Entree Kibbles

Monday, June 01, 2026

Taking the Boardwalk at Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) @ Taichung in Taiwan

The same familiar road I took slightly more than a year ago, albeit as part of a tour package by Chan Brothers, where my dad undertook his first visit to Taiwan.

Unlike our first visit to Gaomei Wetlands, however, there wasn't the convenience of having a tour bus sending us to the destination. For this second visit, we had to find a carpark for our rental car, and make payment for parking!

Bumping into a super adorable carpark attendant already signified a great start to the revisit. This tortoise-shell feline was so friendly, and obviously a real delightful companion to the real attendant on duty.

Walking to the attraction that I had been to before, yet never been to before as the main star of the attraction was then closed, as the tide had yet to recede.

Full glory of the majestic wind turbines right in front of us! Given that we drove, of course we had to visit, and it was already covered in an earlier blog post here.

Aex was literally soaking in the moment. Temperature was a comfortable 17 degree celcius but the strong wind was the real problem; windy like hell and it damn chilled the bones!

The 800-meter long boardwalk was already open for the day! This was the main star of Gaomei Wetlands that I spoke of earlier. Word of advice; don't bother coming if the boardwalk wasn't opened, unless your main aim was to capture the sunset, said to be one of the best in Taiwan.

At this point, I was thinking of my dad as he didn't manage to check out the boardwalk back in 2024. It was a real pity as it was his virgin visit to Taiwan, and I was wondering then if free and easy would be a better option for him.

Oh well, I shall take more photographs for him then.

Taiwan's most beautiful sunset; top ten scenic spots along dajia river; top of "100 wedding photo shooting spots in taichung"; and of course, the location shoot of a music video, Burning Piano by Taiwanese singer, Jam Hsiao.

Would you understand what the signs mean?

More information near the entrance of boardwalk.

Looking back.

Forging ahead - frankly, it's hard to imagine this boardwalk being 800 meters in length! Even our chek jawa coastal boardwalk at Pulau Ubin was only about 500-meter long!

Swathes of "grass" at the shallower ends; for me, they looked like they were parched and in real need of water yet when I compared to photographs I took at the end of 2024; they had been there since then although the more plausible explanation was that winter season might be the period for lower tides.

A line of words painted at the edge, in Chinese. I shall pretend I don't understand Chinese if I ever get caught but for the benefit of the rest of you; it means a fine of 50,000 to 250,000 Taiwan dollars if you ever step off the boardwalk.

Hello, we are Singaporeans.

And known for being law abiding.

Interestingly, despite the lack of trees, Alex was clearly enjoying himself! The insanely strong wind made him happy whereas cold me was covering my head as it was a tad too chilly for my liking.

Cable-stayed curved bridge that cut a 100-meter across the Qingshui Channel, and connects Gaomei Wetlands and Gaomei Turbine Avenue. p.s. that golden dome is part of a factory!

Just because there's a piece of litter doesn't mean the area is full of litter. And I can bet that the cap was there due to the strong wind that blew it off the wearer!

Water was actually quite clear given the shallowness, and while there didn't seem to have fishes, you might want to focus and concentrate a bit more, as we did.

Caught sight of a puffer fish!

Almost reaching the end of the meandering 800-meter long boardwalk, after almost 15 minutes. Some might find it boring but it was invigorating for us. Besides, we do like walking, and it's a bonus to do it in the midst of nature.

End of the boardwalk.

Simple, plain with no fanfare.

Honestly, you can just walk off the boardwalk.

But I did bear in mind the fine of NT$50k-250K.

A brave uncle was barefoot (crazy max) and in the freezing water though. As he was in a noticeably bright yellow jacket, I am unsure if he was a staff member, or a member of the public (local for sure).

Shellfishes, right from the source!

To be fair, the words with the warning sign (for NT50k-250k fines) were not painted at the end of the boardwalk. And if we were to be super sticky with their placement, you can indeed argue that the fines shouldn't apply.

Nevertheless, being foreigners, let's just err on the side of caution and just take more photographs. Furthermore, I wouldn't want to get myself wet, and be subject to further coldness on my last second day in Taiwan.

More photographs as we made our way back in the cold. I am really not travelling to cold countries; for me, 15-20 degrees celcius would be best, without the wind. And I can understand why people from cold countries love the tropics so much!

Alex enjoys the cold more than me.

Let's show you how strong the wind was! See how his hair was blown back, and even though he was leaning forward, the wind resistance prevented him from falling down!

Gaomei Wetlands didn't use to be a wetland; it was a beach and the opening of the port resulted in the accumulation of sediment, rendering in its closure.

3D artwork for photo-taking! As it was just about 3pm, we were still a few hours from sunset, and there's some other places I wanted to check out at Taichung City center on our official last second day.