DAY ONE Jhongli-Yilan-Hualien
We got out of Jhongli on Thursday morning around 6:15 am and were heading for Yilan. At first it was quite traffic-y, but once we got into the mountains, it was very mountain-y. At one point it got super cloudy and we were driving through pure mist. I was a bit frightened. There's a beach in Yilan Abe used to frequent and he wanted to make one last stop. I had never been before, and it was a lovely beach. Before the beach though, we stopped and had an outrageous meal of seafood at a restaurant not far from the shore. Victoria doesn't like seafood, but she was kind enough to let us indulge and just had fried rice and vegetables.
Once we ate and beached for a while, we were headed for Hualien. It was a long trip down, extremely mountainous. The air was sooo dirty, our skin was filthy. Covered in black dirt and nasty pollution. At one pit stop to the Family Mart, Victoria came back from the bathroom explaining that she almost started crying when she saw herself in the mirror! We looked like dirty homeless people.
We made it to Hualien around 7:00, a 12 hour day of driving and adventuring! The scenery was very pretty, super curvy and lots of trucks and buses driving around us. A bit scary at times, but I didn't plummet off the side of a mountain as had been my fear.
DAY TWO Hualien-Taitung
The next day we left for Taroko Gorge early. We spent a great Friday driving around the Gorge and exploring some new things. Anthony and I went to Taroko last October, but one time is definitely not enough to see everything. Two times isn't even enough. As last time, it rained while we were there, but only for a bit and then quit. The sun even came out!
Here we're waiting for the break in construction to be able to pass by. They were working on the road damage from previous landslides.
We left Hualien a little later than planned, and were next on to Taitung. After Hualien the roads turn from mountain to sea side. It's absolutely gorgeous. So blue and beautiful forever. There's a ton of pretty places to stop and see the ocean in different ways. There's also the Tropic of Cancer marker, and a cave that looks like a vagina. This is really a land mark, there's even signs for it, called the Basian Gove. However, we reached this special spot during a heavy downpour. I didn't even notice it, but sure enough Abe stops (he was the leader, so then we all stopped). He says with a huge grin on his face to us "Guys did you see it? The vagina cave! That was it!" I lifted my helmet visor and gave him a death glare.... really? It's pouring around me, I don't care about a vagina cave! I turned to Victoria and said "Abe's just excited because he's never one before!" haha. Still, we turned around to get a view of it. Abe encouraged Victoria to get our her waterproof camera, but she declined. Everyone else was not amused, due to the rain and having to drive through it, but good thing Abe was!
This is the Tropic of Cancer marker
We saw a lot of places that would have been fun to camp at, but lack of equipment stopped us from doing so. After too many stops for pictures, coffee from the 7, and massive amounts of sunscreen applications we finally arrived in Taitung! We had to drive in the dark for a bit, and missed one stop at a bridge that would have been nice, but what can ya do. We got a hotel in Taitung, and sleeeep.
DAY THREE Green Island
Saturday's plan was Green Island. We got to the Ferry Pier expecting an 8 am boat, but there wasn't one until 9, so we had to wait around a little. Victoria and I discovered a room of fish the fishermen were pulling in from the ocean. The boys played War on the seats.
I was utterly terrified of getting on this boat as Victoria has ventured to Green Island multiple times. She warned us that nearly 70 percent of the passengers on the boat throw up. After my last experience taking a boat into the ocean off the East Coast of Taiwan, I just knew I'd be apart of that 70%. We boarded and found seats on the bottom level, inside, in the middle of the boat. We all were super tired and were able to fall asleep pretty easily. About 3 minutes into the ride, I heard people start to vom. Not a welcoming sound. Soon, I was fast asleep and before I knew it the 50 minute boat ride to Green Island was over! I made it!!
Once we got off the boat, we needed to rent scooters. Summer is peak season for trips to Green Island, so the first lady I saw with scooters I approached. She turned out to be nuts, babbling on and on in Chinese. So lucky to have Victoria on this trip, she knows the most Chinese of us all, and was able to get it mostly sorted. She wanted license's, so good thing I had mine. They were very jenky scooters. The breaks hardly worked, the speedometer was completely out, pretty banged up. Anthony and I just shared one as it was 300 NT (about10 dollars) for one scooter.
The loop around Green Island is 17 km, but there are many stops around it. There's a light house, lots of rocks, tons of beaches, a Sleeping Beauty rock, Taiwan's (lame) version of a Great Wall, and hot springs. We spent about an hour at the hot springs, enjoying the view and soaking (although it was very hot out). We continued driving around, and wanted to fit in snorkeling. It's common for people to go for the entire weekend, but we only had a day to spend here.
The last ferry back to Taiwan left at 4 30pm. It was 2 pm, we could fit it. Ohhh snorkeling.
