3km swimming at Green island...

I was invited to join a 3km swimming competition at Green island at the east coast of taiwan...
Early morning the train was heading to taidong...
I could see turtle island from the train...near Yilan...
Many ppl slept on the train...
I saw the mountain I ran up on some weeks ago...near Jiaoxi
I really like going by train in taiwan...it looks kind of the same...but still some places feels so isolated...
I brougt some beer to enjoy the ride...going on the eat coast reef...
With mountains on both sides...(by road number 9)
I found a Giant store near Taodong train station...
We got a taxi pick up from the trainstaion to the harbor where the ferry will leave from...
It was very touristic at the ferry terminal...
They had alot of boats at the place...
Many fishermen sat at the shore...
I guess its from here all the fish comes from...that they sell at taidong night market...
Some coast guards watching over the passengers while entering...
This is how the ferry looks like inside...its famous for that people get seasick here...
This is how green island looks from from Taiwan...I didnt know that I could c the island from here before...
I went outside on the boat...to easier enjoy the ride...
This is how the island looks like from far away...its a 40 minutes ride...it takes a while...
Other ferries are carrying cars...
Far away is hualien...
Many people came outside as the trip went along...
Each seat was offered a bag...
And there was TV for those who wanted to watch (and could)...I heard many people puke...
Alot of flying fishes were flying around...not captured on my camera... :(
We got picked up the the hostel manager at the harbor at green island...
They guy gave us emplty scooters, so we needed to fuel up...
This seems like a systemaic thing...and reminded me of laos...
Where everyone gets a empty scooter ready for fuel up...I wonder if they empty it on purpose...
How to find a local person from a tourist? locals dont use helmet...
Even the locals told me...
Its kind of fun...just like Nan ao...its a contrast from Hsinchu...
Or have a hat that looks like a helmet...
I can see why they cal it "green island"
They also had interesting cliff formations...
This is the hotel...a very small place very cozy...many people living there...
More or less each cliff had a name...I think the one to the left here was called "the dog" or something...
The island is not that big, about 19km to drive around...and from a view point on could see this side (south east peak, (far in the horizon one can see Orchid island))...
And also the norht east peak...
The island had alot of animals and insects...
A conveinient road that went around the island...as made for the toursits who gets a scooter directly when they enter it...
And some times the road was really near the water...
Historical sites...telling about the strong current...
Some fishing boats were also driving around on the ocean...on the "risky" streams that causes many Qing dynasty ships to go aground...
Here is one of the worlds few hotsprings near ocean (some one said there are like 3-4 places like this)
They had cool caves from the road...
No wonder there are this many scooter parking lots...
We went to an "all you can eat" restaurant, hosted by the hostel, the first night...
They had a fridge of food that we could pick from...
I focused mostly on deer meat...since its special for this island...
We fried if on aliminium...
More people joined up after a while...they had been snorkeling (or diving as they called it)...
Some store had a sealed dear as an attraction...
We met up later on outside the hostel...
We followed the hostel managed on the road that takes up around the island...
There are super many scooters driving around every night on green island, trying to find deers...
The guide had a very strong light, to find the animals...
He also showed pineapples and said that we could pick if we wanted (I sneaked up the night after, and took one...but at a closer look it didnt look like apineapple)...
The guide spoke chinese and taiwanese so I had to listen carefully to understand...
We also visited some temples caves...
...come containing water...
And he showed us a stick insect that was unique for green island, taiwan has a similair, but its brown...
The day after we ate breakfast at some green island restaurant...
They had alot of cats in the island...some expecting human treatment...
This was said to be typical local food...
And flying fish...
We also picked up out T-shirts and swim caps...
After that we went for snorkeling...
We needed to sign some insurance paper...but my classmate pablo didnt know his ARC number...so he wrote his student ID...plus some random letter...I did the same...
We went to the north beach...its where everyone dives...
Later on that day we went to the city (there are a 7-11 and a family mart, that creates the night life of green island)...everyone asked for a Mcdonalds...I guess it will create a new city center...
I bought seafeed icecream and slized ice...
It was said to be famous, and we got discount from the hostel...it was ok...
We later on ate some dinner, where a big bus tour of retired taiwanese people shared tables...the food similair from before...
We contined to one of the few "ocean near" hot springs in the world...
They had normal pools...
But rejected my classmate to swim with his surfershorts in som pools...
But girls could have skrits...not bacterias...
We headed down towards the ocean...
25 meters from the ocean three pools were established...with different temperature...
This is how the "pineapple" looks like that I picked...
In the day of competition, we left early...since the swimming started at 8...
Some used sunblock, others thouthg its just a 1 hour swim...(later on i realized that I burned my self heavily...)
They said it was less than 500-600 people participating...so it was very small compare to the sun moon lake-swim...
And oceanwater is so salty...many people brin extra water to the water...
Just like in kenting they had balloons to follow...this is the one at the start and finish...
A relaxed police...seems like  anice job at green island...
This time we swam along the beach...popular aming divers and surfers...still alot of boats watching the swimmers...
After some hour I was done...people kept dropping in for a long time...its easy to swim here, sinceone can chose to return whenever...however the stream was very strong...many people took a rest...
A TV team was reporting, and the president sent a messaged to the participants (according to the staff)...
Also security on a aterjet...that picked up tired people...
Here is the start and exit...
The fastest people used a super small floating equipment (its manadaroy to have one...)...
about 1.5 km away was the other balloon...
Many people are using diving equipment when swimming in taiwan...and fens..on the feet...
Some are using the flotaing badges to hike on others...
And some are covering their full body, not to get burned by the sun...but still super warm...its like 30 degrees here...
After the race we got a taiwanese lunch box...we also got to send message in a bottle...to friends...
