taiwan

several weeks ago my students took a field trip on a thursday and friday. i got up the courage to ask my co-teacher if i really had to come to school and sit there all alone (contractual requirement). she said that the principal and vice principal would be going on the trip, so they would not be at school to monitor my presence. whooooooohooooooooooo! that meant no, i didn't have to show up at school!

so i booked a very cheap flight to taiwan for the 5-day weekend. i did some research beforehand and decided that i wanted to rent a moped so i would be able to drive around the north coast of the island. however, you are supposed to hold a taiwanese license to be able to drive. eventually, i found one guy who rented scooters to foreigners (all local shops will not). his name was jeremy and he's been living in taiwan for 18 years. he fell in love with the country and i can see why.

after flying in thursday morning, i met jeremy thursday evening. he gave me a quick lesson on how to use the bike and important traffic laws. for example, mopeds are not allowed to make left-hand turns in taiwan. so one must complete a hook turn. i was intimidated at first, but so excited that i quickly overcame my hesitations.

driving in taipei was a bit crazy. it is a city of 7 million afterall! and there are sooooooooooo many mopeds. most of the drivers are extremely brave and weave in and out between cars, bikes, and even buses. i took it easy and tried not to go over the speed limit. i really did not want to get a ticket. plus, i think i could've gotten in trouble for not having a taiwanese license. but hey, i love adventures!!

i just drove around taipei on thursday and called it an early night so i could get enough sleep before my big day on friday.

i lucked out and had gorgeous weather. taiwan is notorious for constant rain this time of year. i was sprinkled on once during my entire stay and it was actually quite refreshing at the time. so friday morning i headed out of taipei (which was more difficult than i imagined) and headed to the northern coast. i only had one map which was not very detailed, so i got lost several times. luckily, most roads signs are bilingual (chinese and english).

along the way, i stopped whenever something caught my eye. i saw some nice views of the ocean, a few bridges, and temples. my final destination was yehliu, a coastal park with unique rock formations. these rocks have formed after years of waves crashing against them. the rocks are made up of different layers of rock, each a varying degree of hardness, so some parts of the rock eroded more quickly than others.

after walking around the entire park for longer than i had planned, i had to head back to taipei. it already looked like the sun was starting to set and i had at least two hours of driving left in unknown territory. i took a different route home that appeared to be shorter. it cut through a national park (a mountain), so the roads were very curvy and steep. this would have been okay and probably even fun if it hadn't started raining. it was really foggy, so visibility was really low. i had a poncho, but no rain pants. that made for a bit of an uncomfortable ride. however, as i mentioned earlier, the rain was refreshing.

on saturday, i headed southwest of taipei. first, i went to pinglin. a beautiful little city in the lush mountainside. this area is famous for tea. i went to a tea museum and ate some green tea ice cream. i also was able to see thousands of trout. this area is famous for its fish. there are special regulations to keep the population high. it is so beautiful to look into the stream/river because the water is so clear that you can see the fish well. and on a sunny day, there are constant silver flashes as the fish turn their bodies and reflect the sunlight. very cool!

after pinglin, i headed south to wulai. this area is also nestled in the mountains and well-known for its 80m tall waterfall. it's a very narrow fall, but still beautiful. there is a gondola that takes tourists to the top, but i opted not to do that. this area used to be inhabited by aboriginal tribes, so there are a lot of funky characteristics. the street was lined with vendors selling food. wild pig was a staple for the tribes, so lots of shish kebabs with pork, onion, and green pepper could be found.

i drove back to taipei and went to the largest night market there in the shilin area. it was crazy! so many people! but very interesting to see the latest fashion styles and smell the unique aromas of the local specialities....like "stinky tofu!" i only purchased a few edible items and headed back to the hostel after having two long, tiring days.

on sunday, i had to return the moped around 12pm and get to the airport by 3pm. so i woke up early and explored some more sights within taipei. i drove to the taipei 101 building (currently the tallest building in the world, built to resemble a shoot of bamboo) but i couldn't go inside because it was too early. it was still great to see from the outside. nearby, there was a local art exhibit of cows. it reminded me so much of home and the cow display that was on state street in madison last year. perhaps they stole the idea...

i had an amazing time in taiwan and would love to go back. i was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful landscape, climate, and friendly people. there were not nearly as many foreigners around as in seoul. however, taiwan is becoming a m0re popular place for native-english speakers to find teaching jobs. i would definitely consider teaching there. or at least another extended weekend trip there to see the south of the island!

check out the rest of my taiwan photos here!!