Gered wanted to take a big trip with all of the Kaohsiung ETAs to go whitewater rafting on the East Coast of Taiwan, so we had all set aside a weekend for it a while before. On Friday morning, we trained our way down around the southern tip of Taiwan and up the East Rift Valley to Rueisuei. Rueisuei is primarily known for its hot springs, and we got in on the action by staying at a hot springs hotel. What I hadn't expected was that, due to mineral content in the water, the hot springs were ORANGE. And when you get out of them, so are your feet and knees and bathing suit and anything else that was touching the ground! But it's okay, because they are good for your health.
You can't see the orangeness of the water in the picture, but trust me.
Besides improving your health through exposure to orange water, there is really not that much to do in Rueisuei. In situations like these, we Fulbright scholars simply entertain ourselves by engaging in intellectual discourse.
...OR seeing how many people we can fit into the cabinet in our hotel room!
for some reason our two largest members were the first to attempt this
it worked better with the girls
After a busy night of such hijinks, we needed a good night's rest...especially because in the morning we got up to go whitewater rafting! Outfitted in faded life jackets and hilarious orange helmets, we eagerly plunged forward into what promised to be a thrilling and slightly dangerous adventure. However, it seemed that the elaborate warnings of danger on the river were more geared to the sensibilities of the Taiwanese (a surprising number of whom cannot swim), and in reality the rapids were fairly tame. The wettest parts of the whole trip were the water fights with neighboring rafts. But hey, at least we looked intrepid! Never mind that in the beginning we were so slow that a motorboat came and pushed us!
Despite multiple generous applications of sunscreen, I still managed to get a tan while rafting...but only on my knees! Take a look at how we are sitting on the raft and you may understand why.
After rafting, it was time to hop back on the train and go off to Taitung! Taitung is one of the major cities on the east coast of Taiwan. However, the east coast is so sparsely populated that "major city" pretty much means "sleepy little town." We arrived on a Saturday evening, and there was NObody about. The big night market wasn't even open. It was another very chill evening for the Fulbright folk.
The next morning, we decided to take advantage of our location in Taitung to hop on over to Green Island, a place most notorious for housing tons of prisoners during Taiwan's White Terror, when thousands of suspected Communists and political dissidents were arrested by the Kuomintang. Today, Green Island is also famous for its marine life and unique rock formations. We took a ferry over, intending to take a glass-bottom boat to see fish, but the boat times were either too early or too late for us to make it. Plan B was to rent cars and drive around the island to see the sights. This was a little bit tricky, since the first van we rented got about as far as the gas station, and then failed to start up again. The second van looked beat up, but at least it started without trouble. We got a little ways around the island, and then got out to take some pictures of giant rocks off the coast. Everybody piled out of the van and hurried off, leaving me and Kate behind in the parking area. I was trying to close the sliding door, but all of my efforts resulted in failure. I pulled and pushed from all different angles. "You're just going to pull and pull until the door falls off," Kate told me. Her words were prescient. About to give up, I gave the door one final big tug, and the top of the door came right off its hinges!
After we finished laughing, I got the door back on, but we never managed to close it. For the rest of the time, we just drove around the island with the side door open, taking turns sitting in the "danger seat." If nothing else, this was very convenient for taking unobstructed pictures of things we passed by!
We had an idea that we would visit an old prison while on Green Island (I'm pretty sure they aren't in use anymore), so when we came across a prison, we drove right in. The guards gave us a weird look, but let us in anyway. We drove around the side to look for parking, and found only a dead end. Going back the way we came, we asked the guards if there was a place to park. "This place isn't open to visitors," they told us. Whoops! I wonder why they let us in in the first place?
Well, we didn't get to take our glass bottom boat and we didn't get to visit any prisons (at least not on the inside!), but we did get our fill of scenic views of Green Island's coastline!
The big one on the right is known as "Sleeping Beauty"...the one on the left is supposed to be shaped like a dog or something, I forget
After our whirlwind tour around the island, we returned our extra-special rental cars (the car rental guy managed to close the door somehow...I suspect magic), got to-go frozen desserts, and hopped back on the ferry to Taitung, where we went straight to the train station and got our tired little selves back to Kaohsiung. Home again, home again, jiggety jig!
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