New Taipei City: Sand Sculptures & Scenic Coastal Trail | TAIWAN

We happened to be in Taiwan during its annual Fulong International Sand Sculpture Festival which runs every summer and it's where world-class sand sculpture masters showcase their talents in one of Asia's largest sand sculpture festivals. Since we were staying in nearby-ish Keelung, we decided to go check it out as it was just an hour 20min bus ride away.
On the way back to Keelung from Fulong, we stopped off at Bitoujiao to do a short scenic hike. We did the loop counter-clockwise and it took us only just over an hour to complete although if the military cafe was opened, we probably would've spent an extra hour or so there! After reaching the final viewing platform, we went back down through to the Bitoujiao fishing port which then connected back to our bus stop.
Our lunch spot was just across the road from the Fulong bus stop which made things nice and convenient.
昇珍福隆便當
▸ maps.app.goo.g...
As always, we used our Taiwan EasyCard to get around on public transport and made sure to check what time the bus arrives/departs for each stop and to be there earlier as they often tend to come a little earlier than the stated times.
#newtaipeicity #newtaipei #taiwan
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VLOG DATE: 04 June 2024
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[@michelineheise5959]

❤ beautiful ❤

[@PeterandYen]

😊❤️

[@darshpatadia2330]

Hey guys Darsh here ☺️ Hope you guys are doing well Your vlogs are amazing as always. Taiwan seems to be an amazingly beautiful country to visit. The nature, the hotels, the food, the people serving chillies at the restaurant. The bus station looked 3D in hybrid motion. The bus looks huge and wonderful. The mountains, the small small birds with the orange head, the flowers, greenery in the nature. The mountain looked so huge from the bottom, it looks like a great wall of china kind off. Oh!! not to forget the sand mountains were amazingly beautiful 😍 I have never seen such sand mountains in my life. All thanks to you guys for show casing such a beautiful artifacts to us ☺️ The sand mountains was my favorite ones amongst all. I wish you guys could get to visit the military campus and the light house above which had turned into a cafe. Thank you for your time and efforts to show casing the Taiwan in a different way Hoping to see your next vlog soon 😊 Till then stay happy and healthy 😇

[@PeterandYen]

Yo Darsh thanks for your kind support 😁we are doing well, currently enjoying some rest time in Thailand and editing the Taiwan videos. Glad you're enjoying the latest videos. Take care have a great week ahead.

[@bookwormfaith]

those sand sculptures are amazing!

[@PeterandYen]

😁 yes it was a really fun day out. Now we just need to find an ice sculpture festival to go to.

[@bookwormfaith]

@@PeterandYen time to head to Japan? XD

[@PeterandYen]

@bookwormfaith I was thinking Harbin ice festival. Google that if you haven't seen it already it's pretty amazing 😍

[@rlim9947]

Interesting sand sculptures. The scenery is surprisingly beautiful from the hilltop. Good video, guys.

[@PeterandYen]

The scenery was very nice and it reminded us of some of the walks we did around the west coast 🇳🇿

[@ibrrich6730]

Nice video! Just a suggestion, you can put a point/pin of the location on the map of the country, that can give your viewers a general idea on which area it is. 🌺

[@darylmckay]

What a great adventure 😊

[@PeterandYen]

😁 it certainly felt like a day of adventure especially the walk because there were so few other people around

[@nikkilogan864]

Hi Peter and Yen! This trail looked simple but it was worth it. Its giving us New Zealand vibes. thanks guys! 👋😎

[@PeterandYen]

Hello Nikki so true it's a lot like the walks we've done on the west coast of NZ 😁 hope you've had a great weekend so far ✌️

[@nikkilogan864]

@@PeterandYen Yes i am! Thanks Peter & Yen. Love your vlogs! ✌️😎

[@wilmatalbert9949]

I really injoy you guys

[@PeterandYen]

Thank you glad you enjoy the videos 😊✌️

[@ouradventerousdays]

Those sands sculptures are so cute. Yes, I wonder the same how did the sand manage to hold together especially if it windy lol. I love braise pork belly especially with the egg. I love to eat it with udon noodles too. Hahaha I had the same reaction like Peter, we first saw the pineapple like fruit either in Taiwan or Okinawa Japan. I think it called Pandanus, not sure if u can eat it lol

