Ending 2018 with a Splash: Return to XLC

It was very last minute, but for the four day New Years weekend, I thought we ought to go somewhere
and enjoy a change of scene. I wanted to stay in Taiwan and save funds for a Lunar New Year trip
(also last minute) later in January. I'm usually securing accommodation/travel details months in advance, so it was no surprise to me that train seats were all booked.

I decided on returning to XLC, "Little Okinawa" which is a small coral island off of Kaoshiung on the
opposite end of the island. The first and only time we went, my daughter was four. When I say "we"
I mean my friend, former coworker, also from Denver. She was my daughter's kindergarten teacher.
It was an opportunity to reconnect and make some new memories.

We took a bus from Yilan to Taipei, then a bus to Taichung, where we stayed the night at my friend's
house. Since our moving to Yilan, she has opened a successful buxibam in Taichung which was impressive.

The next day we took a train to Kaohsiung and then we took an hour taxi to Dongang harbor.
There are two ferry companies that I found and I bought our tickets online a week before.

Ferry to Dong Gang Online Booking  (08) 832-5806, (08) 833-8722 fax: (08) 833-2413   

As for hotels, the whole island was sold out. Having three adults worked out as we could get a "family room "(4 queen beds) but even then I had three places to chose from and chose the cheapest. The room was fine, the location was away from the harbor but in walking distance of places to eat. They had scooters waiting for us at the ferry dock.
Family Room Price

Explore XLQ island

We pretty much took two days to hit all of these in an anticlockwise order: Vase Rock, Beauty Cave.
Seaview Pavilion, Duozaiping, Sanfu Eco Park Trail, Gebanwan (beach), Black Dwarf Cave,
Sunset Galley, SE part of island: Mouse Rock, Lighthouses, NE: Lobster Cave, ChungAu Beach,

Middle of Island: Wetland Park,山豬溝 Shanzhuguo Forest Trail, Secret Beach

The Black Dwark Cave disappointing, We stood in line for over twenty minutes and crawling
through the tiny unimpressive cave took just a few moments. I think the obese Russain gentleman in
front of us got stuck and that's why it took him so long. There ought to be some warning sign as it is a
tight squeeze in some sections.

Turtle we saw whilesnorkeling

I was planning on going scuba diving, and was in contact with one of the diving shops but the weather
was cool and I was lazy and didn't want to be cold. We went snorkeling instead via my hostel's contact.
Snorkeling with a Taiwanese company is in itself an experience. Our guy yelled at me for swimming on
my own for a closer look at a friendly turtle, as we were required to hold onto a floaty.

We went snorkeling years before in Kenting with my Taiwanese friend (and my kid's swimming teacher)
and her daughter in Kenting, and of course it was very carefree and leisurely snorkeling. I guess its a
liability for the companies, but when we returned it took them less than my shower time to have burned
me a CD with photos.

Turtles in the shallow harbor

New Year's Eve, the only thing my daughter wanted to do was fish. The owner of a fishing gear shop, was of course out fishing, and when he finally returned, we went to the most southern harbor right before sunset.

To our surprise, there were 5 large turtles just hanging out in the shallow thigh-high water. It was tempting not to jump in with them there. Obviously, my kid didn't throw her line in those particular waters. Hooking a turtle, and a protected turtle would be a horrid way to end 2018.

My friend's partner is quite the fisherwoman herself, and helped my kid many times with her line, with no luck. However, it was more fun trying, as well as a quiet, relaxing medium to ring in the new year.

Resources:

Diving /Snorkeling

小琉球綠蠵龜潛水住宿 LiouCiou Green Sea Turtle Diving Camp; Hostels

Accommodation: Home Sweet Beach Hotel TWD 9,720 including breakfast vouchers for 2 nights

Day Tripper

Have a day or two to spare and need a change of scene? There are some great day/overnight trips and you don’t have to go far or even have a car.


