(expert motorcyclist :))
(blow fish enthusiast)
(adventure seekers)
coral rocky reefs met the sea there...
Bert acting like the bearded guy on the sign..resemblance??
..s q u e e z i n g into black cave
(ask us about the history of this cave sometime--slaves in hiding--arsen--ghosts)
~~***~~ THE STORY OF LITTLE LIOU CIOU ISLAND ~~***~~
***********************************************************
First, we rode on the WORLDS FASTEST train from taipei to kaoshung. next morning we went to the bus station, we need to get to the city of dong gan to catch the ferry--Not many people speak English in kaoshung [or dong gan, or liou ciou :) ]
No biggie..we can do this! who cares if we dont speak the language right???... well as the confusion escalated, i noticed a white girl in a group of asian people was watching us...we were trying to ask the chinese speaking people "which bus to dong gan" TURNS OUT her and her friends were headed to Little liou ciou island just like us. They pointed us to the right bus, we all boarded together, and got to talking (they all spoke awesome English). We ended up spending the whole weekend with them! The German girl said she was especially happy we went because otherwise her friends would have been speaking in Chinese. I am so glad we met these people--we ended up saving so much money + we got to do so many interesting things:
snorkeling expidition//strange creature of the sea petting zoo//island tour by motorcycle//3 day motorcycle rental//home stay with local family and so on..
the ferry trip back and forth was included too--we only paid $45/person for all of it!! WOW i doubt we would have been able to find that deal with our poor Chinese skills!!
An hour later we boarded the ferry and started our voyage across the turbulent sea to the small island. once we got off there were hoards of people screaming (in chinese) squid jerky for sale! sashimi! welcome to liou ciou island!
Saturday night, there was a big concert on the island. the stage was floating on the water.
I guess the music artist was pretty popular in Taiwan.
We had plenty to drink and learned our first Taiwanese drinking word"cambei"--it means drink it all. DONT worry though, the cups used in Taiwan are very small, mabye 2.5 oz. so drinking many in a row might be dangerous, but "drink it all" is ok a few times :) Taiwanese people generally cant drink that much. Its funny to watch them take tiny sips from these tiny cups :) rock paper scissors is a very popular drinking game here. there are some extra rules, but you see this game being played in all bars--there is another drinking game that involves predicting how many fingers will go up between a group of 3 or more people--many weird rules to this game too.
The next day we went snorkeling. i swear its just like "finding nemo"!! so colorful under the sea. the island is famous because it is made entirely of corral, so its the perfect place to see colorful fish. We even saw a huge black and white stripped eel. the snorkel guide went down to its hiding place and harpooned it.
we went back to the hostel, took off the snorkeling gear, then we saw the snorkel guide zooming in on his scooter with the eel. all of his friends got up and ran over. they decided to eat it for lunch. raw. mmmmm
We are sashimi too, but it was tuna. talk about fresh!
The next day me and bert spent together riding the motorcycle around the perimeter of the island. it was sunny and warm. such a contrast to the chilly rainy weather we were used to in taipei. the air even smelled sweet! no kidding the island actually smelled like flowers--the scents differed as we zoomed around on the motorcycle. WHAT A PERFECT paradise!! WOW! I remember being so overwhelmed by the islands beauty and simplicity that my eyes welled up with tears.
at one point i was dancing with this cute little old man. he was sitting at the edge of this famous cave sleeping. eventually he noticed us and started playing his Chinese guitar. we looked his way and he started singing. LOUDLY. and it wasnt just the decibel level that was impossible to ignore..his voice was shrieking sharp pangs peirced my ears LOL
OF COURCE we walked up to him, he tried to speak to us in the local dialect (of taiwanese-not chinese) and he handed me 2 fans--making a motion for me to go over there and start dancing!! he grabbed some wooden sticks and made a beat, and we were dancing??? wow that probably sounds really strange!! but it was an exquisitly undeniably beautiful shining moment. i felt so free and able to do or say anything! we were both laughing and smiling! no where else in the world WOW (you really had to be there to understand this--swear im not crazy)
I will never forget this place. I hope we have the chance to go visit again while we are in taiwan. We saw a wedding there, did laundry the old old old fashioned way, ate eggs and potatoes that were cooking under the sand for hours (local tradition), i drove a motorcycle for the first time, we held star fish the size of frizbees, and made great friends. turns out the German girl lives around the corner from us now--we ran into her by chance at the tong hua night market.
The next day we went snorkeling. i swear its just like "finding nemo"!! so colorful under the sea. the island is famous because it is made entirely of corral, so its the perfect place to see colorful fish. We even saw a huge black and white stripped eel. the snorkel guide went down to its hiding place and harpooned it.
we went back to the hostel, took off the snorkeling gear, then we saw the snorkel guide zooming in on his scooter with the eel. all of his friends got up and ran over. they decided to eat it for lunch. raw. mmmmm
We are sashimi too, but it was tuna. talk about fresh!
The next day me and bert spent together riding the motorcycle around the perimeter of the island. it was sunny and warm. such a contrast to the chilly rainy weather we were used to in taipei. the air even smelled sweet! no kidding the island actually smelled like flowers--the scents differed as we zoomed around on the motorcycle. WHAT A PERFECT paradise!! WOW! I remember being so overwhelmed by the islands beauty and simplicity that my eyes welled up with tears.
at one point i was dancing with this cute little old man. he was sitting at the edge of this famous cave sleeping. eventually he noticed us and started playing his Chinese guitar. we looked his way and he started singing. LOUDLY. and it wasnt just the decibel level that was impossible to ignore..his voice was shrieking sharp pangs peirced my ears LOL
OF COURCE we walked up to him, he tried to speak to us in the local dialect (of taiwanese-not chinese) and he handed me 2 fans--making a motion for me to go over there and start dancing!! he grabbed some wooden sticks and made a beat, and we were dancing??? wow that probably sounds really strange!! but it was an exquisitly undeniably beautiful shining moment. i felt so free and able to do or say anything! we were both laughing and smiling! no where else in the world WOW (you really had to be there to understand this--swear im not crazy)
I will never forget this place. I hope we have the chance to go visit again while we are in taiwan. We saw a wedding there, did laundry the old old old fashioned way, ate eggs and potatoes that were cooking under the sand for hours (local tradition), i drove a motorcycle for the first time, we held star fish the size of frizbees, and made great friends. turns out the German girl lives around the corner from us now--we ran into her by chance at the tong hua night market.
Megan Dupuy
Relocate Taiwan
Albert Dupuy
Albert Dupuy
huge primate -- stood as tall as a big tall fat man--but looked meaner
Xin Pu m o t o r c y c l e gang!! these are some more 
