April 3- April 9 SPRING BREAK
Ok, I am finally recovered from Midterms after the spring break...so I can write about how Spring Break was. "Amazing" basically sums it all up. =)
So we set off Sunday morning, waking up at 6am. Jinhee, Diana, Mirjam, Tung Peter and I grab 2 taxis and head to the Taipei Main Station to catch the train. When we got there, the early 730 train had no seats, so we opted for the next train at 940, which would take until 5 to get to TaiDong. We grab some breakfast at the train station to wait. (I had a bagel =), mmm, Finland doesnt have bagels, I can't imagine.) We take the train, but the 7 hours felt so long. Tung was sick, so he was out of it most of the way. So glad to have Jinhee (Korean girl) cuz her Chinese is the best out of us all, and she took care of us a lot.
When we get to TaiDong, the tourist info people don't know English, so they call out Hostel and the owners Austrian bf comes to pick us up, and he even doubled back because the car could only fit a few people. We put out stuff down at the dirty hostel with beer bottles everywhere. The owner said she will clean it, and when we returned that night, we see the same bedsheets, but the bottles were gone. =S...
Anyways, we had to take Tung to the hospital because he was in bad shape. He ended up with a IV in his arm for 2 hours at the hospital. We went to eat dinner at a japanese rice place because we were famished from eating just snacks on the train. Before we had to pick up Tung again, me Jinhee and Mirjam went shopping and Peter and Diana went to look for a temple. Jinhee actually found congee for Tung to eat, meanwhile I just thought we could go to get the microwavable kind from 7-11.
We take Tung back to the Hostel, and then head to this "club" the only club in TaiDong. They said that if we go in before 11, it is free. So we go and we are the only people there, for like 2 hours, then more people come, about 10 in total. It was so funny. The club was called Who's club, and we were condering who in TaiDong really comes here. Then they told us a famous DJ was coming in, and he did, and only like 3 people were dancing on this big dance floor, and so we felt bad for him and decided to join, and just kinda tried to make up our own aerobics type excercise dance... hahaha... then we left... but the atmosphere at the club was nice as just a lounging place to chat. But we think they will go bankrupt soon.
When we return to the hostel, I got the single bed on the floor, at first I was happy to sleep alone. Then I found out the middle of the bed had this giant crevace, so I had half the bed to sleep on. And the shower only had cold water...brrr... i guess thats what you get for 230 NTdollars (10 Cdn)
The next morning we get some Dan Bing, (egg cake)for breakfast and go to the harbour to take the ferry to Green Island. Without warning, the ferry actually hits the waves very fast. The whole ride is like constant ups and downs 3 meters. You actually get the feeling of the amusement park ship ride. Peter dissapeared to the washroom to throw up, Mirjam throws up behind me. I stand, sit, close my eyes to keep from feeling sooo sick. Finally after an hour, we dock and I think I am ok. I start to walk, and then I felt so sick. Good thing I kept holding on to the plastic bag they give us, and throw up my breakfast while walking out the boat. There we are greated by the cool hotel owner, to drive us to the hotel. And the Hotel was so nice, and comfortable. He told us we get free snorling that afternoon. So we had some lunch then went.
My first snorkeling experience was great. But because my swimming skills were bad, I kept holding on to the instructors hand and the floater donut. He gave me some fish food to feed, and the others went off themselves to try to dive deeper. The corals and fish were SOOOO BEAUTIFUL. I even sae a clown fish, or 2, maybe it was Nemo and his dad =P hahaha. THe only had part was water kept going up my nose, and it had to come back out as some gooey stuff...and the instructor kept helpin me fix my hair, it was so weird =P... but it was supposedly a percaution to keep ur hair out of your goggles. In the end, Mirjam found the instructor Hot, but we all thought he was not, expecially out of the scuba gear. Maybe when he was in the scuba gear he was ok, and we tried to make Mirjam tell him he is a "shuai ge", but she wouldnt, and then regretted after we left the island.
We get a ride from the hotel around the island, the we decide to talk to the Hot springs which is 6 KM away. I didn't remember it being so far, and so wore the wrong shoes for walking. THey kept saying we were almost there,but it wasnt true, we walked until it was dark =P. But finally it was so good to be in the hot springs. There were natural ones by the ocean, but at night they were not hot, and they were spooky cuz they were like dark circular pools beside the ocean. So much for getting out of the original hot spings to check out the ones by the ocean, meanwhile being blown by the ocean wind. The crazy Austrians were thinking of walking back to the hotel, but luckily Jinhee called the hotel and they were nice enough to give us a ride back. Every local gave us this crazy look when we told them we walked to the hot spring.
We came back for Hot pot dinner, then shopped the souvenir shops. I remembered struggling when deciding whether or not I should bring my Bible on the trip, at last I decided to. And I read it a bit at night. I know the girls on the trip go to church sometimes, and they were surprised that I brought my Bible, as they had left theirs at home. I hope that there can be a reminder to them that God is watching over us.
Next day, Danny comes early in the morning, and he says his ride there was great. WHY?~ =P We thought he would for sure have felt like us when we arrived. Well, we have breakfast then go to the glass floor boat that is included in the hotel package. we get to see the corals and fish again, its amazing how close to the shore the corals are. SO BEAUTIFUL =) After that, we planned to check out the rest of the island. We wanted to get skooters, but Diana wanted to walk. For me, after yesterdays walk to the hot springs, I had no intention of walking another 10 KM around the island. So Danny, Tung get skooters and me and Jinhee ride with them. It was so great not having to walk. We stopped at various places, and explored the rocks close to the shore and saw some fish, and the waves coming in and out. We saw the Cow, the Dog and Sleeping beauty rock formations. THere was a mini Great Wall that overlooked the ocean too. It was so nice, then we stopped at a beach and walked on water =P b/c there was this walkway into the ocean, and when the waves came in, it covered it completely. The sand at the beach was rough because they were all corals and shells sanded down into small pieces.
