I feel like I've done quite alot since I last wrote, even though it was only a couple days ago. I went to a place called Danshui on our free day, which I was supposed to go to with my labmates a long time ago but got rained out. We went in the evening, which was the perfect time to go. There is a bridge there called Valentine's bridge, that apparently if you cross it with your lover, you will be together forever! And it is very popular to watch the sunset there, which we got there just in time to see! It was absolutely gorgeous. Then we walked along a night market along the water, which was pretty much the same as the othes but by the ocean made it so much better!
The next day we went to probably my favorite place so far- Yeliu Geopark. It is a tiny peninsula at the northern tip of Taiwan that has some pretty incredible rock formations formed by wind and nature. It reminded me a little bit of a minature Utah park. I still don't understand how it looks the way it does! The place was amazing, and if you know me, you know that I love to climb on top of things, especially large rocks. This place was close to perfect for my addiction. At the entrance to the park there is an area with walkways that takes you around to look at some of the basic formations, and especially the "Queen's Head" rock. But it was pretty small and extremely crowded. Then we were given some free time, and I with two other Americans, Alicia and Corinne, found where to go to reach the very edge of the peninsula. We climbed all the way there, and we were pretty much the only ones around except for a couple of native fishermen. It took alot of time, sun, and sweat, but we eventually got there. Jack, our coordinator for BACT, said it is always the Americans who are the adventurous ones! There's no doubt about that.
We've been to two different marine museums, one a fisheries research institute and one a fish museum that is supposed to open in about a year. They were a little underwhelming, but interesting all the same. But this afternoon was really fun. We went to the northeast intertidal zone when the water was at lowtide so that we could look at all the animals left behind. We saw Spongebob, Patrick, Mr. Crabs, Gary, Squidward (or close to him), and all their neighbors (we saw sponges, starfish, hermit crabs, sea snails, octopus, and many kinds of fish). And of course, there were plenty of rocks for me to climb. I wish we could have stayed longer!
Tomorrow morning we leave Taipei! Though we were planning on being gone a total of two weeks, we will only be leaving for two nights, coming back to the dorm for one night, and we will be gone a week and a half more. The place that we had planned to stay at is too dangerous to reach because of falling rocks and blocked roads, so we will have to stay back here again! Scary stuff. But hopefully I will still find time to keep writing while I am away!
I miss you all. 19 more days!!!
At Danshui
Sunset :)
Valentine's Bridge
At Yeliu Geopark, too hard to pick pictures! It felt like what Mars probably looks like, but way prettier
I found Patrick
Don't ever set your water bottle down, or some Asian will come take it and catch an octopus in it!
No comments:
Post a Comment