We had a long weekend for the Republic of Taiwan’s 108th birthday, so I decided to head to one of my favorite areas of Kaohsiung’s immense countryside, which I haven’t visited in a long time. Cishan 旗山, Meinong 美濃, and Liugui 六龜.
I had many places on my itinerary, but this old road and tunnels were not one of them. I had seen the pictures of these tunnels before on Instagram and other places but thought that they were more in the mountains. With me on the scooter, I wouldn’t be able to or have the time to hike and bike around looking for them. Luckily for me, they are very close to the new road.
While I was driving back from Liugui 六龜 to Cishan 旗山, I stopped for a second along the road to enjoy the beautiful scenery and take a couple pictures, and I looked to the side and saw this bridge. I climbed down the road and walked along the river a bit and up the hill, and bingo, it was the road and the tunnels!
The road was built in 1937 because the Japanese wanted to open up the area and easily get to the camphor trees. The Japanese cut down camphor trees for medical and industrial purposes. So the road was built, and Liugui opened up.
The tunnels were built through the 18 Arhats Mountains 十八羅漢山 and the road closed down in 1992 with the opening of the new road.
I was more than pleasantly surprised to find the old road and walk in the tunnels. I couldn’t check out every one of the six tunnels as there was water and mud in one of them so it was a dead end for me.
I returned to the tunnels in December 2024. I recently bought a new second-hand scooter. Even though it’s a second-hand one, it’s definitely the best scooter I’ve ever owned. So I am returning to some places I haven’t been to in quite some time.
Liugui was first on the list.
On this visit, I walked through tunnels No. 1, 2, 3, and 6. Tunnel No. 5 was gated up and I didn’t find/look too hard for Tunnel No. 4.
So if you are on your way to the famous hot springs around Liugui, why not stop for a bit? You can stretch your legs and enjoy the old road and surroundings.
If you want to find these amazing tunnels and do a nice explore, walk, or bike, google Eighteen Arhats Mountain Scenic Area 十八羅漢山 and look to the right, and of course say Hi!
Formosa>Ex 
Well do I recall a trip through those tunnels on a bus much like the one pictured. That was a SLOW road back then. The widened one that DOESN’T go through the tunnels is much to be preferred. Hope you enjoyed getting to do both roads.
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Yeah, I really like the “new” road. A really beautiful road. But yeah was cool to see how it was. Thanks for the comment
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