Why travelling Taiwan is the best you can experience (Part 2)

Well, now it's almost over. I arrived at Sun Moon Lake, my last spot.
I am happy to go back to Taipei in two days. But I look forward to my last week with mixed feelings. I am happy to finish my work and take some vacation, see some friends and then go back home.  But I also will miss my friends in Taipei and Taiwan, which is a gorgeous place.

Kenting

I arrived Kenting in the afternoon. It was windy and the sand was flying into my eyes. The hostel offered free bikes, so I took one and rode to the next city to grab some food.
Arriving in Hengchun I got some dumplings and went to the visitor information center to see whether I can go somewhere. There I met Tony. He was from America and moved to Kenting because of his girlfirend. We started talking and he introduced me to the area. Tony said that snorkeling should be great around here. I planned to go snorkeling on Little Liuqiu anyway, so I bought the equipment at a local store, Tony showed me.

Since it was conveniant and usable I rent a scooter. Later I went around to see the beaches and the city. Tony told me about a surf shop in Kenting. I visited the shop in the afternoon and booked a surf lesson for next day. Although the weather wasn’t nice, the water was warm and the waves were good for beginners.
Small and not so fast.
That day I surfed three to four hours and although I was exhausted Tony and I went snorkeling in the afternoon. The south coast offers really beautiful coral riffs and a lot of bewitching marine life. I cut myself at the rocks and the corals, which were sharp as hell but amazing and fascinating to see.

The next day I left the hostel in the morning and drove the scooter along the south coast, an  extremely stunning scenic area, to Jialeshui to go surfing for a few hours before I had to leave to Little Liuqiu.
The waves here were higher and the coast was more dangerous than in Nanwan. I got smashed by a lot of waves but caught a wave a few times. Surfing is so fun if you finally feel the thrill of riding a wave and the power under your board.
One thing I learned that day is not to underestimate that power. I rode a wave and wanted to turn out but fell off the board. The board’s nose digged into the water and hit a rock and broke – Yup, I was too close to the coast and the water was too flat, fortunately I only had to pay 1000 NTD (about 25 EUR) for reparation. I also had a lot of problems getting back into a safe zone. The waves were so strong, they just push you away and you just cannot do anything against it.

After this thrilling morning I brought the scooter back to Hengchun and took a bus to Donggang from where I went to Litle Liuqiu with a ferry.


Little Liuqiu

My time on the small island was amazing. I arrived in the evening, rent a scooter at the harbor (they didn’t even asked me for my license or my passport) and drove to the campground where I wanted to stay.

Unfortunately there were two campgrounds right next to each other. I was introduced to all buildings (they didn’t speak English, so that took a while) and everything was set until I asked if they have a tent which I can borrow (Steve from Topology Travel called them before and asked so I knew there must be one).
By using Google translator they understood what I wanted and took me twenty meters further to the right campground.

Meanwhile it was dark and I still had to built up my tent.
At this point I would like to thank my Mum and Dad, who told me how to do that within almost all summer vacations I ever had!
Once I built up the tent, I was so glad to sleep now with the sound of ocean waves in background.







The next day I didn’t do much, my balance and mind was totally messed up by all the exhausting surfing and snorkeling. The whole day I had the feeling still being on the waves. Very weird. Although I went around the island with the scooter and took a look at the beautiful nature there. I spent the rest of the day relaxing.

On my last day I made the most exiting experiences of all my time travelling yet. I went snorkeling on several spots around the island. The weather was quite good, not too windy, so the waves weren’t too strong. I jumped in at the “flower vase rock” and was amazed by nature immediately. Short and long, small and large fishes glittering in all colors between anemones and corals. But suddenly I recognized something dark at my left, almost behind me. I turned around an looked directly into a face of a giant turtle. I was so surprised and amazed, I almost forgot to breathe. While catching a breath I didn’t let the turtle escape my view. I dived back down and next to the turtle. I only knew this from TV or the Internet but I never imagined this to be so amazing in real life.

I was so happy that I decided to go to this small island (thanks to Core, I might not knew this island without you).
Definitely counts as one of the best experiences of my life.

After I finished my snorkeling I went out of the water, or more precisely I was thrown at the beach by the waves and made it out somehow without hurting myself at the rocks.
While drying myself a group of girls entered the beach. They were amazed by my different look and forced me to take tons of selfies with them. I am just wondering why they were doing this. What is so special about me? Is it just because I am European. It would be really funny, if the people in Germany would do the same with Asians.


Tainan

At Tainan I had to rest again. Two weeks of travelling and changing the place almost every day is more exhausting than I thought. I was happy to had my laptop and a nice couch. I also wasn’t that interested in the city, because I already know some cities around Taiwan and I didn’t expect something amazingly new around Tainan. Furthermore I had to wake up early at the next morning to go hiking.


Bamboo Mountain

I started the day at five in the morning, to catch a bus to Bamboo Mountain at 6:20. Unfortunately nobody told me that there were three different bus stations and although I asked, nobody directed me to the right one, so I finally missed the bus after waiting for twenty minutes had to take a taxi.
Fortunately taking a taxi here doesn’t make you poor. The half hour ride was about 400 NTD (around 10 EUR).

From the bus station there, I had to change and wait for another bus. I was happy that I could leave my backpack at the bus station and only take my daypack with me. The bus dropped me of in the middle of nowhere and I had to walk half an hour until I finally reached the main trail entrance. My morning was spent with hiking to the sky ladder and around the beautiful scenic area in the mountains. One thing that made this very special was the silence that surrounded me. Hearing nothing except some birds was something I really needed.


Sun Moon Lake

If you ever visited the Bodensee in Germany, you may think that this a huge lake is not special at all. But you forgot that this is Taiwan and here, everything is different.

I arrived very late in the evening and couldn’t find my hostel. The hostel’s website wasn’t up to date and the address lead me to some private house, which was kind of funny because I had some weird conversations by using hand and feet to communicate.
At least I found it after carrying my 10 kilo backpack around for 30 minutes.
( - Yes, I know, military service is harder, but I am travelling and not in the military ;) - )

Sun Moon Lake is special because of the mountains and the scenic area that surrounds it. Cycling around the lake is very popular and beautiful, but also very exhausting. You might not think, that 30 kilometers with a bike are that much, but you didn’t consider the altitude. I needed three hours to go around but all the sweat and effort was worth it. I gained some spectacular views and it was a lot of fun going downhill for a few kilometers.

Today morning I got up at four and hiked up to Maolan Mountain, to see the sunrise, which was also a challenge. Walking alone through the dark and silent forest sounds easier than it really is. I scared myself several times by seeing my own shadow somewhere and stepping on cracking woods. In the end it was too cloudy to get a very spectacular view but I like the early morning and I enjoyed the fresh air.




Taipei

And now I am here, back home. Taipei really is a home for me now. I am really happy to be back again and if I imagine, that I will fly to the Philippines in one week, I am sad that I already have to leave Taipei. This city really found a place in my heart with all the people here, the people from office as well as the ones from the hostel.

I had unbelievable experiences in the last days. Now is the right time to finish it. I am glad I saw all these things. 

This was amazing!

I hope I could give you a small insight into my trip around Taiwan and you enjoyed!

See you soon!

Part one:

http://taiwanbloglukas.blogspot.tw/2015/01/why-travelling-in-taiwan-is-best-you.html