[@PeterandYen]

Ooooo yeah! That's an alternative name for them because seoulman identified them as hala fruit. I googled it and it says it has a flavor like sugar cane and mango which sounds wonderful 😋

[@ouradventerousdays]

@@PeterandYen I see. I think it's edible and sounds sweet but I would not dare to try hahaha

[@BrianaisGoingPlaces]

@@PeterandYen i was scouring the comments for the fruit answer that combo sounds like my ideal fruit I need to find a way to try them haha

[@lh6135]

It is incredible, look at the skies over the Fulong beach, it is a wonder that these sculptures are not washed away by rain Now Pete's braised pork much have been really crunchy, and the red chillies, wow, really provides a kick to the sensors I can relate to Yen's statement of home cook food and @5.00 mins, I can see his wife doing the cooking at the back, essentially, when they are not chased off their feet, home cooked food it is, Nice, I grow up in a small town Pete, @7.00 mins, you got to admit, there's was no Green Lane/Line😅, I was walking the wrong direction the first time from the Domestic to Int'l terminal 🤣 Have a great week both

[@PeterandYen]

🤔 yen and I were wondering the same thing because it was actually raining a lot on and off during this time. But we did some reading and apparently normal rain actually doesn't do anything much to ruin the structure. So they must be quite strong they are very densely packed with sand after all. The mum and dad food stalls are usually the best 😊 which town did you grow up in LH?

[@lh6135]

Good morning, grew up (first eleven) in Klang 😀, food galore, mix of Chinese and Malay

[@PeterandYen]

@lh6135 ooo cool, not too far from Yens home town of Melaka 😁 do you have a favorite food from Klang?

[@Kiwi_Col]

Another great vlog, thanks heaps 😊I'd love to know how they can build the sand sculptures so high! And such artistry is so beautiful - quite amazing. And love the 'bug cam' 😂

[@PeterandYen]

It was cool watching them build it. Seems there's a really methodical process using water, diggers and sculpturs to get them to that size 😁 Interestingly we saw some signs later throughout the rest of Taiwan asking people to watch out for beetles which fit the description of the ones we found. Turns out they are called blister beetles and when you touch them they secrete their blood which causes blisters on the skin 😢😅

[@Kiwi_Col]

@@PeterandYen Oh, I didn't think of using the diggers to help them sculpt. So simple, yet so clever. I really like Taiwan, but they can keep their Blister Beetles 😂

[@PeterandYen]

Hahahaha yes! With you there. As far as creepy crawlies go. New Zealand definitely got the less creepy end of the deal 😂

[@SeoulMan2020]

Looks like a hala fruit? Was hoping Peter would try it 😁😁. Foraging is the best 😁😁😁😁. Very very cool bugs… Were you able to identify the orange headed guys? They look a little menacing. Looks like it was a relaxing, nature filled day in Taiwan with good exploring/hiking weather with some home cooked looking bento meals… pretty much a perfect day (would have been perfect if you were allowed to jump into giant sand mounds 😁). Thanks for sharing and as always, safe travels guys!

[@PeterandYen]

Ooo yeah you're right on! Totally looks like hala fruit. The description of the flavor makes me regret not eating it. "It tastes sweet like a mango. Yummy and beautiful!" Sounds wonderful 😁 I believe these are blister beetles and there are warnings in some parts of Taiwan not to touch them because they can excrete their blood on contract which causes your skin to blister painfully 😅

[@SeoulMan2020]

@@PeterandYen yesssssssss!!! If they are, beware!! They are found all over SE Asia!! The ones in Thailand look different.. their heads are black and certain segments of their bodies are orange/red. The only reason I know is earlier this year I got this blister across my face while running at night. The blister made me look Joker-ish… some locals said I must have had a rove beetle splatter across my face because the blister looked like a perfect pattern as if it was paint splatter. First day was kinda stingy, but then it subsided. Nasty little boogers!!!

[@SeoulMan2020]

@@PeterandYenlook up paederus or paederus fuscipes

[@PeterandYen]

Omg that insect looks like it has "I'm poisonous" written all over it 😅😅 thats crazy that it just whacked your face in the middle of a run 🏃‍♂️😳 the dangers of tropical climates...

