Formosa - Beautiful Island

When the Portuguese discovered Taiwan in the 16th century, they named the island Formosa meaning beautiful island.  Today, James and I truly saw why they chose this name.  We experienced the famous beauty of the east coast.  Scenery that rivals with the most beautiful places I have ever seen - Wanaka, New Zealand, the Swiss Alps and the view from the summit of Mt Cascade in Banff.  I feel as though as I should just stop the blog there for this post but I will share the rest of the past two days. 

We took a VERY wild taxi ride with four other travelers from Kaohsiung to Kenting.  James and I were in the very back with sweaty hands and pale faces.  The bus ride (which will be taking back) takes about 3 hours.  The taxi took less than an hour and a half.  

We arrived at our hostel, the Surf Shack, by mid-afternoon.  The Surf Shack is owned by a Canadian surfer, Terry, who moved to Taiwan to teach English and married a local, Ee.  Ee speaks great English and has been quite helpful.  Since she was dressed like an American, I was finally able to ask someone why all of the Taiwanese women are always wearing so many clothes even though it is boiling hot outside.  The women wear all of the clothing so their skin won't tan.  I have been wearing shirts over my sundresses and leggings under my sundresses because I have felt so out-of-place and it is not comfortable!

We rented a scooter for the trip.  I am so glad that James has a motorcycle license.  He knew how to drive the scooter and follow the crazy driving rules immediately with no fear.  (James just said he was a little nervous at first.  For the record)  So we hopped right on and checked out some of the beaches before the sun went down about 7pm.  Side note: Have I mentioned the sun rises here at 5am and sets at 7pm?  James kept saying that we are like Clint and Laura riding on a scooter :) I got a coconut juice at one of the beaches which is a coconut (they are growing everywhere hear) with a hole in the top for a straw.  Delicious! The beaches are gorgeous.  The gray rock in many of the pictures is coral.  The island was formed by coral being pushed out of the ocean to create mountains.  Pretty wild. 

First look at the ocean.  Coral on the sandy beaches.  Life of Pi replica boat and tiger (this movie was filmed in Taiwan by a Taiwanese director).  Our hostel. 

                                                   

The whole area is much less crowded than the cities but very touristy.  We have seen a variety of nationalities here.  A lot of the prices are much higher than what we have seen so far.  There are tour buses everywhere.  The main tourist season will be starting in a couple of weeks so I am glad we are here now.  

Today was a jammed packed day.  We really get around with that scooter!!  We started the day with a long walk around Kenting Forest Recreation Area.  There are paved/stone paths that lead around the park.  You can not leave the main path because the forest is very dense with trees and scary living things.  I think half of the plants here will eat you alive!  We have some cool pictures and a video.  I was so scared in that cave!  Overall the park felt like Disneyworld.  It felt almost like this fake world made to walk around for a while and then go to the next area.  Only thing is that this is real!  As we entered the park, there were signs for the poisonous snakes and wasps.  Did I sign a waiver for that with my admission fee?  Of course within 20 steps this huge bug flies at James and he dodges it.  It runs smack into my shoulder and then flies away!  I think it left a bruise on me.  After we got over the shock, we were laughing so hard we couldn't walk.  I guess I have my mom's special luck of being attacked by animals!  We met a few people from a large tour group from San Diego who are touring the whole island of Taiwan.  I also saw a very large snake slither across the path...eek!!!!!!!!!!!!  We saw one monkey and a bunch of bats that are the stars of the video below. 

                                 

Some crazy trees

                                 

The view from a tower in the park

http://youtu.be/W-Nt_0nVRZU - Bats in the Cave

We were at the park for a few hours and left starving!  We went to the pricey food strip by the beach and picked a Chinese place...figures.  After communicating with the nice waiter that we were vegetarian (we finally said it right in Chinese!!!!!), he created a custom meal for us!  We have come such a long way in our communication skills.  

