Between Tropics

What you see here is the Tropic of Cancer marker in Taiwan that’s located half way between the cities of Hualian and Taidong. In other words, the line that defines the Tropic of Cancer crosses through that opening between both sides of the structure (ok the tropic actually changes a bit every year, but let’s skip that detail for now). If you stand at the left of the structure (according to the photo), you’re standing in Earth’s tropical zone, and if you move to the right, you’ll be in the North Temperate Zone. If you place yourself carefully, you’ll be standing at two different climate zones at the same time. Cool, huh? This was my third trip to this landmark in barely one week, but the previous attempts were spoiled by clouds or the moon – you can tell how hard I chased it. And anyone who’s driven the road from Taipei to Hualien can tell you it’s a rather FUN road to drive!!! In other words, don’t try it unless you don’t mind dealing with cars fearlessly passing trucks (and viceversa!!) over double yellow lines in extremely winding and sometimes narrow roads!