[@SeoulMan2020]

@@PeterandYen no idea how the blistering agent got on my face since those buggers don’t fly, but apparently the locals were convinced I somehow got the beetle juice on me.. but more importantly, super stoked you guys got to see tokay geckos!!! It’s been on my animal hopeful list for a long while now. Was hoping when I walked through rural Thailand I’d see one… Saw a bunch of creepy crawlies, but no tokays… must have been so cool to see the pair. So stoked!! We keep brushing by each other… Will be in Thailand… the company that made the commercial I was a part of earlier this year just told me yesterday they are making a sequel or something and asked if I can be a part of it. One day I’ll fulfill my promise to make you guys a vid of your choice… maybe something interesting for your friends and family like a behind the scenes type mini-docu to show how much you guys put into each vid 😁. Hope you guys are getting some good r&r in southern 🇹🇭 🏝️ and safe travels!

[@rob1971]

So cool! Did you try and make any sand sculptures yourselves? ⛱️ Lunch looked really tasty 😋 That hiking trail looks so lush and green, like many in NZ too.

[@PeterandYen]

The large sculptures would put anything we could make to shame 😂 Lunch was really nice, sadly our favorite place that resembled this in Auckland is now closed so it brought back a lot of memories.

[@fifi1561]

Thank you for another awesome video. Can’t believe how beautiful it is there. Will think about visiting Taiwan…. Not only in Taipei CBD 😊.

[@PeterandYen]

Taiwan is fantastic! We ended up making quite a few vlogs from there so each Sunday for the next few weeks you can see more and more of Taiwan on our channel 😁✌🏻 hope you'll tune in for them!

[@ouradventerousdays]

P.S in Sydney we have Sculptures by the Sea, it’s an annual event with so many different sculptures display along Bondi beach and other connected beaches. It’s free too, starting in October. It’s a nice walk along the beach n cliff to see those sculpture but parking is a pain.

[@PeterandYen]

That's cool never knew that Sydney had that. Might need to check it out one year. Bondi is always fun but yeah... way too busy there.

[@ouradventerousdays]

@@PeterandYen you should check it out one day 😄

[@finlayson]

Hey Peter & Yen - I love your channel (and, as a fellow Kiwi, it's great to hear Kiwi voices on KZbin). In the video, you mentioned that you often went to a restaurant near you in Auckland that served Taiwanese-style food similar to what you were eating in the cafe. Which restaurant is that?

[@PeterandYen]

Hello it closed down during covid unfortunately. It was called Taiwan restaurant and it was above the old T Mart Asian grocery. I was eating there since I was a lil kid. Sad so see it gone but there is one old school Taiwan restaurant left in Meadowlands called neighbors which is really nice too.

[@louiep83263]

Not too sure how long or how far you have already been in Taiwan, but if you have a chance, try visit Chishang, the town of rice paddy, between Hualien and Taitung. Make sure it is not post-harvest time though. Have a great trip!

[@PeterandYen]

Thank you for the recommendation. We were originally going to go to Hualien this year however unfortunately because of the earthquake we will have to make that trip another time.

[@lh6135]

Melaka folks are hardy too👍🏻👍🏻. It’s got to be Bhar Kut Teh 😋

[@PeterandYen]

Yum! That's one of my favorites too. Yen favorite is Wan Tan Mee from Melaka 😁

[@Fuyukori]

Will the sand sculpture events be in march? Or when does it usually happen? i think i might have missed it or something

[@2881ssss]

I am Taiwanese and I think I can answer your question. The Fulong Sand Sculpture Art Festival is usually held from June to October every year.

[@Billoushukla]

What if you jump on one of the sand sculptures?😂😂

[@PeterandYen]

Hahahaha it's very tempting!

[@metaldetectingfun]

Great video. Please adjust your food antics/reaction Peter as this is becoming a bit repeditive. Love your channel.

[@Kiwi_Col]

Not all find the repetition a bad thing. I still smile when I see it, and I really need smiles right now.

[@PeterandYen]

Thank you both 💓 😁 Yen and I try to make the videos in a way that is fun for us so that our natural reactions to the day can come out. We'll continue to do that since that's what keeps youtube enjoyable for us.

[@Kiwi_Col]

@@PeterandYen Your enjoyment is a big part of what makes it fun for me, as well as the wonderful places you take us of course.