Double Take

We awoke this morning to the sound of birds chirping and ocean waves crashing outside our room. We opened our eyes, ready for what must surely be a blissfully blue-sky day—and were greeted with an interminable cloud bank.

“Well, that’s not so bad,” I told myself. “At least it’s still warm outside!”

We stumbled downstairs to breakfast (scrumptious Western-style mini pastries with butter and jam, a hot boiled egg, and our choice of coffee, tea, or milk—guess what I chose) and learned that, in fact, it was warm—ish. A light sweatshirt still didn’t feel amiss with my shorts.

Oh well. Melanie and Alex soon joined Rachel and I in the breakfast room, and we had a nice long chat while we ate, then changed, checked out, and headed out to the tidal pools off the beach below. After a cursory view of the standard path (which was, in typical Taiwanese fashion, a true path, of rocks innovatively held together by rubber meshing), we ventured further afield, to the rock outcropping against which the blue-green waves were breaking.

As we wandered further down the shore, we happened upon a strange sight: a couple we’d met in Kinmen! Yes, that’s right, an American couple from Kaohsiung who happened to be staying at our homestay in Kinmen also happened to be visiting the same beach as we were in Taitung, and at the same time. The irony of this, of course, is that we’ve never actually seen them in the city where we all live—but we do seem to have similar instincts when it comes to breaks!

12:30 found us at the ferry terminal a full hour early, thanks to our overeager taxi driver. But the upside of that was that we were among the first people on board, and so had our pick of seats in the stabler middle back of the “Barf Barge” I’d braved before. The weather outside was worse than last time we took the ferry, which made me nervous (though mutely so—couldn’t help anything!), but as it turned out that, wind and choppy appearance aside, the seas were deceptively calm, and the hour-long ride was uneventful for all of us, even with three of us attempting it sans medicine. We weren’t exactly ready for a 10-course meal when we stepped on shore, but you can’t have everything.

A very short shuttle ride later, we arrived at our hostel/homestay/hotel—don’t really know what to call it—and about an hour later they gave us the keys to our price-included scooters. We made a nice little loop of the island, stopping off at key points I’d seen with Mom like the Civil Liberties Memorial (which I had no idea was called that until several hours later when we saw it on a postcard; we just stopped for the view), the Sleeping Beauty rock, and the beautiful Scottish-looking fen-covered point by the hot spring where we saw some (very annoyed) wild goats.

For dinner, we twisted Alex’s arm into agreeing to Taiwanese stir fry, which was so so good: Green Island’s signature venison, beef and veggies, kung pao chicken, fried noodles, empty heart vegetable, rice. I’d been craving food like that for a while, and it did not disappoint. A quick Family Mart and tea shop stop later, we returned to our rooms to “take a rest,” as the Taiwanese have it, before our night tour.

And the night tour, oh, the night tour. It was SUCH the experience! I was wishing my mom and I had been able to make it, as we stopped to observe the local wildlife in every ecosystem the island has to offer, along with Ray and Elba, two of our fellow homestay-ers from Shanghai who speak fantastic English, and two other random guys who joined up with us somewhere along the way, but who I don’t think are actually staying here. We saw all the local flora and fauna, shared some lovely moments talking about the appropriateness of our footwear, and then set out, at around 10pm, for the Zhaori Hot Springs.

There followed an hour and a half of warm saltwater bliss.

And now we’re back, and Internet-less—I’m typing this in a Word document, despite Ray’s wireless connection showing up on my list—and need to get our rest, given that it’s almost 1am and breakfast is at 7, followed by snorkeling at 8.

So ends my second attempt at Green Island—still not a tropical wonderland, but now sickness- and driving rain-free, filled instead with good food, good friends, and good fun (to borrow the cliché). Now to close my eyes and pray once again for a fresh start that involves a blue sky…