Day Trips (that I have done):
1. The beach. There is Golden Beach, Tainan beach, the beach over Yuguang bridge.
2. Guanziling hot Springs- If you don’t have wheels, a bus from Tainan train station takes about 45 minutes one way. Just ask the info booth in the train station.
3. Tiger Head Lake- Been there once and am going back this April 4th holiday. It’s a ten minute drive from Tainan city and nice for a BBQ and bike ride.
4. Cijin Island, Kaohsiung- Also bike riding and fresh seafood. The beach is nice too, clean sand and showers. From the train station take a taxi to the ferry. You can rent bikes there.
5. Chaishan Nature reserve, Kaohsiung: Or as my daughter likes to call it, “Monkey Mountain.” Nice for asweaty hike. The macaques are unpredictable, beware.
6. Hsitzuwan Beach, Kaohsiung. Beautiful at sunset, mountain backdrop, very clean, on the campus of SunYat Sen University campus.
7. Xiao Liuqiu island- Definitely worth spending the night. The campground is amazing and nearby are some cheap cottages on a green field overlooking the sea. A truly magical little coral island, hard to believe someplace so close to Kaohsiung is so clean. Snorkling, beaches, scooter freedom. Take a train south to Kaohsiung-Pingdong.  Then take a bus to Dongang (40 minutes, every 20 minutes), last stop is the ferry treminal. The first terminal leaves every hour in the morning, takes about 30 minutes one way. My friend got seasick, so if youre a landlover, buy meds in advance.
8. The Reservoirs (Wushantou, Tsengwen, Baihe)- Everytime I went was in a car, don’t know about buses going there. Nice for a BBQ. I camped at one of these and don’t recommend it (late night KTV by the campers next to me.)
9. Various coffee farms in Northern Tainan Co. Definitely need a car and if youre not a total coffee buff, then I’d skip this. The coffee shops selling the stuff are totally overpriced.


Day Trips I haven’t done yet (and let’s be honest, I will probably never will, see final list):


1. Biking around Lotus Pond (Lianchi Tan), Kaohsiung
2. Taiwan Salt Museum
3. Black Faced Spoonbill reserve

Weekend/One nighter trips: With high speed trains, you could easily spend a weekend near and around any city. These are just some of the one closest to Tainan.
1. Lukang
2. Alishan
3. Sun Moon Lake
4. Rueli
5. Kenting


3 Day weekend: In the lucky event you have 3 or 4 days to roam, then I’d highly recommend the following;

1. Penghu Archipelago (the Pescadores). Also known as the Hawaii of Taiwan, need I say more?
2. Green Island
3. Biking Guanshan+ 60 Stone Mt
4. Taipei (So much to see and do in the city and around).

Taiwan is an excellent base to explore Asia. There are always deals on Air Asia and Tiger Air to major cities like KL, HK and BKK and from there you can go to just about anywhere. Flights to Manila and Seoul are fairly cheap. 
5. Hong Kong

6. Tokyo
7. KL
8. Singapore
9.  Seoul- Haven’t actually made a trip there from Tainan, but l worked there before and always recommend it for a few days if you have the time, so much to see and do and possible for a long weekend.


Yes I have been in Tainan for almost 4 years and there are tons of iconic places I still haven’t gone and plan to before I say my final farewell. Trips happen when their meant to happen, right? So I’m hoping I will go to all of these places within this year and create some new memories and adventures, even if I don’t have a 3 day weekend. (Yet, I have been to Nantou so many times, I’ve lost track. Weekend trips, day trips, I just keep on returning to different places in Nantou, must be my affinity for altitude and my Rocky Mountain heritage.)