                                   

Custom Made Fresh Veggies with cold noodles

Next, we decided to head towards the southern most tip of Taiwan and just stop where we saw tour buses along the way.  It lead us to some pretty neat and pretty places.  We went to this lighthouse park, Eluanbi Park.  Then, we went to the southern most tip of Tawain which was pretty darn crowded but fun none-the-less.  Our legs were getting pretty tired by this point...

People jumping off the Chuanfan Rock (Don't worry mom...I won't be doing this)

The lighthouse

The Southern Most Tip of Taiwan 

http://youtu.be/CaiuK-9V3k4 - Attack of the Bugs!

As soon as we left here, the scenery completed changed because we were officially on  the east coast of Taiwan.  We pulled over where we saw some tour buses and were wowed.  Turquoise water touching lush green mountainous cliffs?!  Is this possible and real?!  We found some non-crowded beaches that we plan to return to one day this coming week.  We watched a few of the surfers at one of the beaches.  

Then, we headed back for a much needed shower and dinner.  We made a quick stop at the Chuhuo Nature Fire.  The fire has not stopped burning for thousands of years due to it being above natural gas in the ground.  The fire was smaller than we expected and a local was cooking potatoes, eggs and popcorn over the fire and selling it.  A bit odd.  We resisted the urge to buy any of his food. 

The Chuhuo Nature Fire

Ee really seems to understand James and I.  We asked her about the local vegan/vegetarian restaurants.  She told us about one that is a dream come true!  A Buddhist monk greeted us at the door which is a good sign.  The Buddhist monks eat vegan and basically exactly how we eat.  They had an English menu and we wanted everything on the menu.  Everything is organic.  Words cannot explain how delicious our food was and how excited we were to find this place.  We plan to eat there for every dinner while we stay in Kenting. 

Well, since I never posted this last night I can give the scoop on surfing this morning.  Terry picked us up in a van with surf boards this morning.  He drove us to a not-well-known surf spot on the east coast.  After giving us a quick lesson on how to get up on our boards in the sand, we went into the turquoise waters.  Terry would hold onto the back of our boards, then tell us when the wave was coming and yell out "Paddle, paddle, paddle, stand up!"  The first hour of surfing seemed a bit brutal.  Neither of us made much progress.  We would stand up and then fall.  I had one very wobbly surf for about two seconds.  I discovered that getting up on my knees and holding the wave was much easier!  After an hour of being attacked by waves, we took a ten minute or so break on the sand.  The second attempt went great for James (figures...).  He could stand up and ride the small waves.  **James Edit: The waves I rode were huge.  Just huge**  I think I was exhausted by then and mostly enjoyed hanging out on my board in the water looking for more waves to come in.  We decided we had enough being attacked by waves and took a walk along the beach and watched the others surfers for a while.  We could not have picked a more gorgeous place to learn how to surf.  I am a bit thankful we accidentally left the camera at home.  I would hate to have pictures and videos of my continuous wipe outs!  Besides a couple of pink sunburned body parts and a couple of scrapes on the knees, we came out alive and are glad we somewhat attempted and learned the sport of surfing. 

We're hanging out inside for the afternoon to give our bodies, skin, and minds a break.  This is a vacation so aren't we supposed to relax?  That's not the Rockwell style.  However, being out in the sun all day when south of the Tropic of Cancer will fry your skin.  Terry laughed at our 30 SPF and gave us some 130 SPF (not joking) to wear surfing.  We are planning to stay here until Thursday or Friday before heading home to Hsinchu.  We still have a handful of activities we would like to do and a few more dishes we would like to try at our most favorite restaurant of all time before leaving.  

Also, a special thanks to everyone for the nice emails, blog comments, etc.  It makes me feel as though we are not so far away.  It also makes me stronger when we get frustrated or homesick.  However, everyday gets easier.  I am looking forward to having a set weekly teaching schedule so I can sign up for Chinese classes.  I need to learn a few more words and phrases just to get by here!  

There was an earthquake today in central Taiwan.  Some other people at the hostel said they could feel it and pointed out the the water in a clear jug was moving.  James and I did not feel anything.  I don't know anything else about the earthquake, damage, etc. currently.