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DAY ONE - got up at ridiculous a.m. and met people in McDonald’s at about 6.  The planned route was over the mountain to the east coast, down to the south, then back up the west coast to where we live.  However, there was news of snow and rain and general freezing cold-wet-ness that maybe would have made it too dangerous, so we decided to follow the good weather and reverse our planned route.  We couldn’t go on the freeway as our little scooters weren’t allowed on it, but that meant we went the scenic route instead.  It was a bit mountainy and we saw a massive resevoir and was general pretty all around.  We met more people on the way, and went in a massive convoy of 9 people on 8 scooters (me and Si were the only ones sharing a scooter, the reason being it’s not that comfy on the back…) to our campsite.  Apparantly we were the first westerners to ever go there.  crazy.  The campsite was lovely though, and after a massive and yummy yet very cheap meal at a restaurant, we made the most of having the place to ourself and drank and played silly games around our campfire.

DAY 2 - We split from some of the others, and 5 of us headed further south.  It was a fairly long drive, but hitting the coastal view was awesome, and before too long we were sitting on the beach with a beer, watching the beautiful beautiful sunset.  Kenting is the farthest southern town on the island, and the day we arrived it was nice and empty.  We wandered through the main street (basically the whole of the town is on one road) had yummy thai then watched loads of people set off fireworks on the beach.

DAY 3 - Woke up, and it was so nice and warm!  We wandered around, then scootered a little bit up the mountain, and drank out of a coconut whilst looking at the view :-)  Did a little walk and saw some nice mini gorges and rock formations, then ate the most tasty sausages ever, whilst stroking the pigs next to the sausage stand :-s We then chilled out on a gorgeous beach for the afternoon.  Heaven.  The evening was hilarious, we went to a place where they give you your own barbeque and meat, and you cook it for yourself.  The funniest part was that we asked the waiter to try and translate the menu for us, so he started performing for us - beef was ‘moo’ lamb he pointed to and started ‘baa-ing’ it was awesome.  The town had suddenly become ridiculously busy, a zillion people had arrived, and the pavement become one way each side of the road.  There were also tents squeezed in between our tents.  I don’t think the Taiwanese have the same issues of personal space as we do.  Anyway, we ended the day by setting off our own fireworks on the beach.  That was ace.

DAY 4 - we found a very rare but spectacular place for breakfast - it served a full english!!! yum yum yum and it was right on the sea with the sun on our backs.  The drive took us up the east coast.  It was stunning - mountains on one side, and the blue crisp sea on the other.  Wow!  Unfortunately the day wasn’t perfect….. a crazy driver decided to drive into the side of us so we both fell off of the bike and onto the floor boo.  We were both ok, apart from simon got a swollen elbow and we both got cuts, scrapes and bruises.  However we made it to the next campsite, which we made ourselves in some palm trees next to the beach.  The stars were awesome.

DAY 5 - We drove north until we got to Toroko gorge.  A-MAZ-ING!!!!! Such such such spectacular scenery.  No longer nice and warm, we were in the mountains now, but the steep mountains and the gorgeous river, the windy road, the cute temples and the sun shining down made it fantastic to be there.  We met up with the others, and had a happy fun evening wandering around.

DAY 6 - We did a few hikes and saw more prettiness, but the highlight of the day was most definitely the hot springs.  Natural hot springs, just in the middle of the river, in the middle of the gorge.  It was the most amazing thing ever ever ever.  The path was meant to be closed to the public, however we risked going down (past signs, through a locked gate, and over a barrier) and boy were we glad we did.  It was pure heaven.  The water was boiling boiling hot in one pool, yet freezing freezing cold in the river, so someone had set up a channel system using rocks which made it the most pleasant thing in the world.  We sat there until it got dark, fully relaxed.  Ace.

DAY 7 - We did another hike to a waterfall, but it involved walking through unlit, pitch black tunnels, which was interesting as our torch didn’t work! fun though.  The best part was the one where you had to take off your shoes and socks, put on a plastic waterproof, and wade through to the other side!! We then drove out the other side of the gorge, and over back to the west coast.  This route involved going over a mountain.  A big mountain.  With two of us on one scooter, we did struggle a litte, and at points I had to get off and walk It got colder and colder, until the view beyond a few metres was purely mist, and there were actual frozen waterfalls on the side of the road.  Mental.  Hard to imagine we were on a beach in the sun only a few days before.  Our clever little scooter made it to about 3200 m.  We warmed up in starbucks (apparantly the highest one in the world, although i’m not sure) and then made it home after a funtastically filled week

We arrived here on the 5th January, and the first few days were spent sorting ourselves out.  We had a medical check and things like that for the visa, then we went flat hunting.  We saw some weird weird places.  A lot of them were one room open plan places, maybe with a bathroom in the corner but no kitchen or anything.  We saw one which the block of flats had been converted from an old shopping centre, in the lobby there were escalators which was quite funny.  Another one, the entrance was through an old shop - our door was the shutter, and then you walk through the empty shop to some stairs at the back.  Crazy.  We were going to settle on one of the one room places as it was cheap and new, when we saw the last place we had booked to view.  It was cheaper than all of the good ones we saw, had a massive lounge, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen and a balcony.  It’s on the 14th floor and has awesome views.  It’s pretty sweet.  It also came fully furnished, all we’ve had to buy so far is a toaster! We nearly didn’t get it as we thought it was too big lol, but then we came to our senses.  We moved in pretty quick and I love it

The following week I went to Taipei (the capital) for a week of training.  It was ace to be around people all in the same boat, and we had a good time, as well as learning, obviously! We went up the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101, saw a gorgeous temple, went to night markets, ate snake soup (tastes like chicken, has the texture of dry tuna and has a zillion bones) and drank lots of beer.  Twas fun.

The next week was back here in Yuanlin.  Started working! Simon found a school in a nearby town so he started there, and I started teaching too.  My schedule is pretty light at the moment, they’re introducing me slowly, but it was still a bit nervewracking.  Kind of fun though once the stress goes away, you just get to play loads of games in class!!  There’s 6 teachers there in all, but there’s also a lot of other schools in the town, so lots of other english/american/canadian/south african people to socialise with. 

Then came Chinese New Year - a whole week off with celebrations, hurrah!  I randomly got presents from the school - some money, and some red pants!!!! apparantly i’m meant to wear them when I gamble as it’s good luck….