We swam in a team called "GMBA"...but no sponsorship...we got our space near the start to but our bags...
Some people also used life jackets...
After the race we went eating some slized ice...so warm and salty after the competition, it was good...
It was a warm day...
Many locals are walking in the sun...on the "city center" of green islands biggers village...
We passed by the prison that the island is so famous for...they still keep prisoners here...
They rebuilded it some years ago...unfotenetely taiwanese people killed all the aboriginals here when they came..and later on kept the island as a place for execution....
But today they earn alot of money from tourism...and people can buy cute statues of the prisoners...
On they way back, it was logt of queues...seems like they fery traffic is scarce...
Johnnys family met us up when we came back...
Johnnys home was very nice...alot of furnitures...made it look like a real taiwanese home...from my experience...
We got to borrow their old car...it was nice
I were heading downtown...ans saw a scooter accident...fortunately the driver had a helmet...
We passed by the "old trainstation"
Some homeless guy use to live in one of the buildings there...its a tourist attraction nowadays...
And they also had some bunkers from the japanese area...
We also passed by an aboriginal market...with alot of "krimskrams"...
And a Starbucks coffeeshop in the middle of Taidong...cool!
The high buiding behind the tree is abandoned...
We passed by a sweet potatoes chip store...but decidede to return here later...and buy some stuff...they ahd a philipponi waiter whos english was good, taidong people had in gerneral poor english skills...
We also passed by Johnnys grandparents home..(and uncles)...
His 2 uncles were preparing Baizis (steam buns) for this evening...they have a family business here...it smelled like cinnamon buns in their home...
They were very good with the dough...
This is another taiwanese speciality...
And this are some organs from a pig...
We god the bun and some tea, it was super good...
They also had a big house...its cool with wooden stairs...i heard its common in taiwan, but to have the house built of wood is more rare...
They also had a room with glass floor arn ceiling...for energy purpose i think...
we there after went to the shore...where they had some cool monuments...
and aboriginal house...where the aboriginals has meetings once in a while...
I was told they the aboriginals drinks alot of alcohole (maybe just like in australia)...
We there after took a walk to a forrest park near by, i think it was here my start for the iron man was...
It had a long history from some occupation period...I also heard some taiwanese maffia brought some guy here 3 years ago and killed him in a local pond...becasue they looked at them in the wrong way...I hope I can learn how to look at taiwanese maffia...so that I can feel safe...
AFter the park visit we took of to an aboriginal restaurant...
They had a dance floor in the middle...
And the waitresses had colourful clothes...
And they had the same instruments I saw in sun moon lake last year...I guess typical aboriginal instruments...
JOhnnys parents picked the meals for us...
I wanted local drink, and rice wine was the only options...it was sweet and good...
We also got some other local dishes...
Of any kind...like pinglang flower etc...
And some kind of tofu that tasted sour, with some sauce...
And soup...
And rice in babmo or leafs...I got that in the mountains in Hsinchu some years ago...
And a fish, its common here to have atleast one fish on the table...
Then some cute aboriginal girls started to perform dances...
And some guy as weill, it reminded me of the dane i saw in New Zeeland...
And i also ate bees...with peanuts...
It was interesting, maybe I tried it before...i dont remember...
After the restaurant, I wanted to try the night life in Taidong..we were recommended 1 pub, that Johnnys mom knew...
While the local KTV was crowded with taiwanese people...the pubwas empty with only5 foreingers...
The meny was only in chinese...
They had some special offers on the wall..
The other foreintgers were germans, french and spanish, one guy from mexico who were here on a conference...
I brought pants and shoes specially for my night life experience in taidong...i was super curios about what people do at night in this city...
We there after went to a near by family mart with the othe people, to buy beer, and later on heading to a place called "the beer garden"...
They were experienced, a 500meters walk can make any beer become warm in taidong...
Here is beer garden, it turned out to be the same place as the aboriginal market, but by night...they didnt erve anything, so everyone brought their own alcohol...
After this we went to Mcdonalds quickly...it has become a tradtition for me...sine some years ago, everytime im here...
When I met Johnnys parents the day after, they gave me ALoe vera, since I burned my back when swimming on green island...I was also recommended to eat it...itsgood for the skin they said...
And they ordered breakfast...some hamburger and tea...
Pablo didnt feel well, so he wanted fruit...I think its his new life style with lack of sleep...
The mountains are cool, and can often be seen in the background when dricing in Taidong...
We also went to a local Slized ice place...
They recieved alot of national awards...
I prefer to eat frui with my ice..not beans oe other slimy things...its good that one can pick their own flavours...
We were there after heading back to the sweet potatoe shop...on the way I saw an abandoned 7-11...the 3 colours red green and orange...
They were out of many things....
But usually they offer 3 kinds of sweet potato...
I bought this bag of chips...
Next stop was a local temple that was super big...
And there after we went to a pre historic museum, however the lack of time left here made us jsut walk around the museum, not enter it...
Johnnys brother joined ut the whole day...
It was a big resort a little bit out of town...
They also had a restaurant at the resort...it has been awarded a star in "guide rouge"...so cool, I wanna eat here some day...
And they had some statues looking like tha maois of easter island...I heard that the people from easter island originaly come from Taiwan...that is cool...
This it the entrance...
NAtional museum of pre history...in taidong...I have to come back here...
A sun watch was placed at the main entrance...
At the train station I saw this sign...it wasinteresting...waiting zone for female passenger by night...cant guys wait there?
We took the same route back to taipei...passing many green mountains...
Its very mystique...
And it started raining near Yilan...does it always rain here?
PAblo thought it was cold in the train...usually they always have AC, independentl of the outside tempereature...its always cold...stange policy...
I tried to study chinese...but it was hard...
I also had a fruit beer left, that I finished before I came home...
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