My vacation in Taiwan

[quote]The stuff we want to see is more the nature and some animals. that’s the reason I want to visit Green Island. Kenting (Kending) is more for laying on the beach, relaxing and maybe some jet-skiing!
[/quote]
While in Kenting, you might want to head up the coast a bit to the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium at Hengchun. It is quite spectacular and well worth a visit.

For Taitung, you can hire a scooter and drive north up the coast for about 15 minutes till you come to Zorba Garden, which is right on the beach at Shanyuan beach. The beach has a nice campsite.

[quote]Wow Mucha (Muzha) man!
Are you a travveling agent or just living in Taiwan for a long time already?
You are a great help[/quote]

To answer for Mucha Man, No, he is not a travel agent. Yes, he has been here a long time. The main reason he knows the island so well is that he runs a mobile school called the “Rainbow Bus”. He drives out to remote rural communities which don’t have schools/foreign English teachers, and he holds classes in the bus (the back has a whiteboard and has been fitted out with desks).

What animals are you hoping to see?

My girlfriend is a big fan of nature and animals. (Luckely she has other interests too!)

I guess she wants too see all kinds of special animals. I heard there live wild monkey’s in Taiwan. And I hope we’ll see some dolphins or whale’s on the boat tour to Green Island. If we don’t see them we’ll consider going to Hualien or Ilan for a boat trip.

Oh, my boss arranged a visit to a research center in Nantou. His brother is one of the big bosses there so with a bit of luck we’ll get a special tour :smiley:

Yeah the Aquatic Museum is excellent. I remember watching a dolphin show there. First I watch it from below, from water level, and then from up top in the stands. The dolphins never knew.

John, how could you reveal the Rainbow Bus? I was planning to turn it into a lucrative ESL spinoff textbook series with a little help from Alien. Now everyone will be out there competing with inferior products. :fume:

Hhhmmm… Rainbow bus aight?

                            [i] That's a good idea indeed![/i]

Hendrik the centre you are talking about is the Endemic Species Centre. It’s been discussed a lot in this thread:
[Distinctive towns

Fun area. Good biking and lots of beautiful scenery. I’m glad your going. Not many foreigners know about this part of Taiwan yet.

Almas John is your man to talk to about animals in Taiwan. He’s been training a troop of monkeys to perform all 12 stations of the cross for the upcoming visit of the Pope to Taiwan. Heard he’s also working with a Taiwan Beauty Snake to do the temptation scene from Paradise Lost.

If you want to see monkeys I suggest going to Kaoshiung City to Chaishan. You’re garanteed to see monkesy. Hell, you’re garnanteed to get robbed by them if you hang around too long. :laughing:

Oh, wait, there is also a monkey conservation area near the Endemic Species Centre. Just take the train a few stops west to Ershui.

Kaoshung, that’s on the way from kenting to Puli. we’ll visit that one for sure!

What about Green Island? Is the swimming okay there?
Of course we are planning to go snorkeling or diving. I heard a lot of good things about the place!

Oh, the motorcycle’s. We’ve got a drivers licence, do you need a special one for the motorcycle / scooter?

Anybody been here for a weekend getaway?

conjugallove.com/main/photo/index.php

[quote=“Chewycorns”]Anybody been here for a weekend getaway?

conjugallove.com/main/photo/index.php[/quote]
No, but it looks nice and definitely has far and away the best name of any Taiwan hostelry! :laughing:

You bet! If its good enough for the Pres, its good enough for me

conjugallove.com/main/about/index_1.php


Wouldn’t mind a little conjugal lovin’ with the one on the right! :howyoudoin:

[quote=“Chewycorns”]Anybody been here for a weekend getaway?

conjugallove.com/main/photo/index.php[/quote]

Where is this place? Do they have an english website? My mandarin is good, but not that good. Ah heck who am I kidding, my mandarin isn’t even good…

I just got back from the conjugal love farm in Alashan at the Dagunshan nature park. I really recommend this place. It is about a three hours drive from Taoyuan City. The drive up there is rather scary as this place is literally on top of a 5000 foot mountain. We didn’t rent a car, and took a small mini-bus until the owner picked us up. The temperature was 15-20 degrees at 5000 feet, the accomodations were very comfortable and rustic, and the food was really good (organic vegetables and fruit, frshwater fish, oolong and flower teas etc). A perfect place to go to revitalize.

:thumbsup:

[quote=“Chewycorns”] A perfect place to go to revitalize.

:thumbsup:[/quote]

Is it a place where you can party? Do they serve alcohol?

Can I suggest that if you are going to be travelling to Green Island by boat, either pack a lot of dramamine or pack extra plastic bags. I’m not going to go into any more detail than that, but I had a stomach that could handle a day of some of the most thrilling record-holding roller coasters in the world with a mild hangover, but not a 2-hr whale-watching excursion from Taidong (and the trip to Green Island is much longer).

BAH,

They serve alcohol, but my advice is to bring your own. You can buy supplies at the mountain village store 500 meters down from the peak, or if you are driving on your own stock up in Taipei. Overall, you have your own cabin so partying is definitely an option, although the location makes it more of a laid-back partying atmosphere.

?

The trip to Green Island from Taidong is only 30 minutes.

Thanks Chewycorns. This place looks like a great place to get away for a few days!

?

The trip to Green Island from Taidong is only 30 minutes.[/quote]

Then where in the hell did they take me for two hours?! :astonished:

Perhaps I could handle a trip to Green Island from Taidong. It took me about 15 minutes to start feeling bad and with a bit of dramamine I could probably hold out longer.

Then where in the hell did they take me for two hours?![/quote]Could it have been Orchid Island? What kind of boat was it? I seem to remember the one I went to Green Island on took 50 minutes. Perhaps the one Alleycat went on was a newer boat. If they ever upgraded to a hydrofoil that would be very quick indeed and would be a smoother ride as well – the hull of the boat rises well clear of the surface choppiness.

I used to live on the Isle of Wight, about five miles off the south coast of England. I remember occasional mild nausea on the standard RO-RO ferries (bigger than the Green Island boats), no nausea on the hydrofoil and intense nausea on the little hovercraft.