Mar I, Weeks 31 + 32: Taiwan Top to Bottom

These two weeks were a whirl of traveling as I toured Taiwan from top to bottom (or rather bottom to top). In addition to visiting Kenting National Park in the south and Wulai in the north, I also saw Alishan's famous cherry blossoms and visited the 2024 Taiwan Lantern Festival with cohort members. So far, the semester's been tiring, but fun!

Photo credits to Josh Hui, 2024.

On Monday and Tuesday, I taught at Budai. The kids learned about music genres and played Connect Four, so I think they had some fun in class. I didn't do much after school, just met a new neighbor and watched some of the new live action Avatar: The Last Airbender series with my roommate. It certainly is an... interesting remake.

On Wednesday, we had school off for 228 Peace Memorial Day. As Chiayi Fulbrighters, some cohort members and I (plus a Yunlin ETA) took advantage of the break to drive up Alishan to see the cherry blossoms! It was a long, winding drive up, but I think it was worth it. The trees were abloom with tiny pink blossoms that glowed in the sun, and the weather was amazingly clear.

Along the way, we stopped at A-Jiang's House, which was an outdoor café styled like a little village. It was cute! There were tons of leafy plants, fluffy cats, and a wonderful terrace that overlooked the tea fields and other peaks of Alishan. We ordered tons of drinks and snacks—Alishan oolong and jinxuan teas, wild ginger tea, coffee, crispy waffle pieces, zongzi, and slices of lime with ground coffee and sugar—and everything was delicious.

We went to Sakura Trail next. Despite the rapidly-graying skies, the flowers were still beautiful, so we had some little photoshoots. Our favorite interaction was with a Taiwanese man and his family, who was funny, friendly, and great at taking photos.

Then, some of us went to Fengchihu, known as the "Jiufen of the South." The old street was full of shopkeepers selling souvenirs, snacks, and produce, including Fengchihu bento boxes, donuts, Hakka rice cakes, tamarillos ("tree tomato") and Alishan wasabi. Although the street was a bit sleepy when we went, I liked it. We mostly tried different snacks, like the donuts and some tamarillo juice. I liked the juice; it was light, sweet, and reminiscent of another fruit I couldn't quite place.

The drive back down to Puzi was a grueling three hours from Alishan. Luckily, we took a little dinner and dessert break in Chiayi City before the ride back, so that was nice. Although the trip was certainly long, I was happy to see the famous Alishan cherry blossoms and spend a little time with my cohort.

Thursday was a leap day, and also another day back at Guogou. Teaching went well enough, but a minor earthquake struck while I was teaching 902, so nobody could really focus after that. Some of the students said they even wished for another small earthquake so we could stop class and go outside, but fortunately, that didn't happen.

Friday was an ok day of teaching, then some other Chiayi Fulbrighters and I headed to Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園) at the very southern tip of Taiwan. We ended up on the wrong platform, so we missed our first train to Kaohsiung, but we managed to reach Kenting by 9:30pm. Our group met up with some Taitung ETAs and tried to head to the Kenting Night Market for dinner, but food options seemed a little slim.

We started the next day at the Kenting Aquarium. We walked through some underwater tunnels filled with fish, coral, sharks, stingrays, and even beluga whales, then saw seals and eels in the kelp forest exhibits. I especially liked the penguin and puffin exhibits, although I did feel a little bad about how small their habitats were. At least the penguins looked happy zooming around underwater.

Afterwards, we got 包子 (steamed buns) for lunch, then I explored some of Kenting on my own. Everything was beautiful! First, I went to Sail Rock Beach, home to the eponymous Sail Rock. The tide pools reminded me a lot of the ones on Xiaoliuqiu, and they had many of the same striped fish, brittle sea stars, and cone snails (yikes!).

I then scooted around the southern tip of Taiwan to Longpan Park, which is a grassy clifftop park. In spite of the fierce wind, I liked it. From the cliffs at Longpan, I could see the ocean stretch all the way to the mountains of the east coast, and despite the overcast skies, the water was surprisingly blue.

Along the way back to the hostel, I stopped at Shadao Ecological Preserve and Shell Beach. Although the former was inaccessible due to its protected status, I got to explore the latter and its multitude of tide pools and coral rocks. I also got to watch the sun set over the beach, which was beautiful.

The next day, I woke up at 5:40am with some other Chiayi ETAs to watch the sunrise. Sadly, the weather was uncooperative, but at least we got to see the Southernmost Point of Taiwan. Listening to the waves crash against the coral rocks was wonderfully soothing, so we spent half an hour taking in the morning calm, then had breakfast.

In the afternoon, the three of us headed to Kenting National Forest Recreational Area. The park was full of caves and coral rock ravines as well as lovely greenery, but my favorite part was the Viewing Tower. From the top of the tower, we could look out at the rest of Kenting, including the southern tip of Taiwan, the beaches nearby, and the mountains rising in the north.

After lunch, I headed to Eluanbi Park and saw the famous Eluanbi Lighthouse, which is famous for being the brightest (and southernmost) lighthouse in Taiwan. I also walked around the park and watched the waves for a bit, then began the long slog home. It took a shuttle bus, the TRA, and the HSR (as well as four and a half hours), but at least I made it home by 7:30pm.

