Pingtung 屏東 / Kaohsiung 高雄 canyons exploration
journal > 2019 > Pingtung 屏東 / Kaohsiung 高雄 canyons exploration
journal > 2019 > Pingtung 屏東 / Kaohsiung 高雄 canyons exploration
On Saturday, 11/2, Philip, Tammy, Leigh and Robert take the HSR to Zuoying 左營 where we rent scooters to drive one hour to Diana’s Pools 海神宮 (黛娥娜神池) in Sandimen Township 三地門鄉 in Pingtung County 屏東縣. The drive east from Kaohsiung begins through sprawling industrialized agricultural wastelands and transitions to the rolling hills of the Rukai further upstream along the marking the border between Kaohsiung 高雄市 and Pingtung counties 屏東縣.
Diana’s Pools 海神宮 (Poseidon's pools 黛娥娜神池) are in Desert canyon 沙漠溪谷 on Desert stream 沙漠溪 in Sandimen Township 三地門鄉 in Pingtung County 屏東縣. Desert stream 沙漠溪 is a tributary of the Ailiao River 隘寮溪 a tributary of the Gaoping River 高屏溪.
We spend the night at Alice's B&B 阿拉斯民宿 in Duona 多納 village in Maolin 茂林. The Rukai village is quiet since we are there before the weekend. We find dinner and breakfast in the town. Large tour groups appear as we are leaving on Sunday.
Tona Hot Springs were once a key attraction of douna village but the entire area was devasted by typhoon Morakot. Typhoon Morakot 八八風災 was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history, leaving 673 people dead and 26 missing, and causing roughly NT$110 billion in damages. 2,777 mm of rainfall was measured during the storm surpassing Herb's 1,736 mm in 1996. The rain triggered enormous mudflows and severe flooding throughout southern Taiwan. One landslide and subsequent flood destroyed the entire town of Siaolin 小林 village, killing over 400 people.
