While the US has its Spring Break, Taiwan has its Tomb-Sweeping Holiday, or Qingmingjie, a four-day weekend usually landing in early April. Traditionally, on this holiday, Taiwanese people visit their ancestors' tombs, clean their gravesites, and leave offerings. While actually locating my ancestors' tombs may be a project for Qingmingjie 2023, I, like many fellow Fulbrighters past and present, decided to seize the weekend as a chance for more Taiwan exploration.
After debating my options, I booked a last-minute trip to Green Island, one of Taiwan's outer islands. An hour east of Taiwan's East Coast, Green Island is a volcanic island and a well-known scenic spot. After hearing good reviews from my local friends, I felt eager to check out a new part of the country and cross "Visit an outer island" off my Taiwan bucket list.
But first I had to make it to Green Island, which was not the easiest journey. Since Yunlin is on the opposite side of the country, I first hopped a five-hour train to Taidong City, the site of the Green Island ferry. Despite the journey's length, however, the gorgeous coastal and mountain views and peaceful train car were more than worth it.
Since my ferry wasn't scheduled till the following morning, I spent the evening strolling around Taidong City, which had a fairly chill atmosphere. Along my walk, I stumbled upon the “Rainbow Art Village,” aka a nighttime arts and crafts fair, and bought a few postcards and stickers. Behind the fair, a DJ was playing music for some kind of music festival setup, except there were hardly any people there, lol. Which was probably for the best, because, you know, Covid.
Top, from left: A view from the train, the empty music festival
Bottom: Rainbow Art Village
Anywho, the next day, I arrived at Fugang Harbor bright and early. Having read about the ferry ride’s notorious rockiness, I grabbed a seat near the back, closed my eyes, and listened to music. I’ll be okay; I’ve never been seasick before, not even a little bit, I thought as I tried to ignore the barf bags supplied behind every seat. We pushed off from the dock, and pretty quickly, I realized how wrong I’d been. The ocean waves seesawed dramatically causing the boat to flop up and down like a dying fish. I'll spare you most of the grisly details and instead leave you with just two: that it was the worst boat ride I’ve ever taken and that the ferry company was indeed wise to supply so many barf bags.
Still a little nauseous as I disembarked, I nonetheless made my way to a scooter rental place and grabbed my chosen vehicle. And then I was off, scootering around the island! Green Island certainly lives up to its name. Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by luscious green mountains on one side, and reflective waves on the other. One main road encircles the island so it’s pretty impossible to get lost, and the whole perimeter only takes about an hour on a scooter.
I made it to Green Island, I thought, terrible ferry rides and all!
I checked into my very lovely B&B on the island’s eastern side and arranged all my chosen island activities with the helpful front desk clerk. One great thing about Green Island is that it's so easy and cheap to arrange outings! After depositing my stuff, I continued my scooter drive counterclockwise up the island, stopping at various scenic spots to take pictures and enjoy the views.
The glorious Green Island
In the afternoon, I set off to complete my first official island activity: snorkeling. My B&B had partnered with a company called “Clown Fish Snorkeling” and when I arrived at their office, I encountered about a dozen other snorkeling customers. Once we'd all checked in, our guide or 教練 Jiaolian, which is Mandarin for coach, gave us wet suits in addition to the snorkel gear. We walked across the street to the beach and water, which stood at low tide.
It turns out Taiwanese snorkeling, or at least guided group snorkeling is much more cautious than American snorkeling. In addition to wearing wet suits, we also held onto a rope for our entire time in the water as the jiaolian dragged us around, taking pictures and calling out the names of fish. The whole process was kind of hilarious, but for $10 USD, I just went with the flow (literally haha). It's definitely more accessible for people who can’t swim. The jiaolian even asked, “Who's scared of water?” and I thought he was joking, but no, people actually raised their hands (!) so he gave them extra inflatable rings to wear.
Regardless, we saw some pretty corals and a large number of fish, including the eponymous clown fish. The jiaolian gave us bread to feed the fish so they’d swim closer; I was not the craziest about this idea. Have you ever been to a koi pond and tossed in fish food only to see the koi all but attack each other for the pellets? Now imagine you are IN the pond with the koi! Okay, maybe the fish weren’t that aggressive, but still, I did try to keep them an arm’s distance away. Of course, when I finally deposited the last crumbs of bread, the jiaolian announced, “Everyone take a second piece!” and the whole thing started all over again. LOL.
The snorkeling beach and me in the water!
We were out there for a fun half hour or so before heading back. After my eventful morning journey and full afternoon, I decided to chill for the night.
Tuesday morning, I headed out to activity #2: exploring Green Island's “Mystery Blue Cave” (秘境藍洞). I didn’t know too much about said Mystery Blue Cave except for what I’d seen briefly in Google searches and blogs, which is that it was some sea cave lagoon which you apparently got to swim in, and that sounded fun. So at 9:00 am, I returned to the Clownfish Snorkeling office and saw one of the couples I’d gone snorkeling with the day before. Turns out, it was just the three of us plus a different jiaolian, and, honestly, having a smaller group was nice this time. I chatted with the 30-something couple as we scootered to a beach on the island's north coast.
As soon as we arrived, however, the jiaolian announced that we could not, in fact, swim in the eponymous Mystery Blue Cave because the waves were too rough. Whelp. Not to fear, though, because, apparently, this activity involved a lot of other stuff besides the title activity. The jiaolian guided us along the beachside rock formations (maybe old coral)? so we could at least see the Mystery Blue Cave and a nearby waterfall and take photos besides them. We did a fair bit of climbing along the rocks as well as taking photos. I’m particularly glad of the latter, because I didn’t bring my phone on either this or the snorkeling trip, so I wouldn’t have had any picture evidence otherwise !
Left: The Mystery Blue Cave which we did not get to enter, but still photographed.
Right: An elevated waterfall.
Anywho, after exploring those two sites, the jiaolian took us to a different lagoon we could jump into. This one was on the open beach next to a roughly 5-meter-tall rock that me and the couple launched ourselves off of into the water. Jumping in was honestly a little scary but very exhilarating. I don’t think my sinuses or throat appreciated me jumping into the salt water multiple times, but it was worth it, otherwise. After a few jumps, we left the make-up lagoon, and checked out our last photo spot, which was this large and dark yet airy cave where the jiaolian took the last set of photos. I swear this dude could've become a professional IG photographer with all his tips for posing. Our impromptu photoshoots were so funny and also useful! Now I have all these cool photos for no additional charge. Thank you, Jiaolian!
Jumping into the lagoon was a lot of fun, but filled my sinuses with salt water. After jumping in, we took pictures in a dark but open cave.
This activity ended up taking 3 hours, aka the whole morning, so I really got my money’s worth! After returning to town, I grabbed some Green Island sashimi before heading home to rest. In the afternoon, I resumed my scootering around the island and made my way to the Green Island White Terror Memorial Park. For those who don’t know, Green Island used to be the site of an infamous KMT prison for political criminals, and the prison site grounds have been rebuilt/preserved to commemorate the victims and survivors. Expecting just a monument with a few plaques, I was surprised to find multiple full-on museum buildings full of survivor artifacts and video clips. I walked through multiple exhibits and read a few accounts, but I had to leave after a while because it was just so sad. As a Taiwanese person myself, learning about my people's suffering hit especially hard. Nobody deserves to be condemned to hard labor for 10+ years, not to mention, most of the prisoners were completely innocent of their alleged crimes and had merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Top, from left: Prison grounds, painting of the original prison layout
Bottom, from left: Recreation of prisoner quarters, photos of prisoners
After that trip through hellish history, I decided to treat myself to some shave ice in town. I stopped at a place I’d been eyeing for a while and ordered milk tea shave ice with boba. The cashier asked me if I wanted to add seaweed, and knowing that seaweed is Green Island’s specialty, I said, "Why not?" Of course, then I heard the cashier tell her colleague to add seaweed and the colleague asked, “Why?” so I guess it’s not the most conventional order. But also, why would you offer extra seaweed if that’s not a usual thing? Whatever, I got my shave ice with seaweed, and I gotta say, it tasted pretty good. In any case, I like unusual combos. After all, I am an unusual combo.
I know it looks like an odd couple, but don't knock it till you've tried it!
My shave ice devoured, I strolled around the main street for a while, chilling in the late afternoon cloudiness (no sunsets this trip, I’m afraid, but at least it didn’t rain too much) before heading to my last island activity: the long-awaited salt water hot springs. Apparently, there are only three salt water hot springs in the world: in Japan, Italy, and here on Green Island. When I arrived at the springs, I discovered a nice outdoor facility with multiple round, hot water pools surrounded by cooler rectangular pools.
I slipped on my bathing suit and swim cap and lounged from pool to pool. Some of the pools were pretty scorching, like Sichongxi-hot, so I couldn’t stay in those for very long, but others were more comfortable. I ended up soaking for two hours, taking in the water while also gazing into the dark distance where I could barely make out the waves crashing along the shore (although I could definitely hear them). In addition to being a beachfront property, the hot springs were also right next to this gigantic rock, which made for a cool backdrop.
The salt water hot springs consisted of many different pools.
I spent most of the following day returning home, first on a mercifully less rocky ferry to Taidong and then on the 5-hour train ride, which, this time, did feel longer but was still a fairly smooth journey. Although I was only gone for a few days, I still felt properly refreshed from my "vacation" vacation and was glad that I'd put a long weekend to good use. I don't know if I'll ever get back to Green Island, but would highly recommend it to those who've never been!
Just make sure to buy Dramamine ahead of time.
Moment of Joy/Humor: Haven't done these in a while, but why not? For some reason Green Island has a lot of goats, a few of whom I encountered during my time there. My favorite was this goat who seemed to be living its best life, chilling on a seaside bench. Good for you, Zen goat; I aspire to have your mindfulness.
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