Live cameras in Budai, Taiwan

Budai is a coastal urban township in Chiayi County, Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the southwest coast. It had about 25,000 residents in 2022, spread across 23 villages, and life here has long revolved around the sea: fishing, oyster farming and salt pans. In 1895 Japanese forces landed here as they closed in on Tainan during the invasion of Taiwan. Today Budai is best known for its harbor, from which ferries cross the strait to the Penghu Islands, and for its seafood market. Visitors also come for the Haomeiliao Wetland, a coastal sandbar and mangrove area, and for the glass High-Heel Wedding Church built in the shape of a giant shoe.

Coastal expressway views

Budai's views are roadside CCTV images that the national transport ministry makes public through its TDX data exchange. Pictures change every short while, so they show the state of the road rather than motion. Provincial Highway 61, the West Coast Expressway, passes along the coast here and has an interchange for Budai Port, and the cameras watch that route and its connections inland. LiveLocation links each camera to the nearest place on the map, so views from the nearby coastal townships and the expressway viaducts over the fish ponds are gathered on this page.

Chiayi County runs eight hours ahead of UTC, and its clocks never change for summer. The coast is sunny and windy in winter, when the northeast monsoon blows across the flat land, while summer is hot and humid with afternoon storms and typhoons, most often from July to September. The plum rain season of May and June can also bring heavy downpours. Facing west over the strait, the harbor is a favorite spot for sunsets, which come close to seven in midsummer and around twenty past five in midwinter. Holiday weekends bring heavy traffic toward the ferry pier.

Chiayi city lies inland to the east, the Beimen lagoon and salt fields of Tainan are to the south, and the Southwest Coast National Scenic Area covers much of this shoreline.

Sources: Budai, Chiayi - Wikipedia · Provincial Highway 61 (Taiwan) - Wikipedia · Budai Yacht Harbor - Southwest Coast National Scenic Area.