The infamous puke boat 2minutes in and people were barfing.
Taitung harbor
Green island beach near the lighthouse.
Coral sands
Local attractions include deer. Unfortunately most of them if not in the forest are tied up outside shops which sell deer meat. I guess what Bambi doesn't know doesn't hurt.
Kings of the hill.
It has been a great
weekend, unfortunately I came back with a sore throat and a headache. I can
only blame myself for drinking so much and walking for 5hours in the rain.
Where did we go I hear you ask? Why green island.
Green island is a tiny
island off the East coast of Taiwan. It’s a 50min ferry ride away from the
mainland and the port in Taitung. The ferry is infamous for it’s ability to
make people puke. I am lucky in the fact that I rarely get motion sickness,
infact I have never been seasick. It’s not so much the size of the ship but
more the motion in the ocean. 2minutes in and people were puking. There are
puke bags at a handy for every passenger and you can see puke encrusted on the
bins. I took seasickness tablets and was okay, my friends who also took
seasickness tablets were not so lucky. I can still envisage my friends puke
sliding into that sea through bag, that’s enough to make anyone hurl. But not
me with my stomach made of steel. The boat speeds through the waves aswell, I
am not sure if going slower would help or only prolong the suffering. You know
that feeling when you ride a rollercoaster and your stomach is still in the air
as you drop, imagine that feeling for 50minutes. It’s worth the pain tho as
Green island is awesome.
You can drive the
island in 30mins on a scooter which is the preferred method of transport.
Normally you can rent one without a license but due to a fatal accident of a
young westener we were left lumbered with bicycles which turned out far more
enjoyable, when they weren’t breaking down. We took our bikes around the island
and stopped off at every opportunity. There was a cool cave called ‘swallow
cave’ which should have been renamed goat poo cave. There was a dead goat on
the beach which must have died from childbirth because two Taiwanese tourists
had found her baby and were cradling it. Very cute- the baby goat that is. We cycled to the lighthouse
which has a nice little sheltered area for swimming. We were the only ones in
the water and I got a tan in seconds even though I was wearing suncream. When
we bumped into our Scottish
friends we saw the damage of fair skin without suncream they were two toned and
sore. There is a really nice walkway out into the sea which is great for
snorkelling just past the lighthouse. Snorkelling came free with our package and was really fun. There
were fish of all colours and the guide threw pieces of bread into the ocean and
all the fish swarmed around us so close you could touch them. We saw a grim
looking sea snake which could have been one of Ursula’s babies, but it stayed
away from us. The snorkelling is very over protected and reflects the Taiwanese
love of the sea or not. We had full on wetsuits to protect us from poisonous
bites, lifejackets to protect us from waves and had to hold onto a series of
floating rings as the tour guide pulled us along. We soon let go and did our
thing in the water which he was not happy about and swiftly told us off. The
fish are beautiful and the diving is very good there, we didn’t try but
our friends came back with awesome tales. I want to learn soon.
The weather pissed it
down on Saturday but we thought we would take the opportunity and Bear Grylls style do the Ancient trail in the forest 5 hours later we had made it through the other side
We did take a detour up this path for a view on top of a mountain. I was way out of our route but worth it I think this was the best part as the view at the top was awesome. I couldn't take any photos as it was too wet at that time. We found an all you can eat bbq place 250nt on Nanliao well worth it.
All in all wish I could have stayed longer. if you wanna book you can do through www.greenislandadvntures.com