On Monday, March 4th, I taught my first middle school lesson at Budai. The kids liked the lesson, I think, and had fun drawing their own mascots for their school. Some of them were on brand, especially the endangered bird that migrates to the area (known as the black-faced spoonbill), whereas others (random fish people) had certain... personality. The biggest surprise of the day was when I taught 701 and found I had another new student, this one from Yungching Junior High in Taibao. At this rate, we'll have three new 701 students in the next month.

The next day, classes went well enough, then, I helped tutor a student for the Chiayi County English Competition during lunch. I'm not sure if I'm super helpful, but at least the student's already doing pretty well. Then after school, my roommate and I had dinner with our new neighbor. She's very sweet! She took us to a hotpot place nearby, then we got douhua and watched part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) in our apartment.

Wednesday classes were pretty chill. Once classes were over, the county Fulbrighters took the HSR to Tainan so we could see the 2024 Taiwan Lantern Festival. The displays sprawled out from the HSR in a sea of lanterns and light, and some of the lanterns even moved, spun, and spewed smoke. Most of the lanterns included dragons of some sort, but there were also Taiwan and travel-themed exhibits. I particularly liked the lanterns of animals, Pokémon, and Studio Ghibli characters, and some of my favorites were the lantern displays made by community members or students, which certainly had a unique charm.

I also liked the virtual sky lantern launching exhibit. When you scanned a QR code, you could pick a specific wish, then release a lantern with your name. It was cute, although some of the other county Fulbrighters were understandably disappointed there weren't any real sky lanterns to launch.

Classes went well enough on Thursday. The kids designed more mascots at Guogou, most of which were (of course) soccer-themed. I don't suppose that's surprising given that the school is the second best for soccer in all of Taiwan.

After school, one of my LETs visited my roommate and I. She brought us some famous Puzi snacks—peanut and mung bean mochi, mung bean agar jelly cakes, and brown sugar agar jelly cakes—and we chatted with her and her daughter a little. Then, we had one of our bimonthly Kinmen reunion calls. Everyone's doing well! I still miss everyone dearly, though.

On Friday, I got woken up by an earthquake around 6am. It was extremely mild, but to my sleepy brain, it felt like I was sliding out of bed. Teaching was pretty hard due to the early wake-up call, but classes were okay, especially after I took a little nap. Then in the afternoon, I went to pop dance club for the first time. The teacher taught us some breaking and hip hop moves, and it was fun (although I had no idea what was going on).

In the evening, my roommate and I took a train up to Taipei, and we met up with my partner. Good news: he got into his first choice grad school for a master's next year! Bad news: he's going to live in China for the next two years. And I'm not. Aaaaahhhhhhhh.

On Saturday, I went to Wulai, which is a mountain village known for its hot springs and waterfall. My roommate, another Chiayi ETA, and I crossed the famous suspension bridge, then went to Wulai Old Street and tried some grilled mochi. I liked the views from the bridge; the mountains were lush and green, and the water was a stunning deep turquoise.

The three of us went to the Atayal Museum, which is a museum about the Indigenous Atayal people that live in the area, then we headed to the famous waterfall. Admittedly, the waterfall was a little underwhelming, but it was quaint.

We met up with some friends from my partner's Mandarin study program, then eneded up walking to some semi-secret riverside hot springs. Wulai used to be a huge tourist village known for its riverside hot springs, but many of them were destroyed in typhoons. The little hot spring we visited was relatively new and seemed to be built by locals. Most of us took our shoes off to wade in the springs, which were different temperatures, and were surprised to find that even the ground was warm.

After the hot springs, our group parted ways, and us Fulbrighters headed to the night market along Wulai Old Street. There were lots of different stands selling meats, seafood, and lots of fruits and vegetables we seldom saw in Taiwan, like gingko nuts and giant fiddlehead ferns. We also saw white wax apple, which we tried. It didn't taste that different from normal wax apple—perhaps it was a bit sweeter. We also had some Indigenous foods like 米糕 (rice cake) served in bamboo tubes and mountain boar sausage. The sausage was incredible! 10/10, would recommend.

The ride back to Taipei was pretty smooth, and we actually ran into some New Taipei friends (including a former Kinmen ETA) on the way home while crossing the street. Truly, it feels like we're ships passing in the night. Then, the three of us stopped over at a café called Pica Pica for some dessert and drinks.

We didn't do much on Sunday. The three of us, my partner, and his roommate got brunch nearby, then went to another café for some tea. Back in Chiayi, I did some chores, and I also showed my roommate the movie Spirited Away for the first time. She liked it!

It's been a busy semester with all the back to back traveling, but I'm readjusting to school and teaching so far. Lots of lesson planning, games, and some after school clubs, but it's going well enough. Thanks to rollerblading club, I'm getting better at rollerblading, too (but not by much).

These past couple of weeks, I'm glad that I've been able to visit some parts of Taiwan that I've been wanting to visit for awhile, plus hang out with some cohort members I don't always get to see. Kenting and Alishan were beautiful, and Wulai and the lantern festival were nice too. As the months left in the grant period count down, I'm hoping that I get to see other parts of Taiwan that I haven't been able to visit yet; so far, there're still four counties that I need to visit.

Here's to exploring more of Taiwan in the coming months!

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Thursday, March 28th, 2024.