An Excursion to Green Island (绿岛)

This is about my recent trip to 绿岛(the two Chinese characters for the day are 绿-lu - green and 岛-dao- island). It was a vacation for all of the hospital employees. My friend Kay's mother had, at some point before my arrival in Taiwan, planned for me to go on the excursion. I originally did not want to go, but upon reflection, it was pretty interesting even if it is not my ideal type of adventure. I am grateful that my host/boss/friend's mother arranged for me accompany my "coworkers," and that the tour guide and hospital folk took such great care of me.

We set out in the morning, first by taxi, then by subway and finally by tour bus to the town of Taidong to catch a boat. I didn't really speak to anyone on the first day. I told my friend Ed about the trip, he commented that big groups of people bring me way out of my comfort zone. This couldn't be more true.

After 2 or three hours on bumpy mountain roads (and one person vomiting...into the vomit bag as the tour guide had instructed) we made our way across the southern part of Taiwan to port at Taidong. We hopped on a boat, and an hour later (with no vomiting this time) we were on 绿岛.

Once on the island the tour guide quickly rushed everyone to the scooter rentals, which had already been arranged, and our group set off - two per scooter - towards our hotel. I got to ride with the tour guide who had the only 125cc scooter, everyone else only had 50cc, so i think our ride was a bit smoother on the windy hilly roads.

No one really explained the itinerary to me. Well, the week before the head nurse gave me the itinerary book, but I thought it was a joke because it was dated '98. A few days later, after I threw it away, I found out that the Taiwanese use a different system for the years, so this year (2009) is 中华民国98年 （ROC '98). The point is, I had no idea how crammed the itinerary would be.

The first few hours were a blur to me. I didn't carry my camera on me, and all I remember is thinking, "wow, this island is actually green." I compared it to my experience on an island off the eastern coast of the mainland, 南麂岛. Although it still had it's charm, (no offense to anyone this is simply my own observation) the Mainlanders just don't know how to take care of the environment at the same level as the Taiwanese. Perhaps concepts of environmental protection are insights that can only be gained when preserving your small island land mass is something essential to survival and profit. The Taiwanese can't look to different areas of their country to exploit resources. Like the South Korean's, and unlike the Chinese they have what they have, and they have learned to proctect it, nuture it, and reuse it.

The most interesting part of the trip came at dinner that night. An all you can eat (and apparently drink) BBQ place. This is not like typical American BBQ, this is very light. Small pieces of meat and vegetables grilled on a hot grill plate at your table. YOU are responsible for picking out your meat and veggies, and ensuring that everything is cooked to your own liking (not burning it, applying the proper amount of sauce, etc.).

When we arrived there was already a bottle of Taiwan beer on the table. I hadn't had beer since I had left the states, and I was staring at the bottle for most of the dinner. Until finally, someone asked if I wanted to drink it. I said, “yes," and proceeded to go ask a waitron for a clean class. I came back with my one class to a table of 3 surprised onlookers. I had assumed that as Taiwanese ladies, they would not partake in the drink, I was wrong. We began to drink, and soon faces were red all around (except for mine). And I quickly realized that even though my alcohol tolerance is low, the 3 lady nurses all had even lower tolerances. I guess you could argue that I've been trained by drinking the Spaten Optimator, but in my defense, I usually only have half a beer!

At any rate, dinner ended with one of the girls wasted, yelling at me for not wanting to take pictures and me running away to a table in the corner where the watrons were sitting enjoying their own beer. They had witnessed the events, and i think it was their entertainment for the evening. One of them showed me his heavily tattoed arm, and assured me that the girls wouldn't dare approach the table, as Taiwanese girls are apparently scared of men with tatoos. I sat and had another beer or 2 with them (one beer=one class=approx 90-100ml).

Heading back to the hotel I was invited to go and 吃冰 (chibing - lit. eat ice). This is another phrase that I was just starting to get used to hearing. Most asian countries that I've been to have had some sort of shaved ice deserts, but no where have I seen such a variety ice shaving methods (at least three so far...i think i will have to make a shaved ice post soon) and flavors (i couldn't count them if tried) than in Taiwan. I mean, the actiivity of going out to eat shaved ice has it's own special phrase here. What I find very interesting is unlike the mezmorizing variety of tea drinks, which are consumed all through the day, shaved ice "deserts" generally aren't overly sweet. They won't send you on a whirling sugar rush like 珍珠奶茶-bubble milk tea (that's bubble milk tea with standard surgar, you can of course request less...or none).

Anyhow, we went to eat chaved ice. This particular shop's specialty was incorporating seaweed into the frozen delights. It was a nice treat, a hint of sweetness complimented by the bitter overtones of the seaweed. The cold seaweed also had some interesting textural elements. It wasn't chewy, but yet it wasn't slimely either, it rested somewhere in that happy medium. Unfortunatelty, the experience was interupted by the drunk girl going down the line call each of her friends (now eating shaved ice), and demanding that they "come and save me!"

The rest of the trip, was again, a blur of running from sightseeing spot to sightseeing spot across the island. At lunch on the second day, i invited myself into the kitchen of the restaurant. It was a mess. The floor has wet and slippery, the countrers were dirty, and nothing was organiized. Yet, somehow they managed to turn out good food, and they did it fast! The staff was excited that I took interest in them, and were happy to let me take pictures. Over lunch, the drunk girl from the night before offered and appology to me, and gave me a keychain from one of the famous shops on the island. I never got a chance to visit the shop, and so i'm grateful that i have some sort of souvenir. I've now put the keychain, rather appropriatly, on my backpack next to my keychain from a brewery i visited in Singapore.

After leaving the island, we spent one night in 台东(Taidong) in a very nice hotel. We had dinner at the hotel, and we played a game organized by the tables where we were sitting trying to guess the prices of different daily items. The winning table had to have representive drink a glass of beer. Lucky for me (sarcasim), after the experience the night before, I now had a bit of a reputation, and became my table's lone 喝酒代表-drinking representitive. At the end of it all, I finally broke down and went on a picture taking excursion with a group of nurses from the hospital. I hate pictures...i hope they're happy.

Finally, before returning to 高雄(Kaohsiung) the next day we made one more stop at a botanical garden for lunch. Lunch was 火锅(hotpot), and at this place each person gets his/her own boiling pot of soupy liquid in which to dip food stuffs. As this was a botanical garden, we were given huge selection of leafy greens from which to choose - as well as some meats and other veggies. But, the greens were obviously the most impressive. Most of them I had never seen, and most of them I will never see again. Each had a distict flavors, and varying textures. Bitter and earthy, bright and crispy. The only thing missing, i think, was some sort of mustard green. The girls at my table were surprised that I was indiscriminite in the what I ate. Afterall, I had never had most of the vegetables, and my policy (thanks to Andrew Zimmern from the Travel Channel) is to try any foodstuff at least three times before deciding if I like it or not. I should add that my dining mates were also a bit taken back when the girl on my left ask if there were any vegatables that weren't so bitter, and without hesitation i reccomened she head for the sweet potato leaves (they were the least bitter of all the leafy greens on the table).

After eating two or three plates of veggies, I had created an incredible soup broth. I let it boil down and concentrate before finishing it off. My reckless vegetable eating had incorpartated the distinct floavors of more than 20 different vegetables into one unified, unique, and surprisingly delishis stock. It was an truely satifying end to one of my best meals in Taiwan.

I have no clear memory of the ride back to 高雄-Kaohsiung or the events to follow. Ed is right, I should keep a journal, or bring my laptop with me and type whenever I get the chance. That was, afterall, my intention when I bought an EEE PC. I just don't have the motivation, and so I suppose I should end the post here.