Green Island

The trip to Green Island was amazing just a bunch of friends heading down south to a beautiful island paradise. I loved Green Island despite the continued obstacles. In hindsight the trip was poorly planned and much of our success was due to shrewd Taiwanese Language skill and a seasoned vet who'd visited the island several times all of which kept the newbie traveller clear headed and anxiety neutral.

The trip started off on Saturday night. We met Ben and PHoebe and the van at 9pm. There was some problems earlier with a locked apartment and misplaced keys but like McGuiver I managed to solve the issue with a little wit, determination and a broken umbrella. After the initial meet up our drivers took us to pick up the rest of our cohort and we were off on our adventure down south.

We were a motley crew of newbies, locals and fresh arrivals to Taiwan. Sam and I have been in Taiwan for almost a year now. Sam's roommate Don was a seasoned traveller and has been in Taiwan for the last three years. We had two Taiwanese Sunny and Phoebe not to mention our Chinese American Anna to round out the pack of Asian interpreters. We were prepared and excited to head down south.

The initial trip out of the city was a little bumpy but after taking a brief stop to play a game of electric basketball where Ben was crowned Dream Hooter, Don took us on a whirlwind pass to through the winding mountain roads in the pitch of night. We arrived at dawn at the harbor to register on the waiting list for the ferry to Green Island. Green Island which used to be a little known tourist spot has seen quite a bit of development since the government has started putting money into local tourism develloping the sites and growing awareness about the tourist spots around the island.

We managed to get on a ferry easy enough after badgering a clerk for an hour and arrived to find a lack of scooters available for rent. Suffice it to say after a great deal of effort and broken interchanges we wound up with tents, scooters and a wide variety of amenities to carry us through the rainy nights and sun scorched days. One of the higlights of the trip had to be the visit to one of the few salt water hotsprings in the world and the bevy of snorkeling sites. I got coral cuts and wound up with heat stroke. But simpy cruising around the island was good enough for me. I had a great time and I'll post some pictures later when I have more time.

More food stuff

Living in Taiwan gives you an interesting selection of tasty and sometimes strange Chinese food. From dumplings, to fried rice to pickeled turnips there's something for everyone. I'm always quite pleased with my selection of foods.