It's hard to believe that just eight hours ago we were standing on this beach.

After a very nice long weekend away we're back in Kaohsiung, psyching ourselves up for another Monday morning. But for now I can tell you about our wonderful little piece of paradise.

We took Josh, fresh off the plane the night before, along with four friends and drove to the east coast to the small city of Taitung. This was our view of the coast after we crossed over the mountains.

There are endless miles of deserted beaches at the base of the mountain cliffs. The waves crashing along the shore look, felt and sounded like they had been picking up steam all the way from Hawaii. The weather was definitely overcast but not particularly stormy which makes me think these waves were the every-day kind of waves for the east side of the island. They felt big and strong enough to swallow the car we were in.

On our way home today the same section of coast was different because the wind had really picked up. The waves were being blown so much that they were constantly being pushed against the shore and they didn't swell and crash the way they did two days earlier. Waves are fascinating to watch, right? Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, we stayed at a nice little six-room hotel across the road from the coastline that came recommended by some friends. The place was lovely although we all felt the dinner was perfectly fine but way over-priced. The top floor was worth the price of the rooms. It was open on all four sides, full of comfy seating where we could hang out and the views were spectacular.

We spent Saturday driving up the coast to some of the tourist sites that the guide books suggest. The first stop was the Water Running Up. Someone on Trip Advisor referred to it as a "mediocre drainage ditch" but I found it to be a mildly interesting optical illusion that was worth stopping at since we were driving right by. I wouldn't recommend going out of one's way to take a visit but sometimes you have to see the kitchy oddities just to say, "I saw the water that runs uphill."

The next stop was the ancient stone walls that were just rocks in the jungle as far as I could tell. But again, worth a drive-by. Some of us took the opportunity to walk the rest of the way up the road to the oddly named Moonlight Inn. Along the way we saw rice paddies with egrets, orchards full of custard apple trees, and a dung beetle pushing his poop across the road (as Lee says, he's got a really shitty job). We were rewarded at the top of the roadway with a sweeping view of the Dulan Valley.

(Sorry about the lack of photos here. Part of the reason is that there wasn't much to photograph, i.e. rocks in the woods, part because I'm learning how to use a new camera. Keep reading tomorrow and you'll see more pics. But right now it's time to take Josh to one of our favorite western restaurants, Fosters, for some excellent wings and nachos.)