We decided to join the others for a walk up the mountain after the beach (cant believe they still wanted to walk up a mountain). We talk up and see this gigantic spider on its web right at eye level on the pathway. We all jump, and we get so scared because we have never seen such a big spider in the wild. When the skooter group had to turn back to back to get the skooters, we kept thinking we will see the spider soon like the whole way and it was getting so dark because the pathway had trees all around on both sides. We finally get past the spider and get down the mountain, scary experience because we kept hearing sounds and the warning had said beware of poisonous bees and snakes.
We head to the hot springs again because Danny had not been there yet. It was relaxing and we played the 7 game =P. When we finished we rode back and saw soooo many STARS, like a canvas painted before our eyes. GODS creation is so Magnificent. It really looked surreal. And it was so beautiful, my driver Danny decided to turn off the headlights for a few seconds just to take a glance, meanwhile I kept screaming at him to turn them back on because it is SO DARK when there are no lights, and we might fly into the ocean from the road... =P
We had dinner at the hotpot place again after because everything was closed, then we had seaweed ice for dessert, actually we just wanted to see why it was so famous, but it was really gross for dessert. Good thing we had another strawberry ice ordered. =) We chatted at night, and then headed to bed.
THe next morning we had to leave, we paid like 1700 NTD for the 2 nights each. We were all smart and didnt eat breakfast and took a seasick pill, even though the hotel owner said we will go with the waves when going back to Taiwan. There were very few people, and we were getting all prepared for the ride, and the boat crew told us we could stand outside. Didnt feel sick at all to stand out and have the wind and watch the whole ride. =)
We then have lunch at a tepanyaki type restaurant. Then Jinhee has to leave because her flight for her Hong Kong class was the next morning. We were left with me as the next best in Chinese, oh the pressure. But luckily Danny knows Chinese too. We get some bread (I got french baguette!!) and walk to the bus station. The taxi drivers advise we take the train, so we took the taxi and just made the train leaving at 2:40. Another train ride to a weird place, then we took a bus to Kenting. When we arrived there, there were many people trying to bargain with us, saying we should stay at their hotel. These are small hotels, but we were finally convinced to cancel our reservations at the place Lonely Planet suggested because it was more expensive. We paid 250 NTD each for one night, and each got a double bed, with a TV and nice washroom. A much better deal than in TaiDong.
That night we went shopping on Kentings street, but there were not a lot of people since the Spring Scream rock festival had just ended. We stopped at a pub, and had some coffee and juice =)... then headed to bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast, and tried to walk into the national park. But it was so hot outside, and we missed the shuttle bus, so we turned back and decided to go the the beach. The beach was nice, but I had to leave at 11.
I walked down the street to leave and asked the same shop owner I had asked last night how to go to Kaohsiung. He told me just earlier an old Por Por asked him the same thing, and she is still sitting at the bus stop waiting. He told me to go wait with her. I met her, and we chatted a bit. She actually understood my Chinese... Yay!... I felt so happy to have her lead the way, it was like GOD assuring me that I did not have to fear travelling alone, that he was protecting me =) I could have easily got lost if I had got off the wrong bus stop. I finally make it to Kaohsiung Train station and just make a train to TaiChung. I almost got on the wrong train too. When I got to the platform there was just one train, so I get on, everyone else was standing outside. I ask the one man in the train, if my ticket was the right train, and he said yes. Skeptical I got off and saw everyone had just boarded the train that just came 1 minute ago. This train looked more like it was leaving in 3 minutes, so I asked someone and he told me to sit in my seat, and sure enough the train started moving at the right time.... PHEW~~
I get to TaiChung and Uncle Victor picks me up and we go to Antie Paula's clinic. We then went to dinner at a Vietnamese place, yummy beef pho! We got bubble tea after and then went shopping at a department store until 10pm. Donovan called me and we chatted a while. He wanted to invite me to go scubadiving with him next week, stupidly, I thought I could do it. But then Auntie told me the dangers of diving in places you dont know. Especially for me, someone that cant really swim. She suggested that I go with them next time, and take a course for a few days to ensure my safety. Good thing I talked to them, else I could have died, because I didnt know the real danger of the sport.
The next day, we look for an internet cafe that can use my USB to do some studying, but the people there dont use the computers for school work, so it didnt work out. We had a home cooked lunch by Auntie, and it was yummy. Uncle strangely like to pretend to do soemthing to my food while I pray, I guess to make fun of me. But at least I know he is interested in learning more about Christianity. We then head to a Go-karting track with uncles friend Down and Jennifer. Uncle and Down are crazy, I was the slowest driver. I have never seen normal people go-Kart so fast. Especially my Uncle and Auntie, whome are not young (but they do look very young for their age). But the next round, I begin to get the hang of it and lose the fear of flipping over. We have dinner at a buffet place, then head home.
In the morning, I learned that Uncle would drive me back to Chengchi, instead of me taking the bus!... Yay~ we have some noodles at an authentic Taiwanese shop with no name. They had been interviewed previously for their famous food, so I took a picture of their food and the lady acted all surprised. Auntie Paula then said the portions of the food were bigger. hehehe...
Back at Chengchi, had to start studying for my Midterms, while my friends in Canada are doing the Finals!.... ughs =P
