Situated at the northern tip of Taiwan, Laomei Reef is a well sought-after location for photographers and beach goers alike with its stunning green scenery and relaxing atmosphere. Though Taiwan isn’t particularly known for its beaches, I still wanted to experience at least one even though I came here during the dead of winter. Hoping to capture the best lighting with GoPro, I arrived around sunset by taking the train to Tamsui Station from Taipei and then using a local bus (this took around 2.5 hours but was a nice day trip). Even though it was the first week of January, all I needed to wear was a light jacket because the weather was sunny and mild. During the summer months, I’ve heard that this beach transforms into quite the lively place. I’d really like to come back and experience this in the future because beaches are my favorite places in the world.
Because there weren’t that many people around this time of year, I managed to capture some really great photos of the reef:
I love how the shallow water reflected the image of the sky above almost like a mirror. You can actually get very close to the reef by standing on the trench by the shore. According to John Ellis (a local photographer who I have been following), the reef was originally formed by a volcanic eruption that occurred over two hundred thousand years ago. Summer is the best time to see the reef because that is when the most algae grows, but the beautiful shade of green is fortunately see-able in all seasons. Though it was too cold to go swimming, I enjoyed watching the waves wash over the reef and felt at ease while I was here:
From this video it looks like I’m standing at the edge of the world! Not wanting the adventure to end here, I decided to take a bus from here to the famous alpaca cafe called OIA Oia Art Cafe. If you venture all the way out the the reef, you might as well take the time to pet the two lovely alpacas that live here because this cafe is very close:
I ordered a sweet beer and reminisced on all of my crazy encounters with animals while I was here. Last year I went to the bunny island and miniature pig cafe in Tokyo, and now here I was in another foreign country drinking with animals (which I often prefer to humans). Life is truly strange and amazing, and I am doing my best to live every minute to the fullest.
In addition to alpacas, they also have cats here. I have been to many cat cafes already so I didn’t film them, but they were interesting to watch. I spent most of my time petting the kind alpaca pictured above. It looked very tired but fortunately well-fed, just like me. Maybe we aren’t so different after all.