Taitung (台東) - Luye Gaotai (鹿野高台) - hot air balloon - 2017 Taiwan International Balloon Festival (臺灣國際熱氣球嘉年華) [Travel in Taiwan 170707: A Midsummer Night's Dream Part 5]

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4:10 am. The departure time of the bus going to the Luye Gaotai
forced me and my girlfriend to wake very up early. With only less than three hours of sleep, I wasn’t an
easy thing to do. The weather forecast was cloudy but we were hopeful that we would see the hot air balloons
of Taitung this year.

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The event is officially called the Taitung International
Balloon Festival and for the 2017 edition it started last June 30 and will end on August 6. There are only
two flying times every day and it happens every 5:30 am to 7:30 am and 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. The hot air balloons
do not fly in the afternoon due to the very hot weather during summer. 

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Luye. The town of Taitung that inspired me to write the second part of my Utopia series
back in Taiwan Day 1037. Bordered by two mountain ranges, the view of its valley is a temptation for those
who are skilled in paragliding. On top of the mountains is a plateau that is full of grass. Luye Gaotai!
It is the hot air balloon capital of Taiwan. 

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The popularity of the festival prompted the
other provinces of Taiwan to copy what Taitung had been doing. Taoyuan and Hsinchu had organized their own
mini-version of the hot air balloon festival. The green Yoda balloon that I saw at Shimen Reservoir was also
here in Taitung. Comparing the one in Taoyuan to Taitung's was like comparing apples to oranges. 

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 Getting to Taitung is a common question for most
travelers wishing to see the hot air balloons. If you are coming from Kaohsiung then you do not have a problem
because there are trains that run from Southern Taiwan to Eastern Taiwan. But if you are coming from the
Taoyuan International Airport or Taipei, then it will be a bit difficult. Train tickets are very scarce during
the summer season especially the routes going Hualien and Taitung.