Green Island

Last weekend, to celebrate Taiwan's birthday; we were given the Friday off work and the following... Tuesday (how pointless is that!). To get the most out of the 3 days I turned down a trip to nearby Hei Sun Wood (you know the place) and headed out to volcanic Green Island off the southeastern coast. This meant waking up at stupid hour, and riding down to the train station for a 6:45 departure. It was actually cool, I wore my jacket for the first time out here. Not realising I needed to book in advance, the only tickets left were for standing. Nearly 5 hours standing... but I had my newly updated Ipod... the time started ticking by. Sadly the only rail to the east went round the coast to the south first as the mountains are too high to traverse - but we did get a nice glimpse of the South China Sea Half way round my hayfever kicked in which was odd... October hayfever? On the last leg of the trip the beaches below were a black volcanic sand.
When I finally got to Taitung, I rang Maddie (friend of Sam's who organised trip) to see if she was there... nope! she'd been sent the wrong way on the train... and wouldn't get here today... her 2 friends however, would get in, but only at 7pm, it was now 11:15 and the last ferry was at 3:30pm. So after a lot of deep thought and unhelpful conversations with the Travel Advice Desk, I decided to go on out to the island without them. A helpful shuttlebus driver got me to the dock and my tickets. Sadly as it was a 3day-hol I had to come back on the 10:30am ferry on Sunday as the rest were booked - bit early but hey ho.

The ferry was a small catamaran. I wondered why it didn't have an outside part... I soon found out; the Pacific Ocean is a little rough. Especially on this day in the wake of a typhoon. The people were screaming as the boat first swayed and then as it built up speed flew from wave to wave, crashing down again and again. It wasnt long before the plastic bags fulfilled their purpose: i was too in awe to feel sick; glued to the window taking photos, every now and then it was like a scene from 'perfect storm' a wall of water rising that you cant see past. I have a whole new respect for the power of water.
A cheer went up when we eventually caught sight of land
When we got to the other side. I had only my lp guide to rely on. A beetlenut chewing man drove over and tried to rent me the worst scooter ive ever seen for $NT600 a day. I soon realised that it was the last scooter for hire, and so after haggling down to 500 i took it. He also wanted my ARC until I returned it... I didnt have much choice! The speedo didn't work and neither did the brake lights and there was no petrol in the tank, so i drove up towards the main village to buy fuel and laughed to see a queue of 15 or so mopeds all waiting to do the same thing. Once topped up, I decided not to discover that all the hotels were booked up already and simply made for the campsite on the southern tip of the island.
Riding round, I was dumb struck by the beauty of the island... and how quiet everything was... until a stream of moped riding tourists buzzed past. Jagged cliffs, forest covered hillsides and white beaches descending into a clear blue sea. It was dreamy.
The tree filled campsite was basic but had showers, a real toilet (most public ones are holes) and hot water. On one side were wooden shelters to camp under and the other was sporadic grass. The man only charged me 100 a night (£1.40). Once pitched, I jumped back on the scooter and tried to drive round the whole island before the light faded. The scenery was fantastic, but the tourist attractions labelled on the map were a little tame. There were some 'caves' which were more like cracks in the rock , an ancient burial site that you just had to accept that was what it was, and a lighthouse... well: seen one... the prison looked impressive from a distance - reputed as being the alcatraz of the east in darker political regimes.
After a full tour of the island, in gale force winds, I headed back to the main village to get some food.
A good rule around the globe for food is 'go where everybody goes' however at 5:55 no-one was hungry et so i had to walk the main road and pop into the trinket shops (similar to Kenting) until the rest of the island got hungry. Finally, after buying a T-shirt, I popped into a restaurant that was filling up with people. They were all elderly and Tai... I started thinkin maybe this was just someones house (or an old peoples home), but no a waitress came. I heard the octopus was good so i tried to order that. She didnt speak English, but she did have a translator tool next door, so off she went. And eventually came out with a beautful garlic octopus in a peanut sauce. Once I'd had my fill I rode the scooter to the beach to chill and eat icecream by moonlight... the scooter stand fell off when i stopped... rusted through. I had an early night and slept well in the tent.
The next morning, I had a nice shower and headed for the harbour to meet Amy and Charlotte (Maddie's friends) . They were the only western girls coming off the ferry so I called Amy over. She answered but looked confused, I started thinkin maybe there were two western Amys on the boat, and id got the wrong one: id only spoken to her 5 minutes ago on the phone. Turns out they were just in shock after the roughest crossing of their lives.
I led them to the scooter place... but 3 day weekend: none left and no scooter man: which meant I couldn't renew my scooter lease which was annoying. There were some nice ones on the left but they were reserved for tour groups. Damnit! Not to worry: we still had my ... thing. I loaded their luggage onto the bike and took it down to the campsite. Despite the seasickness, both of them were starving so went to a nice cafe - 3 on a scooter; its an artform - and had an egg and bacon pancake with chilli sauce. A great kick start to anyone's day. It turned out Maddie had decided not to come now, but her friend Courntey would be joining us that afternoon. 4 on a scooter would be interesting!
The girls were keen to get some snorkelling in. I had a bad feeling about renting equipment, but we went to the visitor centre anyway to ask... after 5 or 6 phone calls, we were told no snorkels, no scooters, and even no bicycles left for rent on the island: Not to worry: we could still buy some stuff from the shops down the road.
It took a while to find them, as everytime we went into a shop, the girls kept looking at sandles, skirts and tops... but eventually we tracked down a mask and pipe: no flippers: not to worry. A group of Tai students wanted our picture; so we made sure we got a copy
We went to the beach recommended by the visitor centre: took one look at the waves battered the shoreline and thought: No, not likely... "You must be joking!" came a voice to our right; some Canadians had pulled up and shared our sentiments. Introductions were made, and we agreed to follow them round the coast to a beach near the campsite. Total contrast! I spent a while lotioning up... and eager to get out of the baking sun made my way down this wooden path that led out to waist deep water. It had been 6 years since I last went snorkelling (off the coast of Zanzibar) so I was a little aprenhensive. I swam out in awe of the fish beneath me; clown, rainbow, black and blue, red and green, and this little dudes with long noses for getting food out from the coral. I had a couple of panic attacks, when water went down the spout and when I realised just how deep the water was around us. But i sang myself back into comfort and was soon relaxed and enjoying the view. There was still a strong current, when I lifted my head I realised I'd drifted down the shore quite a long way. I tried to swim back but wasnt moving... then the tide would push me forward, and I'd feel better... and then the tide would drag me back again... but it was fine....When i came back to the shore, everyone looked worried and were pointing at my leg. On the way back I'd grazed it on the coral and blood was trickling down. It's lucky there were no sharks out, I thought.
From the beach, the girls managed to get rides with the Canadians... and I set out to pick up Courtney. At the harbour I ran into scooter man and after a long exchange of gestures and sign language: we managed to get the scooter for another day and my ARC back. A little worrying was the fact that he gave me 3 ARCs back.
I took Courtney back to the campsite and helped pitch her tent and then, we all (Canadians incl) scootered round the island looking for good nosh.
We found it in the Fisherman's House. There was about 15 of us, so we ordered a dish of everything and shared it round. Spici tomato tofu, snails in green beans (or squid?), BBQ fish, raw salmon and tuna with wasubi sauce. All good stuff. Entertainment all evening was free from comedian Badger (one of the Canadians) From there we stocked up at a 7/11 and headed back to the campsite for a bonfire, with smores (US delicacy: chocolate and marshmallow between 2 digestives) provided by chef wanabe George. A pleasant evening had by all.

The next morning I awoke (no shower; the water had stopped), packed the tent and Courtney agreed to take me to the ferry. We were just about to leave when breakfast arrived (courtesy of Sam)... had to eat breakfast-best meal of the day! Then we sped to the ferry - got to the harbour at 10:25 the boat had already left.
Not to worry; i thought, i'll just get the next one. Half an hour past, the next one is a different firm; they wont let me on! When can i go? half 12 says the man. It's getting hot so i head to shelter and sit waiting and waiting.
Half 12 comes, so does the boat and everyone on the island it seemed: I've never seen such chaos; no queue; just a hoard of people pressing up against the side of the boat: the people inside hadn't got off yet. At one point a man started yelling at a fella for stepping on his kid;- i thought there was gonna be a full on riot... but no... a man with a megaphone jumped up on a platform and demanded we all step back to let people off; and then it started: everyone pushed and grunted until they were through the small door protected by two ticket guys.
Once inside calm was restored. The return crossing was not so rough, no screaming and i was soon back in the shuttlebus on the way to Taitung station. As there was only me in the van, the driver went on a detour to point out the main attractions of the area... which was nice of him.
The return journey was over an hour longer: I got out the map at one point just to check it was heading in the right direction. I played musical chairs with other 'standing passengers' seeing how long you could stay sat on a seat before someone claimed it from you.
Back in Yuan Lin, I was happy to be back on my scooter: my beautiful fully functional scooter on the way home, looking forward to teaching the following day. A mad weekend! I need a holiday now.