Trip from Hell.

Well I have had my hours cut at work as I am ending my contract in early September. I now have Friday through Sunday off. This week my class on Thursday was canceled due to a field trip. I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and I arranged an exodus from Taipei and the heat to Lutao Island (Green Island). Green Island is a small island, roughly 16km around by road, that is a mere hour ferry ride off the East coast of southern Taiwan. It is only one of three known places in the world to have a natural salt water hot spring (the other two are in Japan and near Mt. Vesiuvius in Italy respectively). It was also the location of a notorious political prison (think Guantanamo Bay) for Chinese and Taiwanese political dissidents during the second half of the twentieth century. There is an extensive museum and tours of the prison. It also has many natural hiking trails that lead to the highest point on the island and offer an incredible view of the other local island and Taiwan proper. So camping out under the starts in front of the ocean, renting a scooter and exploring every nook and cranny of the island, and drinking and relaxing in a hot water spring as the sun sets and a cool breeze blows off the ocean sounds like paradise huh? Well, don't ask me. I never made it. I decided to leave late Wednesday night after my class and one on one private lesson. My train left at 10:30 and was supposed to go straight through the night to Taidong. However a typhueng (typhoon, we lifted the word from Chinese, and it's just another name for a hurricane) hit the southern portion of the island on Tuesday. Despite it being a weak storm it caused a cancellation in the 2nd portion of my leg down south on the train. I was starting to drift off on an incredibly rare empty Taiwanese train around 3am when I was stirred by a passenger telling me to reembarkate (he tried his hand in English, and by now I know what people are intending to say). I got off the train, talked to the lone train employee in the station, my Chinese is good enough to get around and find out the basics, a good thing too because as one leaves Taipei so goes the English. I had to wait to catch a train to Taidong from Hualien (about 1/2 the way there) until 7am. I've had to wait in train and bus stations in some of the rougher parts of England early in the morning, and Taiwan does not compare, but still an interesting experience. A couple of middle aged guys who were pissed kept telling me "Herro" and "Herro Motto" in English. The "r"s are a result of the Chinese accent when they attempt to say hello. Boarded the train to Taidong, got there around 9am, waited for a bus and experienced my first earthquake. I was waiting outside the train station for my bus when all of a sudden it felt as though a group of trains ran into the building behind me. The ground shook and everything rattled and swayed for about five seconds. Apparently there have been a few quakes since I've been here, but was either asleep or didn't notice them. This I noticed, and it was surreal. A couple of woman near me automatically ran and hid under a stone overhang, and a few soldiers waiting for their bus ran out into the road. I just stood there stunned. Turns out it was a small quake (4.6) but highly localized in Taidong and Kenting. After waiting an hour for my bus I went in and talked to the train station service agents. "Bu kuah yi" "Bu kuah yi" You can't, You can't. There is another tropical storm headed to southern Taiwan on Thursday night and they don't want to take a chance with the ferry and everyone on Green Island was evacuated to the mainland. I was not happy. What's the kicker you ask? I read online tonight that a modern tropical storm for Taiwan and the South Pacific was set today as two tropical storms were to hit the same country within a 48 hr time period, just my luck. I sat down, bought a NY Times and read it and contemplated my situation. I had another three days off, and I had no choice but to explore another part of Taiwan or head back to Taipei. As Taiwan is roughly twice the size of Maryland I have seen and done everything I've wanted in my year here, I decided to come back to Taipei. Of course the first train didn't leave until 1:30, so I had to wait for another two hours, and to boot it was the Fu-Shing train, meaning it stops at every p0-dunk town on the way back north. In Taiwan there are four different grades of trains, all are basically the same, but the cheaper the train the more stops it takes and thus the longer the journey. So a trip that could be done in four hours took close to eight hours. I arrived in Taipei around 9pm and made my way home tired, exhausted, hungry, and flat out frustrated. The high's and low's of life abroad, next week, sans typhuengs, I will be vacationing on glorious Green Island. Don't worry I will provide pictures. Oh and by the way, Yanks are now 5 out.