Green Island

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