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2017.07.09

Taiwan - Taitung Airport

Green Island/Day 3

Day 3 was a big highlight of our trip to Green Island. The weather was pretty nice in the morning, so to start things off, we went snorkeling! We did not really get to free swim and only got to be out in the water for about 30 minutes, but it was really amazing! We brought bread out to feed the fish and some of the fish even nibbled on Steve's fingers. I was too easily startled and dropped the bread before I could touch them. There were many different kinds of fish. One of the most interesting fish I saw was a bright rainbow fish that had a little bit taken off of its side. It was pretty crazy! You could see its ribs! I was just glad it was ok. It was a good reminder that we were really in the ocean! The water was nice and warm and I would recommend snorkeling for anyone who gets the chance!

Green Island is known around Taiwan for being the location of a couple of prisons. From 1949-1987, Taiwan was under martial law by the KMT. This time was known in Taiwan's history as the "White Terror." During this time, thousands of political prisoners were taken and "reformed." One of the places where these "reforms" took place was on Green Island. With the terrible ferry ride over, and the island's minuscule size, it is actually a very good place for a prison. There have been 4 prisons on Green Island, 3 of which have been turned into a Human Right's Park, and the other is still in use. We went to visit the Human Right's Park and it was pretty interesting. The first prison we went to, "Oasis Villa," is the prison you see in all the shots. It was littered with political slogans, such as "Resist Communism, Reclaim the Mainland," and was, pretty much, just a straight up prison.

The second prison we went to was called "New Life" prison. New Life was an earlier prison and it tried to operate under more of a "reprogramming" feel than Oasis Villa. New Life was a labor camp, but any time not taken up with labor was taken up by classes. The idea behind New Life was that they wanted to give the prisoners no time to think their own thoughts. Shortly before it was shut down, New Lifers were forced to "volunteer" to receive anti-communist slogan tattoos. New Life prison had a very nice museum, but sadly, most of the information was not in English. After getting out of the museum, it was raining, so we went back to Jack's.

Green Island/ Day 1+Day2

Ah yes, we thought, we shall go to a tropical island for a new days in the middle of our vacation! It had sounded like such a good idea. Sure, they said that the ferry was nothing short of a vomit comet, but we were strong! Prepared. Nope. Nope nope nope. The ride on the ferry essentially knocked out day one for us. Steve doesn't tend to get seasick and even he felt ill for hours after the 45 minute ride. As for me, I do tend to get seasick and, even with seabands and medication, I still slept about 15 of the next 24 hours. The first day, we realized a few things;

1) It was the week after Golden Week, so the entire island was close to empty. This ended up being cool in many ways (practically no one at the attractions), but not so cool in others (a lot of restaurants were shut down). 

2) The bikes that we were renting were not in terribly good condition, as apparently, most people don't choose to rent bicycles. Also, not riding a bike in 7 months means that 15 mile bike rides are no longer a casual thing you can just up and do.

3) Tropical islands tend to get a lot of rain. A lot of rain. When your only mode of transportation is a bike and you have to travel 2 miles minimum to get food, you will get wet (you may get soaked).

That said, on Day 1, we were majorly regretting the choice. On Day 2, things started looking up. We stayed at a very nice hotel called "Jack's Boutique." The staff were lovely, they had a cute dog, the rooms were bright and comfortable, and the breakfasts were amazing! They had no problem making us vegetarian breakfasts and even treated us to tea at times!

On Day 2, we decided that we would go swimming. The best place to go swimming according to the hotel staff was a natural pool by the lighthouse. The lighthouse was only a mile away, so we walked along the beach. Boy, was it windy! When we reached the pool, we changed into our bathing suits, only to realize that it was freezing cold! When we got in, it started to rain. We made our way back to the hotel. 

In the afternoon, we took a bike ride to the other side of the island to go to the Hot Spring. The other side had picturesque weather! We were pleasantly surprised. The Hot Spring was also really, really awesome. It is one of three salt water hot springs in the world and extant magma warms the water up to 60 degrees C. The hottest pool is about 40 degrees C.