We started out the day by going to the Chihpen Forest Recreation Area, where a guide showed us various trees and plants, such as the Honduras mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), strangler fig, soapnut tree (Sapindus mukorossi), poisonous wood nettle (Laportea pterostigma), Taiwania, betel pepper (Piper betle), parasol leaf tree (Macaranga tanarius), various banyans (Ficus sp.) and much more. We saw a troupe of monkeys—Formosan macaques (Macaca cyclopis)—watching us from the depths of the forest.
Then to Sanxiantai, which has an 8-arched bridge connecting to an island of black volcanic rock partly covered by a thicket of screw pines.
Weird rock formations at Xiaoyeliu.
