Fangliao is a town on Pingtung’s west coast. It’s a pretty cool town, but most people use it as a rest stop on their way to Kenting or to catch the train to the east coast. I like this area of Pingtung so I have gone and have even stayed in Fangliao a few times.
There is a Giant bike shop just outside of the train station that I will rent a bike at and bike around. I love to bike up the coast and reach Jiadong and then bike back. There are a few cool things to see along the way.
Just north of Fangliao is a small village called Xinlong village 新龍社區. This community was home to people who were evacuated from the Dachen Islands in 1955. There are many of these villages all around Taiwan.
At the entrance of the village is the ruins of a small church that was founded by Dachen Islanders.
Xinlong New Village is a small community with small houses. Many are still lived in.
Some are empty since many Dachen Islanders moved away.
The area north of Fangliao is mostly fish farms. All the pipes taking in salt water from the sea can make for some cool scenes.
乃木將軍登陸紀念公園 Maresuke Nogi Landing Memorial Park.
This marks the spot where the Japanese landed with a famous general when they took over Taiwan. He landed with 6,330 soldiers, 1,600 military coolies, and 2,500 horses and made his way north to Tainan.
So if you are in Fangliao or on your way to another part of Taiwan and have the time, stop by the church and say hi!
Formosa>Ex 
Thank you for this. Fangliao was one of my “haunts” when I lived in Pingtung in ’77 and ’78. It was where the TRA train line ended. I recall waiting on a recently arrived southbound train while the locomotive was turned around on the turntable and reattached to the front of the train to head back north. In those years, I had a young Taiwanese friend who was doing his 2 years of probationary ministry before ordination at the Presbyterian Church there (which now has a grand building, testifying more to its longevity than to its piety). Former church facilities, like the one you pictured, intrigue me. Who owns that land now? Has the town (or township) claimed it for back taxes and turned it into a park? Does the “corporation” that was formerly the church still hold title, even when the ecclesiastical part of it has dissolved? Finding this out is NOT your responsibility. You do us all a service by your wanderings, photographing and posting. Thanks again.
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