We stopped at a shop, there was tons of people getting ready to head out. Wet suit, goggles, snorkel, life jacket. Victoria inquired about going, and the lady didn't speak much English. Victoria tried to ask (in Chinese) if we would be back by 4 to make it back on the boat. The lady stared at her, checked her watch, and says "It's 2 o'clock." Just a blank face. We took that as a yes? Next Victoria tried to ask about the boat that would take us out to snorkel. "No boat," the lady replied. Then she asked if we could leave our scooters parked in front of the shop. "...you need to drive them to the beach?" The lady responded. Yea, she thought we were crazy. So, we figured out it was off shore snorkeling. Next up, Victoria showed her that we didn't want to wear wet suits. She was worried that it was so hot already, and that would just make it unbearable. The lady did a swimming motion, could we swim? Well, yes we can. Most Taiwanese are afraid of the water, thus they cannot swim.
So, we got set up with our little snorkel boots, goggles, and a snorkel. Forgetting about the wet suits and life jackets. We followed the crowds down the road to a beach. I felt very naked as everyone else was in full body suits. There were groups of people around instructors speaking in Chinese, so clearly we bypassed that stage as well. We just plunged right in. It was very "rocky" and by that I mean tons of coral all over. It was sharp and pierced our un-wet suited skin. Ahhhhh! That's why everyone was wearing them. Silly white girls. After being thrashed around by the ocean and cutting my hands and knees, and me screaming like a drowned cat, Victoria and I hopped on a scooter and went back to the shop.
Uhh.. we pointed to our scrapes, then to a wet suit. Smile! The lady began to laugh. She motioned some for us to take. Then she went on to speak Chinese to everyone else there, most likely telling them how stupid we were for not getting wet suits, then coming back after realizing we need them. They all were looking. But no, we definitely did not need life jackets. We got back to the beach, and in we went. This time much smoother.
I'd never snorkeled before, and boy was it wonderful. Lots of interesting fish, such beautiful colors, so cool. Once you got out further, the coral wasn't poking out as far, so not as much thrashing. Victoria had a new waterproof camera and was able to take some neat photos.... until her new waterproof camera broke. First time using it!! Luckily she's since been able to exchange it.
We got back on the ferry at 430, after returning the scooters to the crazy lady, and also made it back without puking! Double score. We had decided to spend a second night in Taitung so we'd be able to get to the Hot Air Balloon Festival about 30 minutes away in the morning.
DAY FOUR Taitung-Luye-Kenting
Sooo we wanted to make it to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Luye this morning. We were told to arrive super early, so our alarms were set for 4 30 am. Yea. That didn't work out so well. I woke up to it, and thought.. oh, Abe will get us all up. That also didn't work out as I had intended. We eventually made it out of Taitung around 5 45. After missing some signs, we made it to the Festival around 7. Just in time to see about 5 balloons all coming down, and then deflating. We found an English speaking worker, and learned that they were now taking a break from giving rides. We would need to go wait in the line that was already forming to get tickets for when they started up again at 330pm. 8 hours?! A little extreme for what would probably only be a ten minute ride, and they were anchored so it looked like you didn't get to go very far. I would have loved it, but just not worth waiting around in line all day. After taking some pictures anyways, we left and pushed on toward Kenting!
Then we stopped in this small town for some lunch. Along the way after eating, we all become a little drowsy. Now, on this entire trip, Abe was the dad of the group. Constantly rushing us along, not allowing the stops to be too long, allocating when we should put on our rain gear :) Even he was getting sleepy, so a coffee break was allowed. We stepped into the 7, he got some bottled coffee. I brought my purse in, put it down at a table, cooled off. Victoria went to the bathroom. We were taking our time. After having maybe 3 sips of caffeine, Abe was crazy and ready to go again! We all had our drinks, but needed to take some time to apply sunscreen. Abe with his Mexican skin felt above us "crackers" and had no use for such items (though he learned later that it was a poor choice!) A few seconds later the 3 of us look outside and see Abe at his scooter, helmet on, and he throws his index finger into the air twirling it over his head, Top Gun style. Eventually he came back inside and I explained how much of a lunatic he looked like. "He gets a few sips of caffeine in him and he's freaking out!" Victoria says.
Now, along the way to Kenting, you can't just go all the way down at the very bottom East, you must cross over the Island, but it's such small land, that it took about 40 minutes to do so, although through a mountain. When we got to Kenting, we knew right away finding a hotel would be a shit show. Kenting is a beach town, and although the Taiwanese despise sun, heat, and water, they all flock to Kenting in the summer. During the next hour I learned how to say a key phrase in Chinese. "nee yo may yo si ren fang jin tien?" (Just awesome pinyin) "Do you have a four person room for today?" Most of the responses... "may yo." "I don't have" Victoria and I were in charge of searching for rooms at first, and she did most of the talking. Although we did find a few places with vacancy along the way.
#1 We stopped at a hotel, they said no, but called another place they were friends with, and said someone would come pick us up to see it. An old ass lady pulls up on her 50 cc scooter, just looking bat shit insane. She smiles, and Victoria and I wonder how the hell the 3 of us are to fit on that thing. We decided to get on Victoria's scooter, and followed the lady. The room was quite old, and not so good, so we said no.
#2 Yes, they had room. The man continued speaking in Chinese to Victoria, I overhead "a little" and "water." Then he explained in English that the room had some water leaks.. on the wall. They still wanted nearly 100 USD for it. We went to look. It was musty, water leaking down the wall so it was all bubbled up with a bucket underneath. Victoria tried to bargain the price waaay down. The guy spoke English pretty well, and said it was already lowered because of the leak. So ridiculous, so Victoria exclaims "This place is fucking gross, let's leave!"
#3 We walk in and ask, the man says no and points to a sign in Chinese. Like, ohhh we should have read the sign! Victoria's response "Well I can't READ!" aaand we leave.
#4 We make it down a side alley, off the main strip and come across a B&B that is like brand new. They have a room! A bit pricey, but so nice and homey, huge, comfortable, so we decided to splurge and take it.
We booked it down to a beach to sit and watch the sunset and enjoy the cool breeze from the ocean. The night was spent paroosing the strip and eating.
DAY FIVE Kenting
Still in Kenting, we went to Happy Panda Beach!! We went here last time when Ariel was visiting, and it's one of my favorite places in Taiwan. We just HAD to go again. So we spent the whole day here. Having some drinks, some food, lying in the sun, playing in the water, napping in the sand. So fabulous.
We stayed until around 7 30pm, and went back to get some food and wanted to go to the outdoor Reggae Bar. Then it started torrential raining, and that plan was ruined. Earlier we decided to stay another night at the luxurious B&B so we could spend more time in Kenting. So, instead of Reggae Bar we eventually made it back to our room and enjoyed a night with English HBO!
DAY SIX Kenting-Donggang-Kaohsiung
There were some places around Kenting to visit, and it was Abe's first trip down here so we revisited a few things with him.
Then we were headed North to Kaohsiung! Along the way we had hopes of taking a trip to another island called Liuqiu. We stopped in a dingy little town where it said we needed to go to take the ferry over. We went the information center, and everyone was beyond helpful. The ladies at the desk didn't speak English too well, so they made a call. The next thing we see is this man sprinting across the yard and they're yelling "Gi oh" "go go!" at him to run faster. He speaks English, and is clearly an eager beaver to help us out. After asking lots of questions, we realize it's about 2 30 pm, the last boat would come back at 6, so we'd need to spend the night there, but they tell us it's quite expensive to stay there. Plus, there's a typhoon coming. Like always. We tell them we'll probably just wait for the next day to go. Before we leave, the man asks timidly if we'd like to watch a video in their auditorium about Little Liuqiu. We agree, and he seems very excited. They show us this film, in English, about 20 minutes. The Island looks like a neat place! After the show's over, the staff asks to take a picture with all of us. That's going on a billboard for their advertising for sure!
Continuing on to Kaohsiung, you can see the air getting dirtier and blacker. Our skin's becoming coated again. Once finally making here, we again needed to hunt for a hotel. Eventually we found a place, with breakfast, and all day free ice cream bar!! Holla! They also told us they had free laundry, which I'm sure they added after seeing how nasty and filthy we were. We got set up and ready to head out to the night market. Oh... torrential rains, again. Subway next door it is then! It rained and rained, silly typhoons.
DAY SEVEN Kaohsiung-Pingtung
After checking the weather it looked like 2 typhoons were now on their way, although the skies looked quite clear. We decided it wouldn't be a good idea to go out to the Island. Again, Abe had never been to this area, so I did some revisiting. We went to see the monkeys at Monkey Mt and did Lotus Pond. It took us a while to drive to these places and find them. So it was well in to the afternoon when we finished. Next up.. we needed to send our scooters back to Jhongli/Taipei. Victoria knew how to do it and where to go, so it was taken care of quite easily. It cost 750 NT (about 25 USD) to send one scooter across the country. So cray.
Next we headed over to the Dream Mall, the largest shopping mall in East Asia. We wanted to ride in the Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel! However, this turned out not to be a totally Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel, more of an Asian character friends Ferris Wheel. Still, we paid to ride around on it, it was super slow moving and took like 20 minutes.
Our friend Dellie had recently relocated to Pingtung, a town not too far from Kaohsiung, and it was on our agenda to visit her after our scooter trip before heading back up North. So with our scooters on their way back up, we took the train to Pingtung to go to her apartment! When we arrived I found out that she happens to now work with another girl that was in my original training, Sunell. So Sunell came over to have dinner and hang out with us. Dellie was a dear and made us chicken caesar salad and spaghetti! It was yummy and nice to catch up. There was of course still news of the massive typhoon supposed to strike, and we read that they activated 48,000 troops around Hualien to prepare for the landslides and evacuating people. A bit scary. But we went to sleep with no rain.
DAY EIGHT Pingtung-Jhongli
This morning we left when Dellie went to work and headed for Jhongli! I slept on the train, the skies were dark when we got into Taoyuan county, but nothing bad. And thus concluded our scooter adventures! In total I drove 989 km on my scooter, or 615 miles. Overall a really super amazing fantastic beautiful time and I would highly recommend anyone living in Taiwan to do it!!
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