Next available period: March 1 to August 30, 2023 – (6 months)
Binlang Basecamp is my home in Manzhou County, in the southern part of Taiwan, in Kenting National Park. If you’re viewing this page, it means I’ll be away from Taiwan, and my house will be available to rent for few months.
Rental Cost: 8,000NT$ / month + utilities
Where is Binlang Basecamp?
As you can see on the map below, the house is somewhat remote (by Taiwanese standard) and away from the hustle and bustle of Kenting village and Hengchun. The nearest 7-11 is in Manzhou village, 10 minutes away by car or scooter. Hengchun is 30 minutes away.
*** No smoking indoor. ***
*** No pets allowed inside.***
*** No parties or excessive noise. ***
What’s included
- 2 bedrooms with double beds
- 3 bathrooms with shower
- AC in each room
- fully-stocked kitchen (pots, pans, plates, bowls, utensils…)
- oven / gas stove
- BBQ grill (gas)
- Cobb smoker / slow cooker (briquettes)
- Bodum coffee-maker
- Nespresso coffee-maker
- rice cooker
- sofa for 2
- dining table for 4
- lots of shelves for storage
- speaker
- parking
- a lot of wind
- and rain
- huge, open sky, with eagles flying overhead at times
- quietness, especially at night
- space to enjoy solitude
- insects’ sounds, which constantly change as the seasons turn
What’s not included
- Wi-fi (there is good mobile reception)
- filtered water
- TV
- pillows / sheets / towels (bring your own)
- pollution
A note on water
Our water does not come from the city. It comes directly from Nanren Lake, a body of water high in the mountains nearby, in an ecological protected area. So, yes, the water is REALLY clean, BUT it needs to be filtered or boiled to be safe to drink. We’ve never had a water filter at the house. I cook with the water, straight from the tap, but I use bottled water to drink. I refill my bottles in Hengchun. When I’m out of bottled water, and I don’t feel like going to Hengchun, I simply boil it for 2-3 minutes. There is a big 8L pot available in the kitchen for that.
A note on weather
Binlang is located in what could be described as a lush jungle valley. To the east is a mountain chain, and on the other side of that chain is the Pacific Ocean. To the west, is another mountain chain, which is actually the southern end of the Central Mountain Range.
This geographical situation means that this area has some sort of micro-climate where it gets particularly windy and rainy. On various occasion, you can look at a precipitation map on the CWB weather app, and only two places on the whole island get rained on: Ilan, along the northeast coast, and the area around Binlang. Some days, you can have a torrential downpour in Binlang, but it’s sunny in Manzhou, 10 minutes away. It’s obviously not like that every day – we do get glorious calm weather with perfect blue sky quite often, any time of the year.
A note on snakes and bugs
As Axl Rose famously sang: “You’re in the jungle baby, you’re gonna die!!”
You’re not gonna die in Binlang, but you’re definitely in the jungle. So, needless to say, there are plenty of bugs around. Snakes, spiders, cockroaches, ants, geckos, centipedes, millipedes, grasshoppers, toads… that’s where they live! The good news is they don’t come to (inside) the house when people are around – they stay away, as they seem to dislike human presence.
BUT, if you don’t stay at the house for a while, say 2-3 weeks, you can expect to have some cleaning to do indoor as they will move in for shelter, poop around, multiply, or die on a shelf, especially in the hot and humid summer months.
Snakes are not really common, they are timid and keep their distances, but they do sometimes visit. Yes, some of them are poisonous.
Ants are the biggest annoyance, but they are easily dealt with using ant spray – yes, chemical warfare! Once every two months, you spray the base of the house, et voila, bye bye, the ants are just a bad memory.
Contact me
You can reach me at 0934280030 or ugoortolano(at)gmail.com if you wish to get further information or if you have any question.