Here is my list of places I haven’t gone but really want to:
1. Hsinchu- I want to see my dear friend Grace up there since she moved from Tainan and she wants to show me around.
2. Lanyu Island/ Pongso No Tao
3. Matsu Island
4. Camp at Liyu Lake
5. South Cross Highway- I have had this road trip fantasy about the South Cross highway since the day I first started reading up on Tainan. It just seems like a road trippers dream to stop here and there and explore all the hot springs along the way. My scooter wouldn’t make the trip and it just hasn’t worked out with friends w/cars.
6. Finish East Rift Valley, Highway 9
7. Biking the East coast
8. Hike Jade Mt.
9. Hualien and Taroko
10. Biking Ershui, Jiji Rail line


I know what you’re thinking, its sad and shocking that I still haven’t seen Taiwan’s number one natural wonder, the Taroko Gorge. Its definitely high on my list, there were a few 3 day weekends years past when I was making plans and all accommodations were just booked way in advance. There is also no easy way to get there from Tainan, highspeed train to Taipei and then another train to Hualien, or fly there I guess, but I definitely need to go. I guess I’d like time to explore Huelien and also camp in the park.


 For one little island, Taiwan is jam packed with plenty of options worthy of exploration. Mountains and sea, islands and hot springs galore, good things do come in small packages.

Xiao Liuqiu Yu

A view of the beach from the road. We later went back to this beach near the end of our trip.

Bihn and Erica picked us up bright and early as we drove 2 hours outside of Pindong to catch the 30 minute ferry from Dongang to Baishe Harbor in Xiao Liuo Xiou. I have been wanting to go there for some time, especially since my former coworkers always went and raved about it. Both Bihn and Erica were worried about getting seasick and forgot about buying some motion sickness meds at the pharmacy. I knew Z and I would be fine, especially after our island hopping around Penghu. The ferry ride was packed and undramatic. After we docked we were bombarded with agressive middle aged women trying to rent us their scooters and followed one them back and rented scooters for 200NT for the day. I brought Z's helmet and we were off.

Lingshan Temple on the cliff

 Our first stop right around the corner and on the cliff was the Lingshan Temple overlooking the sea. It was about 9 am and I was already sweating, the sun was strong and I was glad to have the sun on my skin. I lathered up Z w/ sunscreeen and checked out the temple. In some strangeway it reminded me of Haife, Israel and the Ba'hai temple/shrine overlooking the sea there. There was this huge coral rock above a water well and Z enjoyed plopping rocks into it as we snapped photos. We went back to 7-11 for batteries, water and snacks and hopped on our scooters following the road around the coast.

Lingshan Temple

The island was bigger than I imagined. I guess I imagined something like on of the smaller islands of the Pengu archipelago, but Xiao Liuqiu had a few roads that somehow intersected each other and we stopped sometimes to check out our maps. The next stop was some observation center that was void of people. We went down some spooky steps that looked dangerous and a bit flooded that opened out to a nice pavilion (and clean toilets) to admire the radiantly clean turquoise water.

We kept going and stopped at another temple, followed the road behind it and looked for a beach. What we found were people wading in calf length water, kids playing, some aunties catching something edible. There were sea urchins, different varieties of seaweed and starfish (which Z was loving). With the tropical sun shining down, it had this dazzling effect, of making everything sparkle and shimmer. The colors of  the rock were amethyst and coruscating with the different colors of fish, sea weeds, looking like jewels. It had this otherworldly feel. We kept exploring and found water filled caverns to wade through and squeeze through and were rewarded with hidden coves and beaches. It was magical, I felt like some kind of water faerie.

In fact, Erica took a picture of me and she said "you're glowing" and I said "no I'm sweating" and she replied " No I mean you're glowing white like a ghost!" And I was! Me so olive and tanned, I was turning into phosphorescence. I used photo editing software in the picture and adjusted the light to tone it down so I could have some skin color, these rocks and whatever jewels were in the water had some kind of ethereal effect on me.

When we were starting to get hungry we got back on our scooters and looked for a place to eat. We stopped at an overlook to admire some beautiful beaches (which we returned to later) and stopped for an ice coffee and ice-cream across from a hiking trail crowded with tourist buses (which we decided to forgo) and kept on going looking for a place to eat. I secretly prayed for a nice place and Erica stopped at the water rescue center and we went to  a place they recommended in the middle of the island. It looked very nice inside, very clean, table cloths, clean bathroom and empty. We ordered and were almost finished when the crowds came. They served a seaweed salad only found on this island which was good. We had orange fish, pork, a nice  fried rice. The meat sauce was just too sweet, it really wasn't for me but I ate it, of course Z didn't like it, but with Bihn's influence (who is her teacher) she managed to eat something.

After lunch Z was getting very tired and falling asleep on the bike. I knew that a melt down would be inevitable considering I had to get her up at the crack of dawn and she wasn't going to get a nap. Bihn wanted to check out the Lobster Cave which ended up being a waste, we followed the coast road, went to the nice white sand beach by the harbor, but I didnt like the vibe there. The sand was nice, white and soft, but it was small, crowded with tour buses, a parking lot full of more tourists and no shade. We went back to find those beaches we admired in the morning.

On the way we stopped at some shops near 7-11 to buy me something to swim in as I was dying to really get wet and I forgot our suits. Of course most of them looked like grandma swimming suits and I ended up with surfer shorts which was fine. Z had a whopper of a meltdown providing comic relief (and fear?) to the locals.  Z wanted me to buy her this beach dress. I didn't have the money and I knew I could get it cheaper in Tainan so I said ,"no." But when she has her mind set on something she is as stubborn as they come and I had to pick her up kicking and screaming acting like a wild banshee, she was not letting go of that dress she even was holding onto it with her teeth and I thought, "well I'm gonna have to but it anyways now." I was kind of too tired to care and Bihn wanted to give it a go with her and talk it out w/ her. Bihn was saying if she calmed down and whatnot Bihn would buy her the dress and I was like, "Bihn forget it, she lost it back there, don't reward her". Its kind of like bribing her to calm down. I understand she is beyond tired, but biting dresses is nuts. I sat her on the curb and told her of she didn't calm down I was going to ask these aunties to watch her for a couple of hours so I can enjoy the rest of my day. That was enough to calm her down and get her on the bike. After we were mobile she started talking morbid thoughts beyond the level of a 4 year old about death and dying (I cant remember exactly what she said, only that I was disturbed by it), stopped the scooter and said, "that's enough!" and after that she was fine.

Z, Erica and Bihn exploring the otherworldly coral coves. 

We found one of those beaches, which up close didnt have nice sand, lots of coral but in our tired states we still managed to chill and enjoy the end of the day. The sun was now not so strong. Erica crashed like a beach bum in the shade of some rocks, I plopped myself on some driftwood and Bihn and Z farmed seaweed. Z loves the water so she was in a prefect mood after that. When the sun was getting cooler we headed back to the harbor. On our way we made an accidental detour near Beauty Cave. Outside the Coco Resort was the most beautiful, quaint guesthouses (like cabins) overlooking a green field beside the turquoise sea. Not to be confused with the place next to it that was sandwiched w/ cabins and looked like a nice option for next years staff trip.



When I saw this place, I imagined it as a nice place to have a casual, no frills style beach wedding (not exactly beach) where the view is more important than the dress. They only had a handful of cabins, maybe 5 or six, including breakfast and a dinner BBQ. We made plans to come back and stay there. It looked very romantic. I can picture me sipping something, book in one hand overlooking Z running in the green grass, us having breakfast in front of our little cabin overlooking the sea. Sunsets must be stunning there. The air was clean and we could sea Kaohsiung out in the distance. Hard to believe that a place so close to Kaohsiung could be that clean.

Erica found an English school near the harbor and wow I considered for a moment what it might be like making a life here.We headed back to Dongang and took a detour outside of Pingdong to have some famous pork knuckles. I didnt like the pork meat, it wasn't like meat, it had this jelly consistency (" hen Q!"). In my defense I am a recent meat eater and didn't grow up in a home eating pork and after that was a vegetarian for 17 years. I was diagnosed with an under active thyroid after giving birth and had to start eating meat, so eating meat especially pork has all happened here in Taiwan (but thats another story). This restaurant did have a lovely wonton soup and mt greens stir fried with little dried anchovies and salted black beans which was heavenly.