The few tourists on the island rented bikes. But when I biked around Taiwan’s Taitung, I had to watch the road, and missed some of the sights. So I hiked to Chex Jawa Wetlands’ boardwalk, and was rewarded with spotting butterflies, but not so lucky to discover a wild boar glaring at me through the forest.
This was the most picturesque part of the island I saw. Large boulders lined the shoreline — one of the few places left in Singapore with a rocky shore. Above was a thick coastal forest with vegetation sturdy enough to withstand the salt laden winds. One such tree was the penaga laut, which draped its foliage over the water. It produced fragrant star shaped flowers and a green fruit that was toxic if eaten.
Lining a section of the coast was sea grass. It was where I spotted a monitor lizard gliding through the water towards the mangroves. Sea grass lined the bank, and covered some of the ground around palms as well as around the mangroves where the coastal boardwalk ended.
