped at a grove of coconut palms and vendors offered gigantic green nuts, each with an end sliced off. Straws were inserted for drinking the fresh "milk."
There were also busy towns where the bus made brief stops. Much of the time we were in sight of the Taiwan Straits separating the island from the mainland of China. Toward the southern tip of Taiwan are vast areas of sisal, a plant of the agave family with long spiny leaves resembling those of its relatives, the yuccas of the Southwestern United States and the century plants that produce the tequilla liquor of Mexico. Taiwan sisal is grown for its fiber, which is used in making rope and rough fabrics. The plants are set in rows up the sides of hills rising steeply from the highway. We passed large bundles of cut leaves awaiting transportation to processing plants.
We had reservations at Kenting House, a small and pleasant hotel owned by the Forestry Bureau. The location is a hillside below Kenting Park and overlooking the Taiwan Straits. We told the manager, S. J. Chen, and his assistant, Richard Kao, the sad story of our Kaohsiung misadventure. Unless they could take a check on a U.S. bank for our accommodations, we would have to head back north on the next bus.
Chen said he was sorry but that the rules prevented him from accepting a personal check. "Why don't you send us the money after you get back to Taipei? " he asked.
We were surprised and gratified by his friendliness and such trust in strangers from a foreign land. We put on our bill the meals at the Kenting House dining room, - which has, incidentally, a spectacularly beautiful view of the Straits. We were to prove ourselves worthy of trust with a money order that went into the mail the morning after our return to Taipei.
We had another offer of assistance which we were able to decline with thanks. A Chinese gentle man loaded down with camera equipment heard of our plight and offered to lend us money. He said he was a member of the Rotary Club. I'm not a Rotarian myself, but we were impressed by this gesture of goodwill to people he had never seen before.
The week-end rush was over when we arrived at Kenting House at midday Sunday. The assistant manager, Richard Kao, attached himself to us as guide. He was joined the next day by his attractive young wife.
In addition to Kenting House, the Forestry Bureau operates a restaurant, eight motel units and cheap but limited hostel accommodations on the beach. The cottages rent for NT$900 (US$ 23.71) per day. Each has two bedrooms and cooking facilities.
Kenting Beach is one of Taiwan's finest - a broad stretch of white sand ending in a rocky headland at the southern end. In the area is a sea-sculptured stone known as "Nixon Rock" because of resemblance to the profile of the former U.S. president.
The beach is exceptionally clean. Shells and pieces of ocean-worn white coral have been cast up by the sea. We saw a number of small fishing boats offshore. On the beach was a fishing raft made of bamboo, light but substantial enough to hold two people. These craft are launched by men who wade into the surf as far as possible, then clamber aboard and paddle hard to get beyond the force of the incoming waves.
The surf looked a little heavy for comfortable swimming. Elinor and I decided against trying it or launching the bamboo raft.
Kenting and two other beaches farther south are much used by scuba divers of three Taiwan clubs, the China Sea Dragons, the C.C.K. and the Tainan Diving Club. The weather is so favorable they are able to dive almost the year around. Eric Brown of the Sea Dragons described the water in the area as the clearest he has ever seen. The underwater scenery is spectacular and there is a rich variety of tropical marine life.
Only 10 kilometers south of Kenting is Oluanpi at the extreme southern tip of Taiwan. There is a white lighthouse. Several fine beaches are found nearby. Oluanpi has a small hostel with accommodations costing only NT$50 (US$132) a person and a small restaurant. There is no regular hotel.
Many trails criss-cross Kenting Park, some with stairways from higher to lower elevations. Many pleasant hours may be spent sightseeing among the flowers and trees. There are greenhouses for growing some of the more exotic plants and out door bedding areas. Benches and picnic areas await those who wish to pause and relax.
The most noteworthy manmade feature of the park is a seven-story tower near the peak of the hill, complete with elevator. On the top floor is a glass-enclosed restaurant operated by the hotel management. There are views in all directions. Up one flight of stairs is the roof and an even more spectacular panorama. Coin-operated tele scopes are available.
Looking south, we could see the meeting of three great bodies of water. On our left was the Pacific Ocean, to the right the Taiwan Straits and directly ahead the Bashi Channel that separates the waters of Taiwan from those of the Republic of the Philippines. On the day we were there, the meeting of the warmer waters of the Bashi Channel with those of the colder Taiwan Straits was marked by a white line of surf. Richard Kao said it was the first time he had seen such a phenomenon.
On clear days it is possible to see Orchid Island from the Kenting Park tower. This bit of land is some 76 kilometers (47 miles) off the Pacific coast of southern Taiwan. It is the home of about 2,000 people of the Yami tribe of Taiwan aborigines.
It is said that sometimes the northernmost of the Philippine islands can be seen from the tower. The China mainland across the Taiwan Straits is out of sight over the horizon.
Looking to the north, we saw the great gray pile of the Taiwan Central Mountain Range silhouetted against the sky, one rugged peak rising behind another. In few other places in the world would it be possible to find such an unusual variety of views as those from this bit of the Tropic Zone. We marveled again that what lay below us had been pushed up from the sea by forces of the shifting earth at a time when our planet was much younger.
The era of Kenting Park as a remote and comparatively little known resort is nearing an end. The Tourism Bureau has announced a six-year development program for the Hengchun peninsula on which the park is located. Plans call for building four international tourist hotels with some 2,400 rooms on Lungluan Lake, a 100-hectare (250-acre) body of water a short distance north of the park. Other facilities will include a motel, 36-hole golf course, floating restaurant, aviary, picnic area and bowling alley. Construction will be carried out in two stages with government funds and private capital.
The Tourism Bureau predicted that more than 510,000 international tourists will be visiting the southernmost tip of Taiwan by 1983, along with a million and a half Chinese.
Kenting scenery will become more familiar in Taiwan itself when a movie being made by the Yung Shen Motion Picture Co. is released. "Run Lover Run" was filmed at Kenting Park in large part. Said to be one of the most costly movies ever made in Taiwan, it stars Alan Tang and Lin Chin-hsia. The story is the usual one of boy chases girl until she catches him. But the real star is likely to be Kenting Park, the newest starlet in Taiwan's parade of scenic places.