Driving farther down south, we made our way to Fugang harbour (福岡碼頭) where we took a ferry to Green Island 綠島, a small volcanic island where locals love to go to scuba dive or just to get away from the city. The island is part of Taitung County and is Taiwan’s fourth largest island.
Low tide at White Sands Beach (大白沙). The beaches in Green Island are very pebbly and aren’t that nice to laze around for a tan if that’s what you’re after.
We had to hire a car to get around the island as walking or cycling around would have been too difficult due to the hilly terrain. However, we were the only ones in a car as everyone else on the island were getting around on scooters. In Taiwan, knowing how to ride a scooter or motorcycle is essential on the island and the mainland!
Hot spring by the sea. The Chao Ri hotspring 朝日溫泉 is the only one in Taiwan that has a mix of sea and thermal water. Before going to the hotspring we had gone on a guided night tour around the island and saw nocturnal insects and crabs. We also saw many stars in the night sky as there was no light pollution around there. It was amazingly beautiful – like seeing twinkling diamonds set against a black canvas. The guide even pointed out the Scorpio constellation (mine constellation!) to us. That was the first time I had seen it!
The Green Island prison that still houses one political prisoner. We had initially thought it was open to tourists but were then told by the guards that one prisoner is still held captive there. It baffles me why that prisoner isn’t sent to another prison instead???
A few wild deer native to Green Island still roam around.
These wild goats have no qualms grazing around graves.
This young girl had caught a gecko that morning and tied a string to its tail. A lizard on leash just seems very wrong!
And then she tied the gecko to a stand where she said she’d leave it till the end of the day, upon which she’d release it. The poor gecko was trying very hard to escape.
Abandoned homes of the aboriginal tribal settlements
Locals call this rock formation the Sleeping Beauty 睡美人. Can you see picture it?
Just above the Sleeping Beauty’s head is her dog. Use a bit of imagination and you will be able to see it.
‘Prisoners’ in this place called Ice Jail 冰獄. These people are in the room slated for prisoners with heavy sentences (重型房).
In truth we were all in Ice Jail to be held captive by these shaved ice desserts that were much welcomed in the summer heat.
We got our tickets and accommodation for the night at Fugang – it came as a set package. But you are also able to make prior arrangements to choose from a range of hotels or motels if you do your homework much earlier. Most of the websites for hotels on the island are in Chinese though. From what we observed, most of the people who go to Green Island are domestic tourists, many of them school friends on a weekend getaway. Frankly, I felt geriatric there. The people there were literally (no more figuratively) half my age.
The ferry ride takes about 45min and the whole package costs about NT3000 per person, including the round-trip ferry ticket, a night’s stay and the use of a scooter. Only go to Green Island if you want to relax, do nothing and enjoy natural scenery. Otherwise, it’d probably be better to give it a miss.
