We set off on Saturday on the train to the North East coast of Taiwan to go and do some camping near the ocean. We hopped off the train after a three hour journey, all told, and found our way to what has been labelled as the best organised campsite in Taiwan. When we arrived, I soon started thinking that it might be one of the best organised campsites in the world. Each plot has a wooden deck. There are a number of communal ablution facilities, a pool, roller-rink, convenenience store, sheltered eating area with cooking utensils as well as kayaks, windsurfing equipment and bicycles for the bike track for hire.
We pretty much arrived, walked the short way from the town of Fulong to the campsite, paid our money and ran to the beach. We were greeted by a lake, with a very big estuary area. The beach is pretty much a sandbar that can only be reached by a bridge over the river. The swimming area was cordoned off with small buoys and what is more the beach was closed unceremoniously by the overweight, betelnut chewing, middle-aged lifeguards at 5 sharp. This prompted a mass exodus from the beach. We checked out some sand sculptures before we joined the stampede to the town.
That night we were kept awake by a school camp, with irritating pop music playing and we were later woken at 2am no less by the first wave of rain heralding the coming typhoon. In fact, we had had warning of this earlier, when, just after throwing up our hammocks, the rain showered down, leaving us scrabbling at knots and eventually giving up and getting soaked. We discoveredwhy our tents were cheap incidentally...not very waterproof.
The next day, after a few pitiful hours of sleep, we missioned off down the coast in search of a better beach and better waves. The train pretty much hugged the coastline, which let us see how the waves were shaping. We've always doubted Taiwan having any swell, but thanks to the coming typhoon, there was heavy storm-generated swell, mostly breaking on jagged, shallow rocks.
We eventually settled on a sandier beach and despite our enthusiasm to catch waves, we were repulsed by a wall of foam and a strong sidewash. Adam caught the only wave of the day, getting a fleeting barrel as the waves formed up cooperatively for him, before closing out and smashing him into the sand. Lucky bugger.
We later befriended some locals with a surf shack on the beach, who made us waffles (a
t a price) and lent Adam a 6 foot surfboard which allowed him to paddle desperately and get tossed about the waves for a while, without catching wave. Unlucky bugger.
We got quite severely burned by the sun, but the mission was well-worth it as we managed to get in some time in the ocean, before the coastal police closed all beaches in anticipation the typhoon. The shouted through a loudhailer and used their siren from the comfort of their air-conditioned car to get the attention of some errant and stubborn beginner surfers who eventually left the
water. Very funny indeed.
Skip forward 4 hours later, after packing up our tents and catching a packed train back to Taipei, before we slept for an hour or so on the bus back to our home town Hsinchu.
On the way back from Taipei on the bus, we learnt that our area was to have a typhoon day, which has meant we have spent today at home eating and watching movies. The typhoon has been a bit of a damp squib. The day has been mostly overcast but distinctly non-rainy and non-windy. The rain has just started up this evening, but it's nothing too awe-inspiring. Work again tomorrow, I suppose. It has been an awesome lazy day.
I
for a drive down the Hibiscus Coast today with Genevieve. We left early and arrived on the beach at 8.30am. Unfortunately we chose sardine run time for our expedition so we couldn't swim. Instead we pottered around, sleeping on the beach on Genevieve's newly-made picnic blanket, and waddling from nap-spot to eating spot. These are the pictures to prove it.
to wake up bright and early before the winter sun. Then the family headed off to the farmers' market where we had coffee and perused the wares on display such as flowers and coffee.
