Orchid Island by land

Over the last weekend, some friends and I travelled to Orchid (Lanyu) Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. This island is majestic. It is still run by the Yami aboriginal tribe. I don't have any pictures of the tribal stuff that was on the island, as it is highly spiritual to them and considered in very poor taste to photograph anything aboriginal. And I do not blame them; they are trying to hold onto their culture while not becoming a tourist attraction. For that reason, the island is incredibly difficult to get to. There are three options: a ferry near where I am living in Kenting, a ferry from Taidong on the east coast, or an airplane from Taidong that you cannot make reservations for and must just put your name on an incredibly long standby list. But, oh boy, was it worth it. The diving is otherworldly (I'll get to that in another post) and the mountainous, volcanic island makes for breathtaking views. Anyone visiting should rent scooters, as it only takes an hour and a half to circle the entire island on scooter.

(Sarah and I on the ferry which is nicknamed "puke boat")

 (Fruit stand in the village)

 (Steps outside our guesthouse)

 (Pig in the village)

 (Chieh-wen scootin')

 (On ring road, one of two roads on the island)

 (A nuclear waste dumping ground was put on the island against the will of the aboriginal people)

 (Some of the protest graffiti)

 (Scootin' around the island)

 (Ring road)

(With the owner and jewelry maker at a shop we stopped at)

 (The other road, Traverse Road, takes you up to the weather observatory and breathtaking views)

(Sarah capturing the moment)

(The group at the observatory)

(Impromptu yoga session on the meditation platform)

You should also stay in a guesthouse, not one of the handful of hotels. Why? The people are amazing! Our house owner drove us around the island one night to show us a flower that only blooms at night and to a perfect spot for star gazing. Then she needed to run to the store so she got beers for all of us and insisted on buying us snacks as well. On our last night she cooked a traditional aboriginal soup for our whole group at her restaurant. I will never ever forget my experience on Orchid Island, and I can only hope I will get to go back someday.

 (Ready for our night tour)

 (This flower only blooms at night and the tips seem to almost glow)

 (Up close look at a flower that had fallen)

(With our host and her daughter)

 (Aboriginal noodle soup made by our host)

(Hanging around the guest house)

I feel as though I have so inadequately described the experience I had on Orchid Island. The people were all so kind and helpful. The views were second to none. And the island does not seemed to be scarred by tourism at all. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience it!

Love to all!

Jules 

The long way home

Today, Chieh-wen and I went on a mission to collect seawater from my project along the East Coast of the peninsula. While I study the bacteria associated with lionfish as well as lionfish genetics, it is important to understand what is happening in the water column too, incase the patterns I see are due to different bacteria in the water. As we travelled along the Hengchun Peninsula, we made a complete loop around the Kenting National Park. I got to see so many wonderful things while we drove around taking pretty much the longest route possible to get back to the aquarium. Although it took most of the day, we stumbled upon some things I will definitely be taking the scooter back to check out further; specifically the Shihmen Historical Battlefield and the hiking trails I spied around it. Here are some of the things I saw today!

 (Longpan lookout spot, first time to the East side of the island)

 (Such a beautiful place)

 (Longpan lookout)

 (Fongchueisha area, one of my water collection sites)

 (Shrimp with egg masses at lunch, I just could not bring myself to eat them)

 (But there was plenty without egg masses: what was left of our food after lunch at a little harbor seafood place)

 (Construction had the little mountain pace clogged up; yep one of the workers is barefoot)

 (An aboriginal village tucked away in the middle of the mountains, the flowers smelled amazing)

 (More of the village)

 (Still more of the village)

 (Flower bud in the field)

 (The Mudan Reservoir provides running water to the Hengchun Peninsula)

 (The town of Shihmen sits below the reservoir)

 (Honey juice made from honey collected in the area)

(Me at the reservoir)

So you know how I love to give challenges? Well here is one for today: try to find something off the beaten path this week. We could have cut straight across the peninsula, collected my water, and been back by lunch, but instead we took in some of the sites and endless breathtaking views. Yeah, we might have "wasted" a couple hours, but I still got the work finished I needed to today and had some totally memorable moments.

Love to all!

-Jules

Country mice in the big city

This past weekend Cammie and I packed up our quiet little beach life to visit our friends in the big city of Taipei. Our journey took us from the southern tip of the island nearly to the northern most part, and it was worth it! Our day started with a bus ride:

 (On the Kenting Express)

Followed by some primping on the high speed rail from Kaohsiung to Taipei. We did not want to embarrass our city friends, so I put on makeup and accessories and fixed my hair for the first time in five weeks.

 (Very carefully)

(All better!)

And into the city we came. Friday night we had a great time out at the bars with our friends. It felt really good to hang out with all of them again, and to get away from some of the frustrations of attempting field work during typhoon season.

 (Around the Gonguan district near National Taiwan University)

 (Tofu noodle soup at dinner)

 (Sarah, Alex and Cammie)

 (With my wonderful host for the weekend, Sarah)

(With Alex and Peter)

On Saturday we finally made it to the moment I had been waiting for: Taipei 101. This was the tallest building in the world until 2011 when the Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai. But still, second tallest building in the world is pretty amazing!

 (Looking way down on the other skyscrapers)

 (At the top of Taipei 101)

 (On the outdoor observation deck looking up at the last ten floors - those are people's offices)

 (Outdoor observation deck of Taipei 101)

 (I will join you in treasuring the Earth - Taipei 101 is the largest LEED certified building in the world)

 (From the bottom)

(Looking from the MRT station and playing with cheesy filters)

 (Beer float at the top of Taipei 101 - it was not good)

On Sunday, we continued our quests as tourists and rode the Maokong Gondola over the Taipei Zoo to the Maokong Tea District of Taipei. 

 (Maokong Gondola with breathtaking views of Taipei)

 (With Sarah in the gondola)

 (Peter and Johnson in the gondola)

 (Maokong Tea District)

 (Unreal view of the basin and Taipei 101 from the tea house)

 (Getting a little bit artsy)

 (From Maokong looking onto the Taipei basin)

 (Flowers perfectly framing 101 at the tea shop)

 (My grapefruit and Asian lime tea)

 (Going back down in our Crystal Cabin Gondola)

(View from the gondola of the Taipei Basin)

I had such an amazing weekend visiting friends and playing tourist in Taipei. Despite my normal insistence on being a traveller not a tourist, sometimes there is a super awesome reason why these places are so popular. But going off the beaten path is still my favorite, so I was happy to get home to my little Hengchun and the aquarium.

Love to